Citizen

Chapter nine

Kyra's father once told her that love was like a gust of wind, pushing you towards your fate, and that fear was a weight that pulled you down until all you could see was darkness. As her name was read out, Kyra was torn between the two feelings, as though half of her body was trying to bury itself in the ground, and the other was running towards James at full speed with nothing holding her back. In reality she was frozen in her seat, mouth hanging open, her knuckles clenched so tight they turned white.

She could not be partnered with James, she just couldn't be. She had been preparing herself mentally to meet someone new, someone faceless, and while the dark void in her mind didn't have a clear appearance, its personality was obvious. And it was nothing like James. Kyra shook her head to clear it, as though that would make the situation easier to understand.

Taking a deep breath, Kyra got to her feet and stepped forward, trying to contain her confusion. She kept walking until she was at James' side. His gaze bore into the side of her face, urging her to look at him, but she couldn't. She could barely think his name, let alone see his face. It just didn't feel right.

The president looked between Kyra, the crowd and his paper, an emotion she couldn't quite detect playing at his features. It was hard to tell what it was, as the president was a master at controlling his emotions, but Kyra had only one way to describe it: surprise.

"Control sector."

Numb. That was all Kyra felt. As she saw her mother jump to her feet in the crowd. As the world turned silent, like someone had pressed a giant mute button. As her knees gave out and something - or someone - caught her before she could fall down.

The only thing she was aware of was the arms holding her up - one wrapped around her back, the other pulling her arm over a set of shoulders. Her head was spinning, her hands sweating, her lips opening and closing silently as she attempted to scream - but all she could do was gape. Black spots clouded her vision as she stumbled forward. She tried to scream, shout, or do anything, but all she could do was let her eyelids close, and give in to the darkness.

----

The sound of voices gently pulled Kyra back towards consciousness. A memory lingered at the back of her mind, reminding her that something important had happened, but all she could think about was how much she wanted to sleep, to escape life for just ten more minutes.

"Do you always have a sedative stored in the bracelets?"

"Always. Just in case. And in this case it was necessary or Kyra might have left not knowing anything."

What? Kyra thought. She struggled against whatever drug made her body feel heavy, eyes flickering behind her lids.

"Doctor, she's waking up."

"Good. Any longer and I would have been worried. I'll go check on the other patients. You have ten minutes to debrief the citizen, don't waste them."

"What? No, I've never done this on my own before, you can't leave- and, you're gone. Thanks for the help."

Kyra's eyes flicked open at the sound of a sigh nearby. The roof was fabric that sloped down from a point to meet the walls. Her hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.

"Citizen 10205."

Kyra flinched. Her head whipped sideways. Someone was blocking the hole in the tent, the sunlight forming a circle around their head. The lights dimmed and she saw he was just a boy. She would have called him a man, if not for the slight roundness to his cheeks, hinting that he wasn't quite as old as he appeared. In fact, Kyra ventured a guess that they were the same age.