Taken

Chapter 3

                 

The day can't go by fast enough, I need it to be dark so I can go back to the testing rooms and try to find any sign of what happened to Tucker. In class I can't focus and every time a new class starts, I feel the urge to run out of the classroom and to Tucker, wherever he may be. But I know better, I have to wait until dark if I have any hope of finding him without getting in trouble with the societies guards. And if anyone gets in trouble with the society guards, you might never see them again, and I can't risk that, because I need to find Tucker before the guards find me.

Slowly, the day goes by, and after eating dinner alone, I head back to my compound and begin preparing for that night ahead of me. I know that I shouldn't be doing this, and that everyone gets taken at some point in their life, but for some reason, I feel like it's not right anymore; like no one should
be taken.

My stomach churns as it gets closer to nightfall, and I feel like everyone is watching me, waiting for me to leave, but I know it's just my mind and I can't let it get to me. When it's finally time to go to bed, I head to my bunk as usual, except I bring my backpack full of supplies, and I am fully dressed, including shoes. Once I hear a steady, heavy breathing throughout the entire compound, I pull my covers off of me and tiptoe out the door. I reach my hand out for the doorknob and twist, hoping that it won't make a sound. It doesn't. I start walking down the hallway and then I hear another pair of footsteps coming behind me. I stop dead in my tracks. Who is there?

A boy my age emerges from the darkness and stops in front of me with a puzzled look. I recognize him as an orphan from my compound named Emmitt, but I am clueless as to why he followed me and risked getting in trouble with the society guards.

"Why are you out after curfew? He asks.

"I'm heading to the library, I forgot my school bag there and I only just realized." I lie.

"Why aren't you telling me the truth?" He asks, "I can see that you are wearing your school bag right now, and, your fully dressed, explain that to me."

"Fine, I'll tell you. I think that something isn't right with the tests. When I walked up to Mary the other day, she didn't remember me or Tucker, and it wasn't just that, she was being nice to me."

He looks baffled, but also, not surprised.

"I've noticed that for a while now. Whenever someone comes back to work a job after they've been taken, they don't remember a thing. And it's not just that, I've watched the guards take people away the next test who have noticed these things like us."

Something's not right here, "Tucker couldn't have known, he would have told me, he had to have told me if he had known."

"I don't think he did know, I just think he was taken. But I don't know why. I don't know why anyone is taken if they don't find out that memories are being wiped, but I want to know."

Someone is approaching fast down the hallway, and before I can even think to move, Emmitt grabs my wrist and pulls me into a supply closet. We hear a few guards, at least three, I think, outside of the closet talking. I can't make out what they are saying, but it sounds frantic, like they are nervous about something.

Almost as quick as they were behind us, they are gone, and when I can no longer hear their footsteps down the corridors, Emmitt guides me out of the closet and starts off at a run.

"We have to get back into our beds, the guards will be searching every compound now, we have to get back or else they'll know we are gone."

We sprint down the hallway and back into our compound. And when we open the door, everyone is awake, staring at us with blank expressions.

Crap, we're done for.