Cover art on the side by: @Manakete

Chapter 1

I was one of the six children my mother had sent to Kennedy Academy. There was me (I was youngest) and my five older brothers. Our mother had enrolled each of us when we were the age of six. I was the last to enroll. But the year I was eight, my brothers were all around twelve and thirteen. My brothers were all chosen to participate in the Royal Assembly. They lost.

I watched as, all around me, students started to disappear more frequently. Because of this, I was determined not to fall under the same fate. And I was going to do it with God's help.

I was sitting in French class, it was around the end of the school day. My best friend, Lukan, was sharing a desk with me. He was frantically trying to finish a woven bracelet he had started making for me, without the teacher noticing.

Lukan was my only friend my age. There weren't any older students after my brothers were gone. We were now the oldest students, at the age of eleven, in Group D. We were both determined to make it to graduation day.

Miss Bertrum, the headmistress of Group D, was a harsh woman. She disliked all of us (we never understood why), and she gave the worst punishments. Children went to bed in terror, never knowing if they would live through the next day. Or even to see morning.

"Done!" Lukan whispered triumphantly as he tied the bracelet around my wrist. "Now we match."

My name was perfectly woven in red yarn on the black band. Faith, the name my mother said that my father had given me before leaving to fight against the now united Koreas. He never returned home to her.

"Never take it off," Lukan said, holding out his pinky. "Pinky-promise?"

"Pinky-promise," I whispered, hooking my pinky with his.

"Master Lukan!" we jumped.

Miss Bertrum entered the room. She was followed by a tall man carrying a long stick.

"Yes ma'am," Lukan said, standing slowly.

"This is Mr. Crowley," said the headmistress, motioning to the man. "You are to go with him. Your things have already been taken from your room."

The man stepped forward and waited for Lukan. Was he being taken away, like the others?

"Did Lukan do something wrong?" I asked in a small voice, tears were starting to fill my brown eyes.

"That is none of your concern," was the reply. "But you may bid him farewell, for this is the last you shall see of him."

I stood fast and clutched to Lukan, breaking into low sobs. I couldn't let him leave me. We were a team with a pact. What wold I do without him?

"Remember our pact," Lukan whispered, his voice breaking only the slightest bit. "Live for see graduation day. God will get you there and out of this place, I know it. I know He will never abandon you. Never forget me, Faith. Remember me, graduate for the both of us. I love you, Faith."

"Come," the man said before I could reply, ripping Lukan's arms from around me.

"No!" I screamed as Miss Bertrum took a firm grip on my shoulders to keep me from following.

"Close the door," she ordered the teacher.

"Lukan!" I continued to shout as I resisted to stone-cold hands. "Lukan! Don't leave me!"

I could hear Lukan from outside, he was shouting my name.

"Be strong, Faith! God will free us!"

"Lukan!"

I shot up as I shouted his name. The dark room indicated that I was in my boarding room.

"Lukan," I whispered one last time.

The nightmare again. Everynight it was the same routine. Everynight I relived Lukan being ripped from my grasp, taken away forever. Eight years of loosing sleep because I had lost the only friend I had. I was very close to all of the other students that were here now, but none of them could ever replace Lukan.

"Faith, are you OK?"

I looked at the little girl I shared a bed with.

"I'm fine," I said softly. "Go back to sleep, Crystal. There's still some night left befo-"

"Wake up!" Matron boomed, coming in the room and turning on the lights. "Thirty minutes until inspection!"

Every light was on in the hallway. The other girls that shared the room jumped out of their beds and ran about trying to get things in order before getting on their uniforms. I helped Crystal with her uniform, I braided her long hair, and straghtened her skirt. Once I had my uniform on, I laid out all my belongings. I didn't have much, I only had the things each student was required to own. A pair of black and tan stockings; a dress, for special ocaasions, with matching heels; the drill team uniform, with sneaker-like heels with the team color (purple); another pair of sneaker-like heels, which I wore with my everyday uniform; and my PJs. The only other item I owned was the bracelet Lukan had given me, which I wore without fail.

Five minutes before inspection, I gathered the girls in the room together for a quick prayer before we started our day.

"Father in Heaven," I said softly. "We come before You at this hour to ask for Your protection. Send Your guardian angels to help keep each and every on of us from harm. Forgive us if we've offended You. Give us strength, yet again, to get through another day. In Jesus' wonderful name, amen."

I hugged all the girls right before we heard the whistle. We hurried and stood outside in the hallway. Miss Bertrum passed through each of the rooms, inspecting them, as she id every morning. I looked around the hallway at all the other boys and girls. I was the oldest in the entire group, everyne's big sister in a way. Everytime someone was taken away from the group, all the children would gather around me or in my room to be comeforted. But that didn't mean I was any stronger then they were. I still lost it whenever one of the kids left. We would pray for the families (if they had any family left) of the children. In a way, we were united as fellow classmates, unlike most of the children in the other groups.

"Miss Faith," said Miss Bertrum (otherwise known as the Big b to us students), she stopped right in front of me. "Is that part of the dress code?"

She pointed at my bracelet.

