Prologue-The Surge

“What is the square root of 144?” That was how my first day of kindergarten started 8 years ago. After the United Nations decided we should become one civilization, and not have any different governments, and have everyone speak the same language; english, the new generation of everyone on the planet was presumed to be geniuses in every way.

 

That’s when the surge happened.

 

One day, around the year 2148, a man named Jesse Handleton was in his study, focusing on his new assignment from the government. Handleton was assigned to making a new hybrid human, one that could withstand anything that the Earth throws at it, a new generation of perfect soldiers.

 

When Handleton had successfully completed his mission, the government agents from around the world started to hand out the vaccine to give to pregnant mothers at the hospital. Of course, the mothers couldn’t know what was happening to the children, it was a top secret mission. Luckily, no mothers or children were harmed by this new invention, or so it seemed.

 

With the children that were vaccinated, after about two years of their existence, the children started to exhibit new habits. I, for one, used to change the color of my hair to the rate of my happiness all day. So, when my older brother Adam would push me down, my hair turned blue and I would cry. But, when I ate ice cream for dinner, my hair would turn a fluorescent pink. The government started calling this new hybrid of humans Morphs.

 

Since the creation of the Morphs, the government decided that by age thirteen the IQ of a juvenile should be above 140; the IQ of a genius. My testing day was in two weeks, and there was a lot of things they expected us to know. As an example, we had to know the first 500 numbers of the Fibonacci Code. Which would be easy, you think, given that the Code is just simply the two previous numbers together to come up with the next one. But, then comes History. I think that History is mostly useless, so I have to study hard for this part of the exam. All of the kings, queens, basically all of the predecessors of the U.S. Government.The test propaganda was that the first section was 356 pages long and you had 45 minutes to complete it. What?!

My brother just passed the test 5 years ago, but we haven't seen him since, even though the letters from his regime reassure us every month that he will start to make regular visits. My mother says we will probably never see him again, because my father disappeared just the same, but my mother hasn't seen him for almost 14 years.

Chapter 1- I Still Hate History

 

       

       Chapter 1: I Still Hate History

 

Today was the IQ testing, and I wasn’t hungry. Actually I was quite the opposite. My stomach doing backflips, frontflips, side flips?! Just, anything that I could fail in gymnastics, that was what my stomach was doing. And yet, my mother kept pestering me. “You need to eat Maiah,” she says. “No one ever passed the IQ test on an empty stomach!” Really she just wanted me to eat the Cheerios that expired last year. “Well, then I’ll be the first to accomplish the feat!” And I stab my fork into the moldy Cheerios that started to turn green a couple of weeks ago.

 

Finally, to convince my mother that I was okay, I forced a couple bites of the revolting cereal into my mouth. She reminded me three times over that today should be just the math and science fraction of the test. History should be the last day, which I am glad for, I need five days to study before that part. For the 6 days that I would be in the IQ facility, a.k.a, “My Death Setting”, I would have to share a bunk with another student. My only hopes is that it wouldn’t be with Ally Henderson. Gosh, that girl makes me want to snap my pencil every time she speaks in that too-high, five-year-old girl voice. And everytime I tell her that her voice has yet to hit puberty, she huffs and goes over to her friends and starts talking about how, “Well, she has a high voice too!” And- Oh, I think I can spare you from her horrendous comebacks.

 

As I stumble out the door, my mother piles me with kisses and sends me up to the tram station where I will be picked up at 8 a.m. sharp. I’ve always been a morning person, but my best friend, Cally, was not. She waddles out of her house down the street with her over-stuffed bag of books and food that would feed an elephant for days, and almost falls asleep on my shoulder.

She starts to drool.

 

“Eww!” I exclaim, and shrug her off, probably harder than I had to. “If you’re going to drool over anything, should drool over Zachary.” Zachary Gefferson was probably the closest thing Cally had ever gotten to having a crush. She would stop rambling about him after she realized that him and I sat next to each other in History. In my opinion, he was the most stuck-up, annoying guy I’ve ever met.

 

Cally shoves me and whispers something that no human could hear as he walks by. Then Zachary does the most unexplainable thing, he winks at me. Cally squeals with delight and pulls me off to the side as Zachary goes to talk to his friends.

 

“Oh. My. God. He actually looked at you. You two could so be a thing. I could see it now.”

 

I scowled and opened up to my bookmark in the deep center of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This book makes me laugh so hard I can barely breathe. I mean, they die, just to end a family feud. I only get passed a few pages when I hear the unmistakeable sound of a tram horn. The bus stops to pick us up. I gasp. This isn’t a school tram, it’s a government transport tram. No one, not even my father or brother has ever ridden one of these. As far as I’ve heard, no one in this part of town has even ridden one. I board, and I am delighted to see a coffee and fruit stand. I settle on a decaf with 1 cup of sugar and a hint of cream. (I like to drink coffee, it makes me feel grown up. But, I still don’t like the taste of it.) Then I grab the whole plate of chocolate covered strawberries, which I assume is supposed to serve everyone, and I go to the very back of the tram, toddling over the weight of all of my stuff.

 

Cally comes along, looking as though she’s had a couple of shots of the extreme espresso, and sits in the seat next to me. And then, my day is ruined. Zachary comes down the aisle and sits in the sit directly across from me, and winks again. This time I don’t hide my emotions. I groan and rotate myself so that my book is facing his annoying face. He laughs, and then settles on reading, The Mighty Thor, which looked as though I could’ve read it when I was two. Cally giggles next to me and pops a strawberry in her mouth. I sigh and continue reading.

 

The trip is supposed to take us six hours to get to the heart of the city, but it feels like forever. I finished Romeo and Juliet, and had started on Hamlet when Zachary started to talk to me.

 

“You better not read that book one more time, it looks like it’s about to fall apart.” Obviously. I loved Hamlet. It was well written, and I had been reading it since third grade. The pages were yellow and torn, my mother used to joke that it had a spine made of scotch tape