Risa Megan Ward

The story of how Risa Ward came to be named

In the world of Ohio State Home 23, there is a fine line between being watched and being a watcher. About two years, really. Once you're nine there's not so much supervision, with an adult or a teenager or two watching over the crowds of kids to make sure nobody gets killed. Not getting killed is pretty much the best thing you can say if you're a ward of the state- until you turn thirteen, that is. Then you're considered lucky to make it out in one piece.

When you're eleven or so, you begin to earn your keep, whether that be watching over the vast hordes of young ones, working in the kitchen or cleaning around the building. For Opal and Megan, they worked in the nursery, with rows and rows of crying babies in identical steel cribs. Babies were only known by their numbers and identification bracelets until somebody bothered to get around to naming them. That was generally every other Sunday, when a computer generator spat out random names. The nurses and older children could name them if they so pleased, but there was never a spare moment for themselves, let alone taking time and consideration into naming every poor soul in their care. Everyone was too busy running around, trying to feed hungry infants.

Opal and Megan were best friends, and considered themselves sisters, as they were only born four days apart (Or so they assume. Newborns abandoned were just given the day they were brought in as their date of birth). Opal used to be a nameless, crying face in the nursery, but Megan was brought in as a four year old when her mother overdosed. They stuck together growing up, and they vowed to stay like that for as long as they both shall live. Wedding vows for best friends.

"Opal! Bring them up for naming!" barked Nurse Hayley. Opal could tell that she was young, but the stress of working at a StaHo got to all of the nurses, even the painfully sweet-natured and religiously devout.

Walking up to Nurse Hayley and Nurse Anna, she passed Megan, who held a tiny girl in her arms.

"Say hello to Lenora Lauren," Megan said, lifting up the baby's arm to wave.

Opal smirked. "Better name than Megan."

"It's way better than Opal. Seriously, what a stupid name. Anyway, grab the sweet little guy who sleep next to her. Time for a naming!" her friend said as she placed Lenora back down in her crib. "Night-night, Nora."

Opal reached her arms down in the next crib, which held an umber boy who made gurgling noises when picked up. Poor little ones, starving for attention and love. As she walked over to where the nurses were, she held the boy in her arms close to her chest, wanting to give him the feeling of love that was so scarce for her growing up.

"Hand him over," ordered Nurse Anna, not so much unkind as overworked. The nurse checked the tag on his small wrist- Number M-178-C. Typing it out on the ancient, slow computer, his name came up on the screen.

"Felix Gregory Ward," she read in a monotone, marking the name on the boy's armband. "Now, hurry up and bring up the others."

The girl held Felix close to her, praying to whatever God there is to look over him. He's just a helpless, doomed kid who has no future, just the present, she thought. So she hold him close for a few seconds too many, know that's all he'll ever get.

She finally put him down, and reached over to pick up the crying baby in the crib next to Felix. "Hush, little one," she said soothingly, knowing that there is every reason to cry.

By the time evening came, Opal Justine was exhausted. She had helped out with Nathan Oscar, Marie Paige, Isla Kristin, Samson Bradley and countless others. She finally finished feeding and changing the infants she had been assigned to and went off to her own dinner in the dining hall. Megan spotted her and called her over to the seat she had saved for her.

"Hey, Megan Rose," Opal said in their traditional naming day fashion. "Thanks for grabbing me dinner. Or whatever this is," she said, looking down at what is supposedly chili and cornbread.

Even though the meal was questionably edible, Opal rushed through it. She was starving after working all Sunday and couldn't seem to eat fast enough.

Halfway through the meal, she glanced up and saw her best friend staring at Jonah, a boy with straight dark hair and a perpetual grin. He was sitting at the next table, laughing at something one of his friends said.

"Crushing on Jonah, much?" Opal asked bashfully. Megan blushed, mortified.

"No, no, just… just staring off into space."

"I didn't know space happened to be where Jonah sits," Opal teased.

"Okay, okay. I really like him," Megan confessed. "Like really, really like him. He's just so funny and happy and great."

Megan's best friend gave a sly smile before shouting over the cafeteria's din. "Hey, Jonah!"

He looked up from his group of friends. Opal beckoned him over with a wave of her hand.

"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?" whispered Megan forcefully as he approached.

"Hey Opal, hey Megan," Jonah greeted them as he reached their table. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just thought you should know my friend Megan over here has a crush on a certain somebody."

