What the Hell is Going On?

Chromdem

Sam held the door open for Toby and Killer. He closed the door, locked it, and slipped his key under the door map. He walked alway from his old childhood home with joy in his heart. Sam was glad to leave this house and his family. They had never accepted him, and he doesn't think they ever will.

"So, how are we getting to Maine? I don't see your car. Don't tell me you walked or teleported or something." Toby was following Samuel. He still held onto Killer's leash.

"No. I flew, in my spaceship. I walked. Honestly Samuel."  Toby laced his words with sarcasm. "For real though, I rode a train and walked from the station." Toby handed Sam a ticket. "Two ticket for the 3AM train. It's a straight trip to Maine. It'll take about 20 hours including all of the stops at other stations. We'll get to Portland, Maine around 11PM. After that it will be a 10 minute bus ride. Then a 5 minute walk. I took the dignity of getting us a compartment so we could rest. We're going to have a long next couple of days. You'll crash at my place on Base. Tomorrow morning we have to be at school at 8 and it's a 15 minute walk to school. We'll have to register you so we need to get there 30 minuets early. So we need to be out of the house by 7:00. Want me to wake you up at 6 or 6:30?" The boys were walking towards the train station without thinking about it. Samuel knew the way to the station like the back of is hand. All the times he'd planned on running away, taking the train. He'd mapped it out perfectly.

"Um. 6 I guess. So school first huh?" Sam responded. They were about 10 minutes from the train station now.

"First?"

"Yah. I thought I would have to talk to some like elder at the Base or something. You said 'People like me. People like you.' So I'm an avatar person too?" Toby's veins and eyes, which were currently neutral, human like, were now starting to have a shadow of gray. "You're nervous or anxious about something. What's wrong?"

"Our people, they're called Chromdem. In Latin, chrom means color and dem means people. We literally are colored people. Some people, such as your mother, were once Chromdem too. However, when they fail their 5th year exam 3 times in a row, the elders make them forget that they were ever one of us and send that out into the "real" world. There is no problem once you forget, because they also put a mind block so that your brain doesn't know how to color. They've been doing this for centuries. There is never any problem until they have children. Over 75% of the time, their children are human; however, sometimes they're not. We keep close surveillance on our people. Then their children. Then theirs and so on. For you, we thought you were human too until 10 days ago. In your sleep, you changed. We don't know what caused this to suddenly happen, most people change for the first time when they turn 8. We think you saw something that triggered your brain to remember the color in your DNA. Normally, we kill the people who were raised not knowing what they were." Toby paused to make sure Sam was still paying attention. He sighed.

"You can thank me for them not killing you. It's my job to watch over some of the descendants from the color. Mainly just the ones who are over 16 and haven't have any signs. Slow job, but it pays well. When you changed, they wanted to kill you. Scared of you because you had changed so late. But I said that we shouldn't. You were innocent, but you seemed to have all of the skills needed to be a Chromdem. Also, you're a fast learner and were aching for an excuse to leave. After a long debate about it, I finally won. However, the condition was that I also had to come get you and convince you to come with out telling you who you were before you agreed, in under an hour. Or they would have killed you. So I guess that it was a good idea you agreed to come with a stranger." Toby chuckled.  They had arrived at the train station now. their train didn't leave for another hour so they sat down at a bench.

"I expect they are going to want to see you tomorrow evening, but school is one of the most important things in our culture. So you'll be starting school in the morning. I expect you do have questions this time?"