Trench

Seven

They must have decided he was showing signs of improvement, because they let him out ten days later. Tyler stepped out into the street and noticed how big everything looked from below. He'd never noticed it before, but he'd spend the past month looking down like a Watcher, and feeling powerful while doing so, as if he knew more than anyone else. Now, he felt rather insignificant. He was just another ant scrambling through the streets of Dema, like everyone else. He was no one special.

And yet they watched him like he was. Not just the Watchers and the Bishops, but everyone around him. They looked at him as though they knew he was next to be Glorified. The corners of his lips tipped up into a wry smile. If only they knew how wrong they were. He was getting out, no matter what happened. 

He decided that the patch on his back just below the collar of his shirt was the cause of the ever-present staring. He hadn't seen another badge like his in years - not since he'd been as loyal as the rest of them. Identified as Failed Perimeter Escape, it said, by Dema Council. Violation of Section 15398642_14 of Vialist Code of Conduct. He hadn't been to a lecture on Vialism in months, but this was the one section he knew, the one section they drilled persistently into his mind. This was the section outlining the insignificance of the world outside of Dema - the world he heard them call Trench. According to the Bishops, Dema was their only chance at survival, and nothing else mattered outside of the walls. Everything was entirely meaningless. He didn't believe that in the slightest. He'd seen vast fields and towering cliffs, and colors he'd never seen before. Dema was dark and grey, and even the neon rods that gave them light were cold and had a sort of darkness around them. Out in Trench, the air was lighter, warmer, though the terrain could be treacherous. He would much rather endure what the Bishops called insignificant than stay in this mundane, repetitive world for the rest of his life. 

He found himself in the main square of the city, a wide open courtyard with a statue just in front of the main entrance. There were tall buildings surrounding the square, small apartments - homes, they called them - where the inhabitants of Dema lived, and though many windows were open, no one was looking out like he had. He noticed that though many people were in the square, talking quietly with those they feebly called friends, their voices were monotonous and dull. They spoke just as mindlessly as they obeyed. No one spoke any differently. Tyler knew there were storytellers, but he'd listened to them a few times, and they were just the same. Everyone was the same here, and he felt more alone among hundreds of people than he had outside in Trench, without a single human being in sight. 

It had been about a month since he'd escaped last, and he wondered suddenly if they had ever discovered how he'd actually gotten out. They claimed that their walls were impenetrable, but he had gotten out at least four times - though he'd taken a different route each time. He wanted to see if the breech had been secured, but he knew it was too risky, especially now. If they didn't know where it was yet, they would certainly figure it out if he checked now. 

Instead, he walked a circle around the courtyard, watching the other inhabitants as they talked with each other. It was all small talk. Simply asking how their day was, what they did, how they slept, et cetera, et cetera. He wanted someone to talk to about anything else. He wanted everyone to stop staring at him. The Watchers kept their beady eyes on him at all times, but he was used to that by now. It was the stares of the people he couldn't stand. 

His Bishop had called him abnormal, deranged, insane, and at this point, he was starting to believe it. He had thought there had been more like him, when he'd first attempted an escape. He had even met a few, years ago, but they had all disappeared, one by one. Had they succeeded? Had they been killed? Or had they actually lost their desires to leave? There was one more possibility, and though he didn't want to consider it, he couldn't ignore it. Had they been Glorified?