Cathy Le Roux | District One | FIN [resub]

Good-bye Catherine.

It was barely a year for Cathy in District Two, but a lifetime of positive memories has filled the empty shelves in the rarely visited section of her mind library. The longest streak of nightmare-less sleep was spent in the dorm of the An Alternative Career Academy. A new name. A new identity. A tragic backstory that her mother penned but Cathy evolved the more weeks that her true self was kept from being revealed.

Only a plague would foil her new existence, it quickly infested within the walls of her new Zen home. Lockdown fell onto the academy and stricter paper checks instantly discovered her forged papers. She was told she was lucky that her only punishment was being sent back to One. Even having the mayor as her mother couldn’t pull the strings tight enough so that she could remain in the one place that actually felt like a home.

Catherine Rouxe spent every sunrise meditating with the other academy students. Breakfast consisted of pressed fruits and harmless proteins. Yoga class followed the technicalities of sword ship. After lunch, crafting and a lecture on Expertise of Being Incognito filled the afternoon. Every day was different but structured, enough time in between classes to relax and focus on whatever hobbies and pass times Catherine had an interest in. Documentation of all kinds is how she spent the free periods. Listening. Drawing. Writing down everything that was different in District Two to District One.

Caterina ‘Cathy’ Le Roux now spends her time back in her room. One single plea allows her back in the career center in One, but the brutality and sweat are nothing to compare to the Zen in District Two. Now she is back to keeping quiet. Back to her usual seat at the table. Back to being the one child overlooked amongst the growing and falling adoptees that her mother is collecting. Back to listening and recording every secret and whisper that floats through her ear.

If only a disease did not invade the only moment in her lifetime that she has ever enjoyed. The inventive martial arts swapped for ruthless beating of dummies. Catherine Rouxe that had close friends, swapped for Cathy Le Roux that is overshadowed by her dead siblings. She is not forgotten amongst the family dramas, Eden the one who pointed his finger of death at her is long gone but the Le Roux family pot is still on overboil. Ready to overspill but Cathy does not turn down the heat, she just watches on. Hoping that one final tragedy may just end them all.

She can thank her mother for sending her to a few months of solitude. Now her muscles no longer ache. Her childhood weaknesses and illnesses seem to have been outgrown. Just a few months and Cathy now carries a small ounce of strength. She just hopes her reunion with District One does not squeeze it out from her.

It will be five years until she is considered for another travel permit, a legitimate one in her legal name. A long five years it will be. So much can happen in such a time, new siblings could come and go. Her mother could padlock her bedroom door for an eternity. The persona of Catherine Rouxe could be long forgotten in that time…

The peacekeepers were quick on escorting Cathy from the academy after they interrogated her for her real identity. There was no time to say good-bye to her new friends. Her new family. No time to gather the physical memories that she collected. They are all just stored in her mind now.

Cathy and her memories. It is going to be a very long five years. If she is to survive it.