Last Light Falling Read Online Free PDF Page A

contribute to their gluttonous ways.
    Just like Gabe, I have a heart for these people. I ask myself every day how any person has the right to judge someone before they even know them, but more than that, my brother will always remind me that we shouldn’t judge anyone at all.
    During the early years of the newly founded government, many Watchers were killed for just existing. This was the government’s way of intimidating people into thinking that if they worked hard, they would reap the rewards, and if they failed to contribute to society, they would be exterminated. It was also a message to those who questioned the philosophies of the nation’s new direction. America is no longer a great nation—it has become a mockery governed by spineless, godless, self-absorbed creatures.
    Poor or not, I’m proud of the name that was given to us and the heritage it derives from. I just lie quietly on the bed and soak up the silence for a minute. It’s so quiet and peaceful right now, I can hear the second hand clicking on the clock hanging above me, and every few seconds a robin perched outside by my window sings a tune. The silence almost immediately evaporates as my brother’s clogging feet rumble up the stairs. I never have to worry about Gabe trying to sneak up on me. I can hear his heavy shuffling a hundred feet away.
    There is a surprising knock at my door, yet I know it can’t be Gabe because manners isn’t necessarily a quality trait he subscribes to. “Come in,” I say softly.
    “Hey, Scrapes,” Niki says with a smile.
    Scrapes was a nickname my father gave me when I was a kid. Judging by the name, apparently I skinned my knees quite often. I had no fear of getting cut, bruised, or scraped. It was one of the first things I ever shared with Niki. I was shy when we were taken in, and it was her presence and gentleness that bonded us. I knew whenever she called me by that name she had something important to share with me.
    “I have something I want to give you,” she says. She walks over to the bed and sits next to me just like my mother did when she comforted me after I had a bad day at school.
    “Here, I want you to have this,” Niki says. “It’s a friendship bracelet my sister, Grace, wore. I have one just like it. We got these a year before she died, and it was our special way of knowing we had each other’s back.”
    Speechless, I hesitate a little from accepting the gift because of what it means to Niki.
    “Thank you, I shall never take this off my wrist,” I say as a tear tries to escape from my eye.
    “I know we are not biological sisters, but it doesn’t matter to me. You’re my little sister no matter what, and I will always love you.”
    I know how much Grace meant to her. I know deep inside she somehow blames herself for letting Grace go alone to the shelter that day. The tear that was hanging on for dear life scurries down my cheek. I hug Niki and don’t want to let go. I want to feel like this for eternity.
    “Hey, you’re fifteen now. I’m not going to let you go to your first day of high school without something new to wear,” says Niki joyfully. She pulls out a colored sack from behind her back, and I excitedly look through its contents. It’s a brand-new black skirt and shirt lined with tiny diamond sequins, and a pair of black boots with laces and buckles. These boots were made for me. They look like something I would hunt in, and yet they have a girlish appeal. This must have set her points back a little, because the boots alone must have cost her 100 credits.
    “I have to go to work now, but I will be back tonight,” Niki says.
    “I don’t know what to say … you have done so much for me. Thank you, sister.” As I hug her once more before she leaves, I know right then that God placed Gabe and me here with this family for a reason.
    “Arena,” says Daniel, coming up the stairs, “we are leaving for the library in about ten minutes; I’ll go tell your brother. Oh, and, uh,