2073

Chapter One

Sometimes, the present time and the outlooks on the future, block our sight of the past. The past which our school teachers kept telling us doesn't matter. The past which our dorm watchers told us not to dream about. The past which the government keep telling us not to relish in. Not to look to far from the gates they put in our minds that only let us see what they wanted us to. What they needed us to. Needed us to see to create what they wanted to get farther from truth and behold their great legacies.
However...
Other times, there comes a single moment. A single, solitary, lonely moment where all that is dark becomes light. All that is thrown away becomes useful. All that is dead, finally becomes living.
That moment, is my whole life.
It all started when I was visiting my parental units, Able and Dal. I was only eight at the time, so I could be considered very curious of the world I was restricted to see. Given, the only real glimpses of the outside were in pictures or in my memories of childhood, I still wanted to know more. It was my third time visiting them since 2054, and my first time since June of 2055, and I barely remembered them despite the fact that I was with them for the first ten years of my life.
Able, had raven black hair like mine then, with only a small trace of grey. He had a beard that was a little more grey than that of his head, and it was less dark too. His eyes were a deep blue, like an abyss of dark water in his face. He stood tall with shoulders that expanded wider than even the dorm watchers, as if he'd been one himself, but I had never seen him around at night. He had very old clothes every time I saw him as if he had never grown out of the 40's. His shoes were always clean though, and he always wore the same pair.
Dal had an uncontrollable curly mess atop of her head, the colour of flames. She also had the biggest green eyes, like mine, only looking older and more tired. She had freckles that covered her face. And much like other things about me and her, we both were very pale. But I grew to have the height of Able, yet when I turned fifteen I was told I could no longer visit them. 'They've gone to a better place' they said. I didn't know what that meant, but I never saw them again.
But in September of 2055, they let me explore their new small dorm that they lived since I moved to school. I was looking around in the gathering room, when I was playing with the fireplace. I pulled out a knob, and as an adventurous yet afraid child, I looked around to make sure no one was looking. I turned the knob various times, taking note of the clicking noises coming from behind the wood. Finally, after a tedious amount of fidgeting, a small panel on the side of the fireplace opened. I looked inside of the hole in the mantle, scared of what might lurk, but my curiosity took hold of me and I reached inside. I pulled out an old book, its covers tattered, the binding torn. I was tempted to open it, but there was numbered lock on it that prevented me from doing so. I wanted to open it, so I reached my hand back in the hole, but found nothing as I scavenged for a small note of some sort to tell me the answer. I had no luck.
When I was back at the dorms, I sat up all night trying to think of a series of four numbers that would unlock it. I tried important dates, when Kile Barden started the rebellion, took over, had his son Birch, but nothing worked. And to this day, I haven't told anybody about the book, or even opened it.
I guess that's what life is all about. Waiting to guess what may be on the road ahead. Standing in fog for a lifetime, yet still walking to find a tree. And I'm only 18, so I've a while to continue guessing... Yay.
The book just sits in my lock case, since the inspectors aren't allowed to go into them legally. I still take precaution and make sure to put it on the very bottom, under my sundry secrecy items. Mostly just banned books and old photos of torn down legal buildings and famous dead people. I have this one black and white photo from the 1900's of this soldier dipping and kissing this nurse after coming home from a war in the old New York City. It just looks so nice and everybody looks so happy.
My one dorm mate, Oak Jibawi, usually hides weed joints in his. Every other day he smokes at least two of them and sits in our living room and reads the textbooks stocked in our bookshelves. He says it his version of studying and has read everyone twice. It works too. He's number three in the class, with only .6 points behind number two, who also is my dorm mate. Keene Baker. One of the many showoffs in the class, he enjoys watching number one in the class squirm as he threatens him every testing date with his knowledge. Finch Saber, the number one today, probably number two tomorrow because of how much him and Keene compete for the number one spot. Finch has a knack for being the most eligible bachelor what with his graduation funds he is said to get, and his perfectly chiseled body. Every girl is in love with him, and every guy wants to be him. With his light blonde hair with just the slightest bit of brown at the roots. The way the light reflects against his blue eyes makes you want to melt. Or at least that's what every girl who meets him says.
Me, Finch, and Oak hang out together a lot. Finch is one of my best friends, we've known each other since even before the draft. I met him when I turned six. He got pushed up against the cubbies in an old school class by this kid Tiberius. I helped him lift his books and gather his dignity which was left so brutally on the floor. We talked every day after that. He also has a natural talent for science and math, which I am coincedently terrible at. He helps me study because I would fail otherwise and get moved to Section 8J, which is the slowest system in the entire world. They work on for three weeks what we work on for two days. I would kill myself if it wasn't illegal.
Me and Oak met after the draft. We were in Russian Language class together. Oak came into school three days late because he lived in a very poor area and has terrible nutrition and needed isolation to heal. He was sat next to me and we were in a project group together. We were also in the same dorm section that year so we became friends and I introduced him to Finch.
Me, Oak, and Finch wanted to dorm together this year, but Keene had already requested to dorm with me. Like I said before, he likes to watch Finch squirm, so he stirred the pot. Oak and I were so angry. We made several appointments with the Dean of State to change Finch to Section 2C with me and Oak, but since Keene requested Oak as a roommate first and me and Oak requested each other shortly after. We couldn't change anything without both Keene and Finch's permission, which was utterly impossible. Finch ended up rooming in Section 2E with Braxel and Sadler, the co-captains of the lacrosse team. Their whole lives is surrounded around lacrosse so they're going into the entertainment field to play professionally.
I usually bring Finch around Section 1I with me to swim, or me, him, and Oak go to Section 6R and get food. We barely hang around the dorms because Keene will squeeze his way into our conversations. Keene's afraid of swimming so we go there because for him, it's forbidden.
Me and Finch love swimming. We go almost everyday. We used to go maybe once a month before the draft because there was a community pool in our state, but it was usually full of people in the summer and the winter was way to cold to go. Now we're both on the swim team and we have practice every Monday, Thursday and Friday, but we go and do laps on Saturday and Sunday. After of course, Finch makes me study with him when Oak is "reading" the textbooks.