A "Perfect" World

Chapter 2- One Day Earlier

"Stop give it back. Eden, give it back now", I laughed.

"Your gonna have to catch me first!"

"Omg get back here!"

I chased her around the front of my house, trying to get the hair tie she had stolen from my hair. It was mid-August so I was absolutely soaked with sweat and I desperately wanted to tie my long hair up. I finally caught her by her ginger locks that were blowing into my face and took my hair tie back.

"HA! I got it."

Eden just looked at me and gave a sarcastic eye roll. We then just burst out into laughter because we always find the stupidest things funny.

"Guess I'm just faster than you."

"Pfft sure, whatever."

I then saw my really close friend, Doaklan McClellan, start walking over to us. He lives a couple houses down from me and we have been best friends ever since we were 6. We both only met Eden about 4 years ago at school and now we're just a group of 17-year-old misfits.

"Hey, guys did I miss anything?"

"No, it's just that Eden is being a real pest right now", I said jokingly.

I smirked at Eden and she smiled back.

"Whaaat? What would make you think that?", she giggled.

"I don't understand how both of you have so much energy on a hot day like this, I can barely breathe just walking."

"Well sucks to be an asthmatic doesn't it?", Eden laughed.

"Eden, don't joke about that", I whispered to her.

"No, don't worry, as long as I have my inhaler I should be fine."

We all held in a smile for a moment and then laughed because we knew that Doaklan always forgot to carry an inhaler.

I invited them to my house for snacks and as a way to escape the heat. My parents were at work and won't get back til later so I figured we could just raid the pantry and watch some TV.

"Hey, Doaklan?"

"Yea Eden?"

"Here", Eden threw a piece of popcorn at his face.

Doaklan threw it back and I was stuck in the middle of them. So I grabbed the popcorn mid-air and ate it.

"No more throwing food please, I don't want my parents to come home and—"

"Beeeep. Emergency Alert. Beeeep. Emergency Alert."

We all just looked at each other in utter confusion.

"What the hell?", Eden said with a type of worry on her face I had never seen before.

We all stood there watching the TV wondering what would happen next. All of a sudden Queen Ferra Drundel appeared on screen and began to speak sternly.

"Attention citizens of the New World. Starting now, all citizens are required to be taken to the Queen's Castle in Canada, whether it be willingly or by force, where they will be implanted with a microscopic chip. Please do not be alarmed for this will be a revolutionary idea, and you'll all thank me later. We will all soon become perfect as intended. I urge you not to fight back or you will be severely injured or killed."

"What the fuck was that?", Eden laughed worriedly.

And just like that my whole world was turned upside down in an instant. I felt my stomach drop and my first thought was my parents. They're still at work and I don't want to be separated from them. For a second we all just kinda stood there, thinking that this was some kind of joke, but we soon realized what we had just seen. This wasn't a joke, this was reality believe it or not.

"So what do we do now?"

"Doaklan, you and Eden get out of here while I go look for my parents."

"Lark, where would we go? And you can't get your parents now, I bet they searched workplaces first and I honestly don't know if your parents will be able to get out in time. I'm so sorry please just stay calm, as long as we have each other we can survive this."

"No Doaklan you don't understand I can't just do nothing knowing they're out there."

Tears rushed to my eyes and began streaming down my face, and I was getting lightheaded. I pushed Doaklan off of me and ran for the door. He grabbed my arm and pulled me close to his chest. I was sobbing and felt completely hopeless. It almost didn't feel real, like it was a nightmare. But the truth was that this was now my reality. I wiped my face and looked into Doaklan's comforting chocolate eyes.

"Our best bet is probably to stay put and hide somewhere in the house they would least expect. That way if your parents do come back, they'll find us."

"Eden, I don't think my parents are co..coming back", I struggled to get the words out.

I grabbed Doaklan's smooth dark arms and wrapped them around me. He was always able to comfort me and make me feel safe.