Days pass, then weeks, then months. It all flies by in a blur, lost in Ynk's brooding. He's become hyperaware to those around him, to their changes in character. Fast-paced (single-minded), goal-oriented (obsessed), quiet (oppressed. Muted. Ignored).
It's as though they've all become obsessed with getting jobs and "helping the community" instead of enjoying things. (But isn't that the point? He finds himself wondering. To let stuff like this go? To not care about childish whims?
(Maybe it is the point, the voice in the back of his head chimes in, but just because it's the reason doesn't make it right.
(He doesn't argue. He's found that agreeing with the voice is easier than a heated debate.)
Such a change can be seen through Maia, who'd been avoiding him since her birthday a few months ago.
He catches her on her way to work, having been swept up in the crowd with everyone else. He doesn't even recognize her, at first; too focused on mimicking the crowd, his mind is preoccupied as he stares at the redhead in front of him. It isn't until he hears her mutter about the weather that he realizes it's Maia, grabbing her arm in an instant.
"Maia!"
She turns around, her posture stiff. Though smaller than him, she seems to tower over him as she meets his gaze, piercing through both of their Faces to glare straight to his soul.
"What, Ynk?" she says, ripping her arm from his grasp. Her usual cheerful tone is nowhere to be found, replaced with a monotone drawl that makes Ynk's skin crawl. "I'm busy."
They've created a gap in the crowd now, people walking past and shooting them bored, passive looks—but Ynk isn't going to move and, until he gets what he wants, neither is she.
"Where've you been?" He asks, stepping forward. "It's been months!"
"Working," Maia responds, "Like where I'm going now."
"Do you have to go now?" Ynk reaches for her again, but she backs away, his heart sinking. "I haven't talked to you in so long..."
"I don't have time for silly friendships, Ynk," she tells him, flipping her hair out of her face. "I have work to do."
"We all have work to do," he points out. "I thought you didn't like schoolwork, anyway?"
She pauses, and though he can't see her face, he imagines her nose screwing up in thought, something she's done since they were toddlers. "I didn't before," she replies, "but things change."
"What changed?"
"Everything. Now leave me alone, would you?"
"But—"
She pushes him away, seething, "I said go aw—"
Her Face whirs to life, a faint glow evident behind it and spilling onto her face. She stiffens, and Ynk watches as all tension in her relaxes, leaving nothing but a shadow of its presence behind.
She calms, letting him go and stepping back. Removing herself from his life, and into the lives of the churning crowd surrounding them.
Her voice comes out in a hushed whisper, devoid of even a shred of the affection she once gave him, "...Just leave me alone."
And then she walks off, rejoining the crowd once more, her posture perfect—which stands out to him, because Maia had always slouched before her twelfth birthday.
YOU ARE READING
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General Fiction[Originally written in 2017 for an assignment; expanded and reworked overtime, though eventually I decided this was as far as I was going to go with it. Hope you like it!] As is customary when one reaches twelve years of age, the Order has manufactu...
