• • •
"Just try to act Normal ok?"
"Yeah ok, it's not like one wrong move could land us both in jail or worse", I mocked Millie's voice as we moved closer to the doorway, "are you sure we cant ditch?"
"Wow you really haven't been to a school before", Millie laughed, "if we ditch my wristband will send out a ping to the nearest police station, telling them we shouldn't be out of school."
"Well then, let's hope I'm a good actor", I tried to lighten the mood, it didn't help.
Millie wearily looked towards me as we walked into the classroom. There was about what seemed to be 60 desks lined up in rows, another thin glass screen like the one Millie had was handing at the from of the classroom.
"Stop looking around, you're drawing attention", Millie nudged my shoulder and continued to walk, "sit over here, they usually don't pay attention to the kids that sit here."
I nodded my head and sat down on the metal seat beside Millie. Kids poured into the classroom and filled up the rest of the seats, eventually almost all the seats were filled.
As the class loomed closer the more anxious I got, what would happen if they figured out I wasn't from here, that I was from down below.
I gazed around the classroom looking for anyway I could escape if I needed to. Surrounding the left side of the classroom was a wall full of windows, I guess that could be useful.
I placed my chin in the palm of my hand as I turned to the front of the classroom. An Erie white glow was illuminating from the screen, someone must have turned it on.
The lights flickered off, I looked towards Millie worriedly but she shrugged it off and pointed back to the screen.
I brought my attention back to the screen in front of us, it had a white background on it with a black sloppily painted diagonal line going across.
"Never approach, never make contact, and most of all, don't ever let them see you", a voice sternly spoke from speakers surrounding the classroom, "you all know the rules, and you all know the consequences."
I griped the sides of the desk until my knuckles turned white, I've already gotten Millie into so much trouble that she doesn't deserve.
Multiple images of worn out streets and broken down houses played on the screen followed by the voice, "these are the streets of sector 0, or as others call it the upside down."
"And these are their people, the ones who weren't up to our standards to live in the new world", the voice spoke again as even more images flooded the screen. Pictures of people with mud and first covering their faces and clothes, children laying dead on the street.
A familiar face flashed upon the screen for a split second, "mom", I shakily whispered. I haven't seen her since she died, but the way she died was what haunted me.
She died protecting me from the police, or bad men as we call them. They wanted to take me away for testing but she wouldn't let them, she laid down her life so that I could survive.
A small lump in my throat formed as I swallowed back tears, the more pictures of faces flashed across the screen, the smaller the room seemed to become.
The flashing images came to a stop and was replaced with a black screen with the words 'we are one' in thick white don't spread across.
The lights came back on as cheers and whoops erupted throughout the class. I looked around the classroom at all the happy faces, even Sadie was cheering.
I don't even want to think about what would happen if they found me, or what they would do to Millie for helping me.
• • •
well this was a terrible chapter, sorry for not updating I was having writers block.
self promotion but make sure to check out my new st story 'mulberry lane'!
