The Sector

Chapter One

Scattered shards of sunlight streamed in through the window of Seth's small room, playing gleefully with the shadows of the tree that stood just outside, towering high above every Residence in the Sector. Seth had always loved that tree; he used to climb it when he was little and hide in the branches where no one could find him. It drove the Officers mad.

The horn would sound soon, not that Seth needed it anymore. He was always awake by dawn. Today, however, he had woken especially early.

It was his seventeenth Life-Day, and the day he would finally find out the answer to biggest question among Occupants in the Sector—what were the Tests?

Seth sat at the end of his bed, watching the sun rise through the branches of his tree and absorbing the vastness of the world around him and the splendid beauty of the Sector. Its single-story cement buildings were uniform, every one of them the same but not. Each Residence housed different Occupants, all walking the same path, but all with different lives and thoughts and feelings.

He thought about his home and his life and what was yet to come. Today would be the start of it all and he found himself oddly calm. Most people couldn't sit still on their seventeenth Life-Day, whether it be from excitement or anxiety, yet there Seth had stayed for well over an hour, just reflecting.

The horn sounded, loud and low as ever, and he rose from his bed to dress.

He pulled his black trousers up, slipped his grey t-shirt over his head, ran his hand through his tousled brown hair, and left his Residence.

On his way to the Hall, he stopped at the same corner he always did and waited for his two best friends.

"Seth!" a voice called behind him. He turned to answer it and saw Addison, her bright red hair cascading down around her shoulders. Grinning, he embraced her. "Happy Life-Day!" she exclaimed, squeezing him tighter.

"Thanks. I promise I'll sneak a letter back to you about the Tests." He winked.

"Are you excited?" she asked him.

"I don't know..." he told her. "I'm calm. Is that strange?"

She laughed. "Yeah, that's kind of strange."

"What is?" another voice said from behind them.

Neither of them needed to look around to know who it was.

"Oh, Seth's just decided that his seventeenth Life-Day isn't even a little bit exciting. Do you think that makes him crazy? I think he might be a little bit crazy," Addison joked.

"Don't listen to her, Bobby," Seth said, jabbing her in the side. She squealed and jerked away, poking her tongue at him. "She's just jealous because she wants to be the first to find out about the Tests."

Together, the three started towards the Hall for breakfast.

"He says he's going to figure out a way to write to us and tell us about it," Addison said, her amber eyes shining.

Bobby guffawed. "How many people do you think have tried that before, Adds? It's not possible or everyone would have heard about it. There's no way we're going to know until our turn."

They arrived at the Hall, the Officer at the door scanning each of their irises and checking their corresponding seven-digit tag numbers. Tag numbers were the individual identifiers for everyone in the Sector. There could be four different "Seth's" but each one had their own unique TN to separate them from the others. It was how they kept track of who was who.

Having been cleared by the Officer, the three of them entered the Hall, collected their breakfast—the standard orange juice and a choice of either cereal or toast with a spread of their choice—and took their normal seats at the table nearest to the far-right wall. The bench sat close enough to the wall that they could lean back and rest against the cool concrete. After setting their plates down, they tucked in to the familiar sound of happy chatter and the clanking of cutlery against crockery.

After they'd finished, they piled their dishes with everyone else's at the end of the table and waited for the day's announcements. 

This was it; Seth's stomach flipped. He wasn't sure if it was a good flip or a bad one, but it made him feel a little more normal and he was thankful for that.

When Gianna—the highest ranking Officer in the Sector—moved to the front of the room, the Hall fell silent.

"Good morning, Occupants," she called out.

"Good morning, Officer," they collectively responded.

"Today marks a new day, and with it, the opportunity for new experiences," she began, repeating the same speech she made each and every morning in the Hall. Seth and the others tuned out for the first half, as most of the Occupants their age did. The young ones still listened with enthusiasm bubbling in their tiny chests, their feet swinging above the ground as they sat on benches far too high. Seth always watched them, the corner of his lip curling upward at their excitement. To the rest of the Occupants it was just another day but to the young ones the world was still fresh and new and full of discoveries yet to be made. There was so much learning to be done.

He could still remember when he had felt that way, with bright pink cheeks, clumsy feet, and hair flopping down into twinkling green eyes.

Now he began to feel it again. As of today, he was starting a new journey, with brand new discoveries awaiting him, and so much more to experience. His heart beat a little faster.

He didn't retreat from his thoughts until Bobby nudged his arm.

"Seth," he said.

"Hm?" Seth grunted, his head snapping up to look at his friends.

"We're all going now. Good luck with your Testing. We'll see you on the other side," Bobby said with a smirk and a wink. He gave Seth a pat on the shoulder, then edged his way off the bench. Addison embraced him, squeezed him one last time, and said good luck before she followed Bobby out.

He watched them leave in silence, shooting them a smile when they looked back from the threshold, and then he was all but alone.