Branches of Longevity Challenge: Sophie Guerra

Sophie Guerra

Sophie Guerra is the natural born daughter of Sasha and Greg Guerra, she was born, when Coryana was 3 years old. The Guerra family lived in a nice suburb, especially built for the born race. Their neighborhood was surrounded by parks and playgrounds for born children. It was a nice and quiet place, there were 3 cafés in the area, family restaurants and a school.

Sophie always saw Coryana as her real sister, she never once questioned if something was different about her sister. Sasha and Greg raised both of them equally, the sisters shared a room in the big house, until Sophie was 3 years old. There were enough rooms in the house, but their parents wanted them to grow up with a strong bond. Sophie was a very active child, curious and adventurous. When she was a toddler she often went on adventures throughout the 2 story building they lived in.

The interior of the house was kept simple, they didn’t have any extravagant furniture or items, except for one, a violin. The violin was a gift Sophie got when she was 2 years old, her parents got her a teacher, so she could learn from a young age. Sophie took her violin wherever she went, except for when she was on an adventure. She didn’t care much about things breaking or getting dirty, but she treasured her violin. The sisters were raised with love and alot of attention, they were supposed to be equals, but Sophie did not like that. She felt superior to Coryana, because she had a violin and all Coryana had, was a ragged stuffed sheep that was in horrible condition.

When she was 4 years old, she started to pull pranks on Coryana as well as competing with her for her parents attention. She thought since she was younger than her sister, she should be getting more attention. One day Sophie stole her sisters stuffed sheep and buried it in the garden. When she saw Coryana she asked her where her stuffed sheep was, knowing fully well it wasn’t with her. Coryana looked for it thoughout the house, she even asked her parents to help search for it. Sasha and Greg tried to calm Coryana, as she was crying out of fear of never finding it again. „Don’t worry Coryana, I’m sure it’s still somewhere in the house, we will find it sooner or later. So please do not cry honey.“, Sasha said as she hugged Coryana. Sophie got angry when she saw her mother comfort her sister, this was not what she wanted. She thought they would just ignore Coryanas plea for help, since it was just about a stupid stuffed animal.

In the evening of that day, Coryana was sitting in a corner of her room on the floor with the lights out. She was sobbing, because she thought she would never find her sheep again. Sophie had the room right next to her sister and heard her crying for hours and hours. She started to feel bad for her sister and realized that she might have gone too far this time. She went over to her sisters room and opened the door, „Coryana? I can hear you crying, where are you?“ (Since the sisters had gotten seperate rooms recently, Sophie had a hard time finding the light switch). But there was no reply, Coryanas crying got quieter, until the sobbing stopped. Sophie felt uneasy, it seemed a bit creepy to her. She knew her sister was there, but she could not see and now,…. she couldn’t even hear her anymore. As she took a few steps inside, she felt goosebumps on her arms, „Coryana?“, Sophies voice started to shake. „C’mon sis, this isn’t funny…. Where are you?“, she took all of her courage and walked to the middle of the room. „CORYANA IF YOU DON’T STOP I WILL TELL ON YOU, NOW WHERE ARE, YOU?!", she was getting angry at Coryana again and was about to take her first step back out of the room. „I’m over here sis…., in the corner….“, Coryana sadly whispered. Sophie felt a horrible pain in her heart, once she heard the sadness and hopelessness in her sisters voice, „Sis, I’m so sorry…..I didn’t think that stuffed animal was so important, I’m really, really, really sorry….“, Sophie said as she got on all fours and crawled over to the corner where her sister was sitting. As she hugged Coryana, she broke out in tears and in the end, her big sister comforted her instead of Sophie comforting Coryana. She cried for a whole hour, but as soon as she calmed down, she freed herself from her sisters embrace and took her hand. She stood up and pulled Coryanas hand urging her to go with her.

They walked down the stairs quietly, not to wake Sasha and Greg, then they followed a wide hallway until they reached the front door. Sophie lead Coryana outside into the garden, right to the spot where she had burried the stuffed sheep, she fell to her knees and started to dig in the mud with her hands. It was in the middle of the night and it was raining, but Sophie continued to dig further. Coryana was shocked, that her 4 year old sister was digging in the mud, during the rain, in the dark…. Why is Sophie suddenly digging here? What is she trying to find? There is no way it would be here… I did not take it outside, Coryana thought. She was still puzzled about her sister apologizing so intensly when they were in Coryanas room. She never noticed Sophies jealously and did not think ill of her sisters pranks.
Suddenly she saw something soft in the mud, the further Sophie dug, the more shocked Coryana became, she started to recognize her sheep, but she couldn’t believe it. The little girl pulled the stuffed animal out of the mud and started to brush of the mud as good as she could, while crying. „I’m sorry sis, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to hurt you, I am so sorry“, Sophie said quietly while franticly trying to clean the sheep as if she was trying to undo her deed. Coryana dropped to her knees, looking at the ground while tears ran down her face, „Why?“, she asked with such a small voice, Sophie barely heard her. „I was jealous, I wanted mommy and daddy to only play with me, to only look at me, I wanted them all to myself, I AM SO SORRY!“, she cried out loud. Coryana looked over to her little sister, who had already started wiping the mud off the sheep with her pajama sleeves, „Stop it Sophie, you will catch a cold and you are getting yourself all dirty.“, Coryana said calmly and lovingly. „Come here“, she reached over and pulled her little sister towards her and hugged her tightly, „It’s okay… It will all be okay, you can stop crying now, I’m not angry.“ Sophie dug her head in Coryanas chest and started crying more intensly, continously apologizing to her older sister. After a while the older sister stood up, picked up Sophie and carried her on her back to the house.

