Imperfect Freedom

Ten

"You still have to be taught." Elle tells me with a grumpy frown.

I nod. "Yes, but I am almost finished. Then I can become an official member of the CD!" I put brightness into my tone.

"But it's no fair! I want to show you stuff!" Elle whines, still grumpy.

I sigh. "I know, but you're gonna have to wait. Give me another two nights and then I am all yours."

Her eyes brighten. "Promise?"

I nod. "Promise." 

She loosens up after this. "Hey, so what are you learning about at the moment?"

"What life was like before. How it wasn't all bad."

In truth, it was all so weird to me. I mean, I had seen the pictures of before in history, but these pictures were different. They showed happiness, and love, and kindness. Sure, not all were like that. There was still the bad one here and there.

But compared to the complex, the world they lived in was far better than ours.

Electra nods. "Well they're probably going to let you-"

She is cut off by a message over the intercom. The speakers are riddled throughout the CD, mainly in the east wing.

The voice is deep and speaks in a dull tone. "Could all members participating in the Experiment K on August 23rd, please report to room 12 East for Evaluations on your progress."

I see Elle's face light up. "That's us!"

"What? I have training. And I never signed up for an experiment." I reply, confuse.

Elle grins. "I know, because you're always too busy being taught. So I signed up for you! Consider yourself lucky that you're even in. They wouldn't have let you through if it weren't for me persuading. And the fact that I told them I would conceal the whole Defiance if they didn't let us in."

She says this so casually that it makes me laugh. "Come on! Forget about training, we have to go to this thing!" Elle starts to run.

I don't argue, just run alongside her.

"So what is this Experiment thing?" I ask her as we enter the East wing. She just giggles at me.

"That's for everyone else to know and for you to find out."

I scrunch up my face. What did that mean?

We reach the room, and Elle pauses outside the door for me to catch my breath.

"You ready?" she asks when I am breathing normally again.

Uncertain, I nod slightly. She must see the sheepish look on my face because she pats my shoulder. "It'll be fine. Don't worry. But really, are you ready to go in?"

I take a deep breath and give her a certifying nod. She grins one last time at me, then opens the door and pulls me in.

We are in a small concrete room, that is full of tall people. Everyone is tall in here. Well, that isn't actually true, they're probably normal height, but they're tall to Electra and I. Everyone is tall to Electra and I, we're 8 - well, Electra was actually almost 9, her birthday only two and a half weeks away, and I was going to turn 9 in a month and a half, but we were still classified as 8 year olds. As soon as we were nine year olds we would move up to the next age group, into the other lessons. That was when the teachers cracked down on us. We barely got any free time and had to spend our whole days studying and learning and trying to decipher what apprenticeship you were going to take after your devotion.