Sky of Dust: The Last Weapon Read Free

children and a few miscarriages before she became infertile. At almost sixteen, Steve was the oldest. Then there was me, fourteen and talentless, unless getting into trouble is a talent. Pan was one of my younger sisters, and even though she was twelve she thought she was twenty. Beyond her huge ego, she had stepped up and been more of a mother figure to our five-year-old sister, Lesley, and “adopted” brother, Cray. 
    Cray was about 3 years old and arrived two months ago.
    After that, mom’s health got even worse. She gave up her bed to Cray and was forced to sleep on the drafty floor. We were able to find some foam egg crates that would make her a bit more comfortable. We tried to get her to sleep on one of our beds, but she refused. She knew that, if we were inspected and the authorities caught her sleeping on a bed while a child went without a bed, she would be punished for child abuse. She couldn’t even share one of our beds.  Our rations, what little we had to support a family of five, now had to be split between six mouths. Mom refused to take away from our rations and gave her already tiny portion to Cray.
    My dad was is an Honor Guard Elite who only came home two weeks a year. Steve said that he just comes home to get mom pregnant before leaving—but, then again, that was why the Guards were allowed two weeks at all. Mom always told us otherwise though. She said they had fallen in love when they went to school. He was some sort of big shot in school and had chosen to be in the Honor Guards instead of something a bit safer. Mom said he did it because it would give him the right to pick her as his wife and that she would be taken care of by the State. Besides the yearly visit, he would write us or send some sugar treats. He felt more like a friend off on an adventure than a dad, I guess.
    I kind of resented him for not being here, but I knew he had good intentions in the beginning. I knew it was just a dream, but I still wished he was here with mom. She was always so happy the weeks before he would come. Unfortunately, we had not seen or heard from him in almost five years; right after mom had Lesley and became infertile. Steve said dad had no use for her anymore, and even suggested that he was dead. I used to refuse to believe it, but, as the years went by, I was starting to lose hope.
    I walked over to Cray, whose feet were sticking through two holes in the blanket, making it look like a giant dress. I pulled off the blanket and wrapped him in it. He woke up and looked at me with his dirty face and big blue eyes and smiled like he just woke from a wonderful dream.
    “Play ball?” Cray croaked.
    “Maybe later, buddy,” I whispered. “I got to go to school.”
    “Bye bye,” he yawned as he rolled over and placed his face on the wall.
    I closed the door slowly and walked down the stairwell, making sure to walk on the right most part of the stairs so the boards would not squeak. This was very tricky since the railings were loose and would not support any weight. Imagine walking on a tight rope, except with stairs, and you would know the experience. I concentrated on placing my feet in just the right spots to avoid any noise while keeping my balance.
    About a quarter of the way down, I started to get sharp pains shooting through my brain, like someone was threading a needle into my skull rapidly then tightening the string around my brain. I stopped for a second until the pain went away and continued with a bit less care.
    For as long as I could remember, when I concentrated or got stressed, a blinding pain filled my head. What made it more painful was, when it began to hu rt, it felt like time went by slowly. What may have been a few seconds, seemed like a minute of pain. I blamed my less than stellar grades on this issue. I could not look at a book or pay attention in class unless I was partially preoccupied, to sort of balance it out. No one knew about this except Casey. Having mind pains was not