"You've never said anything about it," I replied, tugging my sleeve to cover it. "Not before today."

"Hmm, see to it that you only wear it on formal evenings. As it is a casual item. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

Big B walked into the room behind me. On the wall opposite of the bedrrom, there was a mirror in which I was able to see into the bedroom. I was able to see the Big B's expression as she examined the room.

"See to it that your stocking are mended before tomorrow night," she said to me as she exited the room.

"Yes ma'am," I said; my stocking were getting old, plus they were hand-me-downs.

"Royal Assembly is nearly a month's time from now," she went on as she walked up and down the hall. "We draw names for the participants tomorrow at the formal dinner. Headmaster Clarkson will be there and I expect you to be on your best behaviour. That means that you will not show any weakness, whatsoever. And you will NOT answer any questions. Am I made clear?"

"Yes, Miss Bertrum."

"Good. Now off with you."

We all filed outside and headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

"Faith," said Crytsal as I handed her a tray. "Big B seems to be in a slightly nice-er mood."

"Headmaster Clarkson," I said, putting an orange on both of our trays. "I think she's trying to prove that she is a good headmistress. Plus there will be less students soon."

"Yeah...I hope I get chosen this year."

"Why? You saw last year's Assembly. Nobody from Group D a\came back. Not to mention the past Assemblies."

"I know, but any place would be better then being here."

I hugged Crystal. She was right, getting to go anywhere away from Group D was better then being in it.

"Buenos dias," said my Spanish teacher, Mz. Diaz.

"Buenos dias, senorita Diaz."

I was the only other person in the classroom, but she still acted as if the room had more students.

"Class, today we have a new student joining us. This is Master Joshua."

I looked up at the new boy, my jaw fell open. He was definitely older than sixteen, he had to be. Joshua had dark brown hair and eyes of the same tone, but perhaps darker.

"You may sit next to Faith."  Mz. Diaz ushered him to my desk.

Joshua came and sat next to me.

"Faith," Mz Diaz went on, "you will help Joshua learn his way around."

"Yes ma'am," I said.

I was in total surprise. Joshua was the first student over the age of ten to enroll in Group D in the thirteen years I've been here. It was refreshing in a way.

"Welcome to Group D," I said to him quietly.

"Thank you," he replied, smiling shyly. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen. How 'bout you?"

"Same. Are there any other kids our age?"

I shrugged apologetically. "Including you and me, two. I was lucky to reach this age at all."

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked, he wasn't paying any attention to what Mz. Diaz what saying; she was totally oblivious though.

"I'll explain later," I replied, copying what the teacher wrote on the board. "Besdies, we don't want her to send us Miss Bertrum's office."

I wanted to be at my graduation in two years. I had a good routine going and I wasn't going to put anblack mark on my reputation.

After Spanish is usually a full hour of me doing nothing, so I decided to use that time in telling Joshua what I meant about us being the only older students. I took Joshua to my usual spot, under an old oak tree, in what used to be a lovely green garden. I was going to try and tell him the brief story, but that would mean I would have to tell him about Lukan. Maybe. I would mostly have to tell him about Mr. Crowley.....and the man that had been before him. And I would have to start from the beginning....

"I was six years old when my mother enrolled me in Group D," I began, keeping my gaze on the dead landscape. "My mother wanted me and my brothers to have some kind of education, so we were all enrolled at the age of six. Miss Bertrum had been appointed headmistress a few years before my eldest brothers enrolled. They told me what was taking place before I got here.

"No one has ever known why, but Miss Bertrum dislikes the students in Group D. The indorsements she receives on their account she uses for herself. And if any one of the students made one small, irrelevant mistake, that student is punished. That student is sent to the office, lectured that they were wrong, then sent back to class. Later, that very day, Miss Bertrum would enter the classroom where the student is most likely to be, and calls them by their title: Miss or Master. Miss Bertrum is always accompanied by a very large, scary-looking man, carrying a big stick. The student is then taken by the man. The student's belongings are also taken by the man, because the student never returns to Group D.

"The student's name is then put on the 'Missing's Students' file, and their picture hung on a wall in the office building. Miss Bertrum calls this wall the 'Mistake' wall. Everyone knows that the students don't live to see another day. There is always a new tombstone in the graveyard on the school grounds.

"The reason there aren't any students older than eleven is because they are taken (sometimes without cause) at the age eleven. None of them ever live to be a teenager or an adult.

"The man who used to take the students I never learned his name, but I did learn the name of the man who took Lukan. Lukan was my best friend after my brothers were chosen as participants in the Royal Assembly. We had both been determined to live until we graduated. But then right before we were to turn twelve, Miss Bertrum entered French class accompanied by Mr. Crowley. He was also very large and scary, and he even carried the big stick.

"Lukan was taken for absolutely no reason. He made me promise that I would live to graduate, and that I graduate for the both of us. There was once a time when my five older brother were the oldest in Group D, but that was a long time ago.....I know that Lukan....is no more, because everytime Mr. Crowley comes....if we happen to make eye contact, he looks at me with pain.

"So," I said, taking a deep breath. "That's the story. That's why we are the only ones over the age of ten."