The Shadow Jumpers

Chapter #1

It has been a long day today and I am looking forward to the 7 O'clock bell signaling us that todays work day is over and we may all go home. It has been two year since the High Council gave me my job as a desk clerk for the AWPS ( Adult Worker Placement System)of sector 27 of Airthonyvia.

It is my job to complete and organize the files of all teenagers from sector 27 who come of working age for the High Council, so they can decide where they are best to be placed. And once they are placed in their job the file is sent back to me to add their official job placement into their final records.

As I walk home for the night I can't help but think, What if the High Council wasn't in charge? What would our lives be like? Would I have a career that I loved? Or would our way of life fall apart at the seams? Sadly I can not voice my questions out loud because doing so is treason against the Council and punishable by...........well I am not quite sure what the punishment is, no-one has ever questioned our way of life before.

When I enter my apartment I go to the kitchen to heat up some leftover food. As I wait I go sit down on the couch and wait for the timer to go off telling me that my food is ready. I just can't get these thoughts out of my head, this could be dangerous if they don't go way soon.

Oh look at me just rambling on and on about me and my life and I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Alexander Roman Mitchel Yesternad, I know it is an unusual name and it was killer learning how to spell it back in the day, I have no idea what my parents were thinking.

Anyway let me tell you about Airthonyiva, it is a large island located in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Even though it is an island we do not have any beaches.

Well technically we do, but the council put a 300-foot wall around the island back in the early 1940's. They said that there was a war amongst the other nations and to keep us all safe they built the wall.

It has been so long not even the two generations before mine don't know what the world looks like behind it. It was then that the Council truly started to take over every part of our lives. They have given us so many laws that there are 10 1,000 page books listing them all. Some of them telling us what we do for fun and when we go to work like I said before they even tell us what jobs we will have for the rest of our lives. Sometimes I feel like I am just going through the motions of life just waiting to die.

I look up at the clock just to realize that I have been sitting here for 3 hours and the food timer has already gone off and my food is way past being warm. I guess I might as well go to bed, the thought of food no longer on my mind. My life feels like it has been turned up side down and I don't even know why.

The next morning: For some unknown reason my alarm clock goes off at the ungodly hour of 5:00 am. This is quite weird seeing as I don't have to wake up until 7:00 am to get ready for work. It is then that I realize there is a strange feeling in the room, and I can't tell why.