• Chapter One


    Change of Atmosphere
    Ava came to a mini-mart that appeared to have come out of nowhere. She hoped
    that they would have cigarettes cheap. She only had five dollars. She was also hungry, her stomach letting out loud protests. She walked in wary of the eyes set on her and made her way up to the counter. The attendant, a girl just stared at her. Her dark eyes showed no emotion, her hair dyed red.
    Ava pointed to the Cava brand “one pack please.” The girl waddled to the glass containment box and unlocked it.
    Ava could tell that the girl was pregnant. She wondered what that girl’s story was.
    The attendant retrieved the pack and set it on the counter.“$4.98,” she said staring at . Ava reached into her pocket pulling five Dollars out. Looking at the cigarettes she sighed and put the five dollars back in her pocket.“What's your name?” Ava asked, her voice low almost a whisper. The girl slowly took back the cigarettes and placed it back without questioning Ava’s weird behavior.
    “Molly,” the girl replied.
    “You look hungry,” Molly said as she reached under the counter again and pulled out a large lunch bag, which contained two sandwiches and two cans. One was soda, the other a Bud Light. Molly scooted the sandwich Ava's way, along with the beer with a simple explanation of
    “Beers not good for the baby.” She said without any visible emotion.
    “You’re not aborting it?” Ava asked sipping the beer. She gagged slightly she had never actually tasted beer before.
    “Can’t afford it and….I am not sure I would,” Molly replied shrugging.
    Ava just sipped her beer and took a huge bite out of the tuna sandwich.
    Ava was only sixteen when she ran away. She needed space, with teens like her.She wanted her own atmosphere. It had been four hours since Ava left. She was twenty miles from home. Walking along the interstate, her black hair hung short and jagged from where she had cut it off with a rusty knife she had taken before she left. Her dark brown eyes bright with
    anticipation Wearing a black shirt and a pair of jeans with a box of cigarettes stuffed in her pocket, she worried she was running low. Ava remembered Rosalina, her best friend in school, had told her to go out and claim the world for herself and make her own rules. She was there now
    and she wondered if what she was doing was a mistake.
    Half an hour went by. The clock above the t able beside the window read 10:00 p.m. Ava finished both the beer and sandwich saying farewell to Molly. She left and started walking again hoping her next stop would let her get some sleep.
    Ava made her way down the interstate when a she came to a large junkyard. It was eerie in the evening light. A large black dog stood at the entrance. A figure of a boy stood there he was maybe a year older then. He looked at Ava through blonde bangs; his bright blue eyes were slanted in a scowl. His clothes were normal street wear, a black hoodie, jeans and black sneakers, but Ava flinched as she saw that he had a pistol in his left hand. Who was this guy? Thought Ava the boy looked at Ava. He seemed to be deciding something. He nodded his head toward her and the dog ran to her. She hoped he wasn’t going to rip her to shreds. The dog simply nudged her knee, grabbed her jean leg, and started pulling her to the junkyard entrance, her pant leg nearly ripping off. “Hey!” she screamed, forgetting her fear.
    The boy just seemed to ignore her. He turned around and headed into the junkyard. The dog followed him dragging Ava with him. Ava, suddenly anger overpowered her fear as when the dog stopped, dropping her pant leg or what was left -

    “Good boy, Savior” the guy finally spoke after that whole time. The dog ran off in some other direction leaving Ava sprawled out on the ground. The boy offered his hand to Ava. She sneered and refused to take it. She simply got up by herself.

    “Who are you?!” she yelled. She was mad and wasn’t about to take any thing from this guy.

    “None of your businesses,” the boy said harshly. He made a sharp whistle. It echoed through the yard and another whistle answered back, softer and less sharp. “Come or I’ll get my dog to bring you,” He walked away Ava shook her head and ran in the other direction. “Bone,get her!” Ava could hear a dog bark and before she knew it she was on the ground again being dragged by the enormous black dog she recognized as a Labrador. They went along ways before the dog dropped her again. “Now you better follow this time.”

    “Only if you tell me your name.” Ava protested. There was a long silence.

    “Kyle” he replied and kept walking. Ava got up and followed, the dog walked along side her. Ava noticed that the Junkyard had disappeared and that they were in a huge meadow leading into a forest.

    “What is this place?” Ava asked in wonderment.

    “We call it Matrix, a haven for kids and teens alike,” Kyle answered slowly, his voice softer than before. “It’s a place were most kids think they are free and can live like they want, but its harder than that much harder. People have died there. Some kids were born there. This place has been hidden among the trees for over fourteen years so I have heard. Usually the older teens are killed in wars between matrix and another hidden group of kids. That’s why no adults know about this place .We hardly ever make it to our twentieth birthday.” Kyle went silent he seemed to regret telling Ava so much. He continued to walk; he was done talking.