Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) by Heaven Lyanne Flores

didn’t have much of a place there

 
    anyways. This has been my home. I couldn’t dream of a better place.”
    “Do you miss it?”
    “Sometimes. Arabella your turn,” she said before I could ask something else.
    “I lived here for as long as I can remember. Cabel brought me here when I was just a baby.” Arabella continued to play with her doll. I smiled at how happy she seemed. She was an orphan like everyone else but she didn’t let it affect her. The light always shone through her.
    A door slammed shut in one of the hallways followed by heavy footfalls. We all looked to the source of the sound. Yelson walked out of the hall closest to us. His face seemed tight as he tried not to look our way. I knew it was my fault. He didn’t want to talk to me yet.
    “Hey Yel,” Arabella chirped from the ground in front of me. He looked over to Arabella and forced a smile onto his face.
    “Hey there Bel, what are you doing?” His voice seemed strained. Was he still mad? I glanced over at Emilie. She looked at him trying to figure out what was wrong as well. I guess it was odd to see him act that way.
    “Annie is telling us about earth. Do you wanna listen?” She eagerly patted the ground next to her. Even before he said anything, I knew he would not.
    “Next time, kay?” His voice softened at the little girl. I looked up to see him staring at me. His gray eyes look right into my blue ones. The butterflies crept into my stomach again.
    “I have to go.” He broke his eyes away from me and walked up the stairs to the third floor. It should not have surprised me he was allowed to go up there. He seemed like an important person here.
    “Don’t you have a play date with Chi?” Emilie directed towards Arabella.
    “I don’t have to go today. She would understand,” Arabella pouted as she looked up at me.
    “Go play with your friend. We will still be here when you come back,” Emilie said. Arabella sighed as she stood up with her doll.
    “I’ll see you later Arabella,” I said to her as she sullenly made her way down the steps.
    Emilie turned towards me as soon as Arabella what out of earshot. I could see in her eyes that she knew something was wrong and she wanted answers.
    “What was that?”
    “What was what?”
    “I have known Yelson for two years. He has never acted like that until now.” She looked at me accusingly.
    I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe he just doesn’t like me.”
    “Uh huh,” she whispered but she let it drop which I was thankful for.
    We spent the next hour talking about earth and how much she wanted to visit it. I tried to keep all the bad stuff about earth out of the conversation. She wouldn’t understand how bad it was there. Bolton was beautiful. Its creatures took care of it because they knew if they didn’t they would ultimately die with it. That was something the humans didn’t understand. Even if the proof was right in front of them with the oceans turning dark, the air growing thicker, and the plants dying. 
    When Arabella came back, we talked about the things the kids did for fun there before the war. By the time we were done, I was tired. There were still hours before the sun set but I was already drained. As soon as my head touched the pillow on my bed I fell asleep.
    ~*~
    Purple light shone brightly on my closed eyelids bring me from my dream. I pulled the covers over my head trying to block the light that was trying to wake me up.
    “Get up Annie,” A gruff voice said before he pulled the covers away from my face. I shot up at the sudden movement. Yelson’s face was inches from mine.
    “What?” I breathed. I moved to the other side of the bed and got out. I was glad I had fallen asleep in my regular clothes but it was not as if he hadn’t seen my pj’s before.
    “It’s morning. I thought you would like to meet with Cabel before he leaves.” I slept through the whole night. I did not give myself much time to process that before I agreed and followed Yelson to