The Differents | ✓

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

As night settled in, the forest seemed to change. It went from a bright bundle of life, sunlight streaming through the leaves and creatures hopping around and chattering to each other, to something almost eerie, yet it wasn't. If it weren't for the steady rhythm of water splashing from the waterfall and the stream, breaking the stillness of the air, it would be unsettling.

But here, away from the lights of the Core and the stark white hallways, the world came to life in its own way. The darker it got, the brighter the sky became, until it was illuminated with millions of stars. It was beautiful, and so unlike what I was used to at the Core. I knew stars existed, balls of fire somewhere in the sky, but I never knew there were this many. They painted the sky with blues and purples, scattered around and forming beautiful shapes. A particularly thick brush of stars stretched across the sky above me, creating something that looked almost alive. A cloudy-looking collection of stars, glowing purples and blues, staring down at me as if it could see everything. It made me feel so small.

A faint breeze came my way, bringing with it the smells of the forest. I could name some of them; pine and grass and soil, and was thankful for the ecology classes. They may not have taught me anything about the other living creatures in the world, but at least I had gone on this adventure knowing something about the environment.

This thought made me look around. What with all the excitement that involved getting here, I hadn't stopped and really gotten a look at our surroundings. All I had known was that there were lots of big trees.

Now, as I looked, I saw the forest in all its beauty. The trees weren't just big, but were wide, with rough, textured exteriors covering them. I probably couldn't put my arms entirely around them. Small, leafy plants adorned the ground by the base of the trees, growing wherever there was space. The roots of the trees, which were a lot bigger than any I had ever seen, made the ground uneven. Even the soil was nothing like I had ever seen. I had noticed on our way here, that it had a reddish tint to it, and so I walked over to the edge of the forest to get a closer look. In the dark it was harder to see colours, the Masks had told me. Something about the sensors in your eyes not being strong enough. And I realized they were right. I couldn't see any of the colours in the forest.

Is this what it's like for everyone else? I wondered, looking around. It was strange, to be so used to a colourful world and then to have it all be taken away. I'm sure it was like this before, but I was so rule-abiding at the Core that I never really took the time to question my Differences. I simply turned off the lights at night and went to sleep.

It unsettled me, so I looked at the sky, remembering I could still see the colours in that. After I had gotten used to anything that was in the dark not having colour, I turned back to the forest and took a handful of the soil. It was quite coarse and was mixed with a lot of different things. Bits of dried leaves, clumps of small roots, little pieces of the trees that had broken off. Natural, unlike the hard concrete and perfect grass at the Core.

I was starting to like the forest.

I dropped the handful of soil to go back and check on Sniper. I was hoping that if he was asleep I could use that device he had snuck from the Core to learn more about the trees. Hunching over to fit through the gap in the rocks, I stepped inside as quietly as I could. He was near the back wall, an extra jacket keeping him warm. Even though I made no noise entering the shelter, his eyes opened and focused on me almost immediately. A shiver went down my spine. Had he been awake all this time or did he have some sort of person sensor in his genes that made him hyper aware of everything?

"Before you ask, I was already awake," he said. "I'm human, just like you."

"Oh, I... I wasn't..."

"Just because I can do one thing doesn't mean I'm suddenly inhumanly amazing at everything else. I'm pretty sure people have some sort of sixth sense that allows them to feel when someone is there, but apart from that, I was already awake." He sat up and shook out the jacket. "Don't worry, I get it. When you're skeptical of one thing you start to question everything else. Anyway, I'm awake now so I might as well take the next watch. I'll wake you up in a few hours."

Pulling on the jacket, he brushed past me and went outside, leaving me on my own in the shelter.

I'm too uptight, I thought, lying down where Sniper had just been. All he wanted to do was exist and get away from the people who were controlling his life, who were judging him and shaping him to fit their vision. And here I was, doing the exact same thing. Judging him for who he was and making him feel like he couldn't simply live. How old is he again? Eighteen? And already it's evident he's been through way too much.

It's funny though, how really all of us at the Core have been through way too much for our age. None of us remember anything before age five, and from then on all we remember is being conditioned to fit the mold. Don't speak out of turn, don't interrupt people. Listen to the people older than you, only take what you need. It was fine when we were little, but as we got older the rules got harsher.

Be happy with what you know and don't ask questions about it. Your Differences are bad; you have to get rid of them. Don't go past the Barrier or even near it. Make sure you pay attention in class or else you won't ever become Normal. They pressured us until we were so boxed in on all sides we had no choice but to agree with them. When I walked the halls in the evening, I could see the tiredness in the faces of other people. The children, especially the young ones, were still lively enough to play in their free time, but the pressure of the constant need to fit in took its toll on the older ones.

Especially once you found out that you have a deadline. Twenty years, that's how long we got. If you're not Normal by then, you're done.

We would have a ceremony of sorts at the end of each year, where the ones who were worthy enough to be Normal would stand on a stage in a special room only for important events. They would have their name read out before accepting a certificate and stepping through a door leading out of the room. After that, it was like they never existed in the first place. The Masks would tell us they went wherever Normals go, but they would never tell us where that actually was.

Thinking of the deadline always brought a sense of dread onto me. Being only seventeen, I still had a few years. And now that we were no longer part of the Core, Sniper and I were free of all of it. I was almost completely sure whoever didn't make the deadline in time was killed, but like those who became Normal enough, we could never be sure because we never saw them again.

However, what I was usually afraid of were my friends. I had no idea if they were making good progress on becoming Normal or not, and since they were older than me, the dread brought on with the deadline was for them, not myself. Of course, I never told them this -- to admit I was scared for them would be admitting I valued them enough to worry about them, which would be taken as weak -- but the deadline was approaching fast on Captain, who was eighteen, and Bear, who was nineteen. And I had no way of knowing if they would be okay or not.

I never really talked to them about their Differences, but I knew Captain often had a hard time controlling her emotions, especially negative ones. Bear had concentration issues and often couldn't keep still for long periods of time, as well as liking guys instead of girls. I don't know how the Masks find out a Difference, but it must have taken them an especially long time to discover the technology necessary to find the mutation that causes someone to love the "wrong" person.

With heavy thoughts swirling around in my mind, I drifted into a troubled sleep. The rocky ground didn't help much either.