2025

The little girl slithered out of the crawl space with ease, her lithe body perfect for squeezing through small openings like a liquid rather than a person. No one was the wiser of her hidden escape route through the small hole in the fence. No one knew about the hidden trail that she took whenever she could. They knew she was a master escape artist, they just didn't know how.

She was a little smug about it too, impressed with herself.

Checking over her shoulder on occasion, she looked around to make sure she was not being followed by any idiots from home. Thankfully, the coast was clear. At least, for now.

So, she did what she did best while she still could, she frolics.

This place was freedom. It was a sanctuary unlike any other. She loved nature, loved the fresh air, and the soil and blades of grass between her bare toes.

The grass was bright green around here, and she couldn't get enough of it. The smells, the sight of the bugs and the trees and the sky. She adored it.

Delving into the forest, she passed countless plants and creatures of all different shapes and sizes. She laughed when a woodpecker sounded nearby, the tell tale noise of it burrowing it's long beak into some thick tree bark for an early morning snack.

The young child smiled with delight when beams of the hot, Tennessee sun sprinkled through the tree limbs, perfectly hitting her face. It was a hot summer day, but she relished in it. Most everyone around here hated the hot, muggy sensation the sun brought. She couldn't care less about the sweat. It reminded me of the sun, one of her dearest friends. After all, she was named after it.

It was such a beautiful morning. She wanted to enjoy every single second of it before...

"Soleil!"

The little girl gasped, shocked that she had been discovered already.

She leaned against a tree, hoping it's dark, looming wood would somehow keep her hidden from her Momma. She loved her mother to death, but Soleil knew what would happen when she found her out here.

She would definitely drag her back kicking and screaming to that foul place they called home. Home. Ha. Soleil often laughed at that idiotic word plastered to the abandoned middle school they holed ourselves up in. Some home that was. It was more a prison than anything.

Once Soleil was in that prison, she would have another long lecture on her hands.

The sounds of rustling underbrush reached her little ears, and she shook her head. She had better get her Momma out of those woods before she got a nasty rash from all the poison ivy lurking on the ground.

Soleil's Momma didn't know a single thing about nature. She was a city girl, born and raised in Memphis. Her protective parents never let her venture far, she never even went camping. Soleil suspected that's where her protective nature came from.

She revealed herself, heading in her Mother's direction.

"Soleil Lee Finch! Who do you think you are doing wandering around when I've told you time and time again to..."

"Stay inside. I know, I know." She filled in for her. Her Momma put her hands on her ample hips, and Soleil could tell that she didn't like the reply. She was not allowed to sass her, never allowed to talk back like that. It was the southern way.

The girl raised her hands up in innocence.

"I hate being stuck inside. It's so boring. And the sun, it's so bright. It's gorgeous." She tried to explain like she has done countless times before, but Momma never listened. No one ever listened to Soleil.

"Well, your skin will get all leathery, and you'll get covered in ugly freckles like that poor little girl you hang around, what's her name?" Her voice trailed off.

"Elodie." She piped in, wondering for the 100th time how her own Mother forgot her best friend's name. It was ridiculous.

Momma made a face of sheer disgust, probably picturing Elodie's face of freckles and hair the color of fire.

"Yes, her. You wouldn't want to come in looking like her, now would you? You know that your skin is perfect. You don't want to ruin it. Then you'll never get married."

Soleil rolled eyes, because that was all that mattered here. Even at 10 years old she was being instructed about what her future had to be. She hated it. Marriage. Repopulation. That was the thing, she didn't want to get married to a douchebag. And that was the only type of man who lived in the compound. Douchebags.

Following her Momma back home, Soleil looked back at the trees with a yearning that grew stronger in her chest. The more her Mom told her about what she shouldn't do, the more she wanted to do it, because she didn't want to get a man's attention. Just because they're going extinct doesn't mean she had to treat them like they were her masters.

She sighed, looking down at her feet.

Soleil's future was looking dim, because she could never do what she wanted. All because she was a girl, and apparently that meant that she didn't really matter. She just wished things could be different.

Soleil was just another number, completely worthless.

She knew that unless she escaped, that's all she would ever be.