Читать книгу Myth - L.A. Mango - Страница 5

I heard a muffled voice near my bed. I tried to open my eyes but they were almost glued shut.

“IRIS!”

I woke up with a start; my brother’s sudden shout startled me. I opened my eyes quickly; my rapid movement caused me to fall off my narrow bed and onto the floor, landing at my brother’s feet. I gave him a bitter look while rubbing my head from the impact. “Would it kill you to give me a more appropriate wakeup call?” I exclaimed angrily.

“The train will stop at the station soon; you’d better hurry up!” he told me urgently.

I stared at him. For a second, I’d almost forgotten about the Sector Commemoration. It was today. He flashed me an exasperated look, then said, “What’re you waiting for, Iris, an invitation? Come on!”

He quickly left the room before I could say anything else. I slowly picked myself up.

Today was the day.

I changed into my shirt and pants and put on my running shoes. I needed them. I took a look around my room. I knew I was not allowed to bring anything with me to the Sector Commemoration. I walked towards the door and stopped. I took another look back at my room and it was messy and untidy. That was probably going to be the last time I would see this place. I breathed in heavily and walked down the hallway towards the stairs.

I slowly walked downstairs and saw my mother in the living room, still reading her book about horses. She was in the same position as last night as if she had never even moved. She noticed me from the corner of her eye and frowned. She remembered the question I had asked her yesterday because she still wore the same worried expression as when I had asked it.

“Breakfast is on the table. You and your brother better hurry up. We’ll be lucky if we get there on time.” She punctuated her sentence with a cough, and phlegm shot out of her mouth. She looked paler than the pages in her book. Her eyes were also slightly puffed. I was puzzled by her state. She looked up and smiled when she saw my shoes, “I see that you’re wearing the running shoes I got you for your sixteenth birthday.” I gave her half a smile in return. A new rule had been issued by the leaders that it was obligatory to buy running shoes on your sixteenth birthday, a very stupid rule in my opinion.

I walked into the kitchen to see that Isaac was already eating his cereal.

“How’d you manage to get here so fast?” I asked, baffled.

“Unlike you, I actually set an alarm when I have something important to wake up for,” he said grimly. I ignored him, mumbling “Whatever…”

I grabbed a bowl of leftover oatmeal - which was even lumpier than yesterday - and ate silently. Isaac sat across from me, looking at my bowl of oatmeal, surprised that I even had the stomach to eat it.

My mother came in,

“Alright, today’s a very important day for both of you so you kids better eat properly…” she eyed me as I ate away, “Remember, I’ll still love both of you no matter what sector you’re chosen to be in. The leaders know better…” she said as she looked away and started to rearrange the mugs on the shelf.

Isaac, who stopped eating and started to fidget with his hands, looked indisposed as his hard eyes shifted up to my mother as she was running around the whole place,

“Does it even make a difference if we were in the Mermaid sector rather than in the Dragon sector…?” he asked sternly,

“The only difference between the sectors is that they have different weapons. The personality stuff about every sector never even applied; people just made that stuff up…” he said irritably. My mother didn’t answer. She was a bubbly type of person, always happy about anything and everything. Sometimes her happiness even feels fake and unrealistic. But even she knew that there was nothing happy about the day of the Sector Commemoration.

Isaac shook his head. I looked at him, waiting for a bit of a reassurance about the Unknown. He had passed more subjects than I did this year since it was the year we all had to be evaluated by our skills and knowledge.

“Isaac. Are you nervous?” I asked him. He looked at me, still looking slightly grim.

He sighed,

“Don’t worry; people like us go through this every year. Don’t let the Unknown get to you,” he answered me in a flat tone. I nodded. I wanted to believe my brother, but the Unknown maze got harder and tougher every year.

I suddenly felt like I never wanted to leave this place, but at the same time I also didn’t want to stay here forever. This is the day I needed to show my courage the most.

I felt tension in the room and wished I knew a way to ease it.

