Lower Hearts Higher Minds (Dystopian Fiction School Project)

Three

I stayed in that same room for almost a week, and every day Dorian was sent in to bring me food. We got along easily, even with the situation we were in.

After two days, I was excited for the moments he would come in, he was the only thing to keep my mind of things and break the silence. He kept me sane. I was happy to chat with him, and every day I learned a little bit more about him.

Born in higher, the only young higher I had ever seen. I had actually never seen any higher kids, just the same faces over and over all my life. It was as if the population here never changed.

After 5 days, Dorian came in, he wasn't his usual self. Normally he would tell me all kinds of stories or sing to me, but he was quiet and his face was pale. Something was wrong. He didn't say anything at breakfast, or at lunch. When he came in with dinner he finally spoke up, ''We only have two days left, I might never see you again after that.'' His eyes looked sad, his voice was urging, hard, not its usual soft sound ''You have to figure out what's going on Aelynn!'' Even though I didn't understand any of this, I knew I was gonna lose my only friend in this too. I didn't wanna miss him, and that made me cry. Dorian sat next to me on the bed and wrapped his arms around me, ''Please Aelynn, I don't wanna miss you.'' He whispered. Devastated.

And then he got up to leave, he kissed me on my forehead ''I need you Aelynn, but not in the way they think.'' And then he left. My skin tingled where his lips touched my face, I needed him too, but I didn't get the chance to say it before he closed the door behind him.

I heard it shut, and then it was quiet. No lock.

***

I closed the door behind me as quietly as possible and slipped down the hallway. It was strange, there was no one walking around and there were no locks on any but mine. At the end of a hallway I slipped through a light blue door, 'KIDS' it said, After that door was another small hallway and another door. This one did have a lock, sort off. A small device was placed on the wall, I guess it was for scanning a code or something.

There was no way I could get in there without that code, they would find me and do something to me. I was too scared to move. The door behing me opened and the same woman who was in my room the first day entered. I could only just slip behind a curtain that covered a window next to the locked door. My heart was beating so fast I was afraid she could hear me, but she didn't, she held her wrist up to the device, it bleeped and the door slid open. I waited for two seconds and then I launched myself through. Just before the doors slid closed again.

She hadn't seen me and already disappeared around a corner. I was in a giant white room, no windows, just pale lights hanging from the ceiling. There was beeping everywhere. And there were hundreds of glass tubes lined up in front of me. I made my way over and started looking around, but just as I looked into the first tube I saw a boy in there, his body floating in a transparent fluid wired connected to him in every possible way.

His stomach was split open from his chest to his abdomen, and almost all of his organs were gone, no heart, no lungs. My eyes trailed up to his head, where two small holes were waiting for me. No eyes either. The sight scared me and I felt like I was gonna throw up.

Panicked I looked around, every single tube was filled with boys and girls, all in the same state as the first one. I was terrified. When I looked back to the boy again I saw something I recognized, a small tattoo in his neck, just like the one they put on my body 'Devon Price, Subject B24985, usable//all but liver' I gasped as I took a step back, Devon Price had been in my class at school.

Everything was spinning around me and I felt like I was gonna faint, but I kept moving, all the way to the back of the room. Some of the other children I recognized too, all Lower. This was what happened to the kids that were taken. There was a paper attached to a tube that had a boy in there, he still had his eyes, and I could still see a heart sitting in his cut open body. I carefully read the paper, ''Eyes will be used for Alan Coben Higher 52, heart will be used for Judith Connor Higher 34'' I stopped reading. This was what they needed us for. To keep them and their sick minds alive.

I started running, back to the door I came from, I tripped and fell on the floor, a corner of something hit me in the cheek and cut it open, but I got back up and ran. I had to find Dorian. I knew what he meant. I had to get out of here before the same would happen to me.