New Haven

1.

The artificial sunlight stretched across the classroom, changing the white floors and walls into a golden yellow. I lay my hand out onto the desk to feel its warmth. It makes me wonder what people used to do out in the sun before The War, you know the one that devastated the entire planet, erasing more than half of mankind, that war. I move my hand around watching six of my charms on my bracelet glisten in the warm rays, none of them meant anything special, just small charms some with intricate designs, some shaped as unidentifiable animals, one that is just a small smooth coin. One ring sits empty, I can't remember how I lost it but it was my favorite. It was a silver flower with an even smaller jade in the center. Jewlery is the only thing that is permitted. It is a way for the people in Sanctuary to separate themselves from the rest, we all wear the same jumpsuits with our designated mark. There are two groups each with its own symbol, one is a circle with a thin black line which is normally for families that are associated with higher status jobs like travelers, teachers, collectors, or the people who work for the President. The other symbol is shaped as a "C" with its tail curving outward, that is the group that I belong to, the group that has the historians and analyzes data that is sent by the collectors. Apart from the symbols being on our jumpsuits, they are tattooed on the under our ears. It is for our safety because many years ago, the people who used to live outside of Sanctuary, who called themselves the Refugees, kidnapped citizens in Sanctuary. They inflicted an unimaginable amount of torture to the citizens, not physically, but mentally. It was hard to figure out who was who because some of the Refugees would disguise themselves as citizens and be brought into Sanctuary, so the President ordered that all citizens were to be tattooed by their group to recognize them easily. Even though the people outside of Sanctuary have died off, we continue to get these tattoos. Sort of as a remembrance to those kidnapped. This is the only information I can recall out of all my years of schooling and it is not because I was there.

 My family was kidnapped by the people outside of Sanctuary, and we were tortured for information. Luckily, my brother and I made it out alive, I can't say the same for my parents. They must have messed me and my brother up real bad because I don't have any memories of my childhood, anything before my twelfth birthday is blurry. It's been seven years since that happened, I'm now the same age my brother was when we lost our parents. This is why the Sanctuary had made it their job to go back in time to prevent catastrophic events from happening. We have started off slow with interfering small crimes like petty theft, later the goal is to stop World Wars. And hopefully stop the Refugees from forming. Maybe I'll live long enough to see justice. But I doubt that since we are only on the first stage, or that's what my brother says. And it's not that he hates the idea, it's just that he doesn't want to raise my hopes for anything. He doesn't get it though, he can recall how our parents looked and can remember things better than I can, he remembers his childhood. He's always been smart and an overachiever, I have been constantly compared to him by Mr. and Mrs. Grimké. Those were the caretakers my brother and I had been living with for five years. They always wanted a son, but ended up not having any children, so it made sense why they had always favored Apollo. They retired now, living the rest of their lives in time, somewhere in the 1980's. My brother had always wanted to be a traveler, but gave up his dream and became a historian, so he could raise me, so now I live with my brother and his wife Cassie. I sometimes find myself dreaming of how my life would be like if my parents were here, how my mother would call my name in that soft and hushed voice like she does in my dreams, "Amelia".

"Amelia!" said a harsh voice as its hand crashes down onto my desk.

I jumped up in my seat, looking around, everyone seemed to be staring right at me. I looked up to the person who owned that cold voice, it was Mr. Underwood. His bald head reflected the light right into my eyes.

"Care to remind the class about what our final would be?" he said.

"Umm.." I said, looking around the room for help. I could feel my face heating up.

"We have been talking about this all week! Have you not been paying attention?"

I look over and see Cher pointing to the tablet in front of her signaling me to look at the instructions. Before I could say anything, Mr. Underwood seemed to notice and looked at Cher Hathaway, my friend.

"How about you Ms. Hathaway?"

Cher looked up at Mr. Underwood and tucked her black curls behind her ear.

"Oh, umm.." Mr. Underwood caught her by surprise, "We will be assigned a certain year that we will be traveling to. Once we get there we will have to find the petty criminal we are assigned to and will have the option to either turn in to the handlers or kill ourselves. But before doing that we have to collect data and have to execute our plan in such a way that no one would notice that the criminal is gone or suspect that it was us. If we succeed, our names will be recommended to the President and she will personally select if we are fit to be travelers, if not we will have to take other examinations until we are placed into a job that fits us best"

"Good. Hear that Ms. Adair? If I catch you daydreaming in my class again, I will have to find a suitable punishment for you."

I listened to him, with my head tilted down. I didn't want to look at him, or anyone for that matter. It gets me annoyed when he singles me out, he does it to other kids too, it gets on my nerves. On my left I could hear Sierra Blackwell snickering to her friends. I look over to her, my face angry and annoyed.

"Understand?" said Mr. Underwood

"I understand." I said bluntly, still looking at Sierra and her snotty friends I slowly turned to look back at Mr. Underwood.

I stared at him. Almost as if I was challenging him. I looked away though after a few seconds. I didn't want to get in trouble again.

"You all will receive your assignment after the assembly. Your suits and dresses will arrive exactly three hours before. Be on time. You are dismissed."

I began to gather my things and headed out the door. My stood by the door, talking away. Cher is tall with beautiful dark skin and had gorgeous curls that bounced when she walked. Next to her was Leo, he wasn't as tall as Cher, who was almost 6ft. Leo's prized possession is his hair, which is always well maintained, not a single hair out of place. 

"Whatcha guys talking about?" I ask

"We were just talking about the assembly" said Cher

"This is going to be our first assembly. I can't wait to see what suit I got!" said Leo

New Haven chooses the attire that we wear for the assembly based on our character. The dresses never disappoint, its the one thing to look forward to when we start our schooling.

"My sister had this pretty orange one on her assembly. I'm just hoping it's something as pretty as hers!" commented Cher.

Cher and Leo talked away as we entered the neighborhood. We lived in the area where the inhabitants have the "C" tattooed on them.

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This is the first time I read this in a while, I'm sorry if you made it this far.  I tried to fix any inconsistencies, but lmk if you see anything wrong!