The Hues

t w o .

Stepping out of her home, she is greeted by the shouts of her people, all dressed in the same clothing as she is. The girl hurries to the middle of the crowd, where people are heading off to work and school, or just chatting until it is time for their daily duties.

On this particular morning, she did not much feel like socializing with the others. Upon reaching the subdivision's portal, she merely steps through the frame of blue liquidy substances and is teleported into the Centre.

The Centre is so much different from her home in The Valley. It is quiet, and it is vast and has great tall buildings, and trains, and everything is grand and beautiful. She loves it here, feels like she belongs here.

Stepping outside of The Valley's portal, she enters the little ring of portals which lead to the different subdivisions. There are five door frames, each with a different colored substance filling them. She has always thought they were quite strange, and wonders how they work. But she is not allowed to ask, because the people in green are the scientists, not the ones in blue. And since she does not have a green hue, she is forbidden to communicate with them.

She makes her way out of the portal room and towards the train station. She walks among people of different hues, all of them acting as if they are walking alone.

They walk in silence like this all the way to the station, where they board the train, taking care to sit only by people of their hues. If the only open seat was by someone of a different hue, they stand.

The train takes off at its breakneck speed as usual, speeding towards its first stop, the worker's hub. People ages 25 and older get off of the train here and go to their jobs as usual. Then, the train races towards the training hub, where people ages 16-24 are assigned a job and trained for 8 years before going into their skilled profession. Last of all, the train halts at the education hub, where children ages 3-15 get their schooling.

This is where the girl gets off. She and the others draw their cloaks and set off towards the looming building. They reach the large, wooden doors, and enter the main hallway, which is packed with people.

The girl notices, for the first time, how strange this looks. It is completely sectioned off, but with no official lines. Kids dressed in all white stand on the far left, in complete silence. They are taught not to communicate vocally unless completely necessary. Then next to them are the ones in green, the scientists. Some chat animatedly, while others read in a corner, probably studying something. Then there is the girl's hue, the blue. They are by far the loudest group; everyone is talking. Nobody is ever left out of the conversation. After that, there are those in purple. They all have a distant, sort of faraway look. Some are conversing happily, some just marveling at the world. They are always happy, so tranquil. And last are the kids in black robes. They all look rough and dangerous, some of the kids are fighting, some just looking around like they are waiting to attack.

She sets off towards the crowd of noisy people in blue. They greet her as she splits the sea of blue-cloaked people. She smiles and makes her way to her best friend, Evelyn.

"Hey, Holland," Evelyn shouts over the group.

"What's up?" Holland replies.

And so the day begins as usual. The bell sounds, and everyone mixes together as they head toward their first class. Holland's is City History. She sits near the back with a boy in blue, as he is the only other of the blue hue in this class. The room slowly fills with an assortment of other kids of other hues. The second bell sounds, and the door clicks shut. A hologram appears as always. He gives the instructions for the day as usual. Human teachers are not allowed, because that would obviously cause the problem of communication between hues. So there is a hologram man, dressed in a tan suit. He tells them to connect their headphones, which feed the information into their brains.

Holland wonders how these work, too. How could headphones transfer information into brain waves without you doing anything? Things pour into her mind, facts about the beginnings of the city. She sits there, mindlessly learning for an hour or so before the bell rings again and everyone relocates to their next class, then the next, and so on until eight hours are finally over.

At the sound of the final bell, Holland makes her way out of the school and towards the train station alone. She doesn't bother to wait for Evelyn, who would talk her ear off.  Suddenly, Holland feels a hand rest on her shoulder.

"You're Holland Aspen, are you not?" a tall, thin boy in blue inquires.

"Yeah, that's right. And who are you?" she replies smartly, looking up at the dark-haired boy.

"Sorry, I'm Will Urban. Pleased to meet you," he says, kindly extending a hand towards the girl.

"The pleasure is mine, Urban. Can I help you?" she asks, blushing a little, realizing how rude she'd been.

"I don't mean to sound strange, but I noticed you up quite late last night. I saw the light on, and was worried. Were you feeling ill?" the handsome boy asks concernedly.

"I'm alright. Just up thinking is all. Why were you awake?" Holland replies. By now, they have reached the station, and they board together and sit near the back together. 

"Same reasons, I suppose. I was thinking about the hue system, how strange it is," Will whispers.

"Really? Me too. It's just so unf-"

"Shh!" Will cuts her off, "We're not meant to discuss the hues that way!" He drops his voice to a barely audible mutter, "Not in front of those cameras, at least." Holland looks, and sure enough, in the corner of the train is a camera trained directly at them.

"You're right. Meet me later in the woods behind my house. I can't stop thinking about it, and I need someone to talk to."