I finally have gotten ready, and was rushing out of the house. We still had one more class to do before The System started our new lives. I was just about to open the front door.
“Fabel, where the hell are you going without saying goodbye to your mother?” I groaned as my mother scowled at me.
“I have to go before i’m late, Ma!” I whined, as she came up to me, and started trying to wipe a smudge off my cheek.
“This is the last day you’ll be living here… I worry for you, you know? You are my baby! Well… besides your little brother,” My mom and I both looked at my baby brother, now five, doing his homework at the table, kicking his little legs.
“Hey Forrest, what are you working on, bud?” I ask, leaning over to look at what he’s doing.
“Stupid homework. Mrs. Star wants us to explain why we call our city Eden, and what it means, but I don’t remember…” He grumbled as my younger sister, Fay, passed by, holding a bucket of laundry. She’s two years younger than me, so soon it’ll be her turn for inauguration day.
“Forrest, don’t you remember? The City was named Eden because of a book that talked about a place where there was only good, and it’s what our city now represents!” Fay told Forrest as he quickly wrote it down in his messy handwriting. He rushed off, homework now finished. Fay shook her head.
“He’s dumber than a bag of rocks!”
“You used to be like that, you know?” That earned me a glare.
“Aren’t you late?” I slowly look at the time.
“I’M LATE!” I yelled as I ran out into the street. Because I live in Urafiki, my house is very close to the school, so I only had to run three blocks and boom, I was at school. As I approached, I could see the shape of my best friend by the entrance. Wendy, my spunky blonde, blue-eyed, “I could kill you with a look, Best friend was tapping her foot, impatient.
“There you are! How long does it take to get to the school, lady?!” She yelled at me and dragged me along before I could answer, still lecturing me.
“Come on, we’re late, you dumbass. If we miss this class, who knows what’ll happen!” We slowly peeked into the classroom, entering silently. We were sure we wouldn’t be seen-
“You're late, Misses Groves and Rogers,” A voice boomed behind us. We both slowly turned to find my father, our teacher, standing there, a slight smirk on his face.
“She was the one who took so long!” Wendy said, pointing at me. I gasped in mock offence.
“Alright, you two, to your seats, you lucky we haven’t started yet.” My father, or more professionally, Mr.Groves, said, shooing us into our seats. I took a sigh of relief that was quickly ruined by a common annoying voice.
“Oh look! Firefly is late, yet again!” I groan as I turn to see Butch Romano and his little friends chuckling behind us. He pisses me off all the time. His annoying voice, His long brown hair, his stupid green eyes that shine with arrogance every damn second of the day. He smells of pure oil and smoke, a true Azim, it seems. I scoff and roll my eyes, ignoring him as he continues chatting with his friends. My father clears his throat, getting our attention.
“Now, I believe congratulations are in order. You all are ready to be full-fledged citizens of our community!” The room broke out in cheers. He started to silence us, getting more serious.
“Now, since it’s your inauguration day, it’s time you all know that you have a fifth option.” That shuts everyone up as we focus.
“You all know of our faction systems, and the jobs they have in there, but there is another job you may do.” The door opened, and a burly-looking man and a few other buff, jerk-looking people came in. My father moved aside to let them take the stage. We all just sat there until the man spoke.
“Hello there, everyone, Congratulations on becoming our next batch of Citizens, I hope you will make us proud.” He started. None of us cheered this time. He continued.
“I’m here to tell you about a more.. Unsavory part of our city. You're all old enough to know that while we have a good city, it’s not all good. Some people make it bad. What do we do with them? We send them out of the city.” That gained a few gasps and a start of multiple whispers.
“The hell is this all about?” Wendy whispered to me. I just shrugged.
“Maybe it’s some sick joke” I whispered back, Butch leaned over to us.
“Maybe they’ll send you outside the wall, Firefly.” He smirked as I felt my face heat up. The man finally quieted us all down.
“As I was saying. We send our criminals outside the city, but we also need to keep them out. Today, you will choose a faction, but not necessarily a faction-based job. If you so wish, you may become a soldier. Like me and my crew here.” The people with him waved. No one waved back.
“Now, don’t jump into this. This job is only for those who have the most dedication to our city. Some of you want simple, quiet lives. That’s normal, that’s why we’re here to protect that. Now, all of you, get going. You have to get ready for your big day! Good luck, and may the system welcome you.” With that, the man and his colleagues left, leaving us all sitting there in shock. My father looked nervously at all of us.
“Well, you heard him. Class dismissed.” We all got up and started to file out.
“Fabel? A word, please.” My father called. I quickly turned around and went to him.
“Yeah, Dad?” I asked, as he quickly put his hands on my shoulders, squeezing tightly.
“Listen to me, go home, and forget they came in. Today, you're going to become a normal citizen, with a normal spouse, and you will choose a normal life. Now go home, and don’t speak of this to your younger siblings, got it?” I nodded, worried by his intense look and whispering. He seemed to relax a bit.
“Good, now go.” I hurried out after that, just casually walking home, when I heard that stupid voice yet again.
“That was something, wasn’t it, Firefly?” Butch came up behind me, smirking that stupid grin. The sun shining made him look even more tan, which also pissed me off, because all I did was burn like a Lobster.
“Leave me alone, Butch”
“What did you say?”
“Oh, please do not pester moi with thy annoyance, Oh Pretty boy.” That earned a laugh from him. I was so close to my house.
“You find me Pretty? How cute! I think I prefer devilishly handsome!” he teased.
“You're devilish alright.”
“You hurt me, Firefly!”
“Good, hope you get run over,” I approached my door, and started opening it as he just kept talking.
“With that attitude, I feel sorry for the poor guy who has to get with you! Say, what did you think about the soldier stuff? I thought-” He didn’t finish.
I did something that made my day.
I slammed the door on Butch Romano’s face.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXy7jUZyQ4
