Losing Me

Chapter 1

"All drones and law enforcement officers on are to be on the lookout for Wren Hayview. I repeat, all drones and officers on the lookout for Wren Hayview."

I peered from behind the neighbour's car as a police officer with a torch obliviously strolled past my hiding spot. The announcements were made over the city's broadcasting speakers, which only made it harder to escape. The whisper of my last name is reason enough for people to notice my presence. My heart started to race as adrenaline shot through my body.

At this point, I'd rather risk getting caught if it meant I even had a small chance of not living in this prison of a city any longer.

No one knew what was on the other side of those walls, a friend at my university had managed to escape a few weeks ago. Nathan's absence went by fairly unnoticed as his family were only working class and therefore didn't serve much purpose to the influential families, or at least that's how they see it. He'd told me about his plan to leave and where exactly he found an error in the wall which wouldn't alert officers when you walk through the laser shield that supposedly 'protects' us from the outside. 

Once the officer was out of sight, I hunched over and ran behind the white picket fence of a house that summed up the American dream. All the surroundings in City 12 are to look completely organised, nothing is to be out of the ordinary. There are few house types and colours to choose from unless you're of use to the government, then you will be provided with the most extravagant house in the wealthiest suburb, which is of course off limits to the working class. Most people didn't realise, but from overhearing my family's conversations with the senators, the city was designed specifically so that society wouldn't act out.

I looked through the windows of the house I was hiding behind and saw a family of four seated eating dinner. The father was wearing a suit, he must have just arrived home from work. The mother had an elegant dress on and was serving up dinner for her son and daughter. It reminded me of my only wish as a child, to have my family put love above all else. But now that I'm older, I realised I was foolish. It'll never be possible to have a wholesome life in this city. I'm sure the family I'm looking at has deep, dark secrets as well. And even if they don't, the government's plans are going to ruin all normal families anyway. 

I quickly brushed a tear away when I heard voices approaching me. I ran through the shrubbery behind me as quiet as I could, the footsteps were getting closer. 

"Boss wants us to check the perimeters of the city, let's start over here," 

"Aye aye," a manly voice replied. 

The lights brushed over me through the greenery a few times. My hands started to shake as my heart nearly pounded out of my chest. I could see a glimpse of the wall through the leaves. The wall was designed to look like a never-ending forest to create the illusion of a bigger city, a lie that I used to believe. I remembered back to what my friend told me, "close-up it's an electronic forest".  I didn't understand that at the time, but seeing it in real life makes complete sense. It looks exactly like trees, but with waves of pixels throughout. 

"That Wren's bangable for sure, with her big tits and mouth that looks like it could be put to good use."

"Yeah, she's bangable but that's all she's good for. That slut's just a walking advertisement for the Hayview's, they definitely paid for her to get into university to make her seem smart. I doubt she even knows basic math," the two men laughed.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I wanted to scream at them. My parent's hated that I wanted to pursue a career in computer science instead of becoming a housewife. It's not the first time I've had to deal with this backlash though, being a Hayview has taught me that much.

The wall was only a few hundred metres away. I decided to carefully walk in its direction, however, I managed to crunch a few too many branches which alarmed them.

"Did you hear that?" 

The men stopped in their tracks and listened out for more noise, I stopped immediately and crouched. I tried to hold my breath. I could only just see the light of their flashlights about ten metres away.

"Nah man, you must be going crazy," the other man laughed and began to walk again. His friend shrugged and they both started walking.

I squinted and could see the small spot in the wall that wasn't pixelated. I looked down at my phone for the time, 8:35 pm. I caught myself staring at my wallpaper, which was a happy photo of my parents, myself, and my older brother Jacob who died three years ago. Life was simpler back then, I was only 17 and unaware of the world around me. My brother was silently suffering, whilst I was more interested in school and boys to notice. I checked the coordinates on my map that my friend gave me. Well, this was the right spot for the error in the wall. I need to run now, or I'll get caught. I factory reset my phone and put it inside a tree stump. If I kept it, then the sim card would allow me to be traced. 

I took a deep breath and sprinted for the wall, the sticks and leaves were crunching under my shoes, making plenty of noise, but I didn't need to worry at this point.

"HEY!" 

I heard shouts coming from the men behind me, they started running to catch up with me. 

"We have found Hayview, located at the South-West border, heading towards the wall, back up required," one of the men spat over the enforcement radio.

I jetted to the wall, jumping over twigs, dodging leaves that were going to hit my face, and pumping my legs as fast as they could go. I looked and saw the two large officers close behind. I quickly squatted down and felt around the wall as fast as I could. 

I tried to catch my breath, my heart pounding as I was still trying to feel for the barely visible gap in the wall. When I glanced behind and saw the men just about to grab me by my legs, I crawled through the hole. I was met with an instant change in temperature, it was humid and hot. I knew the officers weren't permitted to leave the city's boundaries, so I sat on the outside with my head in my hands for a few seconds to catch my breath.