Chapter 1

Like substitute family.

I hated days like this. Days when I felt like I could explode from inactivity. They usually ended up being horrible days. 

I felt my left arm jerk violently. Yeah. Today was going to be bad. Usually the twitching wasn't so pronounced, but some days when I was tired or unfocused the twitching became more of a problem than usual. And today I knew I was going to have to fight it.

In years past, years that only those relegated to the retirement sector can remember, you could call in sick to your job and not have to show up. However, in the present time there was no such thing. You were expected to show up in rain, snow, sleetand hail whether you were sick or not. Because if you didn't show up, the Enforcers would show up at your doorstep and drag you away to the Pit of Sins. 

No one really talked about the Pit of Sins. It was where all the rule-breakers ended up. For a minor offence such as not showing up to your job you only had to suffer level one. However for more grievous offences like rebellion you were sent straight to level seven. And no one came back from level seven.

Everyone lived in fear of the Enforcers and the Pit. Even me.

So I dragged my pathetic carcass in to the garage right on time as always. The Enforcer who oversaw the garage nodded at me professionally, and I nodded back trying my best to avoid wetting myself.

The garage work was menial, demeaning and almost useless. No one actually drove a car anymore unless you were from Sector XIII and most of the cars that were here were rusted out and not of much use to fix. But this is where I was assigned. And according to the Father's manifesto all work was good work, therefore, everyone had to contribute something.

"Yo, Twitchy."

The voice accosted me almost as soon as I entered the workshop space. It was Might, as usual.

"Hey." Some names it was hard to determine where they came from. Not so with Might. He was big, about six foot six and he was almost unnaturally bulky. His bicep was roughly the size of my head. Might was big, and he was ugly. A long twisting scar ran down the right side of his face permanently pinching the skin around his right eye making him look as though he were about to wink.

Might approached me with a wide smile and swung a heavily muscled arm over my skinny shoulders. "You're late!" He said jovially.

"I'm right on time." I said with a smile. "Just like usual."

"Nah. Usually you're here five minutes early." He said laughingly. "We almost thought the Enforcers were going to have to come and drag your smelly corpse to the graveyard."

"Quit molesting Twitch, and get your sorry a*s to work." Chain called from underneath the car she was working on. I could just make out the tips of her violently blue mohawk.

"Maybe I'll start working when you stop hiding underneath that car staring at pictures of Nova Masters." Might called back.

Chain rolled out from underneath the car. "You wish I was staring at Nova. I'm just doing what I usually do, and pulling your dead weight." She growled wiping her hands on her pants. "Baby is untouched by the way, Twitch. I had to use all my feminine wiles to keep it that way too. You owe me."

"What feminine wiles?"

"I will dig a rusty spoon into your good eye, Might."

I tuned their bickering out and made towards my workstation. Where, sure enough, the vintage motorbike I had tentatively named Baby still sat in pristine condition. Technically, Baby wasn't a real project since I wasn't getting paid to work on her. But I didn't get very much work anyway, what with my arm.

"...so you do have the hots for Nova." Might crowed.

I sighed. It was almost predictable really. Any person attracted to the male gender would fall head over heels in love with Nova. He was a stereotypical Sector I celebrity. Blue eyes, most likely a surgically modified face, a mane golden hair that looked like spun silk, broad shoulders and the works. Personally, I found Nova Masters infuriating and entitled.

But Chain and most of the other living, breathing women found him gorgeous.

"Y'know Twitch over there kind of looks like Nova. If weren't for the fact he has those freckles and no meat on his bones." Might's voice saying my name dragged me away from my thoughts.

I made a gagging sound. "Thanks for the compliment, Might."

"What you got those same baby blues that Chain raves about, and your hair is roughly the same shade..."

"Twitch doesn't look anything like Nova." Chain broke in. "Nova doesn't look like the wrong end of a donkey."

"I can feel your love." I said sarcastically. "But don't you two have better things to be doing than admiring my face?"

The Enforcer at the door turned around and glared at the three of us. A warning that we should get busy and do our work. All three of us obeyed like the trained monkeys we were supposed to be.

But Chain was smirking, and Might was chuckling to himself.

We might be the only three who worked in this garage, and we might be the most severely mismatched coworkers on the planet, but at least we knew how to still laugh. Ever since the Father was installed with his Enforcers there hadn't been much to laugh about. Chain and Might were the substitutes for a family I had never known.

Author's Note

Reviews and thoughts are always appreciated.

Reviews

[RachelReaper]

I love how you developed your characters right away! It makes me care about them already, and its only chapter one! Keep me posted, because I want to know what happens to them. All of their personalities stood out to me.

[branden]

I like it, and I really like your writing style. It's very descriptive. Might sounds like an awesome character.... although Im unclear about what the story's really about unfortunately. I'm sure its explained in further detail if I read the entirety of the story.

Can you review my writing as well?? my link is

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/brandensmith38/991968/

[Lydia]

I really like this so far. I like when you can tell the personality of the characters early on, and you can definitley see them here. Keep up the good work and this will a great book!