I jolt from my sleep to the Waking Bell. I slip out of my bed, and go to my Renewals. My P.O. shadows me. Today is the last day I’ll have her as my P.O. Then I’ll be free to discuss things with Piper again at Free Hour.
Will Piper want to sneak out with me? Does she worry about Dana? Will she understand why I have to take the risk now, after Dana’s been taken? I need to know if Dana’s safe. I need to know what the Unknown is. Canton and Josh will know the answers. All I have to do is sneak out at night, and they’ll help me.
I slip into my Renewals, undress, and go to the shower. The unbearable minutes pass and my Renewal Official begins putting on makeup. Foundation, blush, mascara, I lose my focus in the routine. My attention rips back to reality, when she gently grabs my arm. She turns it to the side, and my eyes land on the crook of my elbow. A small, circular bandage sticks to my skin.
When did that happen? Who put it there? Why do I need a bandage?
She peels away the bandage, revealing a pinprick of red. She spreads some type of ointment over it, muttering something about ‘unprepared’ and ‘infection’. Then she reapplies a similar bandage.
Why can’t I remember what happened? My heart rate picks up. Am I in trouble? Did I get caught for something I can’t remember? How did it get there?
She stares hard at me for another couple seconds before releasing me to Morning Meal. I get my oatmush with shaking hands, my eyes always falling back to the crook of my elbow and the small, circular bandage. What happened?
I sit down at my seat and begin eating my oatmush. Piper joins me a minute later. As she sits, my eyes wander to her arm.
She has the exact same bandage in the same spot.
We don’t get hurt here. Why would we both have the same bandage in the same spot? Will the Officials tell us what happened? What if they don’t? Would Josh and Canton know?
Kate sits down and I steal a glance at the inside of her arm.
She has a bandage too.
Wouldn’t I remember what happened to us?
The Bell rings. Everyone moves to the Lecture Hall for our History Teaching. I walk through the doors. Sit. Wait. The normal lecture and move doesn’t begin. Everyone is seated and quiet. What are we waiting for?
An Official steps up to the stage. “I would now like to present Ellen Windsor.”
Ellen Windsor. Why is she here? The Gratitude Ceremony is over.
Ellen strides to the stage. She smiles, a hideous, leering smile. “I bet you’re all wondering what has brought me here. Well, as you know, you begin your training for Professions when you are a sixteen year. You continue your training until become an eighteen year, where you become an Official.”
This information has been drilled into our heads. She told us this at the Closing Ceremony. Does she think we’ve forgotten already?
“However, we think we are doing such a great job teaching you, that you are ready for Professions at an early age than before.”
We are getting Professions now? But we’re only fifteen years. What will we have to do? Will it be hard? Will I be able to do it?
“You’ll be taking your Profession Exams after Free Hour, starting tonight. You’ll be going to bed about half an hour later than usual, but it’s only temporary. There are multiple exams you have to take. Those exams will evaluate your skills and assign you to the Profession that’s best for you. There are some very special opportunities out there, so be sure to do your best.”
“There are many different types of Officials. Patrol Officials, Meal Officials, Renewal Officials, and Control Officials. The Profession Exams determine which of these four you will do in your future. You will have five days of Exams, and on the sixth day we will announce your profession.”
She strides off the stage, an Official taking her place. “We will now go to Circle Room 3, where you will find your seat and enter in your number. Your schedule of the upcoming Profession Exams will be on a hologram. You must memorize what room your Profession Exams will be in the next three days. You cannot forget them.”
She dismisses us. We file out and walk to Circle Room 3. My stomach churns. What if I make a mistake that ruins my entire future?
I sit down at my seat and tap the counter in front of me three times. The hologram pops up with the first three days of my schedule.
Day 1 – Circle Room 5
Day 2 – Circle Room 2
Day 3 –Circle Room 7
I repeat the numbers in my head. We start tonight.
Where are the last two days going to be?
“You are dismissed back to the Lecture Hall, where your History Teaching will resume.”
