In the Name of Order

Chapter 1: The celebrations

It's burning. This is the first time I can describe the pain I feel in such a way. Usually, my head starts throbbing in ways that shouldn't happen to a Gifted person like me, but right now; it burns.

There's another sort of pain I feel, but I can't find the words to describe it. All I know is that it hurts, and people like me aren't supposed to hurt. I won't think about it too much. This feeling should go away soon enough. It always does.

Trying to distract myself from myself, I stare out one of the transparent doors enclosing the dining room. There is an amazing view of Geode from here; my country covered in more buildings than trees. Well, that could only be the case for the areas I've seen.

Regardless, the amount of infrastructure is not something I will complain about. I've never been fond of being around nature. However, it is something I like to look at from afar.

If I squint my eyes enough, I can make out the Geode Shuttle Station in the centre of our country. Geode is divided into wings; North, South, East and West. Four roads seem to sprout out of the station and in the direction of the four Geode Wings.

The shuttle service is the fastest way to travel to the various wings, avoiding roadblocks and traffic from travelling between cities. The speedy transportation is mainly due to the limited amount of vehicles allowed to be driven on the roads that sprout out of the station: all government approved or property of the station.

The Foster government owns and controls the Geode Shuttle Station. It provides funding for the buses that take us from one place to another.

My family currently lives in the East Wing, but we have houses in the other Wings as well. There is one thing I like about the station and the roads sprouting from the station; they are built over the lake, so there's an amazing view when traveling on those buses.

Geode isn't one of the wealthiest countries, but my father once said everything will change soon. He said people like me, his 'little girl', are helping our country by bringing in money needed to improve Geode and that I should be proud for helping my country.

Us Gifted aren't always given extraordinary jobs, but other countries often pay large amounts of money considering we do these jobs more efficiently than ordinary people. Of course, most of that money goes to the Gifted Program which means, since the program is government-owned, it goes to the Foster government.

I move away from the door to take my seat amongst my family members at the dining table. The men seated at the far end make the most noise, talking about an event which occurred at someone's work. It must have been incredibly funny, because I see tears rolling down one man's cheek and the other men burst out in laughter.

As always, my mother is seated between her sister and their father. The reasons for the obvious tension between my aunt, Ankah, and my grandpa remain unknown to most of our family members. The day I finally worked up the courage to ask my mother about the tension, she told me the knowledge would serve no benefit.

From that day on, I reluctantly accepted that the origins of their feud would remain a secret. The rest of my family members do the same; we accept the secret. However, tonight we ignore the feud and its unknown origin. Tonight, my family puts their focus on us.

We, the Gifted, are celebrated tonight. I'm not sure about the specifics regarding the celebrations of most families, but my family hosts an annual dinner the first weekend of the year before we must return to the Gifted Program's compound; otherwise known as the Gifted Site.

This year's dinner is more special than the one hosted last year. This year, the dinner not only celebrates our return to the Gifted Site but the acceptance of my cousin into the Foster's Gift Auction as well.