Out on a Limb

2

So it was decided then. Our plan (which hadn’t really been entirely formulated yet) for the following day, Saturday, was to do anything physically wild. If inappropriate is the first thing that comes into your mind when physical and wild are in the same sentence, then I wholeheartedly pity you. Basically, what I meant was that the most likely possibility that would occur was a knuckle-breaking, bone-crunching, muscle-straining and blood-boiling activity that we would loath so much that we would be willing to swap the flesh for the steel in the days to come.

Actually, the willing to swap part was the opinion of anyone who wasn’t me. My views on what it truly meant to be human had earned me a childhood’s worth of strange looks from adults and other kids, debates with teachers day in and day out (with me always losing), and a whole lot of alone time which I spent reading up on history from books I borrowed from the library. Nearly none of the ones I borrowed had any of those cards to mark the borrow and return date, because no one had ever bothered to borrow them before.

 From all of this, I learned early on that 1. Ultimate bliss wasn’t gonna be served to me on a platter, and 2. Sometimes, working your ass off to fight to be right just simply won’t work if people are aware that you’re alone in your cause, which I was. People told me to do my research and see where I would stand afterwards. Guess what? I haven’t moved.

I learned a lot of things about Hobwin history during my alone time, like that it was named after its founders, Hobbes and Winthrop, for example. But there was a lot more interesting stuff than that.

A long time ago, during the New Age War, a disease spread along with all the nuclear leakage and stuff. Even after the War was over, the epidemic affected a lot of people, and several died. To ensure the eternal safety of those who were spared, it became law in Hobwin that every year, those who came of age would be upgraded into a safer lifestyle, one where "all citizens will live invincible and free, n-“

“-NOT SUBJECT TO THE WEAKNESS THAT THE HUMAN BODY BRINGS.”

“What the-!”

I shook my body, which ended up with me awkwardly fluttering my arms around like a ragdoll. Great, both of my legs had fallen asleep.

We were having lunch in the cafeteria. Seated across from me were Jarvis and Lexus, trying hard not to burst in fits of silent laughter.

Jarvis tried to get a sentence -or at least a phrase- out of his system before returning to hysterical-giggle-mode. “Oh man…that was the best one yet.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What was?”

“You were daydreaming again. Out loud this time.” Lexus squeaked. It literally sounded like a squeak because she was out of breath and her voice retreated to a high pitch.

I straightened the creases on my jacket, patted down the strands of hair that were sticking out from the center of my scalp, and bent forward; I put one arm down parallel to me chest, and the other one to rest my chin on. I spoke in the deepest, shrillest voice I could attempt.

“…You didn’t take a video, did you?”

“Oh, no way. That moment was very valuable, only for worthy eyes.”

“Yeah, shut up.” I scoffed. “Anyway, I wonder what my Mystery Meal is today.”

A section of the cafeteria was reserved for each student’s lunch locker, which during every school day contained a meal prepared specifically for that person, taking in medical records, allergies, health problems and whatnot. The meals were designed to keep us as fit as possible.

I left the table and walked over to mine-Number 318-and entered the password to access the contents. When I first got the locker in freshman year, I was only fourteen back then and had this obsession with stuff of folklore, particularly these sorcerers called Torem, who had the ability to heal people back to the state they were in before. So anyway, like every other fourteen year old, I tried to reference my obsession in everything I did. It didn’t take long before Ciera Pierce, a girl who used to bully me a lot, guessed the combination code and ate my lunch at least twice a week. To survive, I had to eat off portions from Lexus’ meals, since her health stats had a closer compatibility with mine than Jarvis’.