On The Verge

Prologue

Elizabeth Year 2110

A flash of ginger hair passes my nose. I reach out but the figure is too quick.
"Mackenzie!" I squeal playfully, "slow down!" She glances over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at me playfully.
My blue eyes are bright with happiness and excitement. Mackenzie slows to a stop, realizing she's won. The victory sparkles in her green eyes.
"Too fast for you!" She squeals in delight, starts bouncing around the room mockingly . "It's called tag, you have to tag me."
I pant, "I can't." I declare, doubling over, "I can't tag you! I forfeit." I say falling backward on the soft, white carpet, of my living room.
Mackenzie laughs in triumph, "I knew I'd beat you!" She walks over and stands over me, peering down at me. Then a moment or so later she extends a hand to help me stand up.
"Yeah, you're like sonic speed. Too fast for me." I smile, taking her hand and standing up.
Life around here has been relatively boring since the government was taken over.
"I've always been faster than you!" She boasts, sticking her chest out and marches around the room, before bursting into laughter.
I nod my head, rolling my eyes, and sitting down on the couch. "Yeah obviously." I say, giggling a little.
Since the government went away, we've been spending more and more time together. We've been neighbors practically our whole lives, but up until now we've never been too close. I'm nine and she's ten, only a couple months apart, so we always ended up in the same class.
Suddenly I realize Mackenzie has asked me a question, that I didn't hear, by now I've learned to tune her out. Which comes in handy... sometimes, sometimes. I smile and nod my head until she gets bored and sits next to me. I look up to see my dad walking in.
"Daddy!" I squeal and jumping up off there couch and hurrying over to him. He picks me up and swings me around. I laugh with pure joy. Mackenzie giggles watching me, my dad puts me down and heads up our house steps.
I look at Mackenzie and giggle along with her. We decide to head down the street to her house, because my house is getting too boring. This happens every day, we go back and forth all day saying the other house is boring.
When we are halfway to Mackenzie's house, a van pulls into a house with moving men all around the house, like insects in a light. New neighbors, usually people these days can't afford to move and maybe lose their houses. Which means this family must be Bergue (bergai) soilders! Mackenzie's and my families can't afford to move our parents work at Apple. Working toward creating better technology for the new generations. Both Mackenzie and I are only children, which means we have no siblings, but this new family has two girls and two boys getting out of the car.
"Want to go meet them?" I ask Mackenzie eagerly. She seems just as eager so we walk over to their house.
One boy looks about our age, with average brown hair and blue eyes. We decide to walk over to him and introduce ourselves.
I speak first, "Hello, you must be the new family. I live over there and she lives down the road." I point at my house then I point in the direction of Mackenzie's house. "I am Elizabeth Parker, and this is Mackenzie Williams." I say gesturing to her. I am smiling a huge polite smile that surprises even me. Keep in mind we are only like ten.
The boy smiles widely at my kindness, "Nice to meet you, Elizabeth, Mackenzie." He nods to us, he bites his lip and sets his jaw slowly. "I'm Brandon, Brandon Forman."