Shattered Control

chapter six

six

 

“You ready?” Jem asked me as we stood at the scanner in front of the kitchen.

“Not really,” I told him.

“Then I’ll go first,” he said, swiped his key card on a slot that was located on the side of the scanner and waited for the scanner to load and print his plans. Within a few seconds a slip of paper came out from the bottom of the scanner and he grabbed it before I could even see it. He looked the page over a few times and kept turning it around with a quizzical look.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“It doesn’t say anything,” he told me, handing me the blank sheet. “Maybe there’s something wrong with it, you think I should call?”

“Well if you don’t, you’ll get in trouble,” I said reasonably.

“You’re probably right,” he answered, picking up the phone. Since the only use of a phone was to call the government (there wasn’t even any number pad that you use to dial a number to contact someone). All you did was pick up the phone and it directed you to the government. “Hello,” he said to the receiver, “yes, I scanned my key card, and nothing was written on the paper, I don’t know if it’s out of ink or if it’s a technical problem—yes,” he said looking over at the scanner, “Jeremy Dare age nineteen as of today—oh, okay—yes I understand, thank you,” he hung the phone up.

“So?” I asked.

“This is my plan,” he said a bit confused, “nothing changes for me but my age.”

“Did that ever happen before?” I asked. “I mean, I know people have been given plans to do like they always do but the plan at least has something written on it.”

“I know,” he said biting his lip with worry, “I don’t think this has ever happened before.”

“Don’t worry! I’m sure everything will be fine,” I said trying to cheer him up. But this didn’t even relax him the least bit.

“Liza, I wasn’t told to stay back,” he told me.

“What do you mean?”

“I was late this morning, and they didn’t punish me for it.”

“Well, that’s probably because it’s Aging Day Jem! Now stop scaring the both of us! It’s probably nothing!” I said a little upset with him. “I am now going to scan my key incase you’d like to know!” this seemed to get his attention and stand next to me as I swiped my card. Within a few seconds my sheet was printed, I picked it up and looked at what was written on it. I gave Jem my sheet when he asked for it; I was too stunned to explain what was written.

“Elizabeth Dare,” Jem read aloud, “the following instructions are not to be rejected, abused, or ignored. If you fail to follow these directions you will be punished. By the end of Monomonth you are to retire from your education. By mid-Dimonth you must find a job in the medical field. There are a few opened spots that have been reserved for you to choose from at the healing building. Once you have chosen a specific career you must contact the government to notify them of your decision. As of tomorrow you are to begin a relationship with Kane Isaacs, age of eighteen. You are no longer allowed to have any kind of relationship with Zari Bridges, and you are kindly asked to stop having personal conversations with your friends and neighbors. We ask you to follow these instructions for the betterment of yourself and of Zenith. Happy Aging Day, and have a wonderful year. Sincerely, Leader Maybrown Cook.”

By the time Jem was finished reading the letter I had tears in my eyes. He knew how bad this was for me because he got similar letters throughout the course of his life; the only difference was that it was spread out over the years, while for me it happened all at once. He immediately took me into a hug saying, “it’s okay, it will be okay.”

I tried responding, arguing, but I couldn’t for two simple reasons. One reason being that if I did say anything, I might get punished. The second reason was merely because my heart ached too much for me to say much.

“It’s okay,” he said again. But it was not okay. It would never be okay. I never minded the way the Government worked. Yes at times it was annoying but other than that I was fine with it. Mainly because what they had me do was nothing bad. I got used to my life and was actually comfortable with it. But this? I felt this thing build up inside of me that I only felt when my parents died; and that was hate. I hated the Government; I hated the Leader. When Carlos was acting up earlier that day I thought of it lightly. I thought that he was exaggerating. I knew it wasn’t fair, but the Government had the right. Well at that point it was so easy for me to think that, but now that I’m the one affected, not only did I understand him, but I also felt the same way. It took me this horrible plan for me to realize this. And what bugged me the most was that the Government took it so lightly. They acted like they are dancing princesses. “You are kindly asked to stop having personal conversations with your friends and neighbors,” as if! They might as well say “stop talking to them unless you want to be severely punished!” because that is what they really meant to say.

At that point, I was trembling with anger. I wanted to snap someone in half, I wanted to overthrow the Government; I wanted to personally kill the Leader in his sleep. I realized that my fists were clenched so tight that my knuckles were white. It was all I could to for me not to set the Government in flames.

“It’s okay,” Jem told me one last time before I went to bed, thought we both knew it wasn’t.

 

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i had a hard time figuring out what to make Liza's year plan. so i just kind of, wrote whatever, and it all sort of worked out in the end.

Jem on the other hand, well, i guess you can simply call it foreshadowing :)

anyway, thank you to those taking their time to read this. i really appreciate it. i know these chapters are a bit dull, but it gets better. or at least i hope so >.<

and also, thanks for having the patience to read short chapters one at a time. i'll try to upload every other day if not daily : )

so yea...thanks again! =D