Scooped Clean

Part one

Utopia
/yo͞oˈtōpēə/
noun
1. an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The word was first used in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More.
Dystopia
/disˈtōpēə/
noun
1. an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.
It's bright out here. The glowing sun flooded through every corner of open area this city owned. It would even shine when it rained. The so-called Utopia of Cloem seemed so cliche when explained. A display of beautiful buildings side by side, illuminated with an array of light sprouting from the protruding sun; fields upon fields of grass and flowers creating the image of a perfect watercolour painting. But every Utopia has a dark secret, every Utopia became a dystopia for citizens, this was not so for Cloem.
As you entered, there was no futuristic appeal, no immense change in scenery but instead a gorgeous city as one you could walk into from any destination. After being granted citizenship of a Utopian universe it almost always becomes hell. Unfortunately, that still sounds better than the way we lived now. Utopia, a paradise for at least one person; it sounds like a something one would love. Calling it a paradise was the advertisement, having it unfold as such was the falsification considering it seemed obligatory that someone somewhere must have been looking to wreck havoc. Criminals plucked from the streets were never seen again with no warning nor explanation. It wasn't until the felons were no more that we received the clarification we were begging for.
Mila was a delinquent, scavenged from the street and considering our close relationship I pleaded to understand the disappearance of her presence . I happened to be one of the many teenagers picked from across the city to assimilate with the convicts of older age. When the youth lawbreakers began to filter from the area the government exploded into a secretive distress. They were planning an experiment; a torturous one of many in which young women and men would be forced into a room with four of their peers and only fed by a brand new pill issued by an up-and-coming company. They called it a diet pill and said it needed testing.
Beds aligned along a basement-like room created of concrete walls and wooden boards standing as plugs from the outside world seeing as this room was clearly built with windows. Our sanity drained from our minds as we sat awaiting our next meal: a pink disc the size of a bug in a white cup designed to be used for ketchup in fast food industries. We knocked it back praying it would sustain us more than the last.
There was four others by my side in the room as we lined up for the satisfaction of illusion as we knew the suputent would at least reward us the figment of imagination that we were full. Quinn was first to take the shot, a tall boy with red curls mounted on his scalp. Next was Adelaide, as she swallowed the pill she glanced over to me, her mocha skin had a picture painted on it much like a sick cartoon character whose face had washed green. There were bags beneath her bigs eyes, the lack of food came with a package of limited sleep and a boosted chance of sickness. Before I looked away from Adie the tray had passed Elliot and Paisley and was now at my end, the nurse nudged my arm. Glaring back at him I had the strange urge to hiss, releasing the built up anger and insanity but I held back. The capsule was bland, soaking the saliva from my mouth into it like a sponge. I remembered the first time I trapped the caplet between my teeth, the monochromatic taste being an odd contrast from the Indian food my mother insisted we made.
I missed my mother; her accent and strange ways. She came from southeast India before noticing the beauty of the town we eventually inhabited. Cloem is where my parents met and my life began-- literally. The last thing I wanted was to hate it here. Craving the sweet taste of joy towards the city was what I tried desperately not to think about, it killed me that the beloved hospital for which I had been born in was now a home for the innocent to be abused for the amusement of government employees.