To the Left

Chapter 4

I have never been so nervous in my life. Not when I was sneaking onto the plane, not when I was attacking rights when I was still back in left land, not when Eli pranked me the day we thought I could leave. Never. This is the time I could be spotted, found out, sent back... I don't know why I thought this was a good idea.

"Rube, just calm down," Eli says, laying a hand on my shoulder, "It's just a certificate saying that you are an official right. Nothing to worry about." It is something to worry about, but I nod and try to calm down. I'm in a line waiting to meet the Head of Right Affairs, a Dr. Coltin Morris. In order to get a job here and officially be part of the right land, I need this certificate. It's called the D.C. Right Affairs & Business office, or the DCRAB. They've been trying to get people to call it the D-C-R-A-B for ages, but people keep calling it 'de crab' like they are announcing a star piece of seafood. It annoys the DCRAB a lot, but people just keep doing it. 

However, I am here not to mock the DCRAB, but to 'receive my rightful registration into the good country of Right.' That's the way Eli put it, apparently the higher-ups like having fancy-sounding  declarations if they are going to do something. I just need to explain my 'tragic backstory.' My story is that when I was little, like about the age of 1, my parents mistakenly thought I was a left-handed baby and dropped me off in the left land. All these years I've been trying to get back home, but to no avail. Luckily, a couple days ago I met Eli and explained my story to him. He understood at once and took me onto the plane. And here I am now, demanding my freedoms as a right and my certificate proving it. I was still going to say my name was Ruby Chayla, because if I'm going to be a right I still am going to be me. 

Now I am at the front of the line. A guard gestures for me to step through a door to the left, into a cramped office. Dr. Morris sits at a desk, alone except for a guard standing in the corner. There are several doors leading out of the room, all of them closed. "You may sit if you like." Dr. Morris waves his hand towards two uncomfortable looking chairs in front of the desk. We both sit down, Eli awkwardly bumping into me before slamming into his seat. I clear my throat. 

"Good morning Dr. Morris." I begin, still nervous but not as badly as I did before, "I am here to receive my rightful registration into the good country of Right." He raises his eyebrows. "Why didn't you have it before?" He asks, clearly doubting me and why I am here. "I don't have it because of my parents' mistake. When I was only just born, my parents wrongfully thought that I was left-handed. They are clearly wrong, I would never dream of being so low. Believe me, doctor, I am most certainly right-handed. However, they thought me to be a left, so they flew me over on the plane to left land. I grew up there, still using my right hand to the dismay of those around me. When I was 13, I fully realized my parents' mistake and why I came to be here. Ever since, I have been trying to get back to my real home, which is right land. Luckily, a couple of days ago I found Eli wandering in the woods. I explained my situation to him, he agreed to get me on the plane, and I'm here now, ready to get my certificate!" I try to end on a happy note, so everything sounds okay and not at all like something I've been practicing since I heard I had to get the certificate. 

"Ok, miss. You'll get the certificate. Just tell me your name." I take a deep breath. "Ruby. Ruby Chayla." He looks up, surprised. "Hey, isn't Chayla the last name of the two working downstairs at Left Control?" He asks the guard. "Yeah." The guard says. "Bring them here."

Oh no. This is bad. Really really bad. They'll be able to point out the holes in my story. I look at Eli with fear in my eyes, which is reflected back in his. I remember why I'm in left land. I am left-handed, but I wasn't put there when I was 1. I was put there when I was 5.

~Flashback to when Ruby was 5~

"Mommy! Mommy! I solved the puzzle! I grin at my mother who is watching me from up above. I have just completed a jigsaw puzzle on our living room table, which is an excellent accomplishment for someone my age. I look up, expecting her to be proud of me. Instead, she's glaring at me. "Yeah, you solved it. With your left hand, idiot." My smile falters. "M-mommy? Aren't you happy?" She stands up suddenly, sweeping all the pieces to the ground with her hand. "OF COURSE I'M NOT HAPPY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO USE YOUR LEFT HAND, YOU FOOL!" I cower away from her, scared of what is to come. Suddenly, there's a burning feeling on my left cheek. She slapped me! "CEDROC CHAYLA OUR MISERABLE EXCUSE FOR A DAUGHTER USED HER LEFT HAND AGAIN!" I start crying silently, all my happiness evaporating like a glass of water in the desert. My father storms into the room, also glaring at me. "RUBY ARISSA CHAYLA WE TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT!" There's a sting on my right cheek, as my father hits me as well. "YOU KNOW WHAT, WE ARE SENDING YOU AWAY FROM US! GO TO LEFT LAND! AT LEAST THEN YOU'D BE AMONG FILTH LIKE YOURSELF!" I'm sobbing now, as my dad pushes me into a car and drags me to the DCRAB. He tells them that his daughter is a left and they push me into a plane. It flies me to a new place, a place where people soothed me and cared for me. With their left hands, just like me.

~Flashback Ended~

I know I can't see my parents. They know I'm a left, and that they abandoned me when I was 5, not when I was 1. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to stop them coming, so when the doors open and a man and a woman step into the room, I know my chance at being a right is over.