The Ringing

Slave Labor

It was back.

            It hit the insides of my head, droning, the high pitched noise coming back to haunt me. The pain in my eyes and head were only slightly better the second time. I tried to rub open my eyes before remembering that I was paralyzed, still frozen in my sleeping position. It stopped quicker this time, but it had still haunted me. “It’s lovely that they use the Ringing as your wake-up call,” I mumbled to Theodore as we slowly stepped onto the cold concrete floor.

            “The best part is, the pain never gets any better,” he said, taking his clothes out of his iron basket before falling asleep on his bed again. He woke up, held his head in his hands, blaming the sleeping on the Ringing, and we laughed. The light flooded in through the large windows, and for a moment it didn’t seem like an evil government holding chamber that would kill us all eventually. It seemed like-well-summer camp. Then my ear-splitting headache came back and I remembered where I was-the Compound. Such a lovely place. The female voice came back.

            “Welcome new Ringee, to your first day at the Compound.” I smirked. She made it sound like I was going on some vacation or a nice trip to an amusement park. “You will have thirty minutes in which the boundaries are turned off, except for the fact that you are not allowed out of the main building until there is ten minutes left.  During this time, you should get dressed and eat breakfast. Please note that the showers will not be turned on during this time-they are for use during leisure hour only. Please standby for your work assignments.” The voice crackled away, and was replaced by a male voice, this one gruff and scratchy.

            “Ringee: Jacobson, Annalise. Number: 0901. Morning: Coal Mining, the Pit. Afternoon: Textiles, Building 013. Good luck and take care.”

            I laughed. More fake statements. I bundled up my clothes and went into the restroom, where I took my-long-awaited pee and changed in one of the stalls. Sure, I was friendly with one of them, but not friendly enough to change in front of two guys.  I made a mental note of all the girls washing their clothes in the sink, realizing I would have to do that in about a day.  I walked out of the restroom, tied my auburn hair up, and sat on my bed with a thud. My breakfast had come through the hole.

            “Watery yogurt and an apple,” I mumbled. “Lovely.” I ate the mediocre food, saving the large container of water for last.  Theodore leaned over to me.

            “What do you have today?” he asked.

            “Coal mining, then textiles,” I said, attempting to bite into the dry apple. He shuddered.

            “Wow, they really wanted to scare you quickly,” he said, looking shocked. “Coal mining is one of the worst, only surpassed by rock drilling, masonry, and the metallurgy.

Textiles isn’t as bad, just a little boring and easy to screw up. I have food production and then metallurgy-not looking forward to the latter, but food production is occasionally interesting, and sometimes you can sneak a bit of food. Anyways, good luck to you. I’d start to head off if I were you-they get mad if you’re late.” Theodore put his tray back under bed and walked out to the right through the door openings. That was another strange thing about the Compound-there was no actual doors, just openings where the wooden rectangle should have gone. I was about to tell him that the boundaries were still on, that he should stop before going on, but then I realized that they were gone.

            Crap. Ten minutes left. I shoveled the rest of the disgusting, chalky strawberry yogurt into my mouth and threw my tray under my bed, before throwing on my combat boots and running out the exit. I had no idea where I was going-I needed all the time I could get out of the measly time they gave us.