Jonah's eyes lit up. "Really? Would I happen to know him?"

"You happen to be him."

Megan looked up from the ground to give Opal a death stare. Turning towards Jonah, she stammered. "Yeah, I think I like you…" she trailed off.

"Well, I think I like you, too." Jonah said, smiling stupidly. "Wanna hang out in the courtyard after dinner?"

"She'd love to!" Opal said in place of her speechless friend. "She'll meet you there around eight."

"Cool. See ya, Meg!" Jonah said, turning back to where his friends sat. No doubt they'd tease him about the date.

"Opal?" Megan asked her once Jonah was out of earshot.

"Yeah?"

"I hate you. A lot."

Opal smiled. "Love you too."

As soon as Megan finished her last bite of cornbread, Opal dragged her to their dormitories and started getting her ready. She French braided her hair and went around to the other girls, borrowing and trading clothes until Megan had a proper outfit for her and Jonah's first date. It was a white-collared shirt with blue high top shorts. The shorts were Serena's, who was bigger, so they borrowed Annalise's oversized, stud covered brown belt. Even the girls in the dorm they hardly talked to came over and agreed that Megan looked great. Just as she was about to go out, Marcella came over and handed over her silver necklace, with an metallic "M" in cursive writing, telling her, "Jonah's a lucky guy."

Megan just smiled nervously. "Thanks, Marcella."

"No problem. Just be sure to tell us everything when you get back. And I mean everything." Marcella said, raising her eyebrows.

Opal and the others watched as the dolled-up girl walked out the door and down the endless hallway.

"She's so gorgeous," Serena said softly as Megan grew further and further away. "But she'd be nothing without my shorts."

They laughed, and then group scattered, a few off hanging out with their own friends or going out with their own boyfriends, but most just sitting on their bunks in the sparse, overcrowded dormitory.

Just before the 11:00 lights out, Megan snuck back into the dorm. They weren't supposed to be out passed ten, so it was a wonder that she made it back without being caught. The other girls were was already dressed for bed, but almost everyone crowded around her to hear how it went.

"How was it?" Annalise inquired as soon as Megan passed through the door.

"Did you kiss?" Janet asked, leaning towards Megan.

"Did you do it?" Katrina asked.

"Trina!" Annalise exclaimed. "You don't just ask people that!"

"Don't blame me for being curious!" Katrina said. "I mean, we all remember when Marcella and Eddie-"

"Oh my God, that was one time!" Marcella interrupted, turning red. "Anyway, let's just talk about Megan and her hook up"

"Come on guys, we didn't hook up. Honestly, we've been dating since dinner and you expect us to be sleeping together?"

"Well, tell us what happened then!" yelled Serena from across the room.

"It was really, well, nice. We walked around the courtyard, a little talking, a little flirting. He snuck some food from the kitchen, since he's part of the after-dinner clean-up. It was a lot of fun."

"C'mon, tell us if you kissed!" Janet begged.

A sly smile crept onto Megan's face. "I don't kiss and tell," she said.

"You kissed!" Opal gleefully blurted out. Up until this outburst, she had kept quiet, just wanting to hear whatever Megan said about her date, and not be part of the stampede demanding details. She was glad that her matchmaking skills paid off.

"Yeah, we kissed. It was great," admitted Megan "It was really, really great"

"What's the big deal, though?" Katrina asked. "It's not like she's the first or last girl in here to be kissed. I mean, Marcella got to third base when she was like, ten?"

"Hey!" Marcella shrieked indignantly. "I was twelve!"

"Barely," Katrina muttered. "Anyway, it's not my business. I just want to hear about Megan's date."

Opal rolled her eyes. Katrina always had to bring somebody down.

The girls gathered in a circle around Megan's bunk, wanting to hear about her love story. Usually, the group of 20 girls who were roomed together were for the most part indifferent to each other, but tonight they all wanted to hear about Jonah Vincent Ward.

Every little detail Megan said resulted in a flurry of "awwws" from the group of girls- the group that had to scurry to their beds when supervisors from the hall entered, demanding that they quiet. But once they were alone they all went back to Megan, wanting to hear how everything ended.

The detail that stood out to Opal the most was Jonah speaking about Megan's smile- or sonrisa, as he put it.

"Why the Spanish?" Annalise asked.

