Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett

to go out were arrested.
     
    Eight Sisters flanked the path to the entryway. Two were Sisters who were more than friends. One was the-girl-with-the-curly-red-hair-that-was-slowly-turning-auburn. One was Stephanie the brave. One was Helen. One was the-girl-with-the-gray-eyes-who-didn’t-speak-too-much. One was the Mother. The last was Adrianne. A vigil in white flowing gowns. The drizzle steadily soaked through their clothing, the rain commingling with the water already on their faces.
    No one spoke. Adrianne couldn’t swallow as the van pulled up onto the wet cobblestone driveway. Helen and Adrianne’s clasped hands hidden behind their robes. The sound of the side door sliding open felt like a knife piercing her chest. The four climbed out in handcuffs, wearing only white slips, exposing all their shame, shivering. There was only one other thing a Sister could do that was worse than this.
    One of the four was Kimberly. Adrianne considered Kim a friend. They were not close, but still … Adrianne liked her. If only for a moment, their gazes met. Almost imperceptibly, Adrianne lifted her chin so that watching eyes wouldn’t notice. Kim nodded in return. They were led inside and taken to one of the sublevels below to await judgment.
    “What do you suppose they are going to do to them?” Helen whispered in a shaking voice once they reached their rooms upstairs.
    “I don’t know,” Adrianne said.
    “I read that they used to kill the girls who let the fire go out,” Stephanie said.
    “They won’t,” said the-girl-who-didn’t-talk-too-much. “They can’t … Can they?”
    “That was a long time ago, Steph,” Adrianne said.
    “It’s still possible,” Stephanie said. “In wartime, people take the fire very seriously.”
    “The storm was bad. It could have happened to any one of us,” Helen said.
    The simple truth was finally stated. There was a freedom to the life they led. They could go shopping at the best stores, eat at the finest restaurants, go into the most elegant establishments in town — all without charge. But it was an illusion. They belonged to the state, and their lives were subject to the whims of chance. A freak storm had occurred. The eternal flame had gone out. Someone had to pay. Someone had to be sacrificed.
    It was the middle of the night when the Sisters were finally ushered down the stairs, past the levels where their guards lived, to a floor that Adrianne had only heard about and had never actually seen. It was a humid, shadowy room lit with only candles. The Sisters formed a semicircle around four posts set in the middle of the floor. The wood looked new, as if cut recently.
    Adrianne did her best not to seem scared. She had to show that she agreed with the punishment or risk sharing in it herself. In her mind she was flying up the stairs, out the door, and into the woods above. She was running and running and running so fast no one could catch her. She was the wind. She could take flight.
    The four were unceremoniously dragged into the room. Thomas was one of the guards who dragged them to the posts. He looked up at Adrianne with fear in his eyes, even as he pulled at the struggling women. The guards tied them to the posts. The sounds of their whimpering tore at Adrian’s insides. I’ll fly away, O Lord. I’ll fly away …
    “ These did the most heinous thing any of us could do,” Mother said, letting her voice bounce off the high ceilings. “They let the light go out.”
    One of the girls shouted, “It was raining so hard!”
    Another, “We tried everything we could. …”
    Another, “Please …”
    Mother ignored their screams and said, “What is our duty? What is our most sacred duty?”
    The Sisters spoke in unison, an automatic response like a trained muscle instilled in their minds from childhood, “To keep the flame alight.”
    “Cover their mouths,” Mother said.
    “No, please, don’t —” one of them shouted, but no one would help. Everyone knew it. Even she