Marked At Birth

marked

            "Identification?" He is standing so close I can feel his hot breath wash over my face. I reach down for my pocket and begin to dig into it, but I can't feel my badge.

"She's with me," I hear a voice approaching from behind and I turn to see a familiar bright eyed face looking back at me. I breathe a sigh of relief and smile back at the security guard who is still not very convinced. He nods nevertheless and we pass by without another word. We pass by a mirror and my disheveled appearance only makes me more nervous for the day ahead of me.

"Thank you," I mumble, almost inaudible.

"It's fine, Everly. I know first days aren't easy," He looks over and grins at me and my gut sinks. I begin to frantically brush my frayed hair behind my ears, my final attempt at looking presentable before I am thrown in front of the board. We stop outside of the boardroom doors and Ellington nods, before walking in and leaving me to wait on the manicured couch. I examine my tattoos, following them up my arms to my collar, their light blue coloring dancing in the fluorescence. The woman behind the front desk has bright red tattoos that circle around her arms and disappear under her black dress. I look down at my legs and admire the intricate details on my own one again. My mother always told me the story. She said the first people did not have these markings. They were villainous creatures who fought tirelessly and never loved. Over time they began to grow ill, one by one. The creator came down and promised to protect them if they agreed to live in harmony, but they refused. So he destroyed them and started over. This time, we had markings, beautiful intricate markings that covered our bodies at birth in various colors and grew as we did. He called them our life tattoos. When a person was sick, the life tattoos would begin to turn black and he would come down to take them away, back to his palace in the skies where he would purify them and they would be reborn. I know this was just a story and no creator comes down to take the sick and dead to his palace, but it was always a tale I looked forward to hearing. I've never seen a person with tattoos that are beginning to turn black because the disposers always take them away quietly and quickly in hopes to not infect others with their toxicity; but I know now I will be seeing a lot of them. I hear the doors open and Ellington pokes his head out, looking over at me.

"Everly, we're ready for you," He beams. His joyful presence in no way lessening my nervousness, but I muster up the strength to stand and walk into the room where twenty people are surrounding the massive table. I breathe slowly as I walk to the podium and attempt to adjust the microphone. I close my eyes briefly and give myself the worst cursing I have ever received and when I open my eyes I am ready to deliver my presentation.

"Good morning. For those of you who do not know me, I am Everly Claire. I know hearing that name may make you sigh and wonder if I've truly earned my place here, and I have. I know my father left a legacy that many are familiar with, but my aspirations are to leave my own rather than stand in the shadow of his. With that being said, without his research we would not know the things we know now. Our illness rates are down to an all-time low, other than the expected elderlies who are done with their time on earth, less than 3% of the population has to be disposed. I am forever wishing we had a better term to refer to the process, but these are groundbreaking numbers and I am fortunate to live in a generation who lived to see this monumental time. I aspire to see these levels reach 2% or lower by the year 2085. I realize this is a short amount of time given that it is 2080 now and it took two decades for the levels to go from four to three, but with our ever changing technology I have faith we can do great things in the coming years. I look forward to furthering my research while also working as a full time disposer, using the information from the ill to better the future. Thank you all so much," I let out a sigh of relief. I spoke with a confidence and ease that I would normally lack. Each member of the table seems impressed, especially Adelyn Rivera, my new boss. Everyone begins to clap and Ellington shoots me a thumbs up. I am grinning from ear to ear as I leave the room and walk to my new office. Ellington follows behind me. As I sit down at my large glass desk, Ellington places a new badge in front of me and I am amazed at how quickly he managed to get one. I examine the changing words on the badge and the awkward photo of myself and cringe slightly. The badge flashes "Everly Claire" and then changes to "Disposer Access Grade A".