Area Z-Z-8

two.

I toss and turn in my sleep. A plane soars in and out of my dreams. It falls, then explodes. I wake up in a cold sweat. I never have scary dreams, and I've never seen anything explode either. Thankfully, the plane slides away after my morning pills.

School flies by. Ginger and I lean against the chain-link fence playing jacks at recess. The boys kick the same old soccer ball back and forth, scoring goals every once and awhile. The other girls sit and talk or play four-square. Tomorrow, we're all going to compete in a jump rope tournament. Ginger drops the rubber ball into my hand.

"I got five," she brags, indicating the six metal jacks scattered across our playing space.

"Ha!" I tease, turning back to face my friend. "I can do better than that!"

I drop the ball, reach my hand out towards the jacks, and come up with all six as I catch the red rubber ball right after its first bounce. Ginger crosses her arms and slouches. I giggle at her childish pouting. She knows that I always beat her in jacks.

A truck rumbling past the mountains causes everyone to turn. The truck stops, then blows up. Flaming tires roll away from the explosion. A giant dark cloud of smoke rises up from the destroyed truck. The fumes smell awful, and they make me gag and choke. By the time Ms. Simm rushes us inside, we're all coughing. In the excitement of everything, I completely forget my jacks outside. I tell Ms. Simm, and she lets me go retrieve them. When I get back to class, everyone is taking the blue pills left on their desks. My desk, however, is empty. Without the pills, the memory of the plane stays in my head. I shiver. I've never seen anything like that before. I go up to Ms. Simm.

"I didn't get any pills," I say.

"Yes you did," Ms. Simm answers. "You probably forgot that you ate them. I put three on each of your desks. It would be dangerous to give you more. If you can't remember taking your pills, you should have your parents take you to the doctor. Your dosage might be too high."

I walk back to my desk, the image of the explosion still fresh in my mind. My dosage is not too high. The rules for the medication are very clear. For people ages zero to twenty, you will take one pill for every four years that you've been alive. Once you turn twenty, you will take five pills for the rest of your life. I have been taking three pills for over a year, so I know that my dosage is just fine. I can't pay attention for the rest of the school day. The memory of what happened at recess haunts me.

                                                                                    ***********

Ginger won't stop fidgeting with the zipper on her backpack.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"N-nothing," Ginger replies. She pulls the zipper up and down faster and faster.

"You're lying," I shoot. "Just tell me what's up. If it's a secret, I promise I won't tell."

"It is a secret," she replies, "and I'll only tell you if you promise not to repeat it to anyone."

"I promise," I say.

Ginger pulls six shiny blue pills out of a hidden pocket of her backpack.

"These are your pills, and mine," she says, "and I'm getting rid of them."

"No!" I exclaim, grabbing for the medication. "I need those! That plane! I need it to go away!"

But I'm too late. Ginger tosses my goal out the window in one swift movement.

"Don't take them anymore," she whispers.

"But I need them-"

"No. Get to school at five tomorrow morning. Walk. Make sure no one sees you. I'll meet you there."

The bus stops, and Ginger gets off. Now I have no choice but to obey.

                                                                                **********

The next morning, I wake up before the sun comes up. I don't take my pills. Instead, I toss them over the chain-link as I walk parallel to it on my way to school. I carry my backpack on my back. In it are my school books, my metal lunchbox, and my canteen. I yawn. I slept terribly last night. Explosions haunted my dreams. Suddenly, I feel a surge of regret. Why did I listen to Ginger? I should have just taken my pills and forgot this ever happened.

Ginger is waiting for me outside of our school. Her school books are at her feet. She snatches my bag and removes my textbooks. Quickly, she removes the page with my name on it from each book and throws the sheets in the trash. My books end up next to hers on the ground. My bag then gets stuffed with bread and apples, a pocket knife, and an extra carabiner.

"I found my family's emergency stash," Ginger says as she works. She stuffs a flashlight and a thin silver blanket into my backpack and zips it up. "Let's go before the sun comes up. The teachers will be getting here soon."

Ginger jogs towards the recess area. I follow her.

"Go where?" I ask. Ginger's scaring me.

"Faye," She reaches the chain-link fence and turns to look at me. "I want to know what's behind the fence. Why do so many things blow up? Something new explodes every day. I haven't taken my pills in months? Faye, you're my best friend. Will you come with me?"

"You mean leave my whole life behind," I ask nervously.

"It isn't much of a life, is it?" Ginger replies. "We forget all of life. The pills turn us into robots. All we know is school and rules."

"All right," I give in, " I'll go with you."

Ginger nods. She drops three blue pills into my jacket pocket. "Only take those if you get caught."

She picks up rocks and starts to climb the chain-link fence. When she gets to the top, her feet are way above my head. She drops a rock. It hits the ground. Nothing happens. Satisfied, Ginger climbs down and lands on the other side of the fence.

"Hurry!" She motions for me to join her.

I climb up, step over the top, then climb down. My sneakers hit the dry ground, and dust flies through the air. Ginger moves quickly away from the fence.

"We have less than an hour to travel several miles to the mountains," she says. "There's no cover until we get there, so people will see us escaping if they show up at school before we reach them."

Ginger breaks into a run. I take one look towards my school, my home, my life. This is my last chance to turn back. Am I really this willing to leave it all behind? Yes. Like Ginger said, it wasn't much of a life, was it? Without another thought, I turn and follow Ginger as she moves swiftly towards the mountains."