The Legend of Keenan and Bevis

Chapter 1

I stood at the bridge, looking down. The stars swirled around me through the glass. I was trapped in a world that couldn't love, didn't seek companionship from others. The people of Everblind see no joy in color, music, and artistry. They live grey existences, living separate of others from their eighteenth year onward.

The Tutors believe they're teaching us Independence, but they are teaching us to be as arrogant as they are. That can never pass my lips for they were always watching. They never thought of the Dependents, the ones ridiculed for wanting a friend or, God forbid, a romantic partner, people like me. We are few, but we are not extinct yet.

Before I jumped to my death, something...amazing happened in the Dependent's favor. A male Independent became a Dependent on his sixteenth, when a male transfer Dependent walked across the stage to claim his new name and discover his birthplace. I will tell you the story of Keenan and Bevis, the first love story to ever occur in millions of years. It was a love so rare of the times that few knew what it was before they changed things too much, before it was too late.

Let me start at the beginning.

~

Phew, phew, phew!

Phew, phew, phew!

Phew, phew, phew!

Our ship was getting closer to the enemy’s fortress.

Phew, phew, phew!

I sat beside the handsome young pilot, Captain Percival Bordighera. He was in a focused trance, knowing only how to steer and shoot.

Phew, phew, phew!

He took down the first enemy fleet.

Phew, phew, phew!

We’ve been surrounded. Captain Bordighera has been outnumbered by thousands.

Phew!

Every enemy ship fired at us instantaneously. We fell. We fell into the nothing of space. We were dead.

Game over.

Percival and I took off our simulation goggles and wiped the sweat from our brows. I was staring at Percival in disbelief. This was the first time since our twelfth year that he died during pilot training. He was the model of grace, cunning, and coordination. He was going to pilot Everblind one day, for the love of Pete!

“Percival?” I whispered worriedly.

“Fordicai?” he mimicked.

“What is wrong with you?” I yelled in his ear, accompanied by a whack on the back of the head.

“Ford!” Percival whined, “My audio chip!”

Percival was born without the ability to hear. As every child that was in this situation had experienced, he had a surgeon cut open his skull and insert an audio chip in his brain to amplify all sounds. It was implanted right in the back of his head, where I hit him when he isn’t focused.

“Seriously, Perce, you never die during pilot training. What’s wrong with you?” I scolded him again.

“I just...” Percival explained, “It’s our sixteenth tomorrow, and I’m just nervous about who I turn out to be is all. I want to be someone that will change things.”

“Shhh.” I hushed him, covering his pink-tinted mouth with my hand, “They’ll hear you!”

“Not like that!” he scolded after licking my palm, “Just a small bit, for the better.”

I released the breath I didn’t know I was holding. The Tutors can’t take momentous changes. It has to be gradual, nearly ineffectual. Even the thought of two people falling in love is taboo.

No. Stop thinking it. Stop it!

“I wonder what your new name’s going to be.” I wondered, distracting myself from the thought, “I’m sure it’s going to be something heroic, strong, a name for a true Independent, like...Keenan!”

“That name hasn’t been used in decades!” Percival responded, “Besides, it would fit someone else better, I think.”

“Fordicai! Percival!” an annoyingly feminine voice screeched, “There’s a new boy from Port Grey!”

Port Grey isn't a ship; it's a village on Earth. Very few live there apart from disgusting animals since we started living on ships. They used to be called space ships, but nowadays there are no other kinds of ships, so now they're just ships.

My eyes widened at the thought of an Earth-bound savage on board Everblind. Who knows what trouble that miscreant will bring?

The moment I noticed the boy next to the irritating Cornelia, my heart stopped. All protestations against the Port Grey boy vanished from my thoughts.

I found my first Crush.