Concealed

Chapter 1

"Stressed?" I asked.

Jason nods. I roll my eyes at him and release a small groan.

"Still?" I walk over to help him with his tie in front of the mirror.

Jason is my older brother, he is twenty-four. He was elected mayor four months ago, and he still gets nervous when he needs to speak.

I grab his tie and tie it on him. He sighs as he thinks about something.

"Soph, are you sure I can do this all the time?" He asked with concern.

"You ask this every time, and what do I tell you?"

She stops and gives another sigh. "You are already elected, no need to worry they love you anyways,"

"Exactly," I tied his tie. "Look at that, this is the man they wanted for mayor". I don't think my pep talk helped.

I walk over to grab my bag, "I'm heading out to Mason's unit,"

I can feel the tension fill the room. I look at him. "Come on, you have to get over this, he has been here for eleven years now,"

"I know, but I can't get over something that I feel is wrong," he adjusted his tie.

I roll my eyes again at him. "Name a time where he has done something wrong, honestly everyone doesn't like him, without us, he has no one,"

"I guess," He sighs

"I'll see you at the meeting, bye" I wave.

"Bye," he says back.

This place feels so small, like a facility. We live in walls, I was convinced there is something outside of the walls. But this story is not about this place. Mason's space is Left Right Right left and the third door to the Left. I remember this because in between, there is a park where I watch all the young naive children play. I always see this one little boy alone, I wish I could go in and help him, but that is against the law—poor kid.

Mason lives in a certain section; this is where all transfers live if they choose to stay. He used to live with Madam Lowe, but she passed away a while back, which hit him hard.

I knock on Mason's door and wait patiently until he opens it. "Hey, you ready?"

"Yeah, one sec," Mason says going back and grabbing something before exiting and closing the door.

We walked and chatted until we arrived at Jancey's. Jancey is my friend from the Education Center. We have been friends since level four.

"He's your brother's still nervous-lame," Jancey says.

"You can't judge him, he has to run the whole Unit on his own, you try to do that," Mason scolds her.

"Mason is not wrong, he has always been stressed out about everything since he was a child," I say in a calmer tone.

"If he knew he couldn't handle it, why did he run for mayor?" Jancey said with sass.

Mason and I both turned to each other with the question, "Why did your brother run for mayor?" Mason asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess they asked him, and he was too afraid to say no," I said in a questionable tone.

We all arrived at Mason's place and knocked on his door.

Mason opens the door, "Let's go," John says dashing out.

"What's the rush?" I asked. He ignored me.

"What's his deal?" Mason asked, we all shrugged.

We all walked over to the main hall. Every time I walk in here I am always distracted by the two spiny staircases in the middle. Every simple detail is very eye-catching.

"Welcome all to our mandatory meeting today, I have some important subjects to discuss with you all," Jason nods.

The crowd starts to murmur.

"Time for check in... Mandersons...Tzus"

"What subjects do you think we are discussing today" Mason whispers.

"Enderson," Jason announces,

"Here" I respond,

I turn back to Mason. "I think something about human safety and the construction that has been going on,"

"Seems like those never end," Mason says.

"Finally, Screwich," Jason announced.

"Here," Mason replies.

"That concludes the check-in, time for the first topic, human safety," Jason says before turning on the projector behind him.

"Well, why isn't it the transfer," a voice comes from the back of the both of us.

We both turn to see Samuel Regan, a Disgusting human being.

Sam was my old classmate from the learning center. We never liked each other, he was ugly, inside and out. He never let me play ball kick because I was a girl. There were multiple times when I punched him. For his defensive attitude, he never once tried to hit me, this is because he knows I will knock him down. But because of him, I would have never met Mason. Fascinating.

"Long time no see, I thought by now they would have kicked you out of this unit," Sam says terribly.

"Ah, I see you haven't changed," I responded.

"I can say anything defensive about you and you can't fight back," Sam says, thinking he is tough.

"Yeah, but I can do this," I say raise.

"Soph, are you volunteering yourself for this spot?" Jason asks,

"I am raising my hand to volunteer Sam Regan," I stand up, "Regan," I start to chant.

People start to join.

"Do you agree with this Mr. Regan?" Jason's asks,

In pressure, "Yeah, sure," Sam says as the crowd cheers.

I sit back down high-fiving Mason.

"Thank you, Mr. Regan, for volunteering to work in the boiler room," Jason says.

"Well this concludes our meeting for today, I want to see improvement in construction. Go Unit 12!" Jason concludes.

Everyone cheers.

SLAM!

The crowd is silent for a brief moment before arising in screams.

"Wh-what is that!" I yell.

People are scrambling and panicking on what to do. Other people are being trampled by the stampede of people running for the door.

Jason stares in shock at what seems like a dead body on top of his podium.

"M-m-Mr. Steer..." Jason stutters.

CONCEALEDBy: Aidan Flo