Run.

O N E

                   •Vivian•

I trace lines along my pale skin. I occupy my thoughts with the inevitable. Tomorrow is deciding day. Tomorrow is the day I prove my genetic engineering is on course. Tomorrow is the day I take the test. The test that will tell me if I qualify for the next step in my society.

I clench my fist and look up. I stare at a misplaced face, a misplaced girl. She's 5" 5', only because she was made to be. She has watery blue eyes, only because that is favored by the city of Obtain. She has blonde hair down to her waist, only because she has to.

This is my face, my reflection looking back at me.

A girl walks into the schools bathroom and smiles at me. She's my height, 5"5'. But her parents chose her long black hair. It's striking on her, shaping her sharply angled face. "Good thing I found you!" She walks into the stall, still rambling. "I can't believe you're hiding from him."

I smooth down the baby hairs poking out near my ears. "I'm not hiding from him. I'm avoiding him. It's different." I don't believe what I'm saying, but it sounds like I do. That's good enough to fool her.

I pretend to wash my hands, so I can run the water and drown her out as she goes to the bathroom.

"I'm just saying, Hale likes you, why not go for it? You don't need to be so sour towards him." She talks louder. She's unaware of how tomorrow is killing my insides. Of course, because she is a year younger than I am, and still has much time to frolic.

I roll my eye's even though she can not see me. That's probably a good thing. "You're not getting it Zelma, I don't like him."

Zelma is a girl with little awareness. She's been in my part of the city almost all my life, so I know her pretty well. Or I think I do. She thinks she knows me.

But she doesn't. She doesn't know what he did to me. No one knows what he did to me.

Tomorrow may be the only chance I have to escape the life I live in. To escape seeing Hale everyday. Unless he tests as high as I hope to. Unless he qualities too.

Or to escape my father. I don't know, all I know is tomorrow is my biggest hope, and my strongest fear.

...

Tomorrow is probably the most important day for the seventeen year olds of Obtain and Amiss. Although Amiss won't have a chance against the Obtain kids when it comes down to it. I find that rather sad.

Over nearly ninety years ago in 2020 Eugenics started to become more and more advanced. This is where parents decide certain aspects of their baby. And now has become very advanced. Parents can choose the hair color, eye color, sex of the child, the height it will be when fully grown, and fix any problems they might expect.

Hale was supposed to be born with Asthma, but they terminated that egg in search for one that didn't have asthma. Fixing the imperfect parts about him. Personally, I'd have to day they missed a few things. Because he's an asshole.

Anyway, back then people were very diverse on the subject. Is it morally right? Are we playing God? Some of the most intelligent people were born with abnormalities. Albert Einstein had a neurodevelopmental disorder yet still added greatly to our world.

But after all the fighting and protests, it started to happen anyway. People started to choose their babies future aspects.

Since this process was very extensive, only the rich could afford it, and that was the start of an unbalanced society. And now there is a split in two parts of our city. The inner city is known as Obtain. And the outer city we call Amiss.

I live in Obtain. I am a Eugenics baby who is supposed to be perfect. I am supposed to pass my test tomorrow with flying colors. And if I don't, I'll be sent to Amiss.

And if I do, like I should, I'll be put in an arena. And from then, I'll have two weeks to prove my self. To earn a government job, the better life. Those who do not pass that stage, get to stay in Obtain, but are assigned a job that supposedly fits them best.

Amiss kids get a chance when their my age, 17. But rarely do they ever get through the arena stage, and nearly never have they gotten to have a government job.

The thing that's scaring me the most about tomorrow is, 1; We are not informed on what the test is on exactly. And 2; What happens in the Arena is almost unheard of.

So starting tomorrow, I'll be blindly walking through life, hoping I make the right decisions, and hoping luck is on my side.

...

I slide my back pack over my shoulder and hop up out of my seat as the bell rings.

The teacher wishes us luck, yes luck. Something I believe in. It seems to always be luck that I am still alive anyway.

I hastily drag my eyes away from his as I watch him near me. The nerves in my body crawl painfully up and down under my skin, pinching me.

People's eyes touch my face, but only for a second. It's as if they are waiting, just waiting for me to explain and explode why I hate Hale so much. And why he seems to like me so much.

My lips are forever sealed. Forever sewn shut. Hale is a disgrace, and my shuttering downfall.

"Hey Vivian. What's the rush? Nervous for tomorrow?" He skims his hand with mine.

I pull away so fast his skin might as well be poison. His ego is a mean joke to the world. I press my lips together in a straight line and suppress my anger.

But at the last minute, just as I am about to walk out the front school door to meet my father waiting to pick me up outside, I stop. My hand wrapped around the door handle. And I stare at him, narrowing my eyes. "I hope you rot in Amiss."

His smirk falls off his face like liquid ice cream on a summer day. I can't help but smile. His brows furrow and he takes a step towards me. I become a little stiffer, but try to stand firmer.

The bell rings and kids spit back into their classrooms. But he stays. My mind is clouding my judgment. And I'm beginning to become afraid.

...