Jailbreak

Chapter 1: Jay

   I slowly open my eyes, waking up for another morning.

But it's not to anything ideal, like the chirping of the morning birds. There are no birds here in the Dome, unless you count us, the imprisoned citizens in this birdcage.

The sound that wakes me up every morning exactly at 7 is the deep rumbling of the factories being started up for the day. Not the most perfect alarm to wake up to, but it wakes us up, so who am I to complain?

I slowly stretch and groan as a joint pops in my back. Sighing, I force myself out of my warm comfortable bed and start getting ready for another boring day.

I slip into my overalls and make a quick attempt at flattening down my messy orange locks. But, I knew it, my hair is invincible. No hairbrush, no mousse, not even the strange greasy things the rich people use to slick back their silly mop, can tame my wild hair. My hair is so wild, I am almost afraid it's going to rip itself off from my head someday and run away. But Raven says that's stupid, so for now, I am at peace with my messy mane. For now.

Glancing at the large piece of broken reflective glass I use as a mirror, I sigh. At 10 years of age, I'd have thought I would've grown a bit taller since last month, but no luck – it doesn't seem like I've even grown a millimetre.

My eyes – a dull grey, contrary to my flaming orange hair – stare back at me tiredly from the mirror, and I yawn. I don't seem to be getting enough sleep lately.

That moment, my bedroom door crashes open, and I almost jump out of my skin.

Standing in the doorway is a frowning boy with jet-black hair, with eyes the colour of the sunsets I sometimes watch through the glass ceiling of the Dome. It's Raven Kuina, my best friend, my only friend since I can remember. Yeah I know, it's depressing when I think about it.

"Jay, what the hell are you doing? Come down quickly, we've got work to do." Raven jerks his head towards the staircase leading down to the workshop.

"S-sorry Raven, I'm coming," I mumble. Raven is a nice guy, but he is one guy you do not want to make angry. I secretly call him Satan, because when he's angry, his face changes into a terrifying mask of what can only be the expression of the Prince of Darkness himself. Not that Raven knows. Who knows what he'll do to me if I say it out loud. I scoop up my toolkit from the floor and rush downstairs.

Raven and I work in a small shop my parents used to run. Now that they are gone – killed in some riot against the Keepers – Raven's parents, who had been great friends with them from a very young age, have taken over. Raven's parents look after me as well – they are like a second mum and dad to me now. The shop mostly repairs small machines for a low price, and the money buys our necessaries and keeps us alive.

Although it says Raven's parents do run the shop on official papers, they barely come here – both Mr and Mrs Kuina have jobs at the factory, and don't have much time to spare here. So it's mostly Raven and me who do the repairing. Before Dad died, I'd helped him out at the workshop almost every day – carrying tools and bolts across the workshop as soon as I was able to walk, repairing and tinkering more as I got older. So when he was killed, I had a pretty good idea on how to repair all the mechanics and was able to keep the shop running. When Raven started insisting on helping me, I taught him everything I'd learned from my father, and before I knew it Raven was tinkering along with me.

Today's first job is to fix an old man's broken clock.

The man told me as he handed the clock over, that it was a gift from his wife on his 70th birthday. He stroked the face of the clock lovingly and sighed. His wife had already passed away, almost 10 years ago – killed by a keeper releasing his stress on the innocent citizens by randomly firing his gun in the middle of a busy street. The man let a single tear fall and said to me in a restrained whisper - "Lad, don't let these morons stop you from living your life. You have the right to live life the way you want to. I'm an old man now – too old to stand up against these fools. But you, young one, you have the power to change the world. I can feel it, deep inside me. You are capable of inspiring a whole lot of people. Yes, I can feel it now, right inside my bones."