"That's the thing he's best at, language. He's in like, the most advanced Spanish class. He picks it up really fast," Megan said. "He told me that I have the most beautiful sonrisa he'd ever seen. I could tell it wasn't him just joking around and being flirty. He really thinks that. Honestly, hearing him say that was the best thing in the world."

"But Meg, you're awful at Spanish. You hate it." Opal reminded her friend.

"Not the way Jonah speaks it. His words just make sense. Like, I can tell exactly what he's saying, even though I can't understand the individual words."

By then, it was late and everyone was tired. It was Monday tomorrow, and they all had classes and work to go to. They went to bed for real this time, falling asleep with a dream of a perfect date already in their heads.

The room was finally quiet, but Opal opened her eyes and saw Megan awake on the bed next to her.

"Hey," she said quietly. Megan looked over, her eyes bright with the future.

"Hey, Pal," she said, using their ages old nickname. "What's up?"

"Just wondering if you actually, really like him."

Usually, Megan would reply with a snarky response dripping in sarcasm, but she was too happy and energetic to act like she didn't care. "Yeah. A lot."

Opal gave a huge, goofy grin. "That's great, Meg. I bet the two of you will fall in love and get married and escape this hellhole- bringing along your best friend, of course."

The corners of Megan's mouth began to turn upwards against her better judgment. "A girl can dream."

"You'll get married- I'll be the maid of honor, of course- and you'll live happily ever after with ten beautiful babies."

The smile disappeared from Megan's face as soon as the word "babies" was uttered. "No," she said forcefully. "I won't have kids. Ever."

The sudden change in her demeanor shocked Opal. Sure, she'd heard all of her best friend's rants on the unwanted babies, on how they suffered so much and so many of them were to be unwound.

"I'll never have kids. I mean, look at all of the suffering the kids here go through. What we've gone through. How could you bring life into the world only to have it be irreparably broken?

Well, that killed the mood, Opal thought. Megan had an intense look in her eyes, an aged feeling that every single ward of the state knew. They all had grown up too fast. This night was one of the few nights when they had been, well, normal teenaged girls.

"Okay, okay." Opal thought of a new future for a moment. "How 'bout you and Jonah and I and whoever I end up with become superheroes and fight crime and injustice and help the StaHo kids?"

Megan still wasn't laughing. "Face it, Opal. When have StaHo kids ever done anything good? We make it to eighteen if we're lucky, and then what? Nothing, that's what. We're just the unloved, unwanted rejects."

"But you're not a StaHo kid," insisted Opal, trying to keep her voice quiet in the night. "You weren't born here like the rest of us. You're from out there- the real world. And you know what life's like, out there."

"I have exactly one memory of the outside world, and you know what that is? Finding my mom on the floor, not breathing. Then I got dumped here. That's all I remember about life outside of this StaHo. The rest of the world isn't some magical place were all of your problems are fixed."

Opal reached her arm across to try to comfort her friend, but Megan pulled away. "Meg, just think about right now. You've got me, you've got Jonah, and you've got the girls in the bunk."

Megan didn't reply, and silence filled up the world once more. Opal knew Megan was still awake, but didn't bother her. Maybe the future was just a continuation of the tragedy StaHo kids knew. It probably was. But why should that stop them from living life?

The next months trudged on with the same schoolwork, mostly edible meals and work in the nursery. Megan did become happier and more optimistic, spending her time with Jonah. Opal and her dorm-mates would stay up sometimes, talking or doing work on their own, and then hush down when Megan snuck back in long after curfew. They pressed for details ("Did you do it yet?" Marcella would ask) but Megan rarely gave answers. She'd only smile and play matchmaker, pairing the repulsive Julian with Annalise, or Katrina with Hal, a bully who'd been in so many fights it was surprise he hadn't been dragged off for Unwinding yet. All the girls would shudder at the names Megan would playfully throw out, but Janet surprised everyone when she actually picked up the courage to ask out the loner and suspected drug dealer Franklin.

"You do know I paired you up as a joke, right?" Megan clarified when Janet mentioned that she'd asked him out.

"Yeah but he's nice, he really is. Plus we work together cleaning the cafeteria on the weekend, and he's super helpful."

"I thought he was a pothead."

Janet shrugged. "Probably. But none of the teachers suspect him, so it's not a big deal."

