cleanse

5

My father's grip around my throat tightens the more I squirm. I feel my eyes bulging out of their sockets. He growls as I whimper and try to cry out. My vocal chords are destroyed and I'm rendered voiceless. My face burns with white hot rage and the loss of oxygen. My arms and legs are numb and I can't feel my fingertips or toes at all. It's like my body is falling apart piece by piece.

Then, he's kicking me. I'm lying helplessly on the tile floor having the shit beat out of me. My lungs are collapsing and several of my ribs are broken, probably puncturing my lungs as I think about it. Even though I should be dead, I'm not. I should've been dead a while ago when his hand was wrapped around my throat.

I should be dead now that my lungs have popped like balloons. But I'm still alive and suffering more than I ever have. More than the mental pain that came with mom's death, more than seeing Magdalena getting senselessly beaten on the day of Exams.

That's when the door swings open and Magdalena runs in. I get a slight glimpse of her face before my eyes close. She looks older. She looks about three years older. The older Magdalena shoves father off of my empty body.

I struggle to open my eyes, but when I do, I should've died of shock. She's wearing exactly what I wore on the day of the Exam. When I walked into the house to find her half dead. I let the stinging tears wash my face as Magdalena runs her fingers through my hair.

She kisses my forehead and rises up, off the floor. "Come on." she demands. "Get up. It's all over now."

The words echo through my brain as I open my eyes. The Examiner is standing over me with a clipboard in her hands. She jotting something down about me. I wonder what I did that she's so interested in.

"You may change out of your gown and back into your clothes, Violet." she says, emotionless. I switch back into my clothes as fast as I possibly can, trying to avoid awkward glances that the Examiner keeps shooting in my direction.

She dismisses me with the wave of her hand. As I step out of the room, I look behind me and notice the Examiner rewatching my brain scan. There are four sections on the screen, each showing a different simulation that I went through. One of them was testing how quick I was, another tested my knowledge and education, another was on my mental heath and stability, and the final screen was me in the future. I worked in the Army as a gunman in the fields. I wasn't married and my only friends were the ones I had made on site.

A pang of anger struck me in my core. What if I don't want to obey this simulation? It's not even real! This unreasonable anger suddenly disappears when I think about being Cleansed. I think about letting mother and Magdalena down. I think about Magdalena dying at the hands of my careless, broken father.

I wipe the tears off my cheek and run past the people in line. I find myself standing in the middle of Town Hall with tears staining my cheeks and a heart that's shattered into a million pieces. Like the red vase that belonged to my mother. After she was Cleansed, father had a meltdown and threw it on the ground. The red crystals were on the floor, scattered into a mess that sat there for days. Finally, I emerged from my bed and cleaned it up, hoping mom saw my bravery.

I stand in the empty corridor for a minute. I want to be with Magdalena and I want to stay with her forever. I would do so, if I didn't have to stay here for the Results Ceremony. When all the Exams are complete, they bring everyone who tested today into the auditorium to announce scores.

If you score a 100 or higher, you have passed. Scoring a 200 means you earned a perfect score, and ten years of immunity. If you score less than a 100, you fail, resulting in a Cleansing. It's not very common to be Cleansed in Nobility, though. My mother's death was heavily mourned here mostly because it's such a rarity.

My mother scored a 99. This is what infuriated father more than her actual death. She was one point away from living. One tiny, meaningless point away from taking another breath and seeing another sunrise. Noredge doesn't make any exceptions and when my mother was Cleansed, I finally understood that. So I studied my ass off, trying my hardest to get the best score I possibly could. I read every textbook on America's downfall, Noredge's policies, and Noredge's rise to the top that was sold.

I wish I could tell Magdalena that if I don't pass, I want a rebellion. If I don't pass, I want a great, big wall of fire to consume this nation. I want Purity to crumble faster than the White House did when the flood of fire engulfed it one hundred years ago. But more than anything, I want my sister to live. Even if ninety percent of the population dies in the fires, I want her to rise and lead this nation. I don't give a damn about her age because she's on of the smartest people I know. She can lead. I know she can.