4522 {The Number Series}

4

        All day I followed every rule and tried my best to blend in with the other students even though I knew it wouldn't make a difference in the end. At meal times 4313 could tell something was not right but he didn't ask. He just stared at me with his hazel eyes filled with unasked questions. I fidgeted anytime someone looked at me. I felt guilty for my actions and I feared being caught. That night I went to bed without hesitation; I did not make a trip to the library that night or for the next several weeks. I craved to feel the strange, old paper against my finger tips, and I missed the smell of the ink and old books, but; I stayed away. 

        I went for weeks without out having a real conversation with my hall Officer. I went the whole time without incidents or being accused of anything. It had been the longest time I had gone without getting into some kind of trouble. When I decided they didn't know the truth, I went back to the library.

        This time I selected a book unlike any I had read. In it the characters were, what they called, suppressed, which I found meant something like suffocated, by their government. Part of me screamed to put the book down and part of me forced myself to keep reading. I hadn't understood how any of the other books had been banned, but I understood how this one had. The main characters, who went by the name of Remi and Archer, worked together to over come their government. They said they fought for something called freedom. Freedom, what a strange word. I didn't have another word to describe it, only that they mentioned it feeling like they had finally escaped chains that had been holding them in the lives they had been living. Something about the book made me frustrated, it made my head hurt.

        I felt like the characters in the book. 

        I put it back in its place and headed back to my bed angry and full of questions. Why did I go by numbers and titles if the characters in the book had names? Where did they get the courage to stand up? How had people been allowed to write things about the government? 

        There were so many questions and absolutely no answers. 

        I turned the idea of Archer and Remi over and over again in my head as I tossed and turned in my bed. I couldn't fall asleep as I thought about the characters. They were so brave, so strong. They knew what they had to do. They knew what they wanted. And, at sometime in the night I finally understood what I wanted, I wanted to be like Remi. Independent. Free. 

*

*

        4313 and I were once again in the basement folding. We moved quickly. The faster we completed our job, the more time we had to relax between loads of laundry. I finished my last set of shirts before sitting casually on the table we worked at. I watched as 4313 did his job. He was percise with every motion he made, unlike my usual reckless work. He was focused on only one thing, getting the job done. I felt a pang in my stomach as I thought about how much he reminded me of the character Archer.

        Archer, I thought. I'm going to call him Archer. 

        Even though I couldn't tell him his new name, I felt like I had somehow earned a small victory. It was only to myself but it felt dangerous to even think the thoughts that were crossing my mind. But my nervousness wouldn't stop me from giving him his name that fit him. Like Remi said, she would not just be another number. Another body for the government to count. 

        Archer was the first step to change. And I decided I would be Remi. 

        "What are you looking at?" Archer asked me as he leaned into my vision where I had been staring off into space. I smiled.