• Silently I crept into the quiet, dark, barren room. I could hear the silence of entry hung in the air like a cat stalking its prey. The blood slash curtains held my eye for a moment. The events that took place around the curtains screamed at me like a prisoner being tortured, because that’s just what happened in her. People got torture or killed. Just being in the room was overwhelming and the memories of being in this room began flooding back into my head.
    I had been in line next to her mother listening to the quiet cries of people outside the building as their loved ones were taken away from them. The guards marched us all up the stairs two at a time. When it was mothers and my turn to go up I could feel the hard, cold wood on my bare feet chill me right to the bone. They took shoes away from us because our captors saw it as a luxury to have shoes. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs I was roughly scooped up off the ground by some unknown person. Looking for my mom I saw in a conversation with one of the guards. When she finally saw me in the arms of a person I couldn’t see she hurried over to me and in a hushed voice whispered, “Emily, the necklace is the key to winning, remember that.” Flipping the necklace over she showed me a little secret opening, “This is the real key hole,” She told me.
    I could see the fear in mom’s eyes. I didn’t want to think about it, but I got the feeling that mom wasn’t going to be alive in a few minutes. “They are almost all up here,” The guard whispered. The person who was holding me quickly walked towards the wall and opened a secret trap door and pushed me inside and shut the door quickly.
    “What’s going on,” a rough voice yelled as silence fell over the group. Silence fell over the group so deep that even though it was pitch black in the secret compartment that I was in, I could almost feel them put their heads down. “Everyone back in line now,” I listened as everyone shuffled back in to line without even making a slight sound other than the soft steps they took on the matted carpet. A gasp escaped my mouth as the door to the death chamber slammed shut.
    Silently lifting the door up, I climbed out of the hole. Silently I tip toed towards the door where my mother had been taken into. Placing her head up against the cold, hard wood door and listened to the warden speaking, “For crimes against The Silence you will be put to death.”
    I could hear the bored droning of the warden as he read out the “crimes” they had committed and why they were being sentenced to death. Each person in the group that had just gone into the room had been part of the rebellion and the warden knew that.
    The warden had said something about The Silence. I’ve heard that somewhere before Emily thought but where. Shaking the thought out of her head Emily listened again. Then I heard something that made her heart stop; it was my mom’s turn. I could hear her footsteps as she walked towards the center of the room where the executions take place.
    “Don’t bother with the charges,” She said proudly. “I am part of the rebellion that was formed to stop the United States government.”
    “You won’t be able to stop us,” the warden said. “The Silence was made to stop this kind of stuff from happening.” The warden let out a laugh that sounded so cruel and filled with so much hatred that it could have peeled the paint off the walls. “The Silence will last forever, after I am dead.”
    “So will we,” she spoke again. Raising her voice said cried, “The Voice of Reason shall go on forever also even after you kill me, the leader of The Voice of Reason.” Simultaneously everybody in the room started to chant in a steady beat “VOICE OF REASON, VOICE OF REASON, VOICE OF REASON.”
    Through the chanting of all the people in the room I heard a shot fired and thump and I knew my mom was dead. The whole world began to spin around me. I stood there listening through the door. He shot my mother and now she is dead. Turning around I ran to the stairs as quietly as I could. I got halfway to the stairs when the toes of my foot caught the ground and I tripped. I feel with a thud that seemed to echo all around her. Standing back up I looked down to the ground and my heart sank. My mom necklace had been at the chain and now we are all doomed.
    Forcing myself out of the memories I began my search for the only thing I had ever cared about since my mothers’ death. Standing in the middle of the room I began to spin in a circle looking for any object in the room. A dresser, a couch or even a chair, but there was nothing. This room was as barren and empty as a desert. Falling to the ground I began to cry. I had lost the one thing my mother had to me to keep safe. The necklace was gone forever and now the rebellion is doomed to lose. I have failed everyone. I was trusted to end this war and the only thing I can end is the search for the necklace but on a bad note. I had sat in the middle of the room with tears running down my cheeks for what seemed like hours before I stood up again. I had decided to do another spin around the room again just in case I missed something.
    “Oh wow how could I have missed that?” I cried softly. I somehow missed the chair that now sat between the curtains with a single ray of light shining down onto the center of the cushion. Walking up to the chair I looked at the velvety blue cushion and began to cry again. There in the center of the wonderful, clean chair sat my moms’ necklace. Like a wonderful gift from God I snatched the necklace up and turned around and confidently walked back towards the door when a thought occurred to me. The chair was clean, how could he chair be clean if it had been there the whole time. It should either be dusty, bloody or most likely both instead of clean. Which means that chair wasn’t before which also means. I spun around mid thought and sure enough someone was sitting in that chair, and not just anyone. It was the warden sitting there with a smug grin on his face. I could feel the rage building up in my body. He killed my mother and didn’t even say boo about it.
    “So you got this far without alerting any guards or setting off any traps did you?” He asked sarcastically. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe we let you in?” He laughed.
    It felt like a weight had dropped in my stomach. No wonder I had made it in without seeing a guard. Staring at the man I had noticed something around his wrist. It was a tiny key one that would go to a locket or necklace.
    The warden must have seen me looking at the key because he pulled his sleeve over it. “The key won’t go to the locket, I’ve already tried that,” He said chuckling to what he thought was my foolishness.
    I need to get that key she thought. Charging at the warden who was sitting in the chair I sprang at him. Perfect I thought he raised the wrist that the key was around to protect his face. Slipping her fingers around the key she ripped it off his wrist the thread that held it there broke like someone stepping on a twig. Running towards the door I ran as fast as she could towards the stairs. I got about halfway there when I tripped and fell to the floor. This is the same exact place that I tried on before when I lost the necklace I thought. Looking back I saw a piece of wood sticking out of the wall. So that is what tripped me the first time I thought.
    “We knew you were out here then and we knew you were going to come back again to get the necklace Emily,” The warden said walking out of the room.
    Flipping the locket over, I opened the tiny hatch and shoved the key in. I felt overjoyed when I heard the successful click of the locket latch opening. The war is finally going to be overI thought. Looking inside the locket all I saw was a picture of my mom, my father and me as a baby. My mom made a mistake how can a picture end a war. Looking at the warden I saw he was standing in front of me with a gun. I’m going to dieI thought, at least I get to see my mom smiling one last time. I looked my father again then my eyes shot back up to the warden. “It can’t be!” I cried. “No you can’t be the man in this picture.” I threw my locket at him and backed up as quickly as I could towards the wall.
    Leaning down the warden picked up the locket and his face went from smug to horror. Walking over to me he threw the gun at me feet and getting on his knees he looked at me. “I’m sorry Emily,” He spoke quietly tears running down his face. Grabbing his walkie talkie he spoke into it, “Stop this war with The Voice of Reason, they’ve won.
    Standing up I grabbed the gun and pointed it at my own father.