Instantly my heart pricks with fear. If I fall, and no one catches me, what will happen? If I fall, and I was wrong, what will happen?

My life has been filled with doubt that way, and it hurts to not be able to trust anything, to always be looking around for danger and second-guess the things around you.

Wind whooshes past my ears as I fall, and with every passing second my heart rate picks up, until I'm worrying for my life, for everything.

What will happen if I die? Will they be able to take down Edit? Will everyone be alright?

What about Troy?

Oh stars, Troy.

I picture my brother's innocent face, his laugh, his tears, the way he'd come to my room in the middle of the night on particularly bad days and curl up next to me, holding on to me like he never wanted to ever let go.

I missed those days.

And then everything happens so fast that my vision is blurred.

My back hits something so hard that the edges of my vision goes black and my breath comes out in one, large whoosh.

Pain blasts throughout my body, spreading from my chest to my head, out to my limbs, making them numb. I start to breathe heavily as the white-hot pain starts to fade, replaced with a ever-present throbbing pain.

My head feels fuzzy and disorientated. Where am I?

I try to sit up, but my body doesn't cooperate with my brain and I don't move at all, seeming immobilized.

The sound of footsteps reach my ears, and I panic, attempting to do anything, something to make sure I'm not in the enemy's hands.

"I..." My voice comes out throaty and breathless, like a frog's.

Someone laughs. I look up and my eyes find a girl with similar brunette hair twisted into a braid, and a bright, harmless smirk. In fact, she reminds me a little bit of Carmen and looks pretty familiar, with her dark eyes and hair. She looks so flawless, even without makeup, and hopefully any Edit, that it makes me feel ashamed of myself.

But then again, I'm perfect in my own way, and no one can take that away from me. There's that little spark in all of us, actually, that keeps on burning, that makes us different, and that spark makes us a star, something unique and special and amazing.

Sometimes, if we believe in ourselves and convince ourselves that we are as wonderful as we really are, that spark burns brighter, and soon enough, we come alive, we become somebody, we become perfect in our own eyes.

"Hello there," she offers me a hand, and I try to grab it, but I can't move.

She gently slips a hand beneath my back and helps me to a sitting position instead. Her touch isn't cold and venomous, it's comforting and almost motherly.

My head spins, and I almost collapse off the ramp of the pod that they've extended.

"Whoa there, let's get you inside," the girl says.

She's about to help me to my feet when I manage to choke out, "Who are you?"

The girl's features contort. "You don't need to know, and it's safer for you if you don't know either."

My heart rate speeds up.

The girl's eyes widen. "No, no, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not with Edit either, but it's just for safety reasons. I can't tell you why, but you have to trust me."

Trust is such a small word, and it's just as fragile, but it holds so much behind it. I don't even know how to trust me, furthermore others.

Still, I nod, and let her help me to my feet. My feet feel like they are clouds, missing and all over the place. My sense of balance is lost and I almost trip over my own feet.

"You okay?" The girl contorts her face.

"Yeah," I manage to breathe out. We limp slowly towards the opening of the pod.

Swiping her finger across a small panel, the pod door slowly opens, making a sucking sound as it opens, kind of like the sound of opening one of those antique refrigerators.

The pod is dark, only the lights of the control panel are glowing neon. Crates and boxes are all over the place, giving me the impression that whoever is on board either has a bad sense of tidiness, or is just too lazy.

"The kids are sleeping," the girl whispers, and I hear some movement. Immediately, my senses switch to hyperalert mode.

"Relax, it's me, guys," the girl murmurs, and a small boy, not more than ten, leaps out from behind a crate.

But the sudden movement isn't what makes me leap back and almost scream—not just out of the pain.

The boy's left side of his face is an unnatural shade of bright orange, and a bone-shade of white forms various cracks on his left cheek, spreading out towards his neck. It should be bleeding, but it's not. His left eye, consequently, is swollen shut.

The thing is, he doesn't even have eyes.

Skin is stretched over the place where his eye sockets should've been. He is bald and his arms are twisted at such an extreme angle that I think I may be sick.

"This is Terrick, a draft from Edit."

My heart stops.

He's a draft. A living, breathing draft.

Oh stars.

"How—"

"Hello," Terrick says, and I can't stand it anymore, I quickly attempt to fling the pod door open but it won't budge.

"What are you doing?" The girl rushes to my side to pry my hand away.

I rush to an empty bucket placed that I spot from the corner of my eye, and ungracefully throw up.

"Well." The girl laughs a little. "I'm not sorry, though."

After emptying my stomach I lean against a crate, crossing my fingers that another draft isn't hiding behind it, or worse, inside it.

Guess luck isn't on my side today.

"Echo?" Someone says from behind the box and I start, already moving away. But not fast enough.

A girl with pigtails emerges, looming over me like I'm in some freaky show where I'm a puppet and she's the master.

A scream tears its way out of my throat.

A thick, crimson liquid is dripping out of the girl's eyes whenever she blinks, and she only has stumps for hands. Her red pupils stare straight at me.

Time stops.

And then she screams too, loud and high and ground-shaking, and our shrill voices combined wake the other drafts up, it seems.

Oh no. What have I gotten myself into? I rush towards the pod door and start to bang on it as hard as I can, until I'm sure my knuckles will bleed. Tears are falling from my eyes to the ground. I need to get out of here. I can't erase the horrifying, terrible images from my vision. I swipe at my eyes and continue to try to smash the door into a million pieces.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait," the girl who'd helped me on board touches my arm.

