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Chapter 1- Clara Walker

Monday 9th June 2245, 07:36

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. My head hurt like hell. I felt terrible. I sat up and groaned. I stood up shakily and peered at myself in the mirror. I looked awful. But considering that I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep that was no surprise. I hastily slipped on my black t-shirt, tied my hair in a tight bun and hurried downstairs. [In 2198 the government passed a law that everyone must wear black so that we are all equal and anyone who breaks the rules is executed.] I sat down at the kitchen counter across from my mum and poured myself a cup of coffee.

 "Are you okay, sweetheart? You look tired." My mum is constantly fussing over me since dad disappeared. It hit her pretty hard and now all she does is worry. She has large dark circles under her eyes and her black dress is too big for her skinny, pale body. She barely eats and she buries herself in work.

 I didn't reply to her, just chugged down the coffee as fast as I could.

"Clara! Slow down or you'll make yourself sick!"

"Ugh, I'm fine." I groaned as I shoved on my black pumps. "Love you!" I slammed the door behind me and ran down the road. School was only a couple of minutes away, so I slowed into a jog and tried to catch my breath.

  By the time I had reached school I was sweating profusely and my face was bright red. I burst through the school gates and dashed to my form room. Thankfully, I was only 3 minutes late, so Mrs Lopez wasn't there yet. I slid into my seat and sighed. I looked over my shoulder and saw Ava laughing at me, "Wow, you look dreadful!"

"Thanks!" I laughed and turned back around, "You look stunning, as always."

Ava had been my best friend since we were young and we've always been inseparable. She has deep chocolate puppy-dog eyes and long black eyelashes.

"Pssst!" She whispered.

I turned around to face her. She was grinning and twirling a lock of her thick black hair round her finger, but she wasn't looking at me. I glanced over my shoulder. "Oh, crap."

She was looking at Zack.