BuBBled

Prologue

They say it was more than 3,500 miles long. They explained it like if it wasn't there, the sky would collapse and hurdle down to the earth. The ground torn to bits and split open so deep that magma from the earths crust would ooze onto the streets of Hem.

I knew better. I always did. Nobody had ever dared to touch the border that was constructed for decades with their bare fingertips. My hands were always directed away from the perimeter, yet my mind was always wandering somewhere else.

The rotunda circled around the nation of Hem, protecting it and its people. I always deciphered between the terms protection and jurisdiction, wondering which was the true intention of the government of Hem.

Yet there was always something that drew me closer to the border. No matter how far I had to run, I would sprint until I squatted in the bushes near the edge and peered through the different shades of the viridescent leaves. I would leave just before the Bell of Curfew rang in the evening and make it back home in time to be in bed before the house monitor chirped because of an absence in the household.

This was the daily agenda. The rules were to be followed, and to be different was labeled as a sin. I broke many rules. I never showed any regrets. But I always remained different.