Chapter 1

"You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

I believe that behind every person, there is a story. A story that makes them who they are. The story may be hidden or on display to the world. A story about his/her fight; a story about how she survived. A story of her fight in silence.

In a world where there were only around ten countries left, it wasn't practically difficult to keep in touch with what was going on in the world, but yet I never really paid much heed to it. Everything changed when Asteroid 210XF crashed onto the Earth a hundred years back, practically wiping out half of the world's population. The 195 countries that were once present were reduced to the 10 countries that currently exist.

In time mankind was able to restore half of its long lost glory. Although the population is not at par with what it was a hundred years back, yet we were able to pull through all of it and the technology boost was immense. Australia, US, England etc none of them existed anymore; the countries created were more over due to the coordination of different leaders. They were now named 1.Weston, 2. Karsyn, 3.Holden, 4.Milo, 5.Brookstown, 6.Domino, 7.Alfea 8.Westwood, 9.Seleria, 10.Linsia. Weird way of naming places I know, but I guess the leaders were pretty frustrated and out of ideas of what to name them. My granny used to tell me that the leaders did not want to name the countries like before as they wanted to start afresh, with not even a piece of the past.

I lived in Westwood- The survivors were from different places, therefore we had mixed cultures and beliefs. The place had a very ethereal feel to it. With the pure white clouds encasing the sky and oceans surrounding the whole place, it was the most beautiful out of all the countries. It seemed like the universe wanted to leave a small piece of heaven as a compensation for the troubles and loss faced by humans. The place was a tourist spot so the people here were quite well-off. I lived in a city and I didn't like the fact that I couldn't live near the sea but it's alright.

I totally forgot to introduce myself. I am Fayth Aurora Valentino and I'm 17 but people usually call me Fayth. Unusual name I know but I like it. We are a family of three - my sister, me and my mom. My dad passed away when I was seven so I don't remember much. I only have one best friend whom I love the most - her name is Scarlet and she is more like a twin sister to me. She is dramatic at times and craaazyy but she is perfect for me. We have been friends for 6 years and counting.

My sister used to get jealous of her but now she has also opened up to her. She is practically like family. She often spends most of her time with us as her parents keep travelling and she doesn't quite like her brother calling his friends home whenever her mum was out.

Tomorrow is our first day of senior year and we both are quite excited. We decided to go out for some time as Scarlet said and I quote "Today is our last day of freedom, and since we'll be deprived of it for the next few months, let's have fun". We both decided to just roam around the streets and later visit the beach which was around a hour and a half away. We walked around and after around 10 minutes we reached a nearby park. It was more crowded than usual. We found a spot under the tree overlooking a man-made pond. We just sat there for a while.

Many kids were playing in the park. I smiled as I watched them Chase each other. It reminded me of my childhood. I really missed being a kid, life was so much easier. Suddenly a small girl wearing pigtails fell down and started crying. Me and Scarlet went up to her and helped her to stand up. Her knee was bruised and it was bleeding a little bit. We tried soothing her a bit and after tying up her knee with a handkerchief, we got her to finally stop crying. Her mother seemed to have finally noticed that her kid was missing and found us after while. She looked at the scene before her and thanked us before carrying the kid away. The little girl gave us a big smile and yelled a goodbye from over her mother's shoulder. I smiled and waved at her.

"I really want to try the slide" Scarlet told me out of the blue. 

"The security guy of the park will sue you if you do. Maybe you can put up a slide in your backyard and play with it as much as you want" I told her laughing at image of Scarlet in a kid's slide.

We later drove to the beach and sat on the shore. The stars were on full display. It was truly a beautiful scene to watch. We sat there in silence, basking in the aesthetic beauty above. It was in the beauty of the sky above me and serenity that surrounded me that I found my inner peace. I reached home around dinner time after dropping Scar off to her place.

Drifting off to sleep was easy. My only last thought was that no matter what this year would bring me or no matter what happened I would not let go of the memories or lose myself in the journey. 

Who i was would always stay constant, no matter how drastically my environment changed. I would stay true to myself and to the people i loved.