Blank Slates

Chapter 7

 "Are you okay?" 101505A asked, tying her blond hair up with a ribbon as usual. Her blue eyes scanned over her roommate, who's hands shook as she struggled to tie her own hair up. Her chest heaved as if she was having trouble breathing, and she looked on the verge of fainting. "You seem even more on edge than usual. I mean, if that's even possible."

She nodded slowly. "I'm okay. I've just been thinking."

"Oh, that's never good. About what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like I'm being watched very closely. Even more so than before."

"You better make sure you behave today then. Who knows what else is will happen to you?"

12505A's lips curved into a frown. "I'll try."

"You've been trying for too long. Why don't you actually behave for once?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know how to. I'm honestly trying my hardest, but I just crack under the pressure. I don't know how to handle all the expectations. It's amazing how you can do it so effortlessly."

101505A shrugged. "It just comes naturally for me. Perhaps the educators at the Home were defective. Either that, or you yourself are defective. Did anyone from the Home head to this specific facility with you?"

She nodded. "Yes, a boy, but I didn't know him that well."

101505A hummed in reply. She glanced over at the clock and unlocked the door. 12505A followed her quietly, and the two of them proceeded to their classroom. Once there, she sat down unsteadily and waited for the Warden to come around for his daily check.

The day proceeded on as usual, with nothing out of place or even slightly unusual. And so did the next. And the next. And the next. On and on the days went by with nothing changing and everything staying the same, as it should be. She behaved, did her best, and complied with every order she was given. Her old injuries were healing, but still left scars behind as life's cruel reminder of what she had done. She couldn't help but cringe in disgust whenever she saw the ugly whip marks crisscrossing her back or the dark burn scars on her abdomen. At least the uniform concealed all the marks. It would have been so much worse if it was on display for everyone to see. But that, she figured, was just another cruel part of their system. Those figures of authority could hurt and abuse them however they pleased, and then force them cover it up to maintain the facade of their perfect society. But she shook her head. Those thoughts were dangerous. Even considering that could lead to much worse things.

She shut off all the lights of her dormitory, and curled up on her bed. For once, she wasn't feeling scared or distraught or in pain. She just felt completely numb. Nothing could hurt her. Nothing could could make her cry. Nothing could make her laugh. Nothing could made her scream. And nothing could ever make her happy.

***

"...and they took many prisoners and killed many more," the Pedagogue described. "They tortured and mutilated those hostages they took in a brutal attempt to pry any sort of information out of our good citizens. And they have the audacity to call us barbarians?" he paused, setting down his textbook and looking around the room. "On the night of the sixth day of the eighth month, the body of citizen 111684D was found in a back alleyway near Frost Way. His corpse was missing his left ear, his right arm, and his left foot. And what about the entire house of 052972F? He, his wife, and his two children all vanished sometime between the twenty-first of the the second month and the twenty-second. There has been no trace of them since then, and they are likely all dead by now, knowing what the Insurgents do."

He paused for a moment, as if he needed to take time to calm himself down. "Is this justice? All they do is lie and pretend that they're fighting for a noble cause, but no cause could possibly noble if it includes acts like that. Even if their end goal was somehow good, the end does not justify the means."