From the Diary of Cerulean Saffron
Some days I hate being the oldest kid in Nowhere. I'm in charge of everything: from feeding the little ones, to washing their scrapes, to rocking them to sleep at night when their homesickness is too much to bear. And honestly, I don't mind any of that stuff. Most of it is actually pretty gratifying.
It's the other stuff I hate. Like when the Outlawz prank us, or when Mayor Blue attacks.
He attacked us last night. He took one of our own. And poor Indigo was right there to witness it. Her name was Catalina. She was ten and came to Nowhere from San Diego. I met her at Gruesome Point like I meet all the newcomers. She'd only been here for a week when it happened.
Indigo saw it happen. They were in
the kitchen. Catalina wanted a drink of water but was too scared to
go by herself because it was dark so she took Indigo with her. Indigo
said that Catalina had just raised the glass to her lips when he took
her.
There was a ripping sound. She
said it sounded like a giant ripped through thousands of pieces of
paper all at once. Catalina dropped the glass. It shattered on the
floor. Then she screamed, and something yanked her backwards. Indigo
couldn't see what it was. She said it was like something picked
Catalina up off the floor and yanked her backwards into the air. Then
there was a pop, like the air shook, and she was gone. But Indigo
could still hear her screaming for almost a full minute after.
This is the nightmare that we live with everyday. We are trapped in this place we call Nowhere. Trapped with the evil Mayor Blue. He can take any one of us, at any time. We know this. And there is nothing we can do but stick together, and find whatever reasons to smile that we can.
And hope. All hope is never lost. Not even in Nowhere.
