No We Can Anthology

DYSTOPIAN FICTION: Layla Freedman

MINUS ONE

Five years. I have been trapped in this hierarchical world for five years now. Some people say it gets easier every day. I think it gets harder. Every day more and more problems are created, limited food supply, pollution, clogged pipes, diseases and the disgusting stenches that come along with it.

I live in a small cabin with my brother Tommy in the middle of a 'No Man's Land'; I call it this because it is isolated and trashed. The sky is filled with grey clouds of death as far as the eye can see. The dead grass crisps and crackles under my muddy boots. All the colour that had been in the sky, leaves and trees, is drained. Every natural element has had the life sucked out of it. The wind whistles, not a bird in the sky. It has been a while since I have seen a bird.

Of course, the Government pays for our phones. I would rather have food to eat, but no, the phones supplied by the Government are essential to all citizens in the Plus and Minus. It's so they can keep track of us and I personally think it's an illusion to distract us from what is really happening in the world. I slouch myself down on the old mattress, a puff of dust escaping from it as I do. I glance at the clock, it reads 3:45. Five minutes until our phones go off to play The National Anthem for the Minuses. It is just all the reminders; work for the Pluses in order to gain followers, stay safe from animals, lock the door of your cabin. The clock turns 3:50 and the haunting words split my ears from hearing them every day. Tommy recites it while doing the work that a random businessman in Plus 1 told him to do. I decide I've had enough, and I stand up from the mattress with a thud.

Tommy doesn't look up from that stupid phone. I pull my boots on and take one last look at the gloomy claustrophobic cabin. I can barely breathe as I take one last look at Tommy. He is sitting in this place, up until now, in a place I called home. He doesn't bother to look at me, so I slam the tin door shut. 

Instantly the scent of burning plastic and coal fills my nostrils, causing me to plug my nose between my fingers. I stomp down the wooden stairs picturing the wood splintering and snapping. When I reach the ground, it appears to have rained, the mud is sliding, and my boots are squelching with every step. It's not a surprise that it has rained. I keep on walking. I don't know where my feet are taking me. My body has been taken over by a shadow of anger. The national anthem rings throughout the Minus 1 district, taunting me, haunting me.

"Your skills are what we value most, work harder and gain more value." Why do I have to work all the time, I am only fourteen? I want to live my life, but I am scared to stand up. I want to be a powerful person; I will be a powerful person!

The anthem stops. I start running. Running past all the cabins that look identical to my own. Individuality is strictly forbidden. Mrs Green put bluebells in front of her cabin a few weeks ago. I haven't seen her since. Blue is the colour of hope, I rarely see it. The more followers you have the further forward your cabin is, mine is in the middle.

I keep passing cabins until I reach it. I am absolutely speechless. Sticking out like a sore thumb before me stands a run-down grey wall that goes on and on and on from left to right. I look behind me to see that the sky is getting darker by the second, so I start to climb, trying to avoid the sharp wires. I have nearly reached the top and my full focus is on seeing the successful dream world that I am excluded from. All this time I have put up with the Government and have just accepted this so called system, when really, we should be fighting back. I peer over the wires at the top of the wall to see exactly what I expected: direct sun rays shining on the people of Plus 1. White modern mansions fill my eyes as they grow bigger and bigger. Piercing red flowers fill their gardens. Cars and bicycles are zooming down streets with bakeries and shops.

All it would take to be one of them would be getting on the other side of the wall. And I will get there.