Chapter 1: Twelve

First chapter to Normal. As promised the winner of my contest for best Acronym is Naomi Bloom.She came up with many imaginative acronyms.I was able to think of one myself but I still thank you.

I remember when it all started for me. I was twelve years old when I was taken into custody for The Conference. The Conference is a meeting with the government that every human being in New America has to go through at age twelve. I was brought into a very white and clean room. Everything in the room was very orderly.

A small woman in a tight dark blue suit addressed me by my name. “Kess Browan,” she began, “I suspect you know why you’re here?”

“Unless I’m being sorted already than, yes.” I stated plainly.

“Attitude,” she murmured, mostly to herself, while marking her clipboard, “Unsatisfactory.”

“Oh come on!” I almost shouted, “It was practically a joke! Don’t you NORMALS have any sense of humor?”

The women studied me and I shrank back into my seat. She continued, “Very well,” and marked her clipboard.

I sighed in relief and answered her question seriously, “This is The Conference, right?”

She nodded and smiled, “I like that attitude much more. What do you know about The Conference?”

“I know that this is where we learn about the three groups that we are destined to be a part of.”

The women considered this answer and raised her eyebrow, “And what are the three groups?”

“The NORMALS, the ABNORMALS, and the…” I swallowed, “the FORSAKEN.”

“Correct. My name is Morgan Samfield. I am a representative of your government. You shall address me as ma’am. Is that clear?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Attitude, Ms. Browan, Attitude!”

“Sorry ma’am.”

“Its alright, I forgive you. Now I am going to give you a little test. It is a short answer test involving NORM. Don’t worry; you are not being graded. This is just to show us how much you know.”      

I nodded, “Alright give me the test.” She looked at me sternly and I added quickly, “…ma’am.”

Ms. Samfield shuffled around in her folders and grabbed a piece of paper. “Here you go.”

I looked down at the paper and suppressed a sigh. I hated tests with a passion.

I read the first question.

 

 

1. What does NORM stand for?

I chuckled softly as I wrote down the answer. Everybody knows what NORM stands for. You grow up with the system.

National Order Rectification Mandate- NORM

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. What are the three groups?

            I stared at the paper for a minute, “Why do I have to do this ma’am? Everybody knows these stupid questions?”

            “Silence! It is standard procedure Ms. Browan.”

            I rolled my eyes and wrote down the answer anyways.

NORMALS, ABNORMALS, + THE FORSAKEN

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. What happens to NORMALS?

            They get to live in the Class A houses while everybody else get to live like rats. and they don’t have to be forced to die.

       I have to admit that I wrote that last part a little bit forcefully.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. What happens to ANORMALS?

            Well there are two options and two types of ABNORMALS. A1 (ABNORMAL One) gets sent to normal life (if normal life means being mistreated). Those who are in A2 (ABNORMAL Two) get sent somewhere secret. Nobody knows what happens to that group but the NORMALS working in the government.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. What happens to THE FORSAKEN?

            WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME?!!? The FORSAKEN are either forced into life enslavement or murdered.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE SIGN HERE:

Kess Browan    .

 

SUPERVISOR SIGN HERE:

Morgan Samfield

 

 

I handed Mrs. Samfield’s test back to her and she looked at it quickly before carefully filing it into her folder. She gave me a thin smile and cleared her throat.  “Well that’s it.”

I looked at her strangely, “That’s it? I thought we were going to go over things that I didn’t already know, like what happens to the A2 group ma’am.”

“Well I’m sorry you were deceived. You will find a car outside the facility ready to take you home.”

“Fine, how do I get out of this place, ma’am?”

“Take the door to the left and look for an exit sign,” Ms. Samfield stated and mumbled, “ANONYMUSES these days.”

I rolled my eyes and stormed out of the room. As of now I am an ANONYMUS, a person that hasn’t been sorted. I opened the door and spotted the exit sign immediately. Of course she had to be right.

I exited the facility and shielded my eyes from the sun. The streets were crowded with people and cars that took their owners to their destinations.  NORMALS were everywhere. They hurried their children along the shops and supermarkets. NORMAL children walked dogs and rode their bikes together. I felt so out of place.

As I walked to my car I saw my driver. It was a red one. The A.I. in the front opened the door for me as I walked up.

“Hello, may I take your coat?” it said.

“Shut up, you’re a taxi driver not a butler.” I spoke in annoyance.

“So sorry about that, ma’am. Where are we going today?”

“Haven’t they programmed you to take me home?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t recall. Would you wish to go home?”

I thought about this. It was definitely broken or losing power. There are two things that I could do at this moment. I could either explore The Gardens or go home. The Gardens is where all the NORMALS live, usually. It is full of snobs and expensive shops and homes. The streets are lined with beautiful jade stone and silver. It was beautiful enough but to ANONYMUSES it was kind of an eye sore.

Visiting The Gardens would be fantastic except for the fact that my chaperon was pretty much broken. I had a feeling that my home was a little ways away.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

It swiveled its head to face me in the back seat, “Pardon?”

“I mean are you losing power or memory space?”