++++++++++

We filed out of the house and trudged towards the car, which was parked right in front. The yellow, dusty atmosphere made the car look dirty. There were no green patches of grass, not even a small area. It was all just a field of unhealthy, yellow grass or mostly weed. The leaders didn’t take good care of this part of the city. As long as it’s keeping the Undecided alive, they’re okay with it. But there was a very private area an hour away from here called the ‘Private Compounds’ area where the leaders and other people with high ranks reside. It definitely has a lot more greenery than this part of the island.

I wish we could have just walked towards the train station instead. The only reason that would probably make me want to ride the car was-

I suddenly heard a loud scream coming from across the street. Two guards pulled a boy from behind one of the buildings. He looked like he was my age. He tried to resist the guard’s strength and yanked his arms away.

That…

“I- I -I wasn’t trying to run away!” the boy stammered.

“Lying won’t do you any good, kid!!” The guard threatened the boy with a gun, “How dare you think you can try to run away from the Unknown!” he yelled out menacingly.

A woman rushed out of the door, begging the guards to let go of her son. She started screaming curses at the guards as she tried to pull her son away from them.

I looked behind me to see my mother backing away towards the house door, looking cautiously at the guards. Isaac looked down at the ground. I knew Isaac, and I knew that he didn’t like to see this sort of stuff happen. It happened every year, and I was used to it by now. But that didn’t mean I liked it.

The boy’s reaction was so sudden. He elbowed the guard’s ribs and ran towards our house. My mother quickly pulled Isaac into the shadows near our house. I stepped forward, my mother missing me by an inch. I looked back to see that rage had replaced the love in my mother’s eyes,

“Iris, get back here!” she said in a harsh whisper.

Before I could even reply, the boy slammed into me and grabbed my wrist,

“Come on! Let’s make a run for it!” he pulled me, but I couldn’t budge. I gave him a perplexed, panicked look. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow,

“Do you have a death wish? Run! Save yourself from the freakin’ maze!” he said, pulling me forward. I yanked his hand away and took a step back,

“I…” I started, but I didn’t know what to say before it was too late.

The guard hooked the boy’s neck with one arm and pointed the pistol at the boy’s temple with the other. The boy struggled, screaming insults at the leaders. A loud bang erupted from the guard’s gun and the boy slumped on to the ground. The woman ran towards her son, sobbing. Blood trickled down his cheek and soon surrounded his head.

I looked away as the guards dragged the boy’s corpse from under his arms while the woman stood there sobbing in front of our house. I walked towards the car and so did my mother and Isaac shortly after me. My mother quickly placed her hand on the car window. Light blue light emitted, outlining her hand. With a click, the door opened slightly.

“Hurry, we also need to pick up Mason on the way there…” she said solemnly. My mother quickly opened the car door with a displeased look on her face. Isaac and I sat in the back seats.

We drove away with my mom behind the steering wheel. She seemed to be looking at emptiness rather than a street. She kept muttering sentences like, “They’re still young,” or “They’re not ready,” or, the one she kept repeating the most, “Why so soon?” For a second there, I believed that my mother had been driven to the brink of insanity. I actually knew many teens with parents that went crazy on the day of the Sector Commemoration.

My brother sat a meter away from me, making bizarre facial expressions as if he were talking to himself. I stared out of the window, as we passed by hundreds of small, plain, white houses. I felt overwhelmed by the car’s speed and held on tightly to my seat. Speed was my greatest fear.

“Mom, can you please slow down a bit,” I pleaded with my mother.

“I’m sorry, Honey, but we have to get there on time. Just bear with me for another ten minutes,” she said in a tone overburdened with guilt.

