Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kicking piles of leaves, walking down the spookily quiet street where I live, I wondered where I was headed. My home was behind me, and before me was a world I had no knowledge of apart from what I had read in books. I read somewhere that people get killed on the streets, but also that the world is a piece of unrivalled beauty. Wildlife, they say, is where it is at, but different people understand “wildlife” in different contexts. There’s “living the wildlife” and there’s the wildlife I’d describe as the unknown. Things beyond our understanding are in the wildlife, whichever context you are in. Be it the strange activities of a species you’ve never heard of, or the shifty activity of the scene at some nightclub, or atmosphere at the weekly “social soiree”.

Of these I have no knowledge; I’ve never been to a nightclub, or a zoo. I definitely haven’t been to one of these fancy “dos”. It’s like Pa says, “Only rich important people get invited to fancy parties like that”. That’s why when I got invited to this “do”, I began to question the meaning of importance. If Pa was right, then how come I was so important, why invite me. I hardly get out of the house, never mind to some highly regarded evening event.

I carried on walking trying not to mess up my suit. I’d seen models on websites, wearing these suits, creaseless, “flawless”. Pa was very excited about this, and I wasn’t about to let him down. Pa had done everything for me; he took me in when I was young, defenceless and homeless. Now I have a home, I’m well looked after and I have a happy life. I owe it all to Pa, and I would repay him tenfold when the opportunity revealed itself.

I looked again at the piece of paper in my inside pocket, on it was the address of the get together I was invited to. It wasn’t at some nightclub, no, this was at her lady’s mansion in the central district. I’d never been to the central district. I’d been told it was the best district of all, the district of the rich. Me, I dwelled in the outer district. Between me and the central district was the middle district. So as you can probably tell, we’re the lowest of the low, Pa and I. These three districts, were part of a quarantined area somewhere on planet earth. I heard some of the story from Pa, he said, “Son, nobody knows where the Dome lies, all we know is that it is indeed on Planet Earth”, he told me this story several times, but I never tired of it, “I was one of the first to be transported inside, and to tell the truth, one of many who weren’t supposed to make it inside, hence the three districts.”

Pa, then went on to tell me the story of how he got in here, “Me and a few others who had gathered together before the end war, fearful for our lives, one of us knew of a secret governmental scheme to maintain the world’s most important people. Somehow, and I still do not know to this day how exactly, we got onto one of the transport vessels going to this “utopia”, some guy called Freidrich ran into a meeting one day and whispered in the leader’s ear. Next thing we knew, we were running, through the streets. Ahead was the wide open sea, and upon it a large vessel, none of us had seen anything like it before in our long lives, but we knew we had to get on it. Following the leader, we managed to smuggle ourselves on board, using the cargo bay as a hiding place.”

It was at this point I would always reply, “Wow Pa, you must be famous! Doing something like that”.

“Indeed son, three months we were in the cargo bay, living off what we could find in the many boxes surrounding us. But when we finally got there, we heard sirens. The cargo bay door opened, and we saw this utopia everyone now spoke of. But it’s because of us that it is in the state it is. We heard later that there weren’t supposed to be three districts, just one. But before they could catch us we ran, ran as hard as we’d ever run. Into this utopia we ventured, the sirens fading every quieter. The authorities knew we were here, but could pick off bare few of us. We remained Charlie, we remained! But we remained with consequences. The authorities, tired of toiling day in day out to find us, decided instead to cordon us off. We’d fled to the outer edge of the Dome, as we came to call it, so therefore they decided to cut us off. The middle district is still a mystery to all in the outer district, but we all know that the central district is for the rich, the famous… the ones that were meant to get in.”

And that is where I was headed… the central district. But why was I invited, we’re cut off from utopian society, separated from the upper classes by the mysterious middle district, which I still had to pass through to get there. No one knew what was in the middle district, so I was worried. But as I turned the corner on to Main Street, I walked, beginning the long journey to the central district, I am Charlie, the first ever outsider to enter the central district.

Reviews

[Matthew Ian Herrawood W]

Im not sure what you have planned but i get the feeling that Charlie isnt quite at the middle district yet. however as i said i only have a feeling i dont actually know. telling the reader the name of the street is somthing we will disregard unless things start happening on that street we dont have a map and wont see exactly the same thing as you. i think a more difinet ending would be nice. f it doesnt interfear with your plans perhaps you could end the chapter with him stepping into the middle district. apart from that i liked the chapter and cant see anything else i personally would change but i am looking forward to the next chapter.