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

I sighed. This was getting me nowhere. “Fine, can you take me to The Academy?”

“Is that your school?”

“What? No, it’s where all the ANONYMUSES live you brick for brains!”

“My brain? Have you seen it?”

I heaved a ginormous sigh and jumped up to the A.I. and tapped its cold metal head. Crap. It didn’t have a “brain”. A.I.s have lots of wiring and their heads are solid. It acts as their “brains”. This one’s head was quite hollow.

I figured I’d try an easy command, “Take me to the academy.”

It stared at me for the longest time before saying, “Alright, I shall take you to The Lobotomy.” It started the car.

“NO!” I yelled at it in exasperation, “THE ACADEMY you stupid useless piece of crap!!!”

It was then that I noticed camera lenses in the robot’s green eyes, which lead to me spotting a camera in the back seat as well. Oh no they didn’t. I realized that I was being observed. It was most likely the facility’s doing.

“Robot, open the door!”

“I do not know what you mean by ‘row butt, open the floor’.”

I lost my patience and glared strait into the robots eyes. I wasn’t addressing it though. My glare was meant for Ms. Samfield. I said clearly, “Can I have my ride home now, ma’am?”

At that the Robot’s eyes changed into a purple color and the voice changed into my instructor’s, “Very well, Ms. Browan. I shall put the coordinates through for your driver. Have a nice evening.”

The A.I’s eyes changed green once again and it spoke in its previous voice, “I have been informed to take you to The Academy?”

“I guess so.”

The car hummed almost silently and started to move through the streets gaining speed with every second until it settled at a cruise. I could no long see the lenses in its eye and asked it questions, “What type are you?”

“Classified.” It stated.

“No it’s not, besides I already know.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“It says on the back of your model, dim wit.”

The A.I stayed quiet for the rest of the ride to The Academy. The robot opened the cab door for me and exited. I stared at the wrought iron fence that towered above me; the entrance to The Academy.

On my side of the fence there stood an intercom. I walked up and pressed the small green button. The word, SPEAK, appeared into the screen.

“Requesting entrance, Kess Browan,” I spoke into it.

A recorded voice spoke back, “Hello Kess Browan, welcome back.”

The gate opened with a screech. I noticed the flecks of rust that fell to the ground. All the little ANONYMUSES were terrified of this gate. It sounded like a chorus of ghosts and in the night it appeared to glow an ominous red.

At twelve years of age, I new better than to be afraid of it, though. This was my home. It’s all I’ve ever known. I have grown to love the people and small housing cottages. This place used to be a prison camp. Now it was a home to almost all of the ANONYMUSES in New America.

There are some other housing camps scattered around New America but for the most part The Academy was the biggest one. It was the best one as well. There were stories of ANONYMUSES that die constantly to plagues and mistreatment in others. There have also been reports of children being abused to death. All in all it was a blessing to live in The Academy.

I looked for my bunkhouse. I was in bunkhouse number 12.2; one of the houses that held twelve year olds like me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys. When I entered some of my friends surrounded me.

“Hey! You’re back! How was it?” one of them asked.

“It was boring as hell.” I replied to her.

She looked disappointed at that, “What do you mean?”

I sat down on my assigned bed and my friends followed me. I guessed it was story time. The friend that had spoken first, Ally, sat next to me on my bed. She was my best friend. We came here at the same time because we were born on the same day. Ally and I were the oldest of all of the twelve year olds.

I began to tell them what happened. By the end they all just shrugged and departed except for Ally.

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.” I stated.

She sighed, I’m probably gonna get called in tomorrow, huh?”

“Maybe, I don’t really know.”

“Kess?” she looked at me seriously.

“What?”

“What if we get put into the FORSAKEN?” Her eyes were in a far off place. Ally’s parents were both sorted into the FORSAKEN group. They were both forced into slavery for a while. Then they had Ally. Ally was shipped off here and everyone else in the Academy believed her parents to be dead.

I gave her my doll that was lying on the pillow and said, “It will be ok.” But we all knew, as ANONYMUSES, there was no way to be sure it would. I fell asleep hours later.

 

***

 

The alarm woke me from my dream. I was reliving my time as a twelve year old. That was at least five years ago though. I am seventeen now. Ally was standing next to my bed with a glass of water.

“Hey, wakey wakey!” she chorused.

“Good morning, Ally. Were you watching me sleep?” I asked.

“Pfft, hah, noo.” She smiled, “Why the hell would I do that?”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever. Where is everybody?”

“Oh they’re all down by the pit.”

“Why?”

“Oh, Wyatt said he had a king cobra and said he’d show it off at the pit.”

“God, I hope it bites him.”

Ally laughed and started pulling me out of bed. “Come on, don’t forget what day it is. Everyone is gonna be anxious to see you!”

My stomach flipped all of a sudden. The truth is; I did forget, but now I remembered. Today was the day before my eighteenth birthday. It was the day before Ally and I went in to be sorted. This was my last day at the Academy, and the last day I would be safe.

 

Author's Note

I am still working n it so think of this as a rough draft. ;)