Katie

Red

"Kate."I said, tasting every letter on the tip of my tongue.

The voice in my head named Kate made me wonder. I placed my hand over a box. It was filled with memories with my mum and dad, friends and family. Before the nurses came. Before red and blue existed. I had a diary. I stroked the cover, feeling its grainy plastic texture, marvelling at the crude drawing on the front. I inhaled the smell of the humble notebook and flipped through pages that were yellow with age. The pages rustled together as I read through them and the lines blurred together eventually, pages and pages of scribbles of thoughts. Ironically, the cover was red.

The Reds grouped together, they ganged and they made cliques. Blues, on the other hand, were always scattered. We don't belong anywhere. Bumping into a Blue on the way to school was rare. They were the ones who were always earlier than everyone else, for they have to work harder to earn the same respect that Reds have from the moment they became Red. The Reds were always more, and Blues were always less.

Yet, you don't want to join them. Kate said. I smiled a little ruefully. That would be admitting defeat, wouldn't it? No matter what the truth is, there's that part in everyone where you don't want to give up. One day, just one day, we might be equal.

That's impossible. Kate stated. We have a red leader. Don't you remember what the nurses did? They traded you over to the blues for iron.

I don't blame them. I thought quietly. They needed iron to build their facilities. It's a hospital. A noble cause.
You were traded for metal. She scoffed.

Don't you understand? Blues are lower than Reds. Always have been, always will be.

Not always. I argued. Before the Superiority war, people were equal. People weren't judged on their genetics or ancestors. People were judged on themselves. In some cases, people weren't judged on at all.

In some cases indeed. Don't you remember? People were always judged. People were judged on their bone structure, body fat percentage, academic points and religion all the time. The Super war was to end all this silly equality nonsense. It never existed anyway.

I bit my bottom lip and it tasted like salt, sour and bitter at the same time. I blinked, not realising I've been crying. My vision blurred as I stare at the ceiling, trying to trace out the shape of the bright light above. It was white and sharp. Shadows appeared, overlapping on the delineated walls. I counted them. It hurt my eyes.

I threw my notebook violently against the wall. It's all lies. Hopes. A few tainted pages flew out, and one conveniently fluttered onto my bed. I read my handwriting from years ago.

One day, this will end. I know it will. I can go to school without wearing colour coded uniforms again. I know we can do it. We can fight back.

We still have to fight back. I realised. I can't give up. Not now.