it was a warm day. the breeze blew by making it feel like i was sitting in a hair dryer. i sat on my swing, and closed my eyes. i let my ears do all the work. laughing down the street of innocent children. soft buzzing of bees. the quiet chirps the birds made. for once the world seemed peaceful.
i woke up.
dreams.
dreams were a thing i had become fond of. our world was so dark. i was only 15, and already working in the fields. our village was dependent on us getting enough crops, if one person misses work, it could mean one person dies.
we lived on a damp, dark, and muddy island. i hated it so much. the only technology is in the library, and it is insanely difficult to get a hold of.
i had moved here when both my parents had died. or more like, i was sent here to be, as those on the mainland say, part of “the island of the unwanted.” i had lost everything and everyone. my status as an A+ student no longer mattered, now i was just “unwanted.”
Ted broke me from my thoughts. He climbed in through the window. “get up riley. it’s time to work. go go gooooo.” he said to me. i grunted and pulled myself out of my bed. i had already been in my work clothes, due to the fact that yesterday was a long day. i pulled my hair up into a ponytail and and smiled at him. “let’s get it going tedddersss.” he laughed and we climbed out of my small, dingy room.
the air smelt like dirt. the sky looked like dirt. the ocean looked like dirt. we were on one big island of dirt. it was almost like we were living inside a coffin or something. we had been buried alive.
we started off on our usual route. like everything else it was, well, dirt. “how’s your brother doing?” i asked ted. “oh, jackson? ya, you know him. bored of this life. same everyday.” i laughed. “how’s he doing in training?” training is where everyone under 10 has to go before they are forced to the fields. “good, i guess. we don’t really have much time to talk about it. they haven’t shipped him off the island for the end of the earth, so i guess that’s a good sign.” i laughed. i looked at my watch, “oh man. we are so late.” ted laughed, “i think by now they’re probably used to it.” i smiled at him. we were late almost every single day, but i hadn’t really cared. i mean what were they going to do, ship us away? that would mean 2 less pairs of hands to help. they can’t afford losing us.
we arrived at base with the rest of the workers. the youngest were in front and the oldest were in back. emily, our leader, rolled her eyes at us when she saw us walk in. “late again?” she said. “sorry.” we said back. i went to my spot with the rest of the 15 year olds and ted walked over to the 16 year olds section. “okay boys and girls,” emily started, “are you ready to work like there’s no tomorrow?!” she yelled at us. i saw some of the youngers, who had just started yesterday, shake in the front row. emily was kinda scary at first but as the days and years pass, she just kinda turns into an annoying parent. “oh yes...” i heard brian say from in front of me, “this is what we live for!” he yelled to emily. emily smiled. “that’s the spirit kiddo.” and then she turned to start assigning our areas. 10s were first. i heard her assign them to the beginners area, which i remember to be absolutely horrifying. once she had got to us, she assigned the 15s, 16s, and 17s to one of the more advanced fields. our groups silently walked towards the huge mountain, that we called Mt. Emily because of their similar qualities, they both wanted us to work and they both were living death themselves. but, of course, we never called it this in front of her, we called it its real name with her, Mt. Wellings. this mountain was mostly dirt, but at the very top, we planted seeds and dug for stones and stuff. i wasn’t sure what the point was, we barely got enough food to feed 20 of us. yet, everyday we would still go up to the top and hope there would be more food. i walked over to find ted.
ted was talking to ben. “hey guys.” i said to them. ted turned away from ben, completely ignoring him. ben was one of those people that could rant on about the same subject for his whole life. “oh my gosh, help me.” ted said quietly to me. i laughed. i turned to ben. “um, why don’t you ask emily about the work we will be doing tomorrow?” i asked ben. ben shut up for a second. “good idea!” he said in a second later. he ran off to emily. ted smiled gratefully, “thank you.” we continued our walk to the top of the mountain. for a while we were silent. “we need to get off this shit island.” i said to ted. he nodded to me. “we should.” i said. “shhh.” ted said to me. “the emigeeks are behind us.” he whispered so quietly, i could barely hear him myself. the “emigeeks” were basically just the kiss up, emily lovers. they did their best to follow her around and provide to her every need. emily, of course, loved them, but everyone else hated them. their small little group followed behind people and basically spied on everyone. anyone who said something bad about her, well, were screwed. it usually meant a day without food, which was like setting yourself up for death. once the emigeeks left to follow someone else around i continued, “i found a boat.” i said to him. i could see his blue eyes get big as he turned his head to me. “do you know what that means?” i asked him with a smile. his smile was so huge it looked like it was the size of a banana.
i leaned over to whisper in his ear, “start saving your food, we’re getting out of here.”
