Lucid Dreaming

Chapter 3

She felt the darkness slowly devour her, more and more....until a void of light burned through her eyes. The word "Unidos" briefly appeared before it faded away into the void. Cleo woke up in cold sweat next to her backpack and makeshift blanket against the cool, metal surface of the dumpster. The sky was a mix of the colours of the sunset beautifully blended. The scent of fresh mint along the side of sizzling, tantalizing mint brushed past her nostrils. People's chatter and discussions filled the usual busy atmosphere of the restaurant near her. Cleo exhaled into the sky as she let go of the amulet she had been subconsciously holding. Like a gem, a dark green gem had been attached to the embroidered silver necklace. Sometimes, Cleo could notice little sparks coming off the amulet but they never lasted long enough to properly be observed. As a runaway from an adoption center, the amulet had been with her for as long as she could remember. "There! Look! It's her!" exclaimed a voice in the distance. One look of the bright blue uniform and Cleo knew it was time to pack up and run. Ever since she was little, Cleo's prominent memories were hiding from the Search Patrol and camping behind popular restaurants. Sometimes, if she was lucky, Cleo would be able to feed herself from the leftovers of the meals of other customers. The Search Patrol wasn't to find runaway children of adoption centers, it was even worse. Cleo lived in a world of superiority and greed, where it was truly survival of the fittest. The political leaders had taken advantage of the control given to them for their own benefits. The new mandate for the global population was to think less advanced than the leaders of today. The idea is that the less educated people are, the fewer threats the leaders have to take account of to keep their positions. Cleo and several of her kind were a minority, those who didn't follow the system. Even though it was the right life, it was also the difficult one. These children must always be on the lookout and on the run. Anywho were caught were sent to "rehabilitation school". By society, many were fooled for this institution to have purely good intentions. However, Cleo and her kind knew better....it was were man turns to a puppet. Each child as soon as of entrance is demanded to feast upon a large meal, with chemicals meant to knock out the children. When they are asleep, the children are given mysterious tablets and awful chips. The chip is inserted near the heart in which the government can have control of the human, and know every detail about them. The tablet will permanently decrease the person's Intelligence Quotient to keep it within a certain range. Encouraged as the correct way of life, this was how each human degraded to simply a resource of somebody else. Once the officials knew that there were certain escapees of the system, they had sent 24/7 Search Patrol officers to locate these people, and drag them back to the society. Putting her hood on, Cleo ran towards an alleyway in which street vendors sold spices and daily produce. As she jumped through the stands and navigated through the crowd, Cleo could still hear the stampede of the Patrol after her. "Aha!" Cleo thought as she observed a vase of chilli powder. She hid in the corner of a stand and awaited the patrol to catch up. As soon as they did, she threw the jar at the floor in front of them, letting the spice get in the air. "OW!" the officers screeched in the pain of their stinging eyes as they toppled over each other. She decided to run into a nearby forest, it would be difficult for the police to capture her there. As she ran, she noticed a strange tingling feeling in her arm, it was quite bothersome. She was surprised to find the following coordinates tattooed onto her arm:

                                                                             " 35.5223° N, 104.6214° W

                                                            Those who wait, miss out the most."