Demetri’s Wish
























Prologue


Sitting in my office, I let my mind drift from the contract in front of me. I am supposed to read and sign it, but a word on the page distracts me; the word wish. That one word changed my life many years ago. As I sit there, staring at those meaningless sentences on the page, I roll that word on my tongue. Tasting it, savoring it. Hating it. I sigh, and before I can push those forbidden thoughts out of my mind, my past engulfs me.

Chapter 1-The Beginning
I gape at him, completely speechless.
"Are you insane?" I ask, casting haunted glances around us. He finishes venting about our government and then turns to me.
"I can’t say it anywhere else, Valix," he points out. I raise an eyebrow.
"We’re not supposed to say it at all."
He rolls his eyes, as if this was no big deal.
"You know they'll kill you," I snarl, losing my nerve.
"If you haven't noticed, nobody's here, big sister. It’s deserted," he counters.

And where are we, exactly? In the country of Titos, Realm of Zadlis. It is the year of 3124. In 2750, the humans almost became extinct because of pollution. The government of the once-known country called Canada fell, and a new leader rose. He eliminated everything that gave off pollution, and he created a monarchy. He renamed our land, saying that we could not keep the name of a country that was weak. Thus, the name Titos was created. His family, the family of Pyrros, has ruled ever since. Now, we are the only country left on Earth, all the others having been defeated by the effects of pollution. And I have to admit, our country is beautiful. Lush, green grass, tall hills, snowy mountains, and my personal favorite: the pitch black sky at night where hundreds of thousands of glittery stars can be seen. I shake my head and rub my temple.
"King Pyrros has spies hidden everywhere. Some of them are even Rippers. You know that." Rippers are… I can’t even think of a word to describe them. They are normal looking humans, but they have weapons built where their hands should be that they can change at will. Guns, Tasers, knives, axes; it changes every time one of us meets them. They serve King Pyrros loyally. If anyone steps out of line, they use their weapons to torture them. That is where they got their name; for the ways they rip human flesh without batting an eye.
"I don't really care," my brother says, shrugging.
I clutch him by the shoulders and growl through clenched teeth, "You may not care, Demetri, but I do."

Then I snatch his hand and drag him in the direction of our village, all the while keeping my free hand on my dagger. I suppose I am a bit of a hypocrite, because if the Rippers found out I had a dagger, then I’d be dead within minutes. We’re not exactly supposed to have weapons. I refuse to let Demetri, who is fifteen, near one, because he hates the government enough as it is. I'm seventeen, and I was on my own when I was his age. Not only that, but I had to watch my little brother, too. Paranoia almost drove me crazy, so to make sure that won’t happen to him, I don’t let Demetri out of my sight.
As we turn onto our street, I stop dead.
"Something is not right," I murmur, scanning the houses.

Demetri nods, sensing something off too. That’s when I smell it. Smoke. I start to run, noticing how each house is completely closed off. The windows, the doors, the shades. They are all shut tight. My worry increases, and as I come nearer to my home, the smell of smoke increases as well. Finally I round the corner, Demetri at my heels. The world seems to come to a halt. There, in front of my eyes, is my only safe haven, burning and collapsing into a heap of debris. I stare at my home, which is completely demolished. Demetri is already digging through the rubble, screaming for my parents. Then, all of a sudden, he stops searching. Even though I haven't moved an inch from my spot, I can still hear the strangled "No" that comes from my brother's mouth. He falls to his knees, and that breaks me from my reverie. I rush over to where he is, and I see a piece of paper next to him. I pick it up and read:
Valix and Demetri Wolfe,


Today, at precisely 6:03 PM, you were heard verbally attacking the government in a very offensive manner. In retaliation, I had your house burned to the ground and your parents Ripped. Hopefully you will take this punishment to heart and understand that such conversation will not be tolerated. The next time you disobey the law, I will personally end you. Both of you.

King Pyrros

Chapter 2-The Wish
My mouth drops open into a small "O" of horror. My parents, my sweet parents, are gone. Ripped to shreds by the King’s mutations. I tear the paper into tiny scraps and turn to my brother, who is now in the fetal position and staring at some unseen thing.
"Look, Demetri, I told you that we'd be overheard. Now our parents and our house are gone."
He glances blankly at me. "I didn’t think they'd take Mom and Dad," he whispers.
I shrug and reply, "You never know what King Pyrros will do, baby brother." I squat down next to him and help him up. "Come on, we need to get into the woods." This seems to bring him back to life.
Demetri's eyes widen, but he says nothing because he knows I’m right. We could not stay here, in this place of destruction. I sigh. "Let's go. It's getting dark and the Rippers already patrolled the woods."

As we enter the woods, I flashback to when Demetri and I were little and our parents taught us how to climb from tree to tree. A choked sob escapes my mouth, and Demetri, who got ahead of me without my noticing, turns around. I can see he's masking his feelings because his face looks hard and unemotional. When he gives me a small hug, though, I feel his face soften.
"I’m sorry they're dead because of me," he says quietly into my hair.