Opal still wasn't convinced. "If he's so great, then why does he not, like, interact with other human beings at all?"

Janet shrugged again. "Ask him. But we're going to hang out tomorrow. You're not the only one who can get a boyfriend, Megan!"

Months later, it was another day, another afternoon in the nursery. Holding the week-old Lyle Daniel in one arm, she waved to Megan across the room. Megan, however, didn't wave back. She looked exhausted and ill, even though she'd been getting plenty of sleep these last few weeks.

Still clutching the small child, Opal walked over to her friend, concerned. "Meg? You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm… fine." She said hesitantly. "I'm fine."

"Megan, you look awful-"

"I'm fine!" she snapped, irritable and overworked. "I just need to get this stupid work over with so I can get the hell out of here."

"Okay, okay, calm down." her friend said, turning away. Opal resolved to leave her alone and not even think about her until the shift was over. "I don't know what her problem is," she said to the baby in her arm, whose response was wailing.

"Shift's over. Get off to dinner," announced Nurse Hayley later that evening. She was sitting at her desk, tending to a colicky child.

When it was meal time again, Opal put down Jaime Elena Ward and went off to the cafeteria. She had seen Megan leave a few minutes earlier, so she was probably sitting with Jonah. An empty spot was found with Serena and Katrina, who were talking about what they'll do once they age out of the StaHo at eighteen. It was over two years away, but who wouldn't want to escape?

"I'm telling you, 'Rena, being a pilot must be the best job." Katrina said before shoveling overcooked rice in her mouth.

"Good luck getting into flight school." Serena said, bemused. "But if we're talking about impossible dream jobs, I'd love to be President. I'd deport whoever cooked this crap."

"For some reason, I don't think government works like that." Opal said skeptically, putting her tray down next to them. "But I'd be your Vice President and would totally support you in your rice-banning crusade."

"Hey, where's Megan?" Katrina asked. It was truly a rare site, seeing Opal and Megan apart. A little less rare nowadays, since Jonah swept Megan off her feet, but still unusual.

Opal shrugged. "Dunno. She left before me."

"Probably making out with Jonah" Serena teased, emphasizing his the first syllable in his name.

"Do you think a sixteen year old boy- especially one as tall as Jonah -would miss out on dinner?" questioned Katrina. "Like, Megan's pretty, but not pretty enough to make a boy forget to eat."

"Apparently not, seeing as he's walking towards us now."

Jonah approached the table, alone. "Hey, guys, have you seen Risa?" he said, calling her by her pet name.

"No, we though she was with you." Serena answered.

"Then where is she?" Jonah asked.

Opal searched for a logical answer. "She was acting weird before. Maybe she's in the infirmary."

She wasn't.

The first thing Opal saw when she had returned to her dorm was Megan sitting on her bed, her hair obscuring her face. She looked like she had seen a ghost, her arms crossed around her body.

"Meg!" she said, rushing over to her bedside like Megan was on her final breath. "Meg, what's wrong?"

She looked up at Opal, who saw her eyes. They didn't hold the happiness of a teenager in love for the first time. They didn't hold the vision of a girl who wanted to escape the prison of Ohio State Home 23. Her eyes were wild with fear and desperation.

"Not here," she said under her breath. "We'll talk out in the courtyard."

Megan grabbed her hand, dragging her out into the hallway.

Worst-case scenarios began to flash through Opal's mind as her friend remained silent. "Meg, tell me what's wrong. You're starting to freak me out."

Once again, Megan stayed silent and didn't say anything, just pushing open the door to the courtyard. It was a concrete covered stretch of land, with a jungle gym on one side. Young kids were crawling on top of it, jumping off and chasing each other.

"Megan, I swear if you don't tell me what the hell is going on-"

"Opal… it's bad. It's really, really bad."

"Tell me!" her sister in everything but blood whispered frantically. She knew that whatever was about to be said, it wasn't something for the entire StaHo population to hear.

"I don't know why she had it. I mean she's in charge of babies, for God's sake." Megan rambled. She always did his when nervous. "But I snuck in there and grabbed a test from the medical supplies, and it's positive and I don't know what to do."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

Megan looked up, her eyes one tear drop away from overflowing. "I'm pregnant."

Opal's jaw dropped open. This can't be true, thought Opal. Megan can't be pregnant. Don't they know what they do with pregnant girls? They send them off to a StaHo designed for "special cases" and keep them there until the baby's born, then they're unwound. This can't be happening. Especially to my Megan, the girl who loves the unloved so much but would never bring an innocent child into this world.

