To Die, To Sleep

Chapter One

              Alexander woke up at the 2:12 am of his 15th birthday...  His assignation was scheduled for the same day at 8:15. He was excited. He had this desire for attention. He lived in a small, grey dorm. With a matress, a grey blanket, a toilet,  a sink, and a foot by foot, murky mirror. And, a low light by which he was able to see the bare essentials. Oh, I almost forgot, the alarm clock which he was staring at currently. 2:13.

         He wasn't nervous, he was excited. He wondered what his Guide would be like. Would he be tall and strong? Or maybe short and round? Would he have a moustache or a smooth face? Regardless, Alexander would finally get a father figure. He had lived on his own since the age of 7. And, before that, he lived in a little room with a little girl. Until she was removed. He was taken to do some testing, and when he proved to have forgotten her, he was moved here. Everyone moved to a dorm, but usually not until their assignation. Xander was just faster than the average kid.

          But, tomorrow, his abandonment would leave. He would have a father. Like the ones he had read in the books. He was like Liesel in The Book Thief, who would be his Hans Hubermann? He would never have a Rosa. He knew that much from reading the rule book. But, a Hans! Or maybe he would be more like Mr. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice he had always loved Mr.Bennett's level headedness. He couldn't wait. So, he stood up and knelt down next to the bed. He reached under it, until he found a piece of paper and a stubby pencil.

My Guide will be:

*smart

*funny

*experienced

*caring

*loud

the list continued. Until his clock read 6:15. At that time, he wrote one last thing.

*MY DAD

         He knew he still had two hours, but he went to the showers, regardless. He took his assignation day outfit, he had gotten it the day before. He took it with him as he walked out to the grey hallway, with the grey doors. His bare feet shuffled soundlessly to the other side of the corridor, and he gently pushed the showers door open. He went to the last grey stall. He always used this stall. He put his clothes up on a rack and then pressed the button. It calculated his body temperature and adjusted to make the water be 5 degrees hotter. This way, they wouldn't waste unnecessary gas by having each person choose his temperature.

      He let the water spray him as the metallic arms whirred around him. He thought. He stayed there fifteen minutes; the most it would allow him to stay there. He tried pressing the button again, but the shower scanned his finger and saw that he had already taken his daily shower. It denied him. He knew it would, it always denied it, everyday. He smirked. He was constantly being denied.

       He got dressed in the tattered grey suit and went back to his room. He looked at himself in the mirror. His curls ran rampant on his head. He brushed them down with his hands and blinked his blue eyes. He was dying in anticipation. He looked at his clock. 7:15.

It would be a long hour.