Dystopia

Chapter 18

When the desired meeting time Eric had chosen came, Oliver was already in the tunnels. He paced up and down in impatience. What was taking them so long? Would they be coming at all? He stopped pacing and he heard a pebble roll on the ground. Oliver turned his head to the dark tunnel ahead of him and held his breath.

"Oliver?" He heard Ikay's voice.

Oliver took a step in his direction, and Ikay's familiar form came out of the darkness.

"Oliver!" Ikay ran to greet him.

They stood in front of each other smiling and Oliver looked down at his feet when he felt uncomfortable meeting his eye. His disability made him do that.

A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps sounded and Eric came forward. Ikay and Oliver were delighted to see him but Eric didn't look so delighted. He looked pale, and worried. He was wearing his white clothing with a hood on his head.

"Eric what's wrong?" Ikay asked taking notice of his expression.

Eric shuddered and said:

"Mathew's in trouble."

Ikay tilted his head in confusion. Oliver did a similar gesture.

"What do you mean trouble? I thought you said you saw him." Ikay recalled.

"I-I thought I did, but apparently he has an identical twin. An identical twin named Andrew. But . . ."

"But what?"

"Mathew is in the White Wings Psychiatric Hospital." Eric's voice broke as his tears welled.

Ikay backed away in disbelief and Oliver widened his eyes. Eric breathed deeply and closed his eyes. This was definitely hurting him. But what did Mathew do to land himself in such a place?

"Why is he there?" Ikay inquired.

"I don't know Ikay, I wish I did but we have to go save him. They're hurting him!" Eric exclaimed. "He won't last there long. At least not alive, they're giving him a treatment called The Good Therapy. We have to save him before it's too late."

"Eric we can't walk in and out just like that. We need a plan and you need to relax. We'll get him out, but first we have to know what he's in for and catch up to everything that's happened." Ikay said.

"I can't stand here knowing what's happening to him!" 

"Eric, listen to me, you called us here for a rebellion. We can't save him now. We will, but not yet. The three of us alone are no match for a full guarding brigade. We must be patient and not get emotional."

Ikay bend slightly forward to grip Eric's shoulders and stared in his eyes. Eric took a deep breath and nodded.

Oliver stood nervously shaking. Mathew was in serious trouble and they had to act fast or he could die. The three fourteen-year-olds sat down on the ground in a circle in silence.

"Anything worth noting happen, Ikay? Oliver?" Eric asked to break the ice.

Ikay leaned back and rested his weight on his palms. He looked up to the roof of the tunnel and started:

"Well, I've been in observation for three weeks now."

"Why?" Eric asked.

"Because I disobeyed an order. We were training for the war in the East, and we were training to shoot targets. I didn't know what they were until it was my turn. They were people, from the Undesired Elite."

At the mention of his faction, Oliver tensed and looked harder at the ground.

"And what happened? Why did you disobey?" Eric asked intrigued. "Aren't soldiers pretty much emotionally deprived?"