"D-Does Jonah know?" Opal asked shakily, once she can form a coherent sentence.

"No, and please don't tell him. They unwind the dads of the babies, too. I can't let anything happen to him. I love him."

"You can't hide it, though. You'll start to show in a couple months, and then what? You'll barely be sixteen, so they'll send you two off. And where will the baby go? Right back here to a StaHo."

"This is why I never wanted a baby!" Megan broke down, sobbing into Opal's shoulder. "I never wanted something I already love so much already to suffer like this. Why was I so stupid? I'm just so stupid!"

Opal wrapped her arms around her best friend, her sister. Megan held back just as tight, knowing that things will never be the same for them ever again.

"I'm getting rid of it," she whispered.

"What?" Opal said, shocked. She let her friend go in disbelief. "You just said that you love it!"

"Too much to let it suffer. It's better this way, trust me."

Opal looked into Megan's eyes once again. They didn't hold the future the teenager had always dreamed of, but of a mother's love for a child she will never hold, and determination to do what she believed was the right thing.

"If anyone finds out…"

"They won't," she promised. "If everything goes right, things will get back to normal. No one will suspect anything"

"But how?" her best friend asked.

"There's medicine that will get rid of the baby if I take too much of it. I can sneak it from storage, if I'm lucky."

"No, it's too dangerous." Opal protested. If Megan was caught, she'd be sent away that night.

"I don't have a choice! If the baby is born they'll test who the father is! And then he'd be unwound. I can't let that happen!"

Even though deep down, Opal knew that this was the only way for Megan to save herself and Jonah, her heart was shattering, seeing the only person who she ever loved broken down by this. She wished that the threat of unwinding didn't hang in the air, that Megan's child would be born and held and loved by its parents. She wished that the damn StaHo would burn to the ground and that they'd all be free of its walls. She wished that Megan didn't have to do this.

They were silent for a while, watching the young kids on the playground.

"You know, this is where Jonah and I had our first date," Megan said softly, her head still turned away from Opal

The only reply was children's screams in the background.

It was the middle of the night when Megan snuck out. The other girls were asleep, trapped in their own dreams while Megan was awake in her nightmare. Opal was under her covers with eyes opened wide; she couldn't sleep but was forced to lie in bed. Megan point-blank refused to let Opal risk helping her.

"If this doesn't work, I'm doomed, Jonah's doomed, and the baby's doomed." Megan reasoned. "I need to him to live. I'd rather get caught and unwound alone than with you."

Opal listened as Megan quietly escaped her bed and shuffled out. She paused for a moment, and leaned over Opal's seemingly sleeping body. She leaned over and kissed Opal's forehead. A farewell, just in case.

Her eyes flew open. "I love you," Opal breathed, nearly inaudible.

Megan didn't respond, just giving one last lingering look before slipping out the door on her desperate mission to save Jonah.

Opal must have finally drifted into unconsciousness because she was woken up by shouting. The fluorescent lights flickered on as adults stormed into the room.

"Everybody up!" a stern woman bellowed. "Out of bed! Now!"

As she was being roused out of bed, Opal realized what must have happen. Her heart shattered in an instant, knowing that this could only mean one thing: that Megan was caught. Now she, Jonah and the baby were doomed.

When her eyes adjusted to the lights, Opal saw who the woman is. She was the Head Night Guard, an intimidating gray-haired woman with scars on her face- from battles or skin grafts from unlucky Unwinds, nobody knew.

All the girls in the dorm were roused out of bed, confused and terrified. Nobody but Opal noticed that there were only 19 of them assembled in the line.

"Who was the father of Megan's child?" demanded the woman.

Shocked gasps come from every girl. "Megan's pregnant?" Annalise said in a hushed tone.

"Was," the Night Guard spoke briskly. "She ingested stolen medicine to kill the child within her. She was caught, but it was too late to save the child. She murdered her own baby.

"Now, tell me." the woman said threateningly. "Who fathered Megan's child?"

Not one of the girls spoke up. They all remained silent, knowing what would happen to Jonah if they betrayed him.

"Tell me, or all of you will regret this! Tell me this instant."

Nobody spoke.

