Tattooed

XVII

“Hey Cecil.” Wes greets me as I slightly open the door. As soon as I got home from work I cracked open the book I took and began reading it. It was extremely interesting, and confusing. The book talked about topics I never heard of, like a president and armies.

Wes kissed my cheek and let himself into my house. I had hidden the book under my pillow when I heard our secret knock on the door. Wes coming over was always my favorite part of the day but I wanted to continue reading.

“Hi, Wes.” I said half distracted. He looked at me like he noticed something was off. “I was wondering if you could…keep this visit short? I need to…erm…I have something I need to focus on. For work.” It took a lot of effort to keep myself from turning pink. I was a horrible liar.

He looked at me suspiciously. “Anything I can do to help?” He asked. I shook my head quickly. I knew he knew something was up but thankfully he didn’t pry.

Wes took my hand and took me to the couch. We weren’t very touchy-feely, he was my first boyfriend after all so I was still very awkward. It was comfortable just sitting on the couch close together and talking, hands intertwined.

It had only been ten minutes when Wes called me out for glancing at my bedroom every five seconds.

“Is everything okay with you Cecil?” Wes looked at me concerned.

I moved away from him. “Actually, maybe you should leave now. Spend more time with your mom.” Wes’ mouth dropped a little. It was the first time in a while I sent him away.

“Did I do something again-?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “No, I-I told you, I have work I really need to do.” I kissed him lightly on the lips to show I meant it. Wes relaxed and got up.

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it then, see you tomorrow.” He snuck outside again and I didn’t wait a second before I ran back to my room, closed the door, and opened up the book where I bookmarked it.

I was at the part about the big War we learned about in school. Except there were much more details in this book. I licked my lips as I turned the page. The War went on for years. The president, who was apparently the leader of the state, was a traitor and was murdered. Chaos grew more and more every day. The state broke into more states, but borders were crossed and more blood was shed.

I didn’t understand why our ancestors thought all the power of the state should belong to one person. Even when their president had died the power was just given to someone else. With stratums, we all co-depended on each other. There was no leader, there were people in higher positions, but we all answered to one another.

Reading about the hidden history was interesting, but I wanted to know about our tattoos and why stratums were made and who implemented the rules. I kept on reading well past midnight. The words blurred together on the old pages.

Five brothers ruled one state peacefully, no one dared to cross them. Each of them handled one aspect of daily life. To make things easier, they broke the state again into four sections and each section did certain jobs. The system worked well, there was no fighting amongst the people, no tension. This was the start of the Stratums.

The brothers weren’t named but I had no doubt it was our founders. In school they were called nothing but ‘Our Founders’. They were one of the first who lived in our Stratums. The state they ruled must’ve been this one. But that would mean there were many, many more states outside our borders. My whole life I never even imagined a world outside this one. The city was big enough, how much more land was there?

I wanted to keep on reading but it was almost two in the morning now. I rubbed my eyes and stifled a yawn. I was finally at a good part in the book. Still, I bent the corner of the page and gently closed the book. I placed it in the drawer of my bedside table and turned off the lamp. Then, I went to sleep. Images of fire, blood, and faceless men haunted my dreams. It was the first time I had a nightmare since the night before my Branding.