Courage

Chapter 1

For many generations, it has been a tradition to do a test of courage to see which one of all the men in the state is the bravest. I am of course one of those. The thing is that I'm not that strong and I'm certain that I'm not the bravest either.

Our small colony is quite remote cause of the fact that it's located at the end of the known world at a steep cliff, it's thought that it's nothing but void past that point. When you stand at the edge the only thing you can see is darkness and nothing else as long as the eye can see. Every attempt of discovering the secret of the depths has resulted in failure, either some machinery stopped working out of nowhere or someone straight up died.

I got out of my bed capsule and slip on my exosuit, put my oxygen mask in my back holster for later. I walked out of the bed quarters to go to the food court to fetch some breakfast. Today is hopefully the last day I live in this corrupted-shithole-of an state I thought as I scrolled past the "Rehabilitation center". Just to make things clear If you by any chance win the fabled test of courage you get to walk pass the establishment boundaries, that is a luxury few people of this "country" has ability to do. And when I say country I really mean it, sure it's only the size of a slightly bigger mall but it's run like one. There is one head leader and two subordinates that controls everything even though it's indirect. 

The food court is quite large and is divided into four different areas. I'm currently assigned to the  "Cee" area where people whom are not poor but at the same time not rich eat, it's like the middle class of this society. I've heard that you don't want to be in the "Dee" area and it's not hard to see why. It has twenty-four hour armed surveillance cause of the fact that all the criminal, insane and extremely poor all dine there at the same time.  The same four areas "Aee", "Bee", "Cee" and "Dee" are all also part of a ranking system the leader put in place twenty-two years ago when he rose to power. The richest people in "Aee" and the poorest at "Dee". 

I went to fetch a menu at the entrance of the food court . I looked slightly down at the ground as I made my way there because I'm a bit awkward with people, I went through a small crowd and accidentally bumped into somebody.  I didn't look up and just said a hasty sorry cause I wanted to avoid socializing with people I'm not already comfortable with as much as possible. I grabbed a menu and went to my usual place in one of the corners in the decently sized table area. It was a small table for two. The place was dimly lit so you could really appreciate the live candles on all the tables. I looked at the menu and decided to get some sort of soup, I called a waitress and ordered my food quickly cause I felt really hungry and thous wanted my food fast. I stared at the ceiling doing nothing at all while waiting for my food.

I heard footsteps and let out a small almost soundless sigh as I thought my food was arriving. Instead of the food I got a stranger. She stood there and seamed  to study me thorough. I was very uncomfortable and did not know what to do in this sort of situation. Fortunately did I not need to do anything cause she just turned her back and walked away after a few awkward seconds.  I was a bit baffled by the situation but ultimately I was really thankful for that, it could be a even more embarrassing situation than it was. I heard steps again, this time it was a server with the soup I ordered. 

Steam emitted from the newly cooked soup and I started drool. I ate a couple of spoonfuls of soup and it tasted delicious. I went to get a pair of napkins to wipe a bit of soup that I spilled on my exosuit. When I approached my table again I saw that woman sitting at the opposite side of the table. I, who thought that this awkward situation was over started to blush a bit. I sat down.

Upon closer inspection, her face wasn't that angry looking. She had more of a pleasant look on her face. She saw that I was looking at her and started to smile, I felt my cheeks getting a bit warmer. He opened her mouth and said something, I didn't hear a thing i was just staring mindlessly at her gorgeous face. I felt a little bad for just sitting there and not saying anything but i wasn't able to say anything so that's that. She obviously knew I didn't hear and why but she just decided to repeat her self. 

- Hello Mr. Edward I am  Alexia Gorlat from the ministry of defense and social protection and I have a proposal for you. *She showed you a card with legitimate id*  Either you can try to win the test of courage or you can choose to join my little group of government officials and get guaranteed access to the outside world and every corner inside of the state.

I heard it loud and clear, yet I didn't understand the choice. If I got guaranteed access to leave the place that would always be the best but off course I will have to sacrifice something I guess. 

TO BE CONTINIUED.