The Night Guard grew angrier with the lined up girls. She grabbed the girl closest to her, Marcella, and shouted in her face, "I know you know! Tell me who he is!"

Marcella is screaming, "Let go of me, you old bitch-"

"Ronald!" Opal shouted fearfully. "Megan, she was dating Ronald but he turned eighteen last month and left." She had chosen the name off the top of her head, remembering how Jonah had mentioned his friend had aged out of the system.

The Night Guard let go of the struggling Marcella, snarling, "Let that be a lesson to all you girls! Never trust boys. And especially, never trust older boys. They will leave you with nothing."

The woman turned to leave, her guards following her to the door.

"Wait!" Janet cried out. "What's going to happen to Megan?"

"You know the penalty," one of the guards replied, turning around to face them. He looked almost apologetic as he shrugged, "Unwinding."

He left, shutting the door behind him. Everyone stood in stunned silence, before Annalise began to wail.

"No," she cried. "No, this isn't okay!" she started to sob, slumping down on the floor. "This can't be happening! Megan can't be gone!"

Marcella put her arms around her, and soon they were all in a huddled mass, 19 girls crying over the 20th. Many of the girls didn't ever talk to Megan, and hardly knew her. But they all shared an invisible bond, especially since none of their group had been unwound before.

Katrina pulled Opal into an embrace. "I'm sorry," she whispered in her ear. "I am so, so sorry."

In that moment, Opal didn't remember the fact that Katrina always brought everyone down and constantly stirred up trouble. Because right then, in her moment of need, Katrina was there for her. When her own sister couldn't be.

The group of girls had been lying there for what could have been minutes or hours when a realization dawned upon them.

"Jonah," Serena said. "Oh God, is he gonna be alright?"

Opal had completely forgotten about him in her own grief. "He doesn't know," she said slowly. "I have to tell him. Right now."

Opal burst out of the room, the sound of her running echoing down the abandoned hallway. If she had been thinking rationally, she would have realized how dangerous this was. But nothing was stopping her in her grief. Opal made it to Jonah's dorm, where he was asleep, unaware of the nightmare he was about to wake up to.

She burst into the room Megan had shown her many months ago. "Jonah!" she yelled into the room of sleeping boys. "Where is he?"

From the corner of the room, a sleepy boy sat up in bed. "Opal?" he said, rubbing his eyes. "Opal, what the hell? What are you even doing here?"

"They took her," was all Opal managed to get out. The other boys were staring at each other in confusion, wondering why a screaming girl was in their dorm before the sun has even risen.

"What?" Jonah said in confusion, still half-asleep. His face fell when he realized what Opal meant. "Risa?" he croaked, standing up shakily.

"She got caught and they'll Unwind her. She did it to save you."

His eyes were wide open, terrified. "She's gonna be Unwound?"

Opal took a deep breath. "Megan was pregnant. She got caught when she killed it."

Jonah collapsed where he stood. Two of his friends run up to help him off the floor, but he was already destroyed. His sonrisa would be dismembered and broken up within days, a child he never even knew about was gone, and he never got to say goodbye-

"Jonah, we need to find her. Right now." Even as empty and shattered as they both felt in that moment, Opal knew they need to get to her, now. Neither would ever be able to even think of recovering from the heartbreak, but this was their last chance to say I love you.

She managed to pull Jonah onto his feet and through the door. Anguished shock coursed through their blood. The rest of the world was fast asleep, while the two teenagers rushed through Ohio State Home 23 complex. Their feet ran despite the pain growing in every step closer to Megan.

Megan was being held in the front of the huge StaHo building, and the two reached the hallway outside of it in record time. The transport center was always well guarded, considering many of the wards were due to be shipped to the nearest harvest camp.

In the early morning hours, a guard stood posted at the entrance, holding a gun loaded with Tranq Bullets close to his body. There was no getting around him. Opal looked to Jonah, unsure of how they were going to get to say their goodbyes, but the boy stepped out from the shadows to face the guard.

"Aaron?" he said unsurely.

The guard, Aaron, looked up. "Jonah? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Who's that?" Opal whispered, confused. How could Jonah know the guard?

"I used to be a ward, but I landed a job once I turned eighteen a few months ago," Aaron answered. "Guess I'll never leave this hellhole. Anyway, what are you two going here?"

"My girlfriend is here-"

"That girl they brought in tonight?" Aaron cut him off, horrified. "Oh God, that's the girl you're in love with, Joe? Oh my God."

