Raising Hell

• Iris Landy, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2020

“Here’s your food Andrea.” One of the kinder guards, Kyle, says to me, placing the bread and apple into my cell. He’s always sneaking me extra food. I nod in return while picking both up. I look over my plain, bland cell. Stone, stone and more stone. The only non-stone area is where the bed is, if you could call it that much. It’s a paper thin mattress, held together by string and old fabric. Though, I really have no reason to complain. The other prisoners have it much worse. At least once a week I get some soup, not to mention, each day, on top of the bread, I get an apple, and if I’m well behaved, fortnightly I’m allowed outside. For a Natural Elemental, it’s pretty good treatment.

I remember life before King Noah made that terrible law. The law being, any person born with a natural element, were property of His Royal Highness. Two nights after he made that announcement, they burst in. The guards had come storming into my house, right when I was in the middle of dinner with my family, slaughtering all those who I was related to. My family had each been born with one of the average, common gifts, Heightened Speed, Strength or Agility. The Royals meanwhile, they have the rare power of Electricity. Their bloodline is very strong, only another Royal, if deemed powerful enough, can marry into their family. Whereas, I’m part of an elite group, the Natural Elemental. We are the rarest, the most powerfully gifted. We are those who can control Fire, Air, Earth or, like me, Water.

It’s been three years since that night. Three years being stuck in this cell. Once I get out of this place, I’m going to create Hell for those who mistreated all of us Elementals. No one in this Kingdom, other than me, knows what a Water Elemental can do. Four years ago, I realised that not only do I have control over water, I have control over ice too. This is a secret I’ve kept to myself. King Noah has locked away all Natural Elemetals; he knows that should he ever go to war with another Kingdom, he would play our card, and force us to fight.

Shocking me out of my thoughts, I hear my cell door opening. One of the harsher guards walks in followed by others. I’ve been here long enough to know that I shouldn’t try anything. I follow him out of my cell in silence. This is my least favourite part of the week. The excruciating torture. I wince when I see the whips. Just as I’m reaching the site, I hear arrows hitting the guards. All the guards surrounding me fall to the ground. I look up and meet the archer’s eye; it’s Kyle. I give him a slight smile. I then turn back to face the remainding guards. I smirk. With that I raise hell.