Chapter 2: Mother's illness

<p>December 2309,<br/>Ferrous district, 4th Province.<br/><br/>On the shabby streets of Ferrous which was littered with dust and dirt of different kinds, with grease making a paste-like puddle in some hollow parts of the street, stood a run down house. <br/><br/>Rusty Aluminum roof covered the building whose creamy paint was peeling off, revealing the brownish red bricks that made up the skeleton of the building. <br/><br/>The Orange lights emmited by the bent lamp posts, although unsteady, lit the vicinity. <br/><br/><br/>In the single bedroom available in the shack, a sickly woman lay on the once white sheets, now looking tawny, that separated her from the thin mattress that layed on the floor. <br/><br/>Her once creamy honey skin looked dry and textured as it clung to the bones on her face. Dark circles ringed her eyes making her look like a human raccoon. <br/><br/>She covered her mouth as she coughed violently, her chest vibrating and shaking her bony frame. <br/><br/>She peeled her bony hands off her chapped lips and saw the red spots that stuck to her hand. <br/><br/>She tried cleaning it off her hands but had to bring her hands back to her lips again as the coughs resurfaced. <br/><br/>Hearing the voice of her mother's cough, a ginger haired girl rushed into the room to her mother's side.<br/>The girl looked like she was not more than twelve, but she was older. <br/>" Mom! Are you okay? " She held her mother's shoulders as the weak woman coughed. <br/>Seeing her daughter in the room, she tried to hide her blood covered hands in the sheets. <br/><br/>The ginger haired girl saw her mother's futile attempts to hide the red spots on the bed and confusion swirled in her blue orbs. <br/>"Blood? " She touched the stains on the sheets and looked up to her mom. <br/>"How? How are you bleeding? Are you hurt anywhere?" She rushed the questions as panic filled her being. She searched her mother's body starting from her hands but found no new wounds on her body. <br/><br/>" No. No. I'm fine Ana" She breathed slowly as she tried to muster a smile on her face. <br/><br/>" No you're not." She whispered slowly in a low voice which escaped her mother's ears. Her eyes pooled with tears as she thought of the terrible things her mother had been going through. <br/><br/>"It's time for you to take your medicine" She said with her ginger hair forming a curtain over her face, preventing her mother from seeing the tears running down her cheeks. <br/>She wiped them off with the sleeves of her grey overworn shirt.<br/><br/>She reached for the small bottle on the table containing a caramel-like liquid. Screwing open the dropper cap of the bottle, she used the dropper to suck up some medicine and carefully moved it to her mother's lips. <br/><br/>The woman parted her dried lips and the drops of medicine fell into her mouth and ran down her dry throat as she swallowed it.<br/><br/>----------------<br/>After waiting for her mother to fall asleep she went out side the house and sat on the door step, waiting for someone. <br/>The lights from the lamp post fell on her uncared skin which looked pale in an unhealthy manner. <br/>The lack of sunlight in the sky in this district made life hard for the residents here. It was always night.<br/> <br/>The government barely recognised the existence of such a district so didn't bother to waste it's resources to furnish the skies of the district leaving them in the dark. After all, what good is lightning up a vicinity full of civilians whose existence were of no use to the empire, hence insignificant .<br/><br/>Tired and exhausted from taking care of her mother all day long, her head drooped to the side as she rested her head on a pillar holding the house and drifted off to sleep in the dark on her door step.<br/><br/><br/>Deep in her dreamless slumber, she felt a tap on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. <br/>When she opened her yes and looked up, she saw what looked like a male version of herself. <br/>Ginger hair with blue orbs that looked down at her with care and concern in them. <br/><br/>His ginger brows bunched together before he asked, " what are you doing outside Ana? Its not safe out here" He had a back pack hanging from his right shoulder. <br/>" I know. I just needed some air" She rubbed her hands over her face to wipe off the drowsiness that threatened to overwhelm her. <br/><br/>He nodded. " How is mother doing? "<br/>Her face looked grim when he mentioned their mother. <br/>"Worse than the last few days." His face also hardened. He stayed silent for a while before replying. <br/>" What about the medicine I got from Mr Oswald. Are you even giving it to her? " He sat down beside her, forgetting the advise he had given his sister few minutes ago. <br/><br/>"Yes Axel. I am. Look I'm doing my best but her health is deteriorating faster than ever. If we don't do something then... " She couldnt utter the last part of the sentence as they dreaded that outcome.<br/><br/>" Nothing will happen to her. Look. George gave me a bonus today for my consistent hardwork and I was able to buy more kilos of air. This should last us a week" He said pointing to the little cylinder laying before them on the red-brown soil.<br/> <br/>She smiled at the cylinder " That's great news. Congratulations. The tank is almost empty, I was getting worried how we would cope. Especially her" <br/>She was referring to their mother. <br/>The noise from the populated part of the district seeped into the quietness of their street.<br/><br/>" She coughed blood today Axel. This is a bad sign" She looked up at the darkness above them.<br/><br/>Silence reigned between them for a few minutes before Axel spoke " Let's get inside. It's not safe out here. They gathered the supplies Axel had brought home and took them inside the house.<br/><br/>Entering the living room which had nothing but a thin mat on the floor, a camping bed and a few metal stools by the side reflecting the orange lights hanging from the roof. <br/><br/>They had sold their furniture to help their mother's health but apparently even that wasnt enough. <br/><br/>" It feels stuffy in here" He stated as they walked into the door directly before them where their mother was presently sleeping. <br/>" I know. Like I said, the air in the tank is almost finished. We need to refill it" She pushed behind the stray hairs that threatened to fall on her face.<br/><br/><br/>Walking through the wide open door, they saw their mother lying on the bed motionless. The only sign of life in her, was the slow rise and fall of her chest.</p>