3072

Chapter 1

"Em! Emma! Emma Scott, wake up. You're going to be late for work." I groggily rolled over in bed, nearly squashing my brother, Nate, in the process. Then I sat up swung my legs over the side of the bed. As I stood, barely awake, and almost ran into my mother. "You're going to be late for work," she repeated. I nodded and walked over to the small dresser on the opposite end of my room. The room wasn't very large, so I could walk from the bed to the dresser on the other end of the room in just a few steps. There was no decoration except for a small window and what was supposed to be a painting of a butterfly on the dresser, although, at the moment, it looked more like a fat dog. I quickly changed into my usual baggy T-shirt and ripped jeans and ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth and run a comb through my hair. I looked in the bathroom mirror and almost scream. Not only did I have a giant pimple on my forehead, but I had bright pink bubblegum stuck in my hair. The fact that my hair was blonde made the gum stand out even more. I can't go to work like this, I thought. I can't go out like this! I ran out of the bathroom and into the small kitchen to grab some peanut butter.

"I've heard that you shouldn't sleep with gum in your mouth. I guess I heard right." I whirled around to see my other best friend standing in the doorway. We had known each other all our lives and he was like a second brother to me. He smiled and walked over to grab a spoon from the drawer and handed it to me.

"Shut up, Jonathan," I said as I threw a towel from the kitchen at him. He caught it easily and threw it back. "You're early," I said, scooping some peanut butter out of the jar. He just nodded and flopped down on the couch. "Ready for another day of torture?"

"Nope. But who is?" He said as he grabbed a magazine off of the minuscule coffee table.

"You know, you should really give me a warning when you're going to be this early." He just shrugged and went back to the magazine. "You're really quiet today. Is everything alright?" He nodded half-heartedly in response. I wiped the extra peanut butter off of the spoon and went to sit next to him. He looked up for a second then went back to reading. After a few seconds, he looked up again and sighed. He threw the magazine to the side and moved to look right at me.

"Well, I've had another rough weekend. Nothing I can't handle, but it's been happening every weekend for the last month. I just want a normal break from work and school." I put a hand on his shoulder.

"At least you have me. You have my parents, they love you like you're their son. You have your girlfriend, um, give me a second..."

"Amy?"

"Yeah. You have to look for the positive in life. And we have a whole week before the next weekend. I have to go finish getting ready. Gimme ten more minutes." I stood up and walked back to the bathroom to wash the peanut butter and gum out of my hair. Thankfully, most of it came out and I could easily brush my hair out. I brushed my teeth then went back to join Nate in the living room. He was still sprawled out on the couch, but he had a new magazine in his hand. I walked over and tried to get him to stand, but he just made a pathetic whining noise. I grabbed both of his hands and almost dragged him out of the door.

"Mom! I'm going to work," I shouted back to my mother. I turned to Jonathan after the door closed and said, "You know, we really shouldn't have to work. It's so stupid. I mean, We're just kids!"

"You make this same rant every day: Oh, we're just kids. Oh, we don't get paid enough. Oh, blah blah blah," he said in a mocking tone. I laughed.

"But it's true. I have a new rant today. Want to hear?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not," he replied, sounding bored.

"You know how my mom has been making me research the past?" I paused but only long enough for him to open his mouth to reply, then continued. "Well, I looked it up, in the 2010s through the 2050s people under 16 aren't allowed to work. That means that we wouldn't be able to work for another year. We deserve that freedom. Fifteen is way too young to have this responsibility. We shouldn't have to work!" I was breathing hard at that point. We had reached the dimly lit lobby, and I was standing there, waiting for him to reply.

"Two comments: one, why does it sound like you're a president making a speech about freedom. And two, you repeated a lot. Stop it with the rants. It's getting old." I nodded and we stepped out into the trash- lined streets. We walked along the dirty, cracked sidewalk that bordered the pothole-ridden street. Barely any cars were driving, but even seeing one out was a rarity. We walked the four blocks to work in silence until Abby joined us. She ran up behind us and attempted to scare me. She tried to walk up behind me and jump on my back. I swung around, brandishing my keys as a weapon. She jumped backward, almost bumping into Jonathan.

"Don't do that! I thought you were attacking me!" In our section of the city, muggings and robberies were normal. With so many people scrambling for enough money to feed their families or themselves, some had to resort to stealing. I tried glaring at her but she just burst into a fit of laughter. "It's not funny," I said, although I couldn't help but smile. We walked the rest of the way to work. We all got the same job at the same place so we wouldn't get bored during work hours. We worked in a large gray building simply known as "the plant." We walked up to the towering building and used our keycards to open the doors. Inside looked completely average, with gray walls, people milling around the coffee maker, and a few flickering bulbs lighting the hallways. We walked through the winding hallways and into a small office with four desks crammed into the middle. We each took a seat at one and waited for the last person to join us. We were only waiting for a few minutes before and plump woman entered, swinging a small leather briefcase. She seated herself at the remaining desk and opened the briefcase. She proceeded to pull out a folder out of it, one for each of us. She handed them out and commanded us to read them. When I finished reading mine she said,

"These will be your job assignments for today. You will be split up but you will not complain," she said, her voice harsh. "Report to your assigned facility and do not talk to anyone on your way there. Understood?" We nodded and quietly stood up and walked out, taking our folders with us. We walked out into the hall and went our separate ways, me going to "the chair," and Jonathan and Abby going who knows where.