Untouchable

Chapter One- Destiny

Here is the editied verison. I'm sorry if it's too different for the people who liked the old version. It's better written this way and I like it better. :) Please leave me a comment at the bottom! I want to hear what YOU think of the changes! Happy reading!

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Chapter One- Destiny

             It was the day all feared. It was the day all her face were decided. My people were a very segregated one. Everyone had their place in life and no one dared break the unspoken law. The law of the anywhere else but where you belong. Children were given up before their first birthday in order to enforce the strict segregation laws. No one knew their birth parents, and no one really cared how can a person missed someone they never knew? We were taken to a large building where we were raised together as equals. Not once to step outside and see what they be on the Windows booklet called. The first time we would step outside the front door would be the day of our Separation.

            The Separation was a ceremony celebrating our passing into adulthood. Though no one truly separate to the stem is over… That is if they were lucky. This Separation is held in the last day of the year, so when the New Year begins, so does one’s new life. All the teenagers who turned 18 during the year were gathered up and taken to the official building where the Separation Ceremony occurred. If you are lucky, you would get a good life. You could be assigned as a baker, tailor, blacksmith, or a shopkeeper. If you are even luckier, would become a part of the upper-class: destined to live your life out in luxury and ease without ever lifting a finger again. If you are unlucky, your future was sure he was a farmer, Herder, or servant.

            Most teachers help middle and lower cost destinies. About one in fifty had noble destinies. There’s no switching or trading or complaining. It was frowned upon even to wish or hope for certain life. Too many have become broken hearted when they did not get the life they desperately wish for.

            Ever since I turned 18, I was put into class that covered the various paths our destinies can take us. I thought I knew everything I would ever need to know. Even though I felt confident, I woke up early in the morning of my Separation Ceremony from the nerves that disturbed my sleep. I was not expected to attend my morning classes, but to prepare myself for the ceremony. I pulled out the plain white dress made specifically for this occasion. This dress went to the floor in the tight sleeveless constricted most of my arms movement. I wiggled my nose at it and glance at my other, much looser, dresses that I preferred. Before I put on dress, I grabbed some of my hair and braided it back away from my face. Tying the braids together into a knot, I left the rest of my hair down. I just finished putting on the white dress when the bell ring three times. Our lives were run by the bells; everything was exactly on schedule.

            I left my room and walked engines built. Younger children. On the way to the costs watched me why, ground. I looked down, and pressed on even faster. Being in the center attention always unnerved me. The boy walked out from a different hall and fell in step with me. Others joined us in our silent march. I can remember watching the previous years, wondering where life might lead them.

            The Carenthens were waiting for us at the door like silent statutes. They were caregivers, teachers, and punishers. The two waiting for us were old ladies who do not tolerate any kind of emotion shown whatsoever. They do not say a single word to the last film at scrambled into the room, out of breath. “Girls will make a single line on the side, the boys on the other.” We scrambled to fold the order, not wanting to be punished before we were finally set free. Until we were separated into our new lives, the Carenthens were still in charge over us and have the right to punish us if they that we stepped out of line. I stood behind a girl with wavy dark brown hair. Once everyone was in order, the Carenthens unlocked the twelve different locks on the door and led us through. My eyes burned at the sudden bright light that assaulted them. After blinking rapidly, my eyes adjusted to the new world around us as we followed the old ladies down the steps. The building where the ceremony was to be held was not very far away; only downstream. No one was at bout on the streets for law prohibited people from being outside on the morning of the separation. Only afterwards were they allowed to come out and welcome the members of their society.

            After we filed silently into the building and were led down a hall to a large room where we waited silently, the men and women who the leaders of each class filed in after us. The study just as they passed, silently sorting us. They stood along the sides of the stage in front of the room. Above their heads the wall held the banners of each class. Romalas with the symbol of the crown, Vrosky with a hammer wrapped in vines, Skvante with a horse, Daja and the circle chains, and finally, the Pyemin with the five candles in the form of a circle.

            One by one we are called to the front onto the stage by name like prisoners called to the gallows. My hands were shaking in my sides as I carefully step up those creaking steps. I tried taking a deep breath, myself, but it wasn’t working. I stopped at the top the stairs, hesitating. But everyone’s eyes were burning into my back. The Pyemin waiting for me narrowed her eyes slightly behind her veil, telling me to hurry up. She was completely covered in blues, purples, and blacks. The colors of her occupation. I gulped and my hands began shaking even more and my breath came quick pants. It felt like I was going to faint any second. Her hand reached out to me in her fingers brushed my forehead. Instantly I felt clammy and felt like I was going to throw up my breakfast. The woman’s eyes glazed over. Then it drained of all color, leaving it a deathly pale. She gasped and ripped her hand away from my head. She lifted her hand to her mouth, trying to cover her horror.

            Head shook as she reached to charge my face yet again. But this time she cradled the side of my face instead. A new determined glint appeared in her eyes behind the tears that started gathering at the corner of her eyes. Eyes that spoke my destiny so loud that they might have shouted at out to the heavens.

            The Pyemin had the power to briefly see the future of anyone they touched. That is why they loan decided who belonged in what class. There were only two Pyemin each lifetime; one man and one woman. From the time of their separation, the Pyemin were taken away and were taught everything they would need to know the coming years in private. As a symbol of their status, the Pyemin covered every inch of their bodies with fabric. A living symbol dedicated to the gods. Of life destined to solitude.

            The gods surely hated me. Tears pricked my own eyes and felt the ground roll underneath me. The woman’s hands grasped my elbow, studying me. She alone could possibly understand what was now before me. She too had a state of fervor being alone in a world of men.

            She walked past me on the platform when she made sure I was steady. It clear, strong voice only wavered slightly, and she told the world what my death was to be. I was frozen, unable to move or see anything clearly. I was pressure had stopped breathing the moment my foot touched the stage. You are my voice. The work I have said? What was done, was done.

“Untouchable.”