Lower Hearts Higher Minds (Dystopian Fiction School Project)

One

I have seen it every day since I was old enough to understand. Almost every month someone from the middle region would come through the iron gates that divided the middle region from the lower region. It was always the same man, dark hair, dark eyes. He looked like trouble. He scared me.

He would come in and take two childen between the age of 12 and 18 from their school through the protected gates. We would never see any of them back and we never get to know what happened to them.

When I was little I thought it was normal, like it was just part of life. After all it was the government who wanted this right? They said so on the TV. As far as I was concerned back then the government only wanted the best for us, why else would they do anything to keep us healthy and well fed.

But that's what I used to think. When I got older I realized there was something fishy about them taking the kids. If their intentions were right, they would have let us know what happened once they left Lower. Something was wrong with the government, something was wrong with the system we're living in. But I couldn't put a finger on what is was.

The whole country is divided in three parts:

The Higher region, Higher for short. This is where all the 'smart' people live. They own the governent, president Iyowen is one of them. There are very few of them and none of us Lowers have ever seen any of them in real life, just on the TV with announcements and speeches. They never seemed to get older, which I first thought was just the media making it look that way. That there were computers making it look as if they hadn't aged a day. But the wall between us never gave me an opportunity to see it for myself.

The Middle region. This is where all the average people live. There are lots of them and they aren't particulary valuable, but they do all the work for the government.

And then there is us, the Lowers. Where we live is the lower region. They don't expect us to do any work, but they do keep up healthy and fed. They say we're the dumb ones, and for most of us that's true. But not for all of us. Not for me.

This all started about 50 years ago, when a war broke out. A small group of scientists blamed it all on the 'dumb' people. And when the war was lost, but the country survived, these scientists took the power. They invented a test that every citizen had to do, dividing them into groups based on intelligence. My grandpa was smart enough to end up in Middle, but my mentally ill and pregnant grandma had to go to Lower. They never saw each other again and my grandpa never got to see his son. After that test people were born into their region with no chance of getting higher.

***

I woke up and dragged myself out of bed, the sun was shining outside but I was in a terrible mood. I hated school, I felt like it was the same as the propaganda they used in the second world war about 200 years ago. It's all government influenced nationalism.

I dressed in black jeans and a tight black shirt with a sweater over it. I did my hair up in a messy bun and went downstairs to our small livingroom. Dad and my little brother, Ethan, were already having breakfast. ''Goodmorning Aelynn!'' my dad said and smiled at me, but I noticed immediatly that it didn't reach his eyes. He wasn't happy here, he's never been. He is, like his dad I guess, a smart man. I think he sees something is wrong as well, but we never talk about it.

We had breakfast in silence for a bit until dad had to leave to take Ethan to school. They got up without saying anything, but right before dad went through the door after Ethan he said ''Aelynn, don't let them get to your heart, they don't deserve it.''

I sighed, finished my breakfast and got up to leave for school. On my way there, dad's words kept playing in my head. ''Don't let them get to your heart...'' what did he mean with that, I didn't understand.

***

Right when I wanted to start on the math problems I was assigned to do, a man entered the classroom, said somthing to the teacher and then started making his way towards me. I recognized him immediatly, this was the man who always takes the children. And I knew I was the one going to be taken this time.

''Are you Aelynn Duyanne?'' he asked me, his dark eyes peering down on me. I tried to stay calm, ''Yes sir'' I told him politely but my voice still cracked a little. He told me to follow him, just me, no one else. This was strange, usually they take two. They always take two. I took a deep breath and walked after me, no matter how scared I was, this might be my chance to figure out what's happening to all these kids, and maybe, just maybe, there is a way to make it stop. I got into the car that was parked outside, and the last thing I remember seeing was Ethan playing soccer with his friends. Then everything went black.

I woke up in a room, a white room. It looked like one of the hospitals I have been to back home, like the one we went to when mum died. But this wasn't the same hospital, the window to my left showed me the tall city buildings I had seen on TV so many times. I was in Higher, that much I could figure out. But other than that I had a million questions that I didn't even get the chance to think about before someone entered the room. I did the first thing I could think of, closing my eyes and pretending to still be asleep.

I heard womans voice, ''We did the tests on her while she was out, she seems to be exaclty what we are looking for'' I peeked through my eyelashes and caught a glimpse of her, a blond woman with high cheekbones and very bright blue eyes. She was about 30 years old, and pretty too. ''And the eyes?'' A man's voice asked. The womans reply was quick ''She hasn't woken up yet so those tests still have to be done, but I guess her eyes will be the same grey colour as her father's. Apart from that, everything is usable.'' she said. ''Very well, very well'' The man's voice sounded content. I was too scared to look at him now, but I made sure to remember the deep voice.

It was silent for a bit and then there were footsteps. The door closed and I heard the sound of a lock. They locked me in here for some reason. Why? I didn't understand what they had been talking about, but it scared me. I waited for a couple more seconds before I finally opened my eyes.

The first thing I did was check my body for any bandages, wounds, needles or wires attached. I was in a hospital after all. But there was nothing, my body seemed to be fine. Then I looked around, the city through the window looked dark and threathening under the grey rainclouds. Apart from the bed and a small bedside table there was nothing in the room. Next to the door on my right was a mirror. I carefully sat up on the bed and swung my legs over the edge. I stood up a bit shakily, my limbs felt like the hadn't been used for a long time. How long had I been asleep? I didn't even know what day it was or what time and the room didn't give me any clues. It was too cloudy outside to see where the sun was, but at least I knew it was daytime.

I walked up to the mirror and stared at my reflection, I was still in the same jeans and tshirt I had worn the day I was taken here. My sweater was gone though. I didn't notice anything weird at first, but I soon discovered a tattoo peaking out of my shirt, right on my collar bone. It was a bit hard to read in the mirror but it said: Aelynn D//Sub.1233//Usable, All

Usable, there was that word again. They needed me for something. And I'm afraid it's something terrible.