Escaping Life

The Third

I slowly walked up the stairs, hoping the noise I heard was not the military coming to take me away. They were ruthless, and every Third reduced the population by one hundred people. They went from the bottom of The List and worked their way up. Nobody in my village was allowed to see The List, it was a fear factor- to keep us in line. We were the worst of them all. Everybody in my village was here by force, they weren't born here nor did they move here, it was like a prison camp. People were finding new ways to get out everyday, pretty soon we won't need to reduce the population. Suicides and escapes were everywhere in my village. There were so many deaths,in fact, people nicknamed the village "Man's Last Stop", and that's the only name the village has. I opened my door slowly, with my eyes half closed not wanting to see what was on the other side, knowing it couldn't be good because it was past curfew.

"Is this the residence of Offender #194034?" The officer asked. We all received numbers when we were brought here, we had committed unforgivable crimes- we didn't deserve names. I put my hands out in front of me, curled into tight fists, wrists up, as a sign of cooperation; they usually didn't care. As soon as I did so the largely built officer-not so gently- pinned me against the wall and proceeded to inject my shoulder with a substance I couldn't see to identify.

I knew not to speak, speaking in our village was disobedience, and disobedience was death. Slow, painful, wishing you had gone into The Square death. I stood as still as I could while the officer held me with a grip so tight I was sure to have large bruises and waited while my vision went first blurry, then black.

I awoke with hazy vision and a stinging in my hands, neck, and wrists. I couldn't quite make it out but I was almost sure there was a mirror to my right, and the officer to my left. I had no idea how long I slept, but, again, I knew not to speak in the presence of an officer, even if directly spoken to.

"You're out of the village, Blaire." An extremely deep voice rang out through the largely empty room. There was a single problem, my name was and had never been Blaire. Before I was Offender #194034 I was That Child and before that I was Charolette. Was I missing something? A look of pure confusion was seemingly permanent on my face. "Blaire you've been in a coma for years now, do you remember any of us?" Were they trying to confuse me? Were they messing with me before they killed me? I had to have my questions answered.

"I'm not Blaire?" I questioned, trying to sound certain but utterly failing. My mind was racing I couldn't deal with all of this confusion so soon after being drugged, they needed to just kill me already.

Super short but it is only a small teaser of what is to come! Tell me what you think, I had this idea and just had to write it down.