Breathe

Chapter 8 - Everyone's Going to See Him

 At the crack of dawn, I woke up. Back to the sight of white. Getting up, I went to my closet. There were rows and rows of black and white. Yet, between them—barely visible— was a thin row of blue. Pushing the rows above them up, I looked at them. Underneath were my uniform pants, kept snug and out of sight.

I pulled one pair out. It was wrinkled like it had laid dormant for a while. I put my pants in front of my legs and looked in the mirror. They looked like they would fit snugly around me. I put them on. Though they were a little tight, they weren't as uncomfortable as they used to be. Now, they almost looked like they fit me, despite my eyes sharply contrasting the shade of the pants.

Going back to the pile, I searched for an Oxford shirt. After rummaging through my whites, I found one. Like the pants, they had wrinkled from being unused. Not caring, I put it on. And like the pants, it suited me—it clung to the right spots and didn't seem unnatural or too exhibitory. It was almost as though I was destined to wear this uniform again.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. Schools... have technology. Technology like computers and the internet. Here, we have neither. And I couldn't possibly go to Middle Libentina's library—that is a death wish. If I were to get access to a computer, then...

I grabbed my old shoulder bag and bolted downstairs. I could hear the sound of dishes being washed, plates clanging, eggs sizzling. Going into the kitchen, I looked for something light to eat. Finding some bread, I put it in a toaster. Impatiently, I bounced on my feet as I waited.

"Good morn— whoa, what are you wearing?" I heard Esmae ask. Like me, she was wearing her uniform but with an apron on top.

"Is it a crime for me to wear my school uniform?"

A little taken aback, she stammered, "N-No, it's not! It's just... well... Al, you haven't gone to school in a while, have you? Anyway, I thought you said that you don't want to go 'cause there's no reason for you to go. You know, with the whole you being 'too smart' for everyone or something."

"I had a change of heart," I stated, "also, I found a reason to go."

"A reason?" she asked, pitch rising. "What's the reason?"

"Research purposes," I responded, "schools are good for one fundamental reason."

She paused. "...The bad food? The stress?"

I sighed. "No, Esmae—schools are good for access to technology."

"I'd hardly say that," she murmured. "Maybe High Libentina's school has good tech, but I think we're still behind. I mean, not as bad as Lower Libentina, but still pretty bad. There's nothing exciting about slow computers that crash all the time."

"Schools have computers."

"Libraries have computers, too." I threw her a blank face. She had an epiphany. "Oh yeah... we can't really use them, huh? Forgot about the whole teens gone-rogue thing." She cracked a smile. "Sorry."

"You forgot the reason you can't tell people your real name at school?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed a little flustered. "I just... it's not always on my mind, you know? I know about it, but I don't think about it all the time."

"I see." I heard my toast pop out and turned around. Peering into the toaster, I could see faint dark lines on the browned toast. Grabbing a napkin, I carefully took my bread out of the oven and onto my napkin. Walking out of the kitchen through the arch, I said, "See you soon."

Before I could hear her respond, I found myself knocked onto the ground. As I regained my focus, I heard a grumbling sound in front of me. Soon, my eyes fixated on Dani, who was sitting in front of me... and my toast lying next to her. On the ground. There goes my breakfast.