Rebellion

Chapter 1

I ran. I ran hard and fast until my heart felt like it would pop out of my chest and my lungs felt completely devoid of oxygen. I just kept running. I needed to get away. What from? I didn't really know at first, but when I looked behind me, I saw them. The Officers were chasing after me. I didn't know my crime, nor did I know where I was, how I got there, or what would happen if they caught me. I didn't want to find out so I kept going. I felt the sweat dripping off my body. I looked behind me again and they were catching up. I wasn't quite fast enough. They were right behind me. The Officers reached for me and then –

"Xandia!" I awoke to the sound of my name. I looked at the clock beside my bed. It said 8:00 a.m. My mother shouted my name once more. "Xandia!"

"I'm coming!" I called back to her. I quickly got up and changed out of my sleepclothes into my dayclothes and walked downstairs. The morning meal was already on the table. Today it was an omelet with ham and bacon inside. I sat down and began to eat, foolishly burning my mouth on the first bite. I slowed down and ate more carefully to avoid further injuring myself. After I finished, I threw away my garbage and went back upstairs to brush my hair and teeth. When I was ready I walked downstairs and quickly said goodbye to my mother – my father was already at work – and I exited my house to wait for the bus. My next-door neighbor, Landon, was already standing at the stop. His hair was perfectly messy, the dark brown strands sticking up in various places but still looking nice, like it was intended to be that way. He looked over at me as I walked towards him, his blue eyes shining like the ice of a glacier. I caught myself looking a bit too long again and quickly looked away, trying to be subtle, but failing. He laughed and I glared playfully. "Don't laugh at me," I said, punching his arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I hurt your feelings?" he replied sarcastically, with a rather large grin.

I felt the corners of my mouth involuntarily curl into a smile. I couldn't help it. He just has that kind of effect. The bus arrived at the stop, precisely the same time as always: exactly 8:45. Landon and I got on the bus and arrived at Secondary School at exactly 9:00. We said our goodbyes and went to our first classes of the day. We have four classes: English, Mathematics, Science, and History. Each class is exactly one hour long with 5 minutes between each class. School starts at exactly 9:00 and ends at exactly 2:00, but first class doesn't actually start until 9:05, and fourth class ends at 1:55. The five minutes before and after are for the time it takes to get to class from the bus and vice versa. Lunch is at 11:15 and ends at 11:45. That is the only part of that day that we can hang out with our friends during school. In class we aren't allowed to talk unless the professor asks us to. It isn't very fun. Everyone looks forward to lunch because of that.

My first class is History and we're studying the oldtimes, before the Society. Back then people had chaos because of things like religion. We don't have religions anymore. The Society took those away long before any living person was born because they caused too much trouble. At least that's what they say. I think it's just because they don't like anything they can't prove with science and control. Sometimes I wonder why they even tell us about the oldtimes. They clearly don't like how it used to be, so why tell everyone about it when someone might think the oldtimes were better and try to make it that way again. I think that's called Rebellion. We don't have those in the Society, but they used to have a lot of rebellions in the oldtimes. They were usually violent, and I think that might be why they still tell us about the oldtimes. It's like a warning that if we rebel it will end in violence.

First class ended and I walked to my second class, which was Mathematics. Math was easy for me, so I finished my work before I was supposed to a lot of the time. The professors didn't like it very much when I got done early because I had extra time with nothing to keep me busy, but I think the Officers don't mind because it means I will be a good worker. The rest of the day went by quickly and I got on the bus home. Landon wasn't there, which confused me because no one misses the bus, and he was here in the morning. I tried to figure out why he might not have been there until I got home. All the conclusions I came to were negative ones. Maybe he's in trouble, I thought, or worse, maybe he's hurt. I walked up to my front door and went inside. My parents welcomed me home and I went straight to my room, still lost in thought. I hope he's ok.