Chapter 3 -Scanning-

Peter is in the secondary part of the the tests which he encounters at the Reformation District. This test is the Scanning, it the most personal and distressing of all the tests.

When the door closes behind me I try not to look back at it, however I can not help myself. I steal a peak at the door, iron and large. There is obviously no going back that way. I look ahead, there is a leather armchair. It is dark brown with wooden legs. The room itself is not very large. It could only hold thirty people if they stood shoulder to shoulder. There is a machine next to the armchair, they are both similar in size. It has a few lights, dials and buttons but it does not seem to be very difficult to use. I walk over to the machine and notice it has a heart monitor attached to it. 

Most people would not notice that the machine included a heart monitor, but I only know because I have been hooked up to one before. When I was younger, I was playing in the corn field during midsummer. I wondered over to it's edge and found a small creek running along it, unlike most of the waterways in the Farmers' District this one did not seem man-made. I was wading through the creek when it started to rain, now rain is no problem so I stayed in the creek. However the rain did not stop after an hour so I went to find shelter, even though it was midsummer it is still possible to catch hypothermia if the conditions are right. I wandered for a bit then found an old oak tree that had a hole near the bottom of it's trunk. I climbed inside thinking that I would be out soon, and that my family was likely looking for me and would figure out I was at this creek soon. But then there was a loud noise I could not explain and then blackness. I woke up in the hospital, the tree had been struck by lighting. I only survived because I had neared the neighbors house and they came running to investigate the lightning strike. 

I sit in the leather chair waiting for the test to begin. The door opens and a woman walks in. If I had to guess she was in her forties or fifties, not old but no longer young. She does not say a word, she simply walks to the machine and detaches a tube that has a needle on the end of it. She walks over to me, and in one fluid movement she sticks the needle into my neck with one hand and uses the other to turn the machine on. That is my last memory before the clouds flood my mind. 

I am outside a government building in an unrecognizable district. People are coming and going in all directions, a small child runs up to me and tugs on my shirt. 

"Sir, Sir, I'm lost Sir. I want my mama..." The small child then states over and over again. He then sinks to the ground and begins bawling his eyes out. I pick up the child and carry him to the steps of the government building.  

"Hello!" I yell as loudly as possible, "There is a lost child, he is looking for his mother. If this is your child please come here immediately" 

No one stops to claim this child, no one even stops to listen besides a single red haired woman but she continues to walk away after looking from me to the child. I look at the government building thinking 'Should I take him there?' I bend over and ask the child his name. "Roderik" he says through sobs. 

I find myself scanning the crowd looking for a panicked woman's face, or how I imagine a mother's face would look like if she had lost her child. But no one stands out. It is so frustrating! How does someone just forget their child? 

"Is ANYONE missing a child named Roderik? Is Roderik's mother anywhere out there? Can I have your attention please! This is a small lost child is no one looking for him!" I yell out of rage. I feel so angry at this mother for losing her child, then not bothering to look for him. I pick up the child and carry him to the government building. When I arrive, I walk quickly to the main desk. The woman looks up from her papers. 

"Yes, Hello. How may I help you?" She asks very kindly. 

I take one last look at the door to see if the mother has come to report her missing child to the government. When no one comes I look at the secretary again. 

"Yes, this child was lost in the crowd outside the building. I tried to yell out into the crowd to find the mother, but no one stopped to claim him or say who's he was. I also did not notice a single worried face in the crowd. His name is Roderik." 

The secretary looks at me then looks at Roderik, 

"Thank you for reporting that. There have been numerous children left outside. Since you are the one who found him if you could just sign these papers, labeling him abandon then we would hold on to him for up to a week before he is set up for adoption or live in the Children's District."

Once the secretary hand me the small pile of papers to sign, the red haired woman who listened to be the first time I called out for this child's mother burst through the door. 

"Oh my baby! Look at my baby!" She runs up to Roderik and picks him up hugging him. "Oh where oh heavens did you go? You had mommy worried sick!" She looks at me dead in the eyes and says "Thank you sir. Were you the one that found my little boy?"

I stare at the woman remembering how she had stopped to listen to me and then look at Roderik before walking away. The secretary speaks before I do. 

"Oh, Hello Isabelle Hen. Is this child yours? We are glade you arrived when you did, the gentlemen who had found him was about to sign him over to us as a lost child."

The woman looks at me and begins digging in her purse then pulls out her wallet. The opens the wallet and pulls out a few hundred dollar bills. 

"Here sir, it is the least I can do. You helped me get back with my little boy this means more than this money does, and after all, I have much more money than I need. I am one of the richest people in this district after all." She tries to hand me the money but I turn to the secretary. 

"I am glade we could figure this out. I would hate to have to be the one that sent this child to the Children's District." 

I turn to leave the building when the woman, Isabelle Hen comes up to me. 

"Thank you sir. I know we both know this isn't my child. To be honest I saw him being abandon and then when I tried to reason with the mother she told me to take this sweet little boy off her hands. She called him a little monster who ruined her life. I  personally can not have a child either. So you have just improved mine, this child's and my husband's life. Thank you so much so please take the money." 

The woman hands me the money as she begins to cry. She then walks back to the secretary to claim the child. 

When I walk outside I see a woman in rags by the steps searching quickly through the crowd. I walk over to her, hoping to help two people in one day. 

"Hello Miss. Can I help you?"

She turns to me and I can tell from the discoloration of her face she a usual drug user, from the state her body is in she is also very poor. 

"Yes sir. I left my child here, a few minuets ago. I meant to abandon him I even told some woman he was a little monster who ruined my life. But on the way back to the alley where I lived I realized that I need him and that I have become such a better person since him. I even started a job but I need him. Have you seen him? His name is Roderik." 

The woman resumes searching the crowd for Roderik. When she turns back to me I know I have to respond or she will know I am lying. 

"No. Sorry i have not seen your child." I then walk into the great sea of people leaving the mother to search for her child she will never find. I think even though it was hard I did the right thing. 

My eyes snap open. I am in the leather chair. The woman now has a clipboard and is reading the charts on the machine. I stare at her. How could that of been a dream it was so realistic. I thought... I do not even know. She turns to me, and the only thing she says, the only thing I ever heard her say for a long time is:

"You passed."

Author's Note

I realize not much actually happens here, but I still want you think of the Scan. Do you agree with what Peter did? What would you of done?