The Pariah

Irene Thread

Chapter 3
We stood there for what seemed like an hour. Lucas and most of the other men had left for work, but the women stayed to watch.
I was in between a girl named Abby and another named Bella. I talked with Abby for awhile, but Bella was to preoccupied with whoever was behind her.
"Ruff morning," she asked.
"Yeah, brothers."
That was about the way our conversations usually went. Something about weather or our how our days went.
Abby had been in my math class and was alway the first one to answer any question, probably because she was the smartest.
Several of us heard a woman's scream from one of the streets but on one thought much of it at the time. We might have thought different if it hadn't been inspection day but today it was normal. The malo found pleasure in "playing" with the girls no matter what tract they were from. Though fortunately I usually had one of my brothers with me.

I watched several brawls start and stop at the edge of the crowds. One of them I noticed a boy not too much older than me fighting a thirty year old looking man. The boy wasn't in line so I knew he must have been older than sixteen. He had handsome dirty blond hair that even though he had been in a fight still fell perfectly when he got up from the ground. His skin looked a lot tanner than I imagined it to be because it was now coated in the dry dirt. Another reason is because he had blood dripping from his lips and head with purple bruises around his cheeks.
The man he was fighting with was tall and broad with dark brown hair. He had dark brown scruffy hair on his face and an angered fire in his eyes. When his fist came down on the boys jaw it looked like it could have been the size of his face.
"Get up," he shouted as his dark shadow casted over the boy. "Get up you little punk!"
"Look, I am sorry I called you stupid, weak, and unsightly," he said trying to pick his beaten body up off the ground, "but I really thought you already knew."
The big man then took another punch and knock the boy to the ground again.
"Get up and say that to my face!"
"Come on I already did once, remember thats why you are punching the shit out of me."
The man then brought his knee in contact with the boys chin.
"You better stay on the ground where you belong you little brat!" The man started kicking him in the ribs and yelling insults at him.
"What, did your arms get tired?" The boy moaned in between kicks as he spit blood on the ground.
I could see that his blue eyes that were almost dead looking as he laid on the ground. Then they locked with mine. I saw his mouth make a small smile at me, but it was interrupted by another harsh blow from the man.
Oh no, he looked at me. I panicked and looked away, but I kept the image of his mesmerizing eyes in my mind. When I looked in his direction again a malo blocked my view. All I could see was that he had gotten up off the ground, with the brutal help of the malo. A girl in a black hood gently grabbed him under his arm and let him lean his weight on her body.
"I am fine," he croaked, but kept his weight leaning on the girl.
"I am sure you are," she smirked as his head weakly sunk backwards over her shoulder. Then she pulled a hood just like hers over his head and guided him away as the malo held back the muscular man.

"Piper," Abby nudged me in the side with her elbow and pointed up at the stage in front of us.

On it now stood three officials all dressed in a white or black suit and all having a black vale over their eyes. Two men stood at the edge of the outer metal chairs. They both had on the black suits and shinny black slick shoes. Their dark hair was so full of grease that I couldn't tell wether their hair was black or a dark brown.
In between them sat a woman who had chosen to wear a white suit, in which the colors of the Median tracts symbols penetrated from. Her highlighted brown hair was swirled up in a cone shaped bun on top of her head with pins the stuck out all over it. She reminded me of a hawk that was calm yet alert at all times. Even though I couldn't see her eyes, her bright cherry lips that were pursed in a thin line across her face showed me how much she did not want to be here. Of course I knew who she was, everyone did and if you didn't you learned fast. Her name Irene Thread.

"Ladies and gentlemen if you could please gather closely in so that we may begin our announcements and ceremonies," one of the men on stage said through the microphone in his hand.
Almost on cue the crowd started to cram together. Everyone stood shoulder to shoulder. I kept looking around but I still saw no sign of Aidan or even that boy who was beaten up. However, I saw the man. He now had a fresh red triangle on the side of his neck from where the malo had branded him. I wondered if the boy had also gotten branded, but I thought not considering he had been beaten up enough.
The man on stage handed the microphone he was holding to Irene and she began to give the same speech that she gave at every government inspection.

"It is so nice to finally be with you all again," she began as her tight lips formed a fake smile. "You know that Tract 5 is one of my favorite to visit. That may be, however, today is not a day for pleasantries, it is a day to assess and introduce the new adults in your tract."
Then she turned towards us and grinned, "Remember, fear and order are the building blocks for our society."
That was her motto, every speech she ever gave to the tracts ended with that same line.
The representative for our tract then made his way up the boys side of the stage to meet Irene where she stood.
He was a pudgy man and about the only one in our tract that was that way because Moral lathered him in riches and wealth.
When he reached her she delicately handed him the microphone in her hand and then made her way back to the chair behind her.

"Fellow citizens," he began as if expecting some sort of recondition, but all he got was silence. He then took a list from his pocket and started reading off the names of all the sixteen year olds.

"James Adams."

The first boy in line walked up to the center of the stage. He gave our representative the set of paper that were filled out with information. Then he was plunged with a shot of blue chip in his arm. He was then hurried off the stage by a malo.

"Katie Anderson."

The first girl in my line did the same thing as James Adams. She handed the papers to our representative and was plunged with the same liquid as James.
I looked over and saw James standing only a few feet away from me. He looked different though. He looked the way some one would if they had seen a ghost. His body shook and he just stared down at his feet. When he did look up his face was a pale white with dark circles around his eyes. It made me wonder what they could do to make a person look like that. I cringed.
The representative continued calling out the names in alphabetical order and one by one each lines got shorter.

"Parker Barns."
"Julia Craft."
"Caleb Hampton."
"Elaina Kelly."
"Thomas Pier."

Each one went up and handed in their papers and each one was injected with the same liquid. Then they all looked the same pale and dark eyes with the scared expression on his face.

"Abby Right."
I watched as she climbed the steps in front of her. When she handed her papers to the representative her hands were shaking. I must have not been the only one who noticed the way the others looked. She was already scared and she hadn't even gone in yet. The malo plunged the shot into her arm and she winced.

"Josh Shade."

As he went through the ritual I was focused on Abby. She looked like the other, just as I expected. Her face sickly pale and the sweat of fear dripping from her forehead.

"Piper Shaefer."