Against my will, my hand falls from the door, and I am turned around. I squeeze my eyes shut, not willing to look at the drafts that are all analyzing me like I'm some science experiment.

"They—no, we—are completely harmless. We won't hurt you, we promise." The girl who just manipulated me into moving says.

I almost snort.

"Whisper, who's that?" Someone speaks, and I cringe at the voice, not wanting to know it belongs to.

The girl's name is Whisper.

"You guys don't need to worry. She's going to help us." Whisper gently says in her motherly form.

I wonder if she'd tricked them into trusting her.

The drafts cheer, and my breathing rate increases.

"Who are you, and why have you brought me here? Let me go, please," I beg, tears already stinging my eyes.

"Actually, if you think about it, you were the one who fell from the sky, thinking you could fly." Whisper laughs a little, but there's no humor behind it.

"Just let me go," I say, my voice cracking.

"But you're Amber Evans. And you're supposed to help us take Edit down. You know, you can open your eyes. The kids have left."

Slowly, I open my eyes, and find out, that indeed, that the drafts have disappeared. The wall of the pod seems too close for comfort now, and makes me feel claustrophobic.

"Or rather, really, they're just blocked from you. The wall's fake." Whisper sends me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for scaring you...and yeah, I shouldn't have them on board, but I couldn't just leave them there to die."

My head feels even worse now—hot and thick and stuffy. "What?" I mumble in my half-conscious state. The adreline rush from my previous attempt at escaping has already faded, and I don't think I can hold on for much longer.

Whisper doesn't miss this. "You should lie down," she suggests, but I wave her off dismissively.

"What's going on? I want—I need—to know." I argue when she pushes me to rest yet again.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Whisper reminds softly, and the phrase is so familiar, so old, so Chance that my heart swells.

"Whatcha have there?" I try to peek behind Chance to find out what exactly he's holding against his back. He's been teasing me about it for the whole morning already.

"Something." I snort at his answer, and a grin full of sunshine and love slips onto his face.

"Tell me," I insist, "it's my birthday."

"Have you ever heard of the phrase 'curiosity kills the cat', Amber?" Chance rolls his eyes.

"Nope, and I'm not in the mood for another one of your stupid tales." I huff, upset.

Chance smiles, not seeming offended. I think that's one of the things I love the most about him. He is pure resilience.

He slowly reveals the item and sets it on the ground.

It's a shoe box.

I stare at him blankly. "Really? And I thought it'd be something fun."

"Trust me, it is."

I just stare at him with what I hope looks like a bored face.

"Sure," I say, hoping he can sense the underlying sarcasm.

Chance chuckles, as I pop open the lid.

And then I go wild.

It's a brand-new sketchbook, with a set of pencils. To many people that's just lame, and trust me, I know, but one, it's from my best friend, and two, I'd seen it at the shop near school, and I'd wanted it, but my parents refused to give me any money, saying that drawing was a "waste of time and money and effort" and wouldn't do me any good.

They said that it was useless and I should just concentrate on my studies instead.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I launch myself into Chance's arms and he laughs, spinning me around before putting me down.

"By the way, I heard Troy prepared something for you too."

"What is it?" I ask, my eyes wide.

"Curiosity killed the cat, baby girl," Chance taps my nose.

And this time, I giggle and add on, "but satisfaction brought it back, Chance."

Never would I have ever known that it was something that could help me walk out of my deepest, worst times.

It was the same one that I had been using on the rooftop every evening after dinner. It was those rare days where I could express myself.

"I deserve to know, Whisper," I say, "I want to help to take Edit down."

"I know, but do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?" Whisper laughs bitterly. "People have been trying for ages, Amber Evans, and like you, they've been broadcasted all over the world. But they die. All of them do."

"You just told the kids—"

"I know what I told them. But they're young and can't think straight. The cruel reality is, in fact, that any rebels have no hope." Whisper snaps.

"And yet here you are." I reply.

Whisper stays silent.

"You're here because you believe that Edit doesn't have to be used. You're here because you've realized how amazing you are, and you want to change the world. You're here because you aren't afraid of anything anymore. You don't want to stay in the shadows. You're here, because you know who you are.

"And any rebel that gives up on the right thing...that's pathetic. But you aren't like that, Whisper. You are here, right here, right now, and you are helping these kids. You are saving their lives. So don't give up. Don't you dare." I say strongly.

And then Whisper's eyes glaze over, before she nods firmly.

"Let's do this."

This chapter is dedicated to shobnaametohtaken ghost_sprinter _hardcoreKid_ for their follows and support and all the amazing people who voted on the first few chapters. You guys mean the world to me.

Never ever give up on life, on yourself, on anything (I guess that's a pun XD and the message of this chapter).

Half the time we're just sitting there, telling ourselves we can't do anything. When was that ever true, remind me? We are all awesome people, you know. From the way we actually fight against our sleepiness and bother to get out of bed, to the way we confront our demons, we are all warriors in our little ways.

Yup, I know it's been a pretty long time since I've written, but hey I'm back! (And my exams are over=more frequent updates)

Hope everyone's having a beautiful day, and do feel free to PM me if you have something to vent. I'm always here.