This part of the city, where I lived, looked a bit deserted and it was not entirely cared for. This part of the city was not the leaders’ major concern; it looked like someone left their house without cleaning up the mess. The rich took over the poor (as if there were any rich people in this part of the city anyway). It was where the Undecided lived or most commonly known as The Land of the Undecided. The Undecided were the people younger than the age of seventeen who still did not determine their sector. The only unusual thing in this part of the city was the subway station with one train that would only take you to the plaza where the Sector Commemoration took place, and to the Valley of the Myths, where all the sectors were. This city was just a really huge island in the middle of the ocean. I didn’t even know why they called it a city. Even the school didn’t explain that to us.

We passed the unusual, tall glass tower that arched like a bridge. That was where they kept the files containing the history of every affiliate and a mainframe that contained every single piece of information about every citizen in Purlieu. Most people called the tower The Information Bank, even the people who worked there. When you first entered a sector, your files automatically jumped from the computer mainframe into printed documents about your entire life. It had very heavy security, making it impossible for anyone who thought of entering unbidden.

I glanced at my mother, wondering which sector she was in. She never really liked to open up that subject.

Affiliates thirty-five years and older must leave their sector and are to live in this part of the city, since they are generally too weak to battle in a war. They are therefore called ‘Retired Accepted’ rather than Accepted. The leaders of the sectors have policies. You should be familiar with them because without them, you could get into serious trouble or even be killed. You needed to listen and follow the leaders because that was the only way to survive.

My mother was as quiet as Isaac, and it was making me anxious. I looked at my mother and then at Isaac. I remember the questions I had always wanted to ask my mother, the ones that were never answered. I suddenly felt angry. She was probably never going to see me again, and she still didn’t want to open up to Isaac or me. We deserved explanations.

“Mom, you didn’t answer my question yesterday,” I said feeling a wave of sadness wash over me.

“I thought we agreed that you were imagining,” my mother said in an oddly stern manner.

“No, Mom. You know. You’re just not telling me!” My voice rose a bit, but was still barely audible. I couldn’t overlook the speed of the car. Isaac started to notice and looked at me with a bitter look on his face; his look told me that it was time for me to put a lock on my mouth for a while. But I refused to stop.

“What do you want me to tell you, Iris?” She said calmly. She was hiding something, and I could see it in her eyes through the side view mirror.

“You never tell me anything. You’re hiding something from us!” I started yelling, but I didn’t care, “We’re probably already going to die anyway. Why not tell us when you have the chance?”

“Iris!” Isaac yelled in frustration, “Shut up!”

I let out a maddened sigh. I listened to him and didn’t say anything further. I glanced back through the window; the landscape was turning from a bunch of houses packed together in an area, into a line of fewer, more spread out buildings. We passed the city’s only mall, which looked run down, and I knew we must be close to the station and also close to Mason’s house.

We stopped by Mason’s house to find him already waiting for us outside. My mother pulled over and smiled at him while he got into the car. Isaac scooted over to me to give him some space.

Mason smiled back at my mother,

“Thanks for stopping by to be pick me up…” he told my mother warmly.

“Anytime sweetheart” she said with the same joyful tone she always used. It was like she forgot all about the conversation we just had a few minutes ago.

Mason’s uncle also had one problem; he had a very serious case of amnesia. He would forget where he was and who Mason was, but with the pills my mother kept supplying him with, he was doing much better.

We arrived at the subway station, surprisingly, five minutes faster than usual. I stepped out of the car feeling relieved and so did my mother, brother and Mason. Lexus and I spotted each other simultaneously. I walked towards her with a big smile. Unlike me, she pushed her way through the crowd roughly. Lexus was a great example of a ‘tough cookie,’ and she hated it when people were in her way. Nonetheless, she was sweet.

“Iris, how’s it goin’? Are you ready to enter the ‘courtyard of death?’” she said with a laugh that showed off her pearly white teeth. I stayed quiet. This was not helping. I was in a really bad mood since the fight my mother and I had in the car.

As soon as Lexus stopped laughing, a train heading towards the Valley of the Myths arrived. People lined up at the Face ID machine, which ensured that the right affiliate got on the right train. A guard stood next to it, to make sure that no Undecided decided to cheat and board the train to the Valley of the Myths. A man with grizzled hair in formal attire called out for the Undecided – us – and told us to stand in front of him. We stood there in a big group in front of him, listening to his announcement.

