The Fallen

Blake

We have entered the homeroom.

Everyone is stuck in their own little screen in front of them. Nobody even notices us coming in. Some people even have white earphones stuck onto them. We find seats in the back of the room and we try to get comfortable. Sam quietly takes out a book and starts reading. He seems to be the only person with a normal book out in the open. After that surprising encounter with the voice helper in my room last night, I'm not sure if anything is impossible now. Kat sits beside me with the same awe as she looks around at people.

With a long sigh, she looks at me and says, "Well, I guess we gotta start looking at our materials."

I look down at my desk and see a pair of white earphones magnetically stuck on the desk along with a thin metal pen. I touch its smooth edges with curiosity and carefully. To the top right of the desk there is a single glassed spot shaped as a small square. It's black color making it stand out of the light brown color of the desk.

"You put your right thumb on it." Sam watches me do this from the desk behind Kat. I can feel Emms watch me intently from behind me also. As I put my finger on the black glass, a bright green light draws my fingerprint and makes a small chime when it has finished. As I left up my thumb, the green web is still engraved to this black glass for another second before it's neon color slowly fades away. Immediately, a similar screen like the rest of the students appears in front of me.

I smile in awe and look at my sisters. They watch this in wonder and Sam smiles with pride. "Put on your earphones. Now that it has your fingerprint, only you can touch those and the pen. If it feels like someone else, it won't let them grab them from the magnet on the desk."

As Emms completes the procedure, she says, "Why do they need our fingerprints if we are new to this place?"

"With your fingerprint, they record everything now. My father has already filed your information on the government system. With your DNA, the school is able to see if you are gifted or not."

"Oh." Kat's voice shows a second of fear and looks at us in worry. She knows that this information will not go well for any of us gifted ones. The thought sends a cold feeling down my spine and I shiver to this feeling. Kat notices this and quickly changes the tension in the air. "What about our names? Do they record that stuff with just our fingerprints?"

"Yes. When you don't "sign in" or you put your thumb on that glass then it shows the teacher that you're not here." Sam gestures over to a man sitting a much larger desk but instead of being wooden like ours, his is all glass filled with different screens on it. He has a sort of tablet on one hand and the other he uses it to pass it over to the big screen in front of the class with a single swipe of his finger. When some see this document appear, they immediately go to work on their screens.

"What are these screens called?" I ask. Emms is already playing around with her screen and pen. Probably pushing away the angry thoughts on what Sam just explained to us.

Sam chuckles at my question as if it were the most obvious thing. I laugh along when he says, "These screens are called tablets. Yes, I know it's simple but I guess they prefer to keep it that way. Some say that they were called like that in the past, too."

"Who's they?" Kat looks back with a smirk.

Sam lifts up his book and gives her a wide smile. "The ancients."

A few minutes before our next class, I check my schedule. It was part of the process of signing in. It gave me an option to randomize my classes and with this my first class is Physical Education. I check my sisters' schedule. The thought of having to endure this horrible place alone makes my hands clammy. My heart finally lightens when I see that I have Musical Talents with them and Kat has Physical Education with me. I smile when Sam tells me that I might have Mathematics with Dan.