CHAPTER 1
Amelioration. They're what our directors call the meeting we have every seven years of our life. The first seven years you get your marrower. It's similar to a hologram but with all the latest technology. You can only access certain features as you go through life. Every time you discover something new or learn they add a new application, though my favorite was the drawing application. The second amelioration is the transfer.
That was my second amelioration. I didn't have parents to say goodbye to, only my younger brother Zion. My parents both left once Zion was born without warning. I had been in charge of him for six years at that time. Saying goodbye to him was the second hardest thing I had ever done.
As a child I had always dreamed of the day it was my turn, my turn to transfer. I had waited a total of fourteen years for my turn. During your transfer you got put in a hovercraft with two others. I was lucky enough to be put in mine with my two best friends. Lucille was a tad smaller than me. She had bright white eyes it was like staring into the purest form of magic and black hair that went down to her lower back. Conrad went to my school. He was stout, and strong. On the surface he seemed like he had something against the world, when really, he was the sweetest person I knew.
"Step into the vehicle and press autopilot it will take you to your transfer." The instructor stated with a blank expression almost as if he was a programmed robot.
We stepped into an oval hovercraft. It was jet black with white lining. Every corner of it was made of bulletproof glass. This was to insure everyone's safety. As I walked around inspecting it I noticed a peculiar ripple in the glass towards the bottom. Was I just being paranoid? Yes, that had to be it. I jumped into the craft burying my fears and notions deep within themselves.
"You don't look so good, Anastasia." Lucille concluded. She always had a way of reading my emotions like the back of her hand, even when I didn't want her to.
"I'm just...worried." Lucile's face quickly became skeptical of my lame excuse.
"Hurry up!" Conrad groaned being his worrisome self. As we settled into our hovercraft I clutched my backpack with the few things I brought with me. Inside my blank black backpack was my locket with the picture of my parents inside, a blanket, my pocket knife, a journal with a matching pen, an apple, an empty canteen, a lighter, protein bars, and a spare change of clothes. Once we got to our new location we would be provided with clothes and supplies.
During the flight we made small talk in order to break the awkward silence. You could sense the fear from a mile away. None of us were ready for this. All we had heard were stories both good and bad. Then I heard something I wasn't expecting. It was the sound of air.
"Do you guys hear that?" Then there was a loud cracking noise. It sounded like the films I watched in my classes of a wooden tree falling. Now trees are made of metal and cannot fall unless they are instructed to by our government's leaders.
"Yeah." Lucile said blankly not realizing what it meant.
"It's coming from the bottom!" Conrad began looking more and more concerned as he investigated the crack. The only thing I could think about was the ripple I had seen in the glass. How could it be a coincidence that it cracked in the exact same spot? Someone had sabotaged the craft, but whom?
Suddenly there was a blaring beeping noise and red flashing lights. We knew something was about to happen, something that would change our lives forever. We were about to crash and we couldn't do a thing about it. As I sat grasping my seat, breathing like a fish underwater with no gills. I was drowning in fear. I was helpless. The wind was glaring in my ears. The piercing sound of the alarm was even worse.
Suddenly, I felt a calm wave run through me. Conrad had put his hand on mine. I suddenly knew exactly what we had to do if we wanted to survive. I glanced out the window and saw a bright blue ocean. This was the first I had ever seen anything other than grey, black, or white. What was happening? I decided to push the brilliant color out of my mind.
"Give me a boost up. I'm going to open the hatch so we can get out." I announced strapping my backpack to my back.
"No! You're going to get hurt!" Conrad clearly didn't have a grasp on the urgency of the situation.
"Water is going to start leaking in. It's now or never." I protested.
"Come on just help." Lucille put her hands out in an attempt to hoist me to the top of the encapsulated egg and grabbed onto the latch. The whole top hatch came off the hovercraft. A burst of water came rushing toward my face. I felt like the waters swift hands slapped my face. I clutched the hatch as it floated towards the surface of the water. As I began to float towards the top I felt my foot being tugged on. My foot had been caught on the seatbelt that was previously holding me in. I quickly began to panic. Water took my lungs captive. Then in an instant my foot had been untangled. Lucile had gone back down in the capsule and released my foot from the seat belts clutches.
As I popped up to the surface I used what little strength I had left to get on top of the hatch. In shrill panic I looked around for Lucile and Conrad. They were nowhere to be found.
The realization that I was alone came over me like a lightning bolt hitting a tree. That tree had split in two, so had I. Lucile had saved me and sacrificed herself. Conrad had calmed me down and now I'll never be able to thank him. I laid my head down and scrunched up in a ball. Tears came flooding from my eyes. I was a needle in a haystack floating in the ocean. No one would save me. I shut my eyes.
I woke up with the sound of a pelican squawking as if it was my alarm clock. It sat there and stared at me like it was waiting for me to say something. It had this gleam in its eye that I had seen before. It was the same gleam in Lucile's eye. He opened his mouth slowly and dropped a tiny fish. Was I just hallucinating or had I just made friends with a pelican?
I reached out to take the fish and it disappeared. There was no pelican, no fish, no more Lucile, and no more Conrad. My only friend was the sea and it spoke of only calmness. Its rolling waves were to me as a mom rocking her baby's cradle. Blank thoughts whirled around my head. I had killed Conrad and Lucile. They saved me. This was a new feeling. A feeling. I hadn't felt something since my parents left.
I rolled over to my other side being careful not to tip the hatch. Something was in my pocket, piercing into my bony hip. It was my marrower! I could contact someone for help and I would be safe. I put my hand on it and unlocked the hologram. I motioned for the calling function but then I realized I couldn't connect to the government's satellite in the middle of the ocean. I closed my eyes in hopes this was all just a nightmare and when I woke up I would be home.
But this time, I couldn't fall asleep and act like I wasn't stuck. I couldn't pretend that the only thing keeping me from drowning was the hatch from the hovercraft. I couldn't pretend no matter what I did. I opened my eyes and there, it was a small piece of land. Never had I seen anything like it. There were no metal trees, no electric lines, no huge buildings, and no visible life. I was going to be alone for a long time and it was time to take that within myself and accept that. I had to take care of myself and to do so I had to get to that island.
I managed to get myself off the hatch and swim towards the island. With each stroke I felt my arms turning to jell. But I knew the only chance of me surviving was getting to the island. I felt like a machine programmed with a mission. Then I felt something. Something I never thought I would be happy to feel, it was sand! It was melting into my fingertips. I was safe, for now.
