Excerpt: Lying Eyes

“Heather!” She heard Zach call out again, his voice closer. She ran to the left, her shoes pounding against the pavement as she flew through the streets towards her housing complex, the shadows caused by the moderately lit street lamps dancing across her face rapidly as she sped nimbly through the labyrinth of walls and buildings. Her mind raced with the information that she had just heard. She shook her head, as if it would take the thoughts away. “He’s wrong,” she told herself, “They are all liars and traitors.”
She ran to the front of her building and pushed roughly on the glass doors as she opened them, not caring about the consequences or the scolding she would receive.
“Miss, please be more careful!” called out the employee at the desk. Heather ignored her and kept running, her feet leading her to the stairs. She took them two at a time, moving as quickly as she could. ‘Floor 1... Floor 2… the labeled doors and floors all seemed to meld together in her mind as she climbed. Floor 6... Floor 7... She pushed open the door, and kept running, her side screaming in pain. She slowed down slightly as she approached her apartment door, and placed her left hand on the sensor as she ran her id card through the card reader with her right.
“Please state your full name and Inner Identification Code,” said the automated voice from the speaker. She glared at the box, but ignored it.
“Heather Camille O’Brian, number six-nine-nine-zero,” she said, wincing at the effort it took to speak normally after climbing all the flights of stairs.
“Good Evening Miss O’Brian, number six-nine-nine-zero, of Housing Complex Number Thirteen, Level Seven, Apartment Four. Have a Pleasant Evening.”
The door slid open and she walked briskly inside, the door shutting behind her. She walked across the living room to her bedroom door and ran her card through the card reader next to it. The door opened swiftly, and she walked inside it as well. The moment the door closed, she fell to her knees, her body wracked with sobs.
What seemed like hours later, she was able to calm herself down somewhat. She took a deep breath and turned on the small lamp that sat next to her bed.
“He’s lying,” she told herself aloud, her tearstains illuminated by the small light. “He is a traitor to our way of life…he has to be turned in, so they can help, to make him realize what he’s done wrong…” Yet as she thought of Zach in chains and being led to the Reeducation Center, she shuddered. Her gaze turned to her desk, where the bookend and glass orb sat, the orb reflecting white light onto her wall. She stood up and walked over to it, picking it up gently as she looked at it, the source of so many memories and of her friendship with Zach. She put it on top of her hand, like she had seen Zach do so many times, and rolled it toward the top of her other hand.
It rolled onto her other hand and she smiled, but the moment she did, the orb fell, crashing into a million pieces on the hard wood floor. Her smile faded and she fell to her knees once more, shock etched across her face as she picked up one of the shards, which was fairly larger than the rest. Her eyes began to water as she looked at it, and she began to sob as she held it close to her heart. Just like the orb, her world, and her spirits with it, had come crashing down.