The Tainted Ones (discontinued)

[3]

Jack

I checked my hair one last time in the mirror. I needed to look good for the scanning today.

"Jack," my mother laughed. "You look great, don't worry!"

"I just want to look nice for when the rest of the family arrives to celebrate tonight." I protested.

"Are you feeling nervous?" she asked.
"I guess. I mean, what if I turn out to be ugly?"
"Jack, you're not going to be ugly. I know you, you're a fine boy with a good brain, a healthy body and good intentions. You won't be ugly."

'But what if there are other ways to be an ugly?' I thought, but I didn't say it out loud.

Instead I smiled at my mum. "Okay then. I guess I will see you tonight then? How long will the scanning take?"
"A few hours, there are a lot of citizens after all, and you're recuired to stay untill every last person has been scanned."
"I guess I'll see you tonight then." I laughed.

My mother chuckled. "You will."

I looked out of the window to see other children leave on their way to the scanning. "I should go now." I said.

My mother took me by suprise as she grabbed my arm tightly. "One more thing, Jack." she said. "If they scan you, and your result is 'Exceptional', you have to run."
"Exceptional? What is exceptional?"
"I mean it Jack. If they declare you as an exceptional, you have to run as fast as you can to a place they can't find you. Whatever you do, make sure you are as far away from the handymen as possible. Do you understand?"
"Mum..."
"Jack... This is very important. Do you understand?"

Fear welled up in my body and settled in my chest and stomach. I swallowed and nodded.
"I understand mum." I muttered.

My mother sighed. Then she gave me a hug. "I love you" she whispered.

"I love you too mum." I replied, still feeling quite confused and frightened.

To make my suprise complete my mother slid her mask over her head, reveiling her face, and kissed my forehead.
"Stay safe" she whispered, before sliding the mask over her face again.

I could only nod. As I walked trough the door and joined the other eighteen year-olds I couldn't help but wonder if this could be the last time I'd ever see my mum.

Andy

I glanced to my right at the boys and girls next to me, standing in a seemingly endelessly long row. The handyman with a scanner passed each person one by one, most of the times saying "contragulations! you are pretty" and giving them a mask, earning a relieved smile from the person he just scanned.

But every once in a while a dreaded sentence could be heard as well. "I am sorry, you are ugly" followed by the person violently being dragged away by a diffferent handyman, into a type of van.

I closed my eyes and tried to keep calm as my nerves kept coming up. I made sure I looked my best, had amazing grades at school and I had never committed any crimes. I followed all of the guidelines at being pretty, there was no way it could be otherwise, I was sure of it.

The handyman was already scanning the girl next to me.
"Contragulations. You are pretty" he said with the same nostalgic voice I had always heard on tv.
The girl smiled, muttering a breathy "thank you", as she was handed her mask.

The handyman took a few steps to the side and was now standing in front of me. I looked up at it. The robot was huge, he appeared much more intimidating then I was always led to believe as a child. I held in my breath, as if it would make me pass the test if I did.

The handyman held up the scanner and the light of the scanner passed over my body. Then it spoke.

"I am sorry, you are ugly"

I froze. Everyone around me stared at me. I couldn't breathe. I was ugly? How? Why? I always did my best to be pretty! This couldn't be happening right now.

I didn't even have time to panic as another handyman stepped forward and yanked my arm, causing me to stumble forward as he dragged me to one of the vans, almost throwing me in and closing the door.

I peered trough the window at the back of the van, the handymen went back to their positions like nothing happened, and the other people just stared in front of themselves again, just like we had been taught to at school.

My breathing sped up. What was going to happen to me? Where were the handymen going to take us. What happened to uglies?

I threw my body against the door of the van, hoping I could break it, but it stayed heartlessly in place. I tried again, hurting my arm in the process , but I didn't care. I had to get out of here. With all the force that I had I rammed myself into the door, but once again, it remained perfectly intact.

"Just give it up Andy. You're not gonna get out" I heard someone sigh behind me.

I turned around and saw Rye sitting down in the corner. "Rye? What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

"Take a wild guess buddy" Rye snapped.

I sighed and sat down next to him.
"It's just not right. Why am I ugly? What did I do to deserve this? I just don't get it" I murmured.

"I don't know. I don't know why I'm in here either, but we are. There's nothing we can do about it" Rye answered.

The doors of the van got opened and another boy was thrown in, the doors closing again immediatly after. The boy crawled in the opposite corner of where we were and started crying quietly.
"Are you okay?" I asked the boy quietly.

The boy looked at me, his eyes wide, reflecting my own fear. 
"Where are they taking us" he whispered with a shaky voice.

I shook my head. "I don't know..."

Authors note

We've got some ugly boys folks!

You know Rye and Andy turning out ugly is strangely fitting with the current drama going on at the moment...

I'm staying neutral regarding the whole thing going on on twitter and Instagram right now, but the situation kinda makes me feel sad so if it gets worse I might take a short break from the fandom untill it has been resolved.

DON'T WORRY THOUGH because whatever happens, even if this keeps on for weeks, I will still remain active on here and update every Friday as usual. 💕

On a happier note, HRVY released a new song and it's once again a masterpiece. 😌

Enjoy your weekend everybody and thank you for reading this chapter! 💕

Palsyofts! 🌵

-Manon