4522 {The Number Series}

7

        

        When it was time for lunch we lined up to leave.

        "Stay with me for a little, 4522," my Officer said. "I would like a word with you."

        "Okay," I said uneasily. Everyone else left, including Archer.

        "Have a seat," he said as he pulled out a chair for himself at the table that consisted of the finished Rubik's cubes. I sat down. My heart thundered. Was I out of the program? Would it be a good thing or a bad thing to be kicked out at this point? "Did you complete these?"

        "Only a few of them," I said. "One was done by Ar- 4313."

        "I see," he said. "And did he do it on his own?"

        "I showed him how I had solved mine."

        "So you taught him?"

        "Yes, Officer."

        "You are different, 4522." I flushed. For a moment I felt as if I was not going to be able to keep it together. "Don't worry, it isn't a bad thing to me."

        I sat silently in fear. Being different was not something you openly expressed. It was not something out society raised you to believe in. Being different was exactly what the Officers were here to protect us from.

        "Who are you?" I asked.

        "What do you mean?" He smirked.

        "You're not like everyone else either." I accused. "You do not search for things that are wrong with us like the other Officers. You act like we have known each other our whole lives. You're too friendly. Not to mention most Officers your age come out of training with a strict attitude."

        "And I'm not like that?"

        I shook my head. "You're the opposite of what you're supposed to be."

        "That's a good thing for you, my dear." He leaned forwards and lowered his voice. "How do you like the library?"

        I wanted to scream. I wanted to deny everything. I wanted to die. And, yet, I did none of that. "Wonderful."

        He smiled. "Brave. Smart. Independent. You're everything this city fears and yet you're everything I am looking for."

        "What do you mean 'looking for'?"

        "We're looking to start a fire." The Officer said calmly. "And we need people who are willing and are capable. You are some one who clearly stands above the others and that's exactly what we need. You're a leader."

        "I'm thirteen."

        "Age is but a number when you're prepared to go to war. Besides, it wouldn't be tomorrow."

        "War? Who said anything about a war. And what do you mean when you say fire?"

        "I want to start a fire within the city. I need the people to fight. You do not understand yet but this is not how things have always been. Everything needs to go back to the way it was when we were able to have freedom."

        Freedom. I recognized that word. It was from the book in which I had taken the names out of for myself and Archer.         

        "I'm telling you this because I trust you. I have already picked you."

        "Who else?"

        "Just you as of right now. I'm trusting that you will keep this just between us. Those who can not understand us, fear us, and if they fear us then they will try to destroy us. You want to know what it's like to feel free, don't you?"

        "I would give anything to feel free."

        "Good," he smiled. "Go to lunch."

*

*

        "What did he need?" Asked Archer.

        "Nothing," I lied. I wanted to tell him but I had told the Officer I wouldn't say anything. If Archer didn't make it into the plan then I he didn't need to know. It wasn't that I didn't trust him; I wanted to protect him. If anyone ever found out that he knew then he would for sure be killed. "He just said I was doing a good job."

        Archer smiled. "I told, you're above the rest of us."

        I shrugged. I didn't feel like was really that different. I couldn't understand how anyone would ever feel happy living the way we do, doing what we're told to do, and never really being free. It felt natural, normal even.

        "So, how do you think you're doing?" I asked.

        "Decently," he said. "I know I'm not the best at what we are doing but I also know I am not the worst."

        "In the middle," I said. "I guess that makes you safe both ways."

        "Safe for what?"

        "Safe to be in the program and safe to not be in it too, I guess is what I meant by that."

        "Yeah," he said. "I guess being in the middle sounds safe."

*

*

        We ate our lunch silently before the bell dismissed us. Instead of going back to the testing center, the name I had come up with for the strange room I found myself in every morning, we went back to our afternoon classes as usual. I followed along with the other students as our teacher taught us even though I wanted to move faster. Now that I knew what it was like to be challenged everything else seemed to be too easy. My teachers taught the same things over and over again even though I was ready to move on. I found myself staring out the windows of the classroom and out at the city beyond the little bit of green we had around us and past the fence that kept us on school grounds. I wondered what it was like to live in the actual city.

        The city was the only thing we knew of. Everyone lived in the city and no one lived outside of it. In order for everyone to be happy and equal everyone must live in the same place with the same things. I looked down at my uniform. I saw the same thing every day. Even with our different hair and eyes we were all the same.

        When the final bell rang I wanted nothing more than to talk with my Officer about how I have been feeling. Unlike with Archer I wouldn't have to hide and whisper. I had no way of finding him so instead I sat with Archer during our free time. We sat far away from everyone else and I continued to tell him of Remi and Archer. 

        "So they just destroyed everything?" Archer asked.

        "They did it so they could rebuild everything and make it right."

        "But what if some liked it the way it had been?"

        "Why would anyone like not being able to be themselves?"

        Archer shrugged. "I don't know, Remi. Not everyone is the same. Maybe they're government was like that for a reason."

        "Maybe," I thought.

*

*

        I went to the library that night without the fear of being caught. Part of me hoped that my Officer would see me and meet me there. I read in the library until I nearly couldn't keep my eyes open. To my disappointment my Officer never showed. I went back to bed after putting all of the books back. I laid there for a while thinking before I finally fell asleep.