Jonah couldn't speak, as he was on the verge of a breakdown. "I- I… yeah. Risa. Just let us in. Please." He begs.

Aaron gave a quick, furtive glance down either end of the endless hallway. Deserted. He unlocked the door and ushered the two into the center, consisting a long corridor with cells leading off of it. Not all of the kids in here were destined for harvest camps, rather military bases or perhaps new foster families, but most of the souls in here knew they wouldn't be whole for much longer.

The guard stops on the third door on the right, groping for the right key. He unlocked the rusted door, which creaked eerily open in the silence.

Megan was there, lying on the ancient bed in the corner. She sat up as soon as she caught sight of the them, and gave one of the last genuine smiles of her life. At least while her mouth was still in her body.

"Sonrisa!" Jonah practically shouted, running towards her.

"Shh!" Aaron whispered frantically, looking up and down the hallway for anyone who might have heard. "If anyone catches us, we're all dead."

But Jonah and Megan paid no attention to Aaron, who had already stepped outside and shut the door. There were three left in the cinderblock cell, but the two would-be parents were already holding each other close, oblivious to the world outside of them.

"We- we have a baby?" Jonah said, his voice shaky. He reached down to stroke Megan's belly, but she flinched away.

"She's gone now. To a better place."

He looked up at Megan. "She?"

Megan nodded. "I've been in here for a while, alone with my thoughts. I was just thinking of what could have been. We would have escaped. Had a little girl. Raised her like we should have been raised."

Their foreheads were brushing against each other now, they were holding each other so closely.

"We could have named her Risa," Jonah said with a sad smile.

"Haven't we already?" Megan asked.

Opal was still sitting in the corner of the cell. Her knees collapsed under her and she fell to the ground, crying. While Jonah was comforted by Megan's presence, it made Opal unconsolable.

Megan broke away from her lover and crouched down to her sister, stroking her hair. "Pal," she said softly. "Pal, it's gonna be alright. You and Jonah are gonna make it to eighteen and get the hell out of here. Just look after each other, alright?"

"I don't want to make it to eighteen!" Opal sobbed in Megan's arms. "I want to die right now."

"No!" Megan shouted, shaking Opal. In that moment, any thought of whispering was forgotten. "No, Opal! You and Jonah have to make it out of here! You have to live because our friends need you and those babies in the nursery need you and goddamn it, Opal, I need you. Do you think that you being unwound is going to make things any easier? Because it's not!"

Now Megan broke down, crying. So had Jonah. So had Opal. The three of them sat huddled down on the concrete floor, wanting just one more second together.

Aaron opened the door. "It's nearly six," he said hurriedly. "They'll be here any minute and you two need to get the hell out."

"Go!" Megan shouted at the only two of the only people she could ever admit to having loved. She shoved them out of the door. "Go, I love you!"

Aaron dragged Opal and Jonah out down the corridor as they both craned their necks, desperate for one last glance of her. They both tried to resist Aaron's strong grip, but they were too weak and worn down by their loss to fight back. He brought them back to the main hallway he found them in and ordered them back to their dorms. "I'm so sorry," he said, "I'm just… I'm sorry."

The two stumbled down the hallway, which was now sparsely populated with morning workers setting things up for the day. Staff passing by shouted questions at the red-faced teens, but they give no answers and the workers were too busy to get involved. Jonah and Opal reached the hallway that separates the boys' dorms from the girls'.

"I'm sorry," Jonah said. They had finally stopped running, and were both out of breath. "I'm sorry for all of this. It's all my fucking fault."

"No," Opal argued, her weak voice gaining power. "No, you loved her. And she loved you. That's all that matters. That's all she wanted."

Opal walked towards the door of her room, but stops when she hears Jonah reply, "She loved you, too."

"I know," she whispered back, not turning around. She walked in through the door, and saw the other girls still huddled on the floor. Annalise gave a strangled cry when she saw her. She ran up and put her arms around Opal, with the other girls all coming up behind her.

"She's gone," Janet choked out. "Megan's actually gone."

Opal nodded. "We said goodbye. Me and Jonah. The guard snuck us in and we got to say goodbye one last time."

"What did she say?" Serena asked in a hoarse voice.

"That she loves you," Opal answered. "She loved all of us. And she wants us to go on without her. Just keep marching on until eighteen."