“Today is a special day for all of you. But we have some ground rules we need to cover before you board your train.” The grizzled haired man casually allowed his jacket to fall open to show the gun in his shoulder holster. The not so subtle threat reminded us that there was nowhere to run. A lot of people attempted to escape in these kinds of ceremonies. The man continued,

“You are not allowed to bring anything from home. No food. No weapons. No clothes. Nothing related to your home. You’re leaving this place for good, so you can’t take anything with you.”

I looked around to see if anyone would attempt to escape or even flinch. But no one moved.

“Other than the Undecided, there are the Accepted and the Rejected. The Accepted are those who have completed the Unknown and have a decided sector, and the Rejected are those who die in the Unknown or refuse to enter their own sector and their punishment is to be banished, or killed. You must enter your chosen sector whether you like it or not. So do not, no matter what, show the leaders your disapproval about your sector. Remember that they know better. I have no doubt that they have already taught you this stuff at school.”

I nodded to him. I needed to hear all this. As opposed to the people who were trying to escape, I was trying to listen to the rules, hoping that they would eventually keep me alive.

A man chuckled near me on a worn out bench. I turned my head to see who was laughing. A man with a book in his hands sat on the bench near me. He noticed my presence and his eyes reverted to mines,

“You got a problem?” he asked sternly. I shook my head,

“Got any advice for me before I get in there?” I asked. He responded with a low laugh,

“Kid, the only advice I can give you is not to die.” He chuckled again as he went back to reading his book.

I turned around facing the guard. I forgot that the guard was still talking “- and always follow the guards that are accompanying you. Do not disobey them. You all know what happens if you do.”

You get slaughtered and you die, I thought.

Lexus stood closer to me,

“Landon once told me that they feed the disobeyers to the Krakens. It’s not pretty,” Lexus snickered to herself. I pursed my lips. This was serious, and it was not something to be taken lightly.

Our train arrived shortly after. The man warned us one more time and told us to line up behind the scanner. My brother, Lexus, Mason and I lined up behind the machine like the rest of the seventeen year olds. Mason went into the train but before I reached the machine, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the line, and I turned to see who it was.

It was my mother, and she also pulled Isaac out of the line as well.

She looked like she had been crying, her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. She turned her head to cough and looked back at me,

“Iris, Isaac. Be careful out there. The Unknown isn’t that hard; you can do it. Both of you are smart enough to know your way out. I don’t have much time to stay here, but please stay out of trouble.” she looked back to see if she was being watched. It seemed like everything she was saying was mostly directed to me. She turned her head, and looked straight at me,

“I’m sorry that I always kept things from you. Someday you’ll understand. But do me a favor and stay alive and be careful, okay?” she said, biting her lower lip to stop it from trembling. I nodded obediently. She planted a quick kiss on my forehead and hugged Isaac, which lasted longer, and left. I stared for a moment. What was that all about? A boy pushed me to move forward.

“Move!” he said angrily, Lexus pulled me back into the line and gave the boy a sharp look. Lexus also gave some room for Isaac to step back into the line in front of her. I noticed that Isaac looked grim.

After Isaac, it was my turn to use the machine now. The guard stood next to a rectangular black screen that framed my face. He looked as serious and grim as every other guard.

“Look at the scanner,” he urged and I did. The screen scanned my face, up and down. I blinked rapidly from the sudden light

“Iris Abernorth, Undecided” the scanner announced robotically as the gate near me automatically opened. Isaac stood at the entrance waiting for me.

“You’re good to go,” the guard told me. I walked through the gate, but I stopped halfway through. I sighed at what my mother told me. I wish I knew what was wrong instead of her denying my answers to every question I ever asked her.

Isaac was waiting for me to get in, “Come on Iris. The gate’s closing!”

I quickly glanced back to see if my mother was still there.

But she was gone.