The Colony

Chapter 2-2

The morning after the incident with my blue pill, I woke on my own, feeling refreshed. Usually the screen above my door clicked on with a soft chime that sounded every few seconds, growing louder as the light in the room brightened, drawing me from sleep.

But I was up before the chime began, my eyes open a full minute before the light brightened in response. I snuggled in the sheets for a moment, remembering the feel of Kyer’s hand on my knee, my thigh. If I’d stayed asleep a little longer, where exactly would his hand have ended up?

A delicious shiver tickled through me at the thought. I couldn’t wait to tell him about the dream.

No, I couldn’t. No one could know. Then they would know I didn’t take the blue pill, and it’d get back to the Health Center, and I’d be detained.

The dream was my little secret.

I had another minute to myself before the screen clicked to life. Someone stared into my room, a woman older than me but not quite as old as my mother. A Monitor, someone whose job it was to watch over everyone through the consoles in the Monitor Center.

“Good morning, A-4602,” she said, her voice pleasant but neutral. It was just another morning at work for her. She tapped the headset holding back strawberry-colored curls and I heard the sound loudly through the speakers built into the wall. “Did you sleep well?”

She knows. I threw back the covers and draped my legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. My left foot covered the spot where I thought I had smashed the blue pill the night before.

“Monitor, I’m fine,” I assured her.

The look on her face suggested otherwise. If I were fine, I’d still be asleep, and the chimes would have to wake me up.

She typed on a keyboard just out of sight, then nodded. “Please stand with your arms out so I can run a bioscan.”

I did as she asked. Would a bioscan show I hadn’t taken all my pills? Would I be found out before I even had a chance to savor this new freedom? Would I be detained after all?

The bioscan was painless. A thin slit in the wall lit up with a red light that circled my bedroom, then a laser scanned me from head to toe. I kept my face blank and held my breath. Please, I thought, not sure exactly who I might be pleading with. The Monitor, maybe? The Colony itself?

The memory of Kyer’s hand on my leg seared into my mind. Please. Don’t notice. Let me keep this.

After a moment, the laser disappeared and the red light flicked off. When it was gone, I couldn’t even see the slit where it had been.

The Monitor nodded again. “The bioscan is within normal range. Please report to the Health Center for further testing as soon as possible.”

My heart stuttered. “I have class this morning,” I pointed out.

“After class is over will be fine,” she assured me.

“The bioscan was normal,” I argued.

She gave me an uncharacteristic grin. “It’s a preliminary test, checking all your vitals. The Health Center will be a bit more thorough, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

But I was worried. In fact, for the first time in my life, I was terrified.