This was the first girl the group had lost to Unwinding. They had been put together ever since they'd aged out of the nursery system, and had been a dysfunctional group of sisters and cousins and strangers throughout the years. Yes, some girls had shifted in and out of the group, reclaimed by family members, and when they were nine, Vanessa was adopted by a large, religious family, but the group had remained alive and whole. Nearly every other group had at least one child claimed and marked down for Unwinding, called out to meet the headmaster and never seen again. But not Dorm 17G. Until the day Megan tried to save a life.

They could hear the sounds of other children in the hallway, making their way down to breakfast. If asked, the other children would have likely admitted to feeling miserable and worn down. But none could feel the ache that the girls who had known Megan carried in their hearts.

"We have to go," Katrina said. "It's breakfast and then we have work and… Fuck it, we can't go today. We're all broken up."

"No, we've got to go," Opal urged. "Megan wouldn't want us to give up without her. We can't cut work. Then we'd all be Unwound."

Slowly, the girls started to get up, not even bothering to brush their teeth or change into new clothes. They all stumbled out of the door, Katrina with her arm wrapped around Opal's shoulder.

"We'll get through this," she whispered to Opal. "I promise."

They walked as one group towards the cafeteria, and all sat down at a mostly empty table, not even bothering to grab anything to eat.

"What day is it?" Irene finally asked, breaking the silence. Irene usually never spoke, preferring to keep to herself. But then again, Katrina usually never comforted Opal. Megan's Unwinding changed everything.

"Sunday," was Serena's muffled answer, her head still buried in her arms.

It dawned on Opal what that meant. Another day of work in the nursery, naming babies. Megan's child would have ended up there, faceless and unloved.

She saw Jonah walking into the cafeteria, friends moving him along to give an appearance of normality. He looked exhausted, and it was a wonder he made it down here without passing out in the hallway. He caught Opal's eye, and nodded, lowered his head and continued down with his friends supporting him. If anyone found out why he was so upset, he'd get his chance to see Megan one last time, at a Harvest Camp.

"We have to get going," Annalise said after they all sat in silence for what seemed to be an eternity. "It's time for work."

Opal shakily stood up, Katrina supporting her. "I'm with the five year olds, right by the nursery," she said. "I'll walk you down."

Katrina's presence was far from Megan's, but even having somebody to lean on made every step a little more bearable. Slowly, the two made it down to the nursery, where the babies continued their ever present crying.

"Good luck," Katrina said, squeezing her shoulder. She left for the kids she was due to watch over. Opal took a deep breath, and walked in, immediately hounded by Nurse Hayley.

"Opal! What took you so long?" the nurse shouted, holding what appeared to be a newborn in her arms.

Opal didn't answer, infuriating Nurse Hayley. "Damn you kids!" she shouted. Opal had long ago realized that Nurse Hayley wasn't an evil person, intent on ruining Opal and the infants' lives. She was just worn down by witnessing the world's willingness to abandon children, day in and day out.

"And where is Megan?"

"Unwound," Opal said quietly. "Last night."

"Oh," the nurse said, caught off guard. "I'm… I'm sorry." She hurried off with the baby in her arms, leaving Opal to her work.

The broken girl automatically started her work anyway, reaching down to pick up the child in the crib closest to her. Opal stopped short for a moment when she looked into the infant's face. The baby girl could have been Megan and Jonah's child, with Jonah's soft dark hair and Megan's bright brown eyes.

Opal picked up the giggling baby, suddenly deciding to name her in Megan's memory. But name her what? Megan Hope Ward? Joy Megan Ward? Names swirled around Opal's head as she walked towards Nurse Anna's desk.

"I'm naming this one," Opal said, having decided on a name. "Her name is Risa Megan Ward."

I hope you guys enjoyed my story. This is probably my favorite thing I've ever written. For the record, I'm pro-life, but in my mind the hypothetical act of Unwinding is just as bad as abortion. Neither's better than the other. (Though if I were suddenly in charge of the country tomorrow, making abortion illegal immediately wouldn't be my solution. The solution is giving more resources to struggling mothers and helping poor communities where women feel like they don't have the ability to raise a child. That's why I can't understand politicians who claim to be anti-abortion yet want to cut welfare, which helps poor families support their children. Anyway, enough politics! Thank you again for reading!) -Lindsay