I try to smile but another sob stops me. I take a deep breath, pull away and finally manage to reply, "It's not your fault, Dem." I lower my voice so only he could possibly hear and then I add, "It's Pyrros' fault." He nods in agreement and continues walking. I fall behind again, and as I stare at his back, a steely determination fills me.
I run to catch up with him and mutter darkly, “We need to end this.”
Demetri snaps his head around to look at me. I can tell he is getting excited, due to the wicked gleam in his eyes. “Are you sure, Valix?” he inquires, assessing my face for any doubts. But there were none to be found.
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
He grunts and replies, “Good. That is what I wanted to hear.”
I wink at him and whisper, “Let’s go kill the king.”
*****









After sitting in the shade of a large oak tree and devising a plan, Demetri and I head west, toward the palace. Luckily, our Realm is the closest to it, so we only have to travel a few hours before we reach the edge of Titos City. Demetri hesitates at the city walls and hides behind a huge maple tree, glancing at me before turning his attention to the ten Rippers stationed in front. There are undoubtedly more of them.
"This is going to be hard," I warn my brother.
He glances at me with a small smile. "I know, Val. We don’t know the city, we've never even seen the city. But we're going to try anyway."
I grimace at his words. If caught, we were dead. Literally. The laws in each Realm are listed by importance; number one being the most important, number one hundred being the least important, and so on and so forth. The number one rule in our Realm is to never insult the government. We violated that rule a few hours ago, and we’re about to violate rule number two, which is to never visit the city or another Realm unless invited by the King. I think these are rules in every Realm, because Pyrros doesn’t want people to associate and start a revolt against him. The city is the richest Realm, and most people that live here are servants or soldiers for the King. This is also where the Rippers live and are continuously created. I snap back to reality when I see my brother climb onto a tree that hangs over the city wall.

I silently join him, and as we jump from the hanging branch to the ground on the other side of the wall, I realize that we are standing right behind the palace. I gasp at the amount of Rippers flanking the back entrance.
"There are at least two hundred Rippers!" my brother exclaims.
"Shut your mouth!" I hiss as I shove him into a bush.
"Jeez, pushy much?" he shoots back.

I don’t reply; I just pinch the bridge of my nose, and when I look up again I see something. A grin takes over my face and I poke Demetri.
"What now?" he groans.

I point to the open window on the second floor that looks like a bathroom. My brother's all business again, lifting his own finger and pointing to the tree branch that stops feet away from it. The only problem? There is no way for us to sneak by without being seen by the Rippers. This is not going to end well. I look over at Demetri, who's frowning.
"We need to make a break for it," I say finally.
"No, we don’t, Val," he replies. I raise an eyebrow, and then I watch as Demetri picks up a large rock.
"Oh no," I growl, shaking my head. "There is no way I’m letting you do that."
My brother smiles sadly and whispers, "You don’t have a say in the matter, big sis."

And before I can say anything, Demetri is off, crawling extremely fast through the bushes. I’ve completely frozen, and I watch helplessly as he jumps up by the gates and throws the rock at the nearest Ripper's head. Every one of them swarms toward him, and before they overtake my baby brother, I hear him yell two heart-breaking words.

For me
Chapter 3-The End

Before I know what I’m doing, I spring out of the bushes and sprint towards the tree. Not one Ripper notices me, because they're too occupied with Demetri. I don’t let myself think about that. I jump from branch to windowsill, and then I’m pulling myself into the biggest and most expensive-looking bathroom I’ve ever seen. If I wasn’t in a hurry, I would have stopped and gawked at it. I rush through the door, and then I start to trot at a steady pace through hallway after hallway, searching each room. I find that most of them are empty, and the ones that aren’t I quickly move away from. When I think there can’t possibly be any more rooms, I come across a huge bedroom that's approximately the same size as a ballroom.

As soon as I poke my head in, I know that it's occupied by none other than King Pyrros himself. He's sound asleep, and he does not even stir as I enter the room. I pull out my dagger and stalk over to his bed. Then, dagger at the ready, I slap his face with all my strength. He shoots straight up and stares at me in horror. I smile, but there is no joy in it.
Then, before he can do anything, I snarl, "Karma’s such a jerk, isn’t it?"
And I plunge my dagger straight into his heart.
*****

I don’t pull my dagger back out. Instead, I watch as the life drains from his eyes and his skin turns ice cold. I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding in. It feels as if a great weight has been lifted magically from my shoulders. King Pyrros may have won a few battles, but I won the war.
I stand there for a moment, and then I wrench my dagger out of his chest. I spin on my heel and run back to the gigantic bathroom. Before I leave, I pick up a bar of soap and walk over to the other window. I open it and chuck the soap in the middle of a group of Rippers. Like I expected, every one of them swarms the spot, confused. It seems that the dead King’s mutations aren’t very bright.
As I climb out the window and back onto the tree, I see the Rippers whooping and bouncing up and down.
One of them notices me, and he asks, "Are you the one who killed Pyrros?" I nod uneasily, wondering if this is a trap. "Thank you," is all he says, and then he begins talking to the others and pointing at me.
I choose not to run, because it doesn’t seem like they’re out to kill. I c*** my head, waiting. Finally someone comes forward (a girl Ripper, I think) and offers me her hand. I hesitantly take it, and then I’m being rushed back into the palace. Eventually I’m put in front of what looks like five judges, and they immediately barrel me with questions about how I got in, how I killed the King, and why I killed him. I make the wise decision to answer truthfully. After what seems like hours, they finish questioning me.
The judge in the middle then proceeds to inform me, "You are the new leader of Titos." My mouth drops open and my eyes bug out.
"Are you serious?" I manage to choke out.
"Very," another judge replies.
"You are the one we've been waiting for. The one who will bring our country out of poverty and into a new era of greatness," the first judge booms.

I think about this very carefully. I could end the misery of the Realms, and have our country united. We won’t have harsh laws, and we won’t be a monarchy anymore. I could save thousands of lives. I slowly begin to nod. All the judges break out into huge grins.
The first judge then says, "It is settled. Valix Wolfe is the new president of the country Titos."
I smile, thinking of my baby brother.

Word count: 2,489