Winnie's Dreams

You hear rumours, but then again, we have nothing better to do than gossip. The world that I know isn’t like it was for our great-great ancestors. They apparently had “freedom.”

I don’t know much about what freedom means, only that I’m told it’s dangerous by our Gods. All the females have to stay together in this dark bunker; it’s safer this way. We don’t get much space of our own. Is that what freedom was? There are ten of us here, working, and we’ve been protected for a while now. It’s said that our ancestors couldn’t survive until the Gods showed them how to live. They were hunted down and killed. By following our Gods’ rules, we became safer and healthier.

I can’t complain about living in this bunker. It has everything I need. I have my friends, but we long to experience freedom.. the unknown itches at us. We spend our days working to earn our protection, and we spend each morning and evening in worship, a ritual I had grown up knowing. Blessing our Gods for the food we eat.

Our worship is more of a gathering, where we sing and dance together. It doesn’t seem too bad, right?

However, it does come with sacrifice. Our Gods will only protect us from harm if we give them our children in return.

I know many friends who refused, or who were unable to conceive with age, and were taken away. I don’t know where they go, but I hear the gossip and I feel the fear. I need to carry on to stay out of danger. However, I’m getting older, and I’m not sure I can keep living this way — worshipping the Gods who steal from me in exchange for this “safe” life.

The day is drawing to an end, and my shift is nearly done. We gather together and begin our prayers to the Gods. As we begin to sing, our Gods appear and light floods into the bunker.

“1… 2… 3… 4… …9… 10” I hear one say as he counts us, pleased that we are all here. He begins to gather up our sacrificed children, snatching them away from their mothers.

“Plenty of eggs too!” the other one says, as she sprinkles our food onto the hay and shuts the hatch -plummeting us into darkness once more.