We rise and stride out of the Circle Room. I numbly take my seat back in the Lecture Hall.
I doubt anyone remembers anything that is taught throughout the History Teaching. How can they expect us to focus? Our results on this test will determine our entire future.
Everyone else also has the matching bandage. The right arm. Crook of the elbow. Why? I slip away into my thoughts for the rest of the Teaching.
˚˚°˚˚
I walk with Piper at Free Hour, the questions bursting inside of me. What if she doesn’t want to sneak out with me at night? Do I have the courage to go by myself? I did the first night. Could I do it again?
Instead, I’m trapped in the mindless praise to Ellen with Kate and Piper, my P.O. watching me.
My palms dampen as my first Profession Test creeps closer. I clench my teeth together and try to push the anxiety out, but it settles in my stomach.
The Bell rings and I march on to the escalator. Instead of going down the Sleeping Room hallway, we veer back to the Teachings section of the Complex. I reach Circle Room 5, and I realize that we are all going into different rooms. We have all our Teachings together, but I suppose for the Exams we need to be separated. What will the Exams involve that we can’t be put together?
I sit down at my number. A hologram already floats above the counter. I read the text floating in the air.
Answer the questions to the Exam One. When your answers a finished, wait silently in your seat until the Teaching Bell rings.
A question sits below the words.
What are the full names of the Heads?
Easy. Ellen Jane Windsor and Derek Allen Windsor. I quickly type my answer. I’ve known the answer to that question since I was a six year.
What has Ellen and Derek saved you from?
The Disease. Simple.
The Exam continues throwing questions at me, all about the Windsors. It becomes a little harder as it continues, but I always know the answer. After reading several autobiographies, memoirs, and biographies about them in Literature, I know more than I want to.
I finish the Exam before the Bell rings. I relax, resisting the urge to slump in my seat. The first Exam was straightforward. If all the Exams are like this, I have nothing to worry about. The Bell rings and my P.O. follows me all the way back to my room. She leaves at the doorway, and a grateful sigh escapes my lips.
My thoughts wander as I change into my night clothes. Tomorrow I can talk to Piper about sneaking out. We’re supposed to meet Josh tonight, but I have no way of telling Piper. Besides, I don’t have a napkin to jam the lock. I couldn’t smuggle one with my P.O. watching. It’s probably safer to wait an extra two days anyway, so that the Officials’ suspicion will go down.
Piper leans against the wall, next to the door. She’s already changed into her night clothes and she’s just waiting. Kate turns to walk to her bed, and Piper’s hand darts to the doorway. I catch a streak of white as she jabs a napkin into the spot where the lock clicks.
I guess she’s already planned to go tonight.
I catch her eye and tip my chin up slightly. She gives me a short nod as Kate turns her back. We’re both going tonight.
Piper shifts away as Kate lies down in her bed, watching us with her careful eyes. I get in my own bed, pulling the thin blanket over my body. The door shuts and the light disappears.
I listen for the vent, but it’s already on. Since we had the Profession Exams, we’re half an hour later than normal. My eyelids droop with sleep. I pinch my arm to stay awake, but my body begs for rest.
What if Josh isn’t there? I told him I wasn’t sneaking out at night anymore. Maybe he knows that Dana is in the Unknown. He might think that it’s pointless to go to Circle Room 8.
We have to at least try. If he isn’t there, then Piper and I will just come back to our rooms. We’ll figure out a plan from there, I guess.
What if the Officials found out that we planned to meet every other day? What if Dana was forced to tell them that we were going to meet at Circle Room 8? Will there be Officials waiting for us to arrive?
I can’t think about that. The Officials probably didn’t spend much time on Dana. They most likely asked her a few brief questions and dragged her away.
The vents finally shut off. I take a deep breath and set my feet on the floor. I shuffle towards the door. I can’t hear Piper, but she must be behind me. I slide the door open just an inch. No Officials in sight. We slip out of the room, and into the hallway.
