CONFINEMENT

CHAPTER THREE

   As Harrison and his Saving stepped out into the sun, the girl suddenly came to a stop. Harrison turned around and stood in front of her, towering over her fragile body. She was pretty really, which was kind of a shame and a waste, knowing that she came from the Slum. Her hair was a color between light brown and copper, with wild but still defined loose curls snaking down the sides of her face and stopping right under her collarbone. She had green eyes with tiny specks of brown dotted around the pupil. Over her nose and under her eyes were tiny freckles scattered about, and on the left side of her upper lip, a tiny little white scar snaked half a centimeter up towards the eye. It was so faint that only in this direct sunlight was it visible. Harrison could only imagen how she would have gotten a scar right there, she had probably fought like some animal. She looked him right in the eye as he studied her face.

   "Welcome to the Center of Tetrea." He said reaching out to shake her hand. He didn't want to put them on the spot inside of the warehouse, if she was too afraid of shaking his hand, so he chose to do it now instead.

   "Oh, so that's what you call it. Back home we just refer to it as 'the Big City'." She said with a nonchalant smile, and shook his hand gently.

   Harrison furrowed his brows a bit. "You have never heard of the Center? Must be focusing on the wrong things in history class then." He said mockingly.

   "We don't have history class." She said in an even tone which caught him a bit off guard. He stumbled a bit, then she said, "What is this about anyway? I'm your saven or something?"

   "My Saving. I'm your Keeper, and you are my Saving. The idea is I have to save you, you know, with the sins and all that-

   "I'm aware." She shot in quickly. On the train it had dawned on her why none of the clips made any sense. Back in November last year, she had discovered her classmate Cindy having sex with some dude who already had a girlfriend. It wasn't Castanias corner and she told her she wanted to stay out of it. Guess Cindy didn't believe her, and her father was one of the Officials at the table every year. She knew it was Cindy's clips playing, but with her face and body morphed into it somehow, it all just made sense. But nobody would ever believe nor care about it, and now she was stuck here with some tall dude calling himself her Keeper. It disgusted her.

   "Hey Hyde you got the pretty one!" A guy called behind them, making them both jolt and turn their heads towards the sound.

   "Sure Hale." Harrison said with obvious annoyance.

   "You know what that means," Hale said, motioning with his hand and acting like he was jacking himself off. Castania saw how Harrison rolled his eyes at the sight.

   "Forget it Hale." He said looking at his friend, then turning his head, piercing her with his stormy grey eyes. "She's Slumfolk."

   The Worker driver pulled into the side right in front of the Hawthorne apartment block. This was where Harrison lived, his grandfather, who lived in the Hawthorne Manor on the countryside, owned the whole block but allowed Harrison to live by himself in the penthouse apartment. That way, he lived way closer to the Academy and to his friends in general. Besides, he did like the company of his grandfather but living with him was something else.

   He followed Castania up the last flight of stairs and into the dimly lit apartment. The entrance had black mosaic floors and deep teal and tall wainscoting walls. From the ceiling hung a dusty but golden chandelier, emitting the only light in the entrance.

   "The driver will come pick us up in front of the building at half past nine every morning, except on Sundays. Be there! I won't hesitate sending you away for them to make you a Worker." He said while pulling of his uniform jacket and hanging it on a wooden hook, without even looking at her once. It was an empty threat, turning her into a Worker would be social suicide, when it was a privilege to be a Keeper and an Honor.