17
1343 Words
LAUREN MOSS
I grab two sandwiches, a juice, and a banana, and go sit with them. “Good morning!” I greet them.
“Good morning!” they say, offering me a smile. Clearly, the ice that had persisted yesterday has been broken.
We talk, and apparently, the hate is now directed at this table and not just at me.
They’re forming unnecessary little groups; they’re worse than the students back in school and college.
Emphasizing here: everyone here is young, obviously, but some could be a little more mature. Anyways, we eat.
I went back to my little house to brush my teeth and went out. I stayed outside chatting with one or another until the alarm rang. And fear gripped me.
Actually, it grips everyone, but me the most. After all, they’ll all go back to their “normal” lives. They’ll erase their memories.
That’s right: erase them!
I’m not making this up; I found out yesterday, but it makes perfect sense.
Another reason why I don’t want to leave.
We all go out and enter the elevator, this time the same one as everyone else while the others took the other one.
Until the doors open and my heart threatens to jump out of my chest. I take Noah’s hand, who is beside me, nervously, as we walk in.
“Calm down…” he obviously notices my nervousness. We all step inside, and chills run through my body.
The other classes enter now too.
Noah’s thumb strokes the palm of my hand as a comforting gesture, and it really does comfort me.
My eyes leave the people getting organized and search for someone I shouldn’t… and I find him.
Not only does my body go into combustion when he catches my gaze, but, ridiculously, I feel wet. Just to make my situation worse, his predator-like gaze drops to my hand entwined with Noah’s, and judging by his clenched jaw, he doesn’t like it.
But also, Lauren, who’s holding whose hand here?
It was just a slip. I discreetly disentangle our hands and see that Noah also noticed and repositioned himself. I do the same.
I sigh and stay in my spot.
I look at Hailey, who just doesn’t stop smiling. And when I say she doesn’t stop, I mean she really doesn’t. Her colorful eyes are shining as she looks at Blake.
And me? Am I silly?
No, I’m not, not at all. And besides…
He remains the same, impassive. Which makes me question whether what I’m thinking actually happened or if she just can’t contain the admiration, the passion she feels for him.
In fact, all the girls here are like that.
Except me, of course. Obviously…
I’m scared, very scared.
“Good morning!” we greet them. And this time it’s James speaking. “Three from each class were eliminated from training today,” wait… All of that? I thought it would be one, just one from each.
If I thought I was at least average, I’m definitely not anymore.
He just said it, and the only thing my brain understood was that, starting today, there will be eliminations every single day.
And me? How am I?
I go mute and deaf, because it suddenly hits me. I can feel Jennifer’s stare on me, smiling with satisfaction. In her mind, I’m definitely one of the eliminated ones.
And I’m praying I’m not.
They start by eliminating three people from the first class, and man…
At least in my opinion, from the test we all did together, they were good too good to be dismissed.
Other agents take them out, and my body trembles.
I try to stop myself from grabbing the hand of the person next to me and clasp my own hands instead.
They move on to the next class.
Please don’t say my name… Please don’t say my name… Please don’t say my name…
I hear the names of some people from my class, and they’re not entirely bad.
“La—” I squeeze my eyes shut, praying they won’t finish with “uren,” and at the same time already surrendering to my fate. “Leska.” they finish, and I let out a deep breath as if I’d run a marathon.
But trying to be discreet, obviously.
They didn’t mention me… I’m not leaving!
At least, not today.
I open my eyes, feeling an enormous relief wash over my body.
They take them outside and, honestly, I didn’t hear anything else after that because I was too relieved.
This place is going to empty out faster than I thought.
Today, apparently, is a day of some tests, which means there wasn’t an exam. I was already walking out with the others when I hear Blake’s voice.
“Moss,” he calls me, and I almost lose my mind. My heart races when I turn around and see him staring at me.
I walk towards him, under Hailey’s gaze, she’s about ten meters away from him, dealing with something with Sasha, watching me.
Finally detached from him.
I think since I arrived, this is the moment I’ve gotten closest to him. My eyes lift to his and, even though I try to fight it, my face heats up.
Heavens…
Too handsome and too attractive to be real; he’s almost certainly a lab experiment…
“Yes?” I ask.
“You arrived not long ago,” he says, and I nod, curious about what he’s going to tell me.
Did I do something wrong?
From the way he’s looking at me, it seems like I did.
“Graduates are prohibited from having any kind of romantic relationship,” he says, and I frown, unable to stop a smile.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, confused.
“Because, apparently, you didn’t know,” he says, and I smile again.
I could even say he’s jealous, but he doesn’t even seem to like me. So I’d just be fooling myself.
Oh, since when did you become so delusional, Lauren?
Blame Miriam, who, instead of making me stop, only pushes me further into the wrong.
“I’m not having any romantic relationship with anyone,” I tell him. “Are you saying this because I held Noah’s hand?” I ask, still smiling.
“That’s not allowed either,” he says, and I frown, seeing Hailey coming this way.
“Causing trouble again, Moss?” she asks, and I sigh, looking at Blake.
“Then you shouldn’t be scolding only me. I wasn’t holding my own hand,” I say, and instead of looking annoyed, I see a small smile tug at his lips.
What a nightmare! He just likes provoking me, I’ve already noticed that.
“And you, stay out of conversations you weren’t called into,” I say to Hailey, who turns pale. She didn’t expect me to respond. I hadn’t planned to either, but the way she treats me made me so angry that it just came out.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I say to Blake and walk away, burned by her stare.
She’s starting to irritate me far too much.
BLAKE WRAY
“Why were you talking to her?” Hailey asks while I exhale, watching Moss’s daughter walk away from here.
A small ball of temper.
The media, at least on that point, didn’t lie.
“Since when do you think you have the right to question me?” I ask Hailey, who looks at me with flushed cheeks and a vacant expression.
“I thought…” she mumbles, and I sigh.
“Nothing has changed, Hailey, and you know that,” I say, and she pouts. “Everyone to your posts. There’s a governor worried about his life during these elections,” I tell the others behind us, who finish what they were doing and come over.
We leave, and Moss just won’t get out of my head.
And not for the obvious reasons.
She’s mouthy. Obviously, she would never get along with her father.
- Writer
