Happiest Eastern Living Population

Chapter 1: A Simple Appearance

Alright, I need you to listen closely. We don't have much time, maybe like a few hours, so I'm going to try to fit everything that I can in here. Nevermind that for now i'm ahead of myself. My names Oxinide but everyone and some only know me as Oxy. I'm a 20 year old male. I have a navy blue sweater with patchwork on it. A “v” shaped collar with a beige background and navy blue stripes on it. As well as a patch from the elbow to the wrist with the same pattern and about an inch away from it a smaller patch of just beige with baggy sleeves that are cuffed at the end in beige fabric. Dull bright blue shorts with pockets and white boots with 2 velcro straps about an inch away from the top. My arms and legs are stick-like with pointy fingers. My hair is vibrant blue. As well as a long black tail with a sharp tip. Everyone looks different except for the masks everyone has to wear these stupid smile masks to deflect negative emotions even the infants. You may know me, you may not if you don't though I'm shocked. I'm mostly known as the guy who got a guard sent to live with him because he wasn't following the rules at the age of 20. I bullied everyone and no i'm not the “oh i'm insecure and desire attention” that teachers say, nah I do it for fun. It's enjoyable to me. I show many negative emotions as listed by the council the countless times I was sent there. Negativity, pessimistic behavior, rude, mean, dark humor, misbehave often, etc. Do I care? No. Ever since i was young i was always chastised and punished i was even brought up to the Stage Of Disappointment basically its where the council brings you up on the stage and makes you talk about all the stuff you did then people tell you how disappointed they are then after your parents don't talk to you for a month. It works every time! I’ve seen them cry and cry and never do it again… except for me. I laughed and did it again. If my parents didn't talk to me then they couldn't tell me what I'm doing wrong and that broke the silence. That's how I got the stupid guard sent to my house.

Insomnia, you may know what it is but if you don't know what it is it's basically issues sleeping or staying asleep. I have issues staying asleep for too long. The guard sitting in the chair near the door on the far right of the room with the dark masking his face as he watched me for any abnormalities in my behavior, you see i have random jolting pains in my body and as well as negative emotions constantly and having insomnia is truly no different. As I jolted awake I heard the guards chair creek as he leaned back into it.
“Trouble sleeping.” He said more like a statement than a question.
“I don't know what's it look like to you?” I responded
“Keep acting like that and i swear-”
“You’ll send me for re-educating.” I finished
He sighed loudly obviously annoyed by me finishing his sentence
“Strike.” He responded
My eyes widened. “The hell you mean “strike”!?” I yelled
Strikes are only giving on important matters. For example, vandalizing these are also the things that get you taken in the night for re-educating. Sometimes though they don't give you the warning of a strike and for things like murder they just take you. Sometimes if you're unlucky enough the death penalty is the only other option. But that's only if the re-education doesn't work which it normally does so no one really worries about it. But anyway all i know is they get taken in the night and when they come back they remember nothing of who they were. They also look different. The mask. It looks and feels like their face. I began to get worried now that re-education was on the plate. I knew full well I better improve my behavior.
He glared at me
“ya know talkin’ back could get you another strike?” He said and while it was formed as a question it sounded more like a warning.
I nodded quickly “I apologize for cursing at you” I said using the standard apology format that I made to make it sound more believable.
“I’ll let it slide this time, but you gotta learn to control those emotions of yours” he responded then leaned back into his chair “now. Go to sleep”
It sounded like a demand as if I could magically fall asleep. I huffed and rolled over.

The next morning was rough. I hadn't gotten much sleep as I kept waking up in the dead of night and getting into arguments with the guard. Oh yeah I never truly told you who that was, did i? His name is Xo, pronounced Zo for some odd reason. He's stern and takes the rules as seriously as anyone possibly could. He's a buzzkill and doesn't like to have fun. He wears the standard guard outfit that's made to separate them from normal civilians. Their masks are red and they wear black suits with walkie talkies tied around their waist. They all look the same even down to the brown hair and pale as paper skin. The only difference is their name tags, that say their name and rank. During job listings, (jobs on a list and kids write their name next to the one they want) new children are always so confused when the job of “guard” does not appear on the list. People don't really know where these Guards come from. There was a theory that they are all old people but that theory was debunked when there was a 20 year old guard. The theory right now is that they are people who have excelled at life in this community or those who are taken in the night and mutated. That would explain their samenes, and it gives an answer to the reason why some go missing and never return.