On the way she noticed the lights in the house were on and the front door open. Sasha stood in the doorway looking around and calling for her daughters. „We‘re here mom.“, Coryana said while she continued walking. Their mother rushed outside towards them and embraced her girls. „Why are you outside in the middle of the night? It’s raining! And why are you both covered in mud?!“, Sasha was shocked to see them like this. „Come inside, I’ll draw a bath for both of you.“ The girls went to the bathroom and got out of their dirty pajamas and brushed off the big chunks of mud on their arms and feet. They took a bath together and that night, Coryana asked Sophie if she wanted to sleep together in her room.

After that incident happened the sisters had deepend their bond once again, they loved each other deeply. But that bond, was not indestructible. A year later, when Sophie was 5 years old, something horrible happened.

She was at home practicing her violin, like every morning when Coryana was at school. When suddenly the front door got kicked in and men dressed in black suits stormed into the house. „SASHA GUERRA, GREG GUERRA, SURRENDER! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! COMPLY! IF NOT WE WILL USE FORCE!“, a man yelled. Sophie got scared and hid under her bed, not daring to make even the slightest sound. She heard loud crashing and banging sounds from downstairs, but to her surprise she suddenly heard a very familiar voice screaming, „I’M SORRY, THEY DID NOTHING WRONG, PLEASE LEAVE MY PARENTS ALONE!!!!!!!!“. Coryana was yelling so loud, that her voice was starting to fail her. Greg was downstairs and had already been confined by the men dressed in black.

Sasha snuck into Sophies room, covering her mouth with one finger, signaling Sophie not to utter a sound. „Sweetheart, you have to be strong now, mommy and daddy will have to leave, but you will be okay. Stay strong, promise me Sophie…. I love you, I have to go, you stay in this room, do not come out, okay? she whispered. Sophie just nodded her head and shakily reached out her hand towards her mom, while tears ran down her face. Sasha took the little hand, pressed it against her cheek and kissed her fragile fingers. As Sasha Guerra stood up with a heavy heart , she reluctantly let go of her daughters hand and walked out of the room.

Sasha and Greg Guerra knew what the punishment was for hiding an engineered person, let alone raising her as a born race child and letting her attend school.

Sophie was still hiding under her bed, shaking ,covering her mouth with both of her hands, while desperately trying not to let any sobbing noises escape the room. She heard everything that was going on downstairs, as well as what was being said.
„Sasha and Greg Guerra, we know that Coryana Guerra is from the engineered race. You have been found guilty of hiding and consealing an engineered child. As the law states, you will be taken away and lose custody of your true born child Sophie Guerra. You will await your sentence in jail and Coryana Guerra will be brought to the Labratory where she belongs.“ Sasha looked at Greg with tears in her eyes while she adressed the men in black, „We know our crime…..but please, let the girls stay together, they are innocent children….they have done nothing wrong…. We will pay the price for our crimes, but please, spare our daughters….“, she begged. Greg shook his head, he knew it would not affect the prosecutors at all, but he understood the feelings of his wife, he did not want to see Sophie and Coryana grow up seperated either. The men dragged Sasha, Greg and Coryana out. On the way to the van a tall man adressed the couple, „Sorry, Mrs. and Mr. Guerra, there is no way to keep those girls together, as you very well know, they are from different races after all.“.

When Sophie heard about her sisters race, she stopped breathing for a moment, she was shocked. She blamed Coryana for her parents fate. She wanted to get out of hiding, run to Coryana, hit and curse at her for getting her parents taken away. Sophias world had crumbled, she laid there exhausted and still under shock not knowing, nor understanding what had fully happened. She was curled up in a fetal position, and her mind wandered off to the image of her parents in happy times. The outside world no longer existed for her in this moment.

Meanwhile two men were still searching the house for Sophie. As they got to her room, looking everywhere, they found the little girl in the motionless position under her bed. They pulled the unresponsive child out from underneath the bed and carried her out of the only home she had ever known.

Sophie woke up.

She was no longer under her bed, she was no longer in her room.

She couldn’t find anything familiar around her.

She heard voices.

„Mr. and Mrs. Arlan, starting today Sophie Guerra will be under your custody, will take your name and will be placed under your care as your child.“, it was a rough, deep voice of a man. „We will gladly take on this responsibility“, another man confirmed. She heard the front door close and footsteps approaching her.

She was now wide awake, quickly scrambled off of the couch she was laying on and hid behind it. „Don’t be afraid Sophie, we won’t hurt you.“, a soft voice told her, „My name is Ara, I am your friend. You will be staying with us from now on“.

Sophie looked up at the blonde-haired grey-eyed woman, not knowing who she was or where they were. She wasn’t able to say a word and even though the woman seemed friendly and was smiling at her kindly, she started to understand that she will not see her parents again. All she could think of, was that she wanted to go home. She missed her mommy and daddy soooo much and understood that somehow, Coryana was at fault that she could never go home again.

She started to feel anger towards Coryana….