Imperfect

Chapter One: Punishment

Beep. Beep. I allowed my alarm to ring twice, just like every other day. 6:14. The time to get up. I moved my legs over to the side of my bunk, and moved to the dressing area. It was a Day 5, which meant today was a yellow day. The bright silver machine pulled an itchy yellow t-shirt over my head, along with the regular black pants. I felt the cold metal fingers of the machine graze my foot as it applied the thin white socks, and the standard black boots. 6:17. Time to eat. I walked into the dining area, as everyone else slowly filed in. I spotted my best friend, Samuel, sitting at our assigned table with a silver tray of what I imagined was cooked oats and berries. I worked my way through the assembly line, receiving my breakfast and typing my code in the counting machine. "1-4-4-7" I mumbled to myself, careful to type in the numbers correctly. I glanced down at my hands, remembering the streaks of blood that stained my skin the first time I entered my code wrong. I shivered at the thought: the Lead doesn't allow mistakes. I sat down next to Samuel, who was also wearing the scratchy yellow shirt. He smiled as I sat down, "Nadi, you look nice today." I glared at him, as I looked behind us to make sure the Uppers weren't patrolling near our table, "Samuel, not calling me by full name is an offense. I'm sure you're aware." I said through clenched teeth. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I remember when you were fun Nadi." He said mocking me, with a slight sense of sarcasm in his voice. "Nadine." I corrected him, pointing my fork in his direction.

"Why are you calling your own name, Nadine?" The Upper, Madame Deborah, said appearing behind me. I jumped in shock of her sudden appearance behind me, "Oh, I was just saying how glad I am that I as blessed with such a beautiful name, Madame." I said, my voice shaking. She nodded at me, "your name is lovely, since the Head assigned it to you of course, but do not be coincided Nadine. That is wrong." I nodded and hung my head, "I apologize Madame."

She nodded and held her hand out, "your arm Nadine." Reluctantly, I held out my arm as she took out the wand. Placing it on my arm, I felt the surge of electricity run through my body, the burning sensation of the shock of the wand stinging my arm. Wincing in pain she finally removed it, "will we make that mistake again Nadine?" She asked me, with a false smile on her face.

"No Madame." I muttered.

As she walked away I looked up at Samuel, his face red with anger, "Nadi you know if I could I would--"

"--I know Sam, I know." I reached under the table to squeeze his hand, careful to not let anyone see, "you can't though." I whispered, "no one can."

He shook his head as he glanced in the corner of the room at the cameras, "that's not true, Nadi. I can't handle this anymore. Sooner or later, it's going to happen." I smiled at the hope in his voice, but we both knew that he could never do anything about the Head's rule. No one could.