Branded

Chapter 1

My name is Rose Hanning. The story that I'm about to tell you, isn't what you're expecting. This story is about the downfall of humanity. It's about the end of everything good in the world.

            The world isn't what it used to be. There is nothing that sets you apart from the person next to you. Everyone is the same person. There isn't any colour. They said that if everyone looked the same, acted the same, and dressed the same, there would be no issues.  They said that it would unite us. But the people have hated the new system. They wanted their identities back. But when we brought our opinion to them, they rejected it. In fact, they thought it was a sign that we were rebelling. So they took away our speech.  No one knows how, but they did. They thought if we couldn't communicate, we wouldn't be able to rebel.

However, we weren't going to go down that easy. There was this man, who used to be a brain surgeon, inserted software that would allow us to talk through our heads. Telepathy, he called it.  Once the thieves found out that he had done that, they had him executed.

Ever since the Thieves came and established reign over the region, there hasn't been any change from one day to another. Every day, the same routines, the same activities happen. The people were tired of it. So we decided to do something about it.

So this is the story of how the world came to its end. It's the tale of the defeat of the Thieves.  It all started 6 months ago. 180 days ago. This is the story of the Finishing.

~

          

6 months earlier

            White. I woke up to white. Just like every other day. I sat up and began my daily routine, just like everybody else at 6:45 am. I got up and scanned my ID, and walked up to my mirror. Besides a bed, a small desk, and a closet, that was all that was in my room, and everyone else's too. Not surprisingly, it was all white.

I finger combed through my wavy, blonde hair and took in my appearance. I had pale skin, high cheekbones, a small nose, and green eyes. Everyone practically looked the same, considering that there was minimal colour where I lived.  Everyone lived in a house with 3 bedrooms. All the adults go to work. All the kids go to school. And we all have tattoos. One, small tattoo beneath the collarbone, indicating your Set.

Our region is separated into Sets. Nothing fancy, just Set A, B, C or D. I'm apart of Set B, so there's a small B tattooed under my collarbone. The Thieves use Sets to keep tabs on our population.

The Thieves took over our region 50 years ago. They now control what ever goes on. They know everything. Where we are, who we are, what we're doing at what time, and why we're doing it. They want to keep everything under their control.

Since the thieves make sure to know everything we're doing, there are basically no secrets. But, I have a secret. I don't think anyone knows about it. My secret is something that makes me different from everyone else. It sets me apart from the other 2,000 people in my Set.

I mentioned that everyone has a tattoo. It's the one that marks your Set, and you get when you're born. There are no tattoo places so there's no way to get more.

Everyone has one tattoo.

I have three.

I have no idea where they came from. I didn't have them until a couple weeks ago. One day, when I woke up, I found a note on my side table. It said in neat writing "You have been Branded."I had no idea what that meant. Attached to the note was a photo graph. It was picture of a simple black arrow, on a ribcage, and an "X" just behind an ear. That must be me, I had thought. I had rushed to my mirror; sure enough there was a black arrow on my ribcage and an X behind my ear. The tattoo behind my ear was small, barely noticeable unless you looked for it. I thought about telling my parents, but then decided against it. I knew that if they found out I would have been in huge trouble and would have been asked a million questions. And, if the Thieves had somehow found out, I could have been executed because they thought I was rebelling. I mean, it was kind of cool, having something that only you know, but it was dangerous too. I decided to never point it out.

I finished getting ready and headed down stairs to do eat breakfast. "Hey Mom, hey Dad!" I greeted my parents through my head. My mom smiled and continued making her breakfast and my dad merely waved, because he was reading his newspaper. My mom handed me a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast and pointed to the dining table. "Eat up." She said. I sat down and ate my breakfast. It seemed that the only thing that changed every day was what I ate. For some reason, the note I had found the day I discovered my tattoos popped into my head. "You have been Branded. What does that mean?" I thought to myself. The note had never bothered me before. But I was determined to figure it out.

I finished up the remains of my breakfast and grabbed my school bag. "Bye Mom, bye Dad!" I said, quickly kissing my mom's cheek and headed out the door. But just as I was about to leave, I heard my mother's voice call me, saying the 7 words I had never wanted to hear.

"Rose, what is that behind your ear?"