Doppled in Gray [Discontinued]

Doppled in Gray [chapter fifteen]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The throbbing lights leave quick hues of neon greens, pinks, purples and blues on my uncovered skin and its intensity seems to sink into my being, leaving my heart to stay to the beat of the music’s pulse. The room is thick with excitement for tomorrow, the day that leaves us all to discover which of us are agents. I am still most of the time, a stark contrast to the dancing bodies that surround me. They are all joyous, sure that they have succeeded. I cant seem to bring myself to move, and so I push myself out the door and somehow make it all the way up to the surface and outside of NOIDD sitting on the dusty cool ground watching the sun begin to rise. There is a slight chill that makes its way to my bones before my suit adjusts to the elements. The sun is beginning to peek onto the faraway ground setting the sky off into a reddish-orange color that takes my very breath away. It exceeds the beauty I am used to. In the virtual world I didn’t really consider my surroundings as beautiful. But then, everything was carefully planned perfection, to the point where it really was ugly in a way.

Sounds are heard as the sun welcomes the land. There are birds, I suspect, ready to being a new day of collection food for themselves and their young. And a whirring of machines that I hear occasionally go high above my head indicate that people are coming and going ready to start an early day.

The sky is beginning to turn blue I realize that I would find out if I was an agent in only a few hours. The bubble of comfortable silence pops as soon as I hear the crunching of gravel underfoot heading straight for me. It is not fast, but it’s deliberate enough that I guess it is Haran, and so I don’t bother to get up. I can tell him to leave as soon as he is next to me.

But as the footsteps stop right beside me and I look up I am surprised. It is not Haran, but Captain, that is next to me. It is only because I am this close that I notice how young Captain really is. Although his build and look in general has me assume correctly that he is an adult, at this proximity I notice how underneath his obvious fatigue, he must be only a few years over thirty. His dark skin doesn’t even have one wrinkle yet. My respect deepens at an astounding rate. He has probably gone through so much to become a leader of so many people that depend on him. It is a wonder that he can do it. He is probably never relaxed always thinking about others, what is to become of them, how to help them. But at this moment, next to me, he looks at ease.

“Sunrises are always better than sunsets, don’t you think, Daze?” he asks, the fatigue in his voice matching his look.

“I suppose so, Captian. But I never really bothered to look at sunrises before in any case. I haven’t really considered how important the beginning of the day is,” I add.

He sighs and gives me a small smile before turning back to the end of the sun rising. The way that he looks at the sight makes it apparent that he sees the rising in a very different way than I do. But we both appreciate it, all the same.

“You would see it much differently if you were still in the Bramwell encampment. The sunrise symbolizes hope to them. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”

My eyes widen at him simply mentioning the life I once had. It feels as if it had been a lifetime ago. As if being a slave to all those Superiors and Originals had not been me, but those experiences all came from a weaker doppelganger of myself instead, and she had somehow escaped long enough to tell me the story to make me stronger. I think of all those I had left behind and then wonder how many are left. Crayl was strong, he had probably managed. Amber and his family, although it pained me to consider, I was not so sure that they could endure what has probably gone on. I shake off the heavy thoughts and then turn back to Captain.

“I did not realize,” I say and then look at my own trembling hands.

“I have managed to have communications with what I guess is their rebel leader. The conditions became much worse after you left, Daze. They created another clone of your Original.”