Welcome to the not-so-distant future, in a city of structure and comfort. In a place where maturity and peace reigns. This is a story of one boy's fall into the chaotic pit of learning what it means to become of age.
After breaking his city's curfe...
Although this campus was walled, gated, and housed like a mini version of the Community, it was far different in many ways. It was stricter on the rules than the Community. And I didn't have the love that Mom and Dad would give when they were correcting me. Here they would beat us with metal sticks. It was like we were all getting publicly punished with any infraction. Instead of people watching, anyone in the vicinity of the incident would get the stick. Everyone wore the same uniform that covered their legs and arms, so at first, I didn't see everyone's bruises, but I found out as some of my roommates undressed for the night that they had welts and bruises anywhere from their legs to arms to torsos. We didn't have that out in the Community because a public punishment was enough to make a young child stop. Sometimes parents would tell kids that the person being punished had stolen a cookie from the cookie jar or some other white lie to get the kids to think that it could happen to them if they broke the household rules.
While inside the campus, this was where I began to question the rules of our Community. Although I was sad with the public punishment of my friends, I saw the bleakness, emotionlessness, and sometimes terror with these students. I saw the intensity of the rules without seeing the cushion of happiness and love of family. This made the bleakness and despair of oppression spread in my mind that I never noticed was there before.
I wanted to know more about this school. At first, it didn't seem like there was anything more than just a strict academic institution, but to me it felt like there was more than meets the eye. This feeling was brought on in part by Greg, the older boy at the table. There were some days that we talked and other days he was dead silent. In that way, he was like Ian. Ian wasn't much of a talker, but he was smart.
"I go to class. I go to meals. I go to bed. Is there anything else that happens here?" I asked Greg the next day at lunch.
"I told you yesterday that this place is a well-oil machine. There's nothing else to it."
"But I don't want to be part of a machine," I said, and Greg developed a grin.
"I guess you're not used to being part of a machine," Greg said.
"I guess not." Then I thought a minute about the other day, "but didn't you say that this school was modeled after the Community? So wouldn't I already be a part of the machine?"
"Fair point. And do you want to do something about it?" Greg asked.
It sounded like a trick question to me. The government must have police here too if it was a model of how the Community should run. Was Greg trying to get me into more trouble?
"I don't know," I said.
"Eat up then so that you won't have to throw out your food again."
"I don't like rushing to eat," I said.
"You'll catch on soon," Greg said.
That was it. I had nothing to look forward to. I could guess what I would do every day. Sure, my classes would change each year I was here, but there would still only be meals, classes, and sleep until I was released. And I wouldn't be released until I became an adult.... then what? The monotony would continue out there.
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Do you think Greg will be friend or foe?
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