The Myth called Earth

Chapter 4

Initially, Falcon was against my decision of accepting the house. He despised me for it. But as days passed we understood how important a roof was. The unclaimed, like us, were in for a lot of struggle. The small living space relieved us of some of the burden. He slowly came to terms with the fact. Although, there was a part of him that wanted to believe otherwise.

The house was not grand or anything. It was a hundred times smaller than the room we shared in Cocoon. The wide glass windows somewhat made up for that. It was situated at the corner of the residential block, just beside a fifty houses that roughly formed a square. Most of those were owned by people like us who had worked hard and earned a space they could claim their own. It goes without saying that we felt greatly out of place and were confined inside the walls. In the short span of time I had developed a habit of staring out the window. I would gaze upon the stoned pavements, the electric lights and the shacks gleaming neon in the distance. It was where our friends were living. Temporarily. And I would pretend like I was a part of them. Our new neighbors weren't keen on establishing any friendly relations. One could live in that block for decades and not know the name of the occupant of the adjacent house. The little tin shacks were the only thing that appeared real to me.

It was the day of the Occupation test. I stared into the morning haze outside our glass windows. Falcon called me for the third time. Most unwillingly I turned. We had three rooms and a lavatory and these were horribly similar. When I first entered the house the only thing that appealed to me was the lavatory. Atleast somewhere the feverish white walls were given a miss. If I had to give someone a tour of my house I would bring them straight to the bathroom no matter how they judge me and go on like

"And this is the great the unique washroom"

Falcon on the other hand thought I was over reacting. He said it was identical to the Cocoon and the familiarity comforted him. It truly was. And that was precisely what I hated. It's absolute resemblance to the Cocoon.

I strolled to the door of his bedroom. He was busy brushing his cloak.

"What?" I asked bored.

"I am leaving" he replied looking up. He had taken special care of his appearance that day. His dark hair was combed and plastered uniformly on his head. His shoes were glossy and shirt was pressed.

"The main door is that way." I pointed out. He glared at me.

"You are coming!"

"I'll join later. Please!" I begged.

"We talked about this. It is important to make good impression on people in order to get jobs. They will judge us by our punctuality."

"In that case you are not at all punctual. You are an hour early." I bargained with him but he held up his palm like all my argument was invalid.

"We are going. Now."

"We haven't even given our exams. We have no idea whom to impress."

"That is why it's all the more important. We'll impress everybody."

"That is the type of insane crap that I won't do"

"You will!" he grabbed my wrist ignoring my tranquil cries of protest. I picked up my cloak and mask that was neatly hanging on the hanger and headed for the door in tow. He pressed the knob and a series of locks began clicking. We had the thickest door in the whole block that kept out the heat and took forever to open. I put on the cloak. The shiny mask hid my face. It had two elaborate wings on either side of my eyes followed by a silver casing around my nose and lips and a sharp design under my chin. I had chosen it myself. If I had to hide behind a metallic face all my life it might as well be a beautiful one. Falcon's was plain simple except the grooves on his eye slits. The door finally opened. We stepped out as quickly as we could in the excruciating heat. The door slammed shut instantly. Under the ripples of my cloak I was turning into a steamed potato. Frankly, the artificial atmosphere did a very bad job of blocking out heat. The cloak and mask protected my skin but in the process cooked me underneath.

I noticed we were the only pair walking towards the Citadel. The 'claimed' kids would appear for the exam only if they chose to. But for us there was no other way. A few people passed us obliviously as if we were nothing more than ghosts. Soon, we joined the crowd. All the people who would be sitting with me through the next decisive hours. I could not believe I had separated from them only three days ago. They already looked so different, so unrecognizable. I could not blend in with them the same way. Although we were walking together it felt like we were walking different ways. There was little chatter. I was happy to see Ollie walking ahead of me hand in hand with Walter. Thankfully, some things never changed, even it were my critics.

The Citadel was in the center of the Mainland. It was a complex of tall pompous buildings built on a mountain of industrial junk. I had seen a lot of pictures of it in my reading books. It would be a complete lie if I said I wasn't excited to see it in person. Even through the minuscule images it's beauty seemed to spill. It surely should be a treat for eyes. But I couldn't thoroughly enjoy the enthusiasm due to the tension of the exams. Anyways, it was where all the academic and social activities took place. The residential area was concentrated around it. So, every road somehow led to the Citadel. The road prepared for the yearly candidates was the central one which in normal days could only be used by authorities of predominant ranks.

When I first saw 'IT', it surpassed all my expectations. It was built on a raised land that appeared to be carved out of glass. What part of it could be called junk I wondered? There was a low wall with a grand entrance in the frontier. A set of delicate stairs wound up to the entrance. That was probably the only differently built structure we had in all of Orcuz. My head bent back in awe. The crowd slowed down just like it had at the station. It was overwhelming my system and I still craved to take in each detail. Before I knew I was walking up the stairs peeping through my mask at the entrance. I gripped the railing to keep me from tripping overboard. The entrance welcomed us with a gigantic signboard declaring "Citadel: General Gate" in bold letters. I could not help but think about the other gates that would be. And one among them that would be reserved for the "Claimed" where Apple, his sister and Ruth would be entering from. A division. Yet another division. I sighed and settled back to praising the splendor of the place. A man and woman in identical silver cloaks and black goggles greeted us at the gate. They directed us straight into a hall through a narrow tunnel. While the other's inspected the construction of the tunnel, I was deep in thoughts about what was happening outside it. As soon as I stepped into the hall I wanted to bustle out and discover the rest of the complex. The hall which most obviously our examination center was lined with benches containing attached computers where the candidate would have to answer the in built questionnaire. One thing that was certain was that the facility helped to cease cheating as each individual received an unique set of questions . I picked a random seat and sat down. Falcon sat two rows ahead of me at the first bench. Commercials played on the whitewashed walls of the hall. We were informed so infinite times about the rules and regulations. For the thousandth time the screen barked about the Citadel's strict code of discipline. It told me that conversing or contacting any living thing after one had sat on his/her seat was illegal and grievously punishable. I shot a few deplorable looks to Falcon ridiculing his urge to turn up early.

When the major half of the hour had passed away we were asked to remove our masks and stare at the computer. I obeyed. A red ray of light swept across my pupils. As clumsy as I was I squinted and blinked and made a pretty mess out of it. Nobody showed up to help. Instead, the computer seemed sympathize with my total loss of coordination and perpetual gaucheness. It asked me to place my hand on the screen. Thankfully I passed easily and the screen unlocked to a rather intriguing set of questions. The 200 other students had already started their tests. I took a good look at them and began writing my destiny.

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