Freed

Edan

Chapter 3

Edan

"Next?" Is what he says to me on my way to a world of boring. Of course it didn't start out that way anyway. How it started was waking up with birds singing and my butler bringing in a tray of delicious eggs, bacon and toast with a glass of apple juice. My usual breakfast that I absolutely hate.

It makes me feel bad see all the other citizens not getting a hardy meal in the morning. I think of them when I eat it, so I eat it all. Then I feel sick so I wash it down with the apple juice.

I spot the pale, lifeless, uniform on my desk and just wave it off. I didn't ask for this. Actually no one did. It's brought on to us when a child of any sort turns sixteen.

But it's the law so what the heck. I get cleaned up from the restless night of nightmares of what's to come of this jail house they call a boarding school.

I put on the uniform and read the slip. "Don't bring but one thing from your home to the boarding school and everything will be supplied to you. Three sets of the same clothes, food, toiletries, ect."

I don't have anything but one thing to bring with me to the school, a silver maple leaf given to me by my mother who passed away. I slip it in the pocket given.

I grow a red flower from the palm of my hand and place it in my hair.

I was born this way, being able to make things grow with the touch of a finger. I had what I call a birth defect, but what my parents call a miracle. It's in my blood; literally I was born with the stuff you find in the stem in plants as my blood.

Photosynthesis is how I eat, I also eat like a normal person though but I use both ways. The doctors ignored it when I was born.

My parents then found a way to use it. Fruit. This is why we are so rich. My Dad thought of a fruit business to pay the bills. It worked but I'm miserable. I have to grow apples, oranges, lemons, pears, limes, grapefruits, you name we have it (that's our lame slogan.)

I look in the mirror of my special touch, and it looks great. I look at my thick dirty blonde hair that I wore down today. The rustic green-blue eyes. Then I examine every freckle on my face, which apparently takes a while. Then I decide to wear my hair up- they might not supply hair ties.

"Edan, come down to say good bye to your old man." I hear my Dad call from down stairs. I start to head down and see him waiting there at the bottom. I run and hug him.

"I'll miss you." He starts to cry. "I'll miss you to" I lie ready to get out of this place. He lets go of me and turns away. I walk out the door.

I see the monorail waiting for me and I jog there. I hop on and feel it lurch forward. I take one last look at my house before it's gone.

There is a guy who walks toward me and puts his arm around me and says "You're pretty you and I should go hang out some time, just me and you" I looks straight in his eyes and smile "How about not." He walks away.

It's takes a while for us to get there and by the time it stops I can feel every single man's eye on me. I hop off as quickly as possible, again another stupid thing to add to my list. So many things on the list

I'm waiting in the line for the registration and... here it comes "Name?" That phrase I'll just keep replaying it in my head over and over and over until the day I die. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does.

"Edan Qzario" He searches for the weirdest yet most well known name on the planet. "Room 2139, 21st floor." He hands me the key and I walk away.

The elevator was the nicest thing that happened this morning the view is amazing. The way up had to make a few stops for other students but other wise fine. The higher I go up the less people I see.

Finally, I get to the twenty-first floor and head to the right. I keep on walking and find 2139. I check to see if it's unlocked and it is.

My room mate is sitting on the bed of her choice which really doesn't matter because the room is symmetrical. The room is practically split in half. A gray bed on both sides backs against the walls. A black desk on the opposite wall where the door is. A window between the beds. Beside the bed is another door way into a small bathroom with a toilet, shower, sink and towel rack, also beside the bed is a hole in the wall big enough to put your arm through and a scanner on the wall. Pretty simple.

"Hello?" I ask the girl on the right side of the room. "Hi" she says back and stands up. She extends her hand to me and says politely "I'm Blaze Rarnes" I take her hand and say "Edan Qzario"

I look into her depressing eyes to see them flickering from gray to ice blue.

"I was waiting for you to open it" she gestures to a small black box sitting on the window seal.

"You didn't have to" I say smiling and walking towards it.

"You can open it." I say.

"No you can"

"No! I insist."

"No, you do it"

"Fine."

I pick it up and open the lid to find a small slip of white paper.