9872. That's my number. That's all I am, in their eyes. That's all any of us are here in Cite. Beyond here? No one knows, because no one but the guards are allowed leave the huge, silver, metal dome that is Cite.
You know, it's not the fact that we're stuck here that particularly bothers me. It's the lack of colour that gets deep into my skin. The plain, and utterly boring grey that irks me the most. The high rise buildings, the metal sky, our skin-tight jumpsuits, the concrete ground, every cloth, every piece of furniture, all of our food, even the colour of our water. Everything is grey. I hate grey.
"9872" I'm brought out from my thoughts by the gruff sound of the male security guard standing in front of me. I'm not allowed to look at him, but from the corner of my right eye I can see his grey helmet covering his whole head, an almost blinding shine reflecting from the part of the helmet where his face is supposed to be. It always baffled me how the guards voices were never muffled with those helmets on. And how the hell can they breathe?
"Present." I confirm, and he moves to the person standing behind me.
Every morning starts like this, and every day ends the same way. Every person that lives in the Cite meets in the huge square in the centre of the city. The Square is exactly how it sounds, a huge square in between all the surrounding apartment blocks where people often come to meet up throughout the day. Every road in cite leads here. The ground is grey concrete, and, considering it's age, there isn't a single crack.
We all stand here, lined up in sequence of our numbers. I'm near the back of the ninth line. There are ten full lines in total, and half of an eleventh, but it's quickly filling up. Babies and toddlers are left in the infirmary during this hour, along with the nurses, so it's just older children, teenagers and adults present at this union.
At the top of the square, there is a large, concrete podium, tall enough that it towers over all our heads. We all have to stand facing this podium. Our leader is supposed to stand here and watch us all, maybe say a few words, but he's never showed up. Not even the oldest of the elders can remember him ever standing there. We call him "1", because apparently he was the first person to ever live here. That's what they teach us in school, anyway. Instead of him on the podium, sits a metal box. It's so smooth and shiny, that it reflects every single one of our faces in perfect detail, even the ones at the back, such as my own.
"Psst." A whisper in my left ear startles me, and I jump a little bit, turning my head slightly to the left to speak to the person behind me.
"Fuck off Sally, you're going to get us in trouble."
Of course, we still have names. It's just that only our closest friends or neighbours know them. To the guards and 1, we're all just numbers.
"Oh, stop whining they can't hear us." She whispers, her tone mocking.
I take a quick peak to my right, and the guards have moved along to the tenth row and have all of their backs turned to me. Everyone remains facing forward, a sea of grey with an occasional red, brown, black and blonde. Hair and eyes are the only things that are allowed to be colourful here, and only the common natural colours at that.
"Anyway, I have some big news for you." She continues, and I nod my head a bit, remaining in the position that I'm supposed to be in; standing straight, facing straight ahead at the podium. "I'll tell you at work," she continues. "When it's safer."
It's not safe to speak here, because if a guard here's of anything that he may consider to be suspicious, he'll take you to the Big House, and no one comes out of there if taken in by a guard. The Big House is situated at the very top of Cite, a large grey building towering over all the high rise apartment buildings, and is the most grand building in the entire city. While no apartment building or work office is in bad condition, if anything they are perfect, there's still no doubt that the Big House is glamorous; with it's fancy pillars along the whole building, lots of long, slender windows, slanted rooftops and grand steps leading to an entrance of giant double doors and guards on every entrance. It's a place of significant importance. Why wouldn't it be? It's the home of 1.
