Masquerade

Chapter 1

Everyday is exactly the same. I wake up at 6:00 am sharp. Shower for exactly two minutes under room temperature water. I eat what the Nations give us for breakfast: tasteless, creamy white coloured mush, supposedly packed with nutrients that are essential to the human body. We only get enough to keep us going until lunch. After breakfast, I pick up my Screen and make my way to the porch. I step on the sidewalk at exactly 7:15, which gives me and all the other kids in my neighbourhood just enough time to get to school. 

And everyone is the same, always. 

Except for me and Tyler.

Our routine is different. Illegal, yes, but we haven't been caught...yet.

Instead of walking the path that leads directly to school, we turn a block earlier and walk on the path that leads to the lake. Nobody ever visits the lake anymore. There's nothing really to see. Once we get on the path, we walk next to each other, no point walking single file if there's no one around. 

"Don't you think somebody should've noticed by now that we come here?" Tyler asks

"Probably not. They're all perfect remember? They know nothing but rules and rules and rules."

"Ilea they have eyes. I mean, we've been doing this for seven years. Somebody should've seen us take a wrong turn."

"Well I'm glad they didn't."

There was a long silence then. But a comfortable one. Seven years ago Tyler moved to Epra, and we've been best friends ever since.