The soft glow of the floor illuminates Piper’s white face. It’s her first time sneaking out, showing any type of rebellion. She has nothing to worry about. Every movement she makes is silent. My footsteps echo into the hall.
We slip around the first corner. The first hints of a flashlight glisten on the steel walls. A soft, almost inaudible gasp leaves Piper’s lips. My gaze flies over the hall. The walls are bare, except for the open double doors of the Eating Hall.
I dash through the doors, Piper behind me. There is no dim light from the floors inside, only darkness. I feel my way down the row of tables, as far away from the doors as possible. My outstretched hand brushes against the cold wall on the opposite side of the room.
Piper’s hand grasps my shoulder, pushing me gently down. I fall to my knees, the nearest table providing more cover.
The footsteps are audible now. Echoing down the otherwise silent hall. The light beam is brighter, brushing across the floor and over the walls.
I press myself closer to the floor.
The Official passes by the door, her flashlight illuminating her parts of her face while casting others into the shadows. She looks younger than most Officials, inexperienced. Her steps are hesitant, unsure. Her face still shows traces of emotion.
She must have just gotten her Profession.
She casts the flashlight into the Eating Hall. It dances over the tabletops and stools. It sweeps over our heads, the light barely reaching us through the darkness. The Official turns and strides away.
We wait until her footsteps have faded and the light is no longer visible. We creep towards the double doors, occasionally catching our feet on the dark maze of stools and tables. We peek our heads out of the door.
We stick close to the walls, making our way to Circle Room 8.
Josh isn’t waiting in the hall. He’s not inside the Circle Room. If he was here, he would have made himself visible for us.
We stand in the doorway, readying to hide if an Official comes. I hold up five fingers to Piper. She nods in understanding. We’ll wait five minutes. If he’s not here by then, we’ll go back to our room.
I count away the seconds. 1. 2. 3. I peek my head out of the doorway, surveying down the halls. 154. 155. 156. Piper and I share worried glances. 221. 222. 223. I tap my finger over my arm. 278. 279. 280. Piper casts another desperate glance at me. I can only shrug. 298. 299. 300. Five minutes.
I nod shortly to Piper. Her shoulders slump, but she nods. There’s nothing we can do. We tiptoe back to our room, casting wary glances behind us. A hand grips my shoulder. I whirl around, my breath catching in my throat.
A silhouette stands behind us. No light beam. Short, bristled hair, not a bun. Josh.
I place a shaking hand over my pounding chest. I force deep breaths through my nose, glaring at Josh. Why did he have to scare us like this? Piper’s gaze frantically searches my face. I nod slightly to tell her it’s okay. She smiles weakly at me, and I pretend not to see her hands shaking at her side.
Josh beckons us down another hallway and I follow. I don’t care where he’s taking us. The next phase of Officials should be coming through these halls soon. He pulls us aside and enters a quick code into the keypad on the door.
It slides open and he ushers us into the darkness inside.
“Don’t worry. It’s safe.” His whisper cuts through the silence and he closes the door, leaving it open half an inch. The thin stream of light illuminates a sliver of his face. I try not to worry about the unease on his features.
I shift from foot to foot in the darkness.
“So…Brinn...nice to see you again, I guess. Your friend is…?”
“Piper.” Piper supplies the answer herself.
“Where’s Dana then?”
“She’s…in the Unknown.” I swallow hard.
“What? How?” They must not have known.
“I don’t know, but she never returned from her meeting with you.” I say.
“She came to the meeting with us. Canton saw her all the way to the Eating Hall…it must have been on her way back to her Sleeping Room.”
Silence refills the room.
“Did you see Canton last night?”
“What?” Why would we have seen Canton? We didn’t leave our rooms at night. Did Canton try to find us or something?
“He was going to run down the hall of the girls’ Complex, right after your Free Hour. He had this crazy plan of revealing all the Heads’ lies about males and females mixing. Didn’t you see him?”
“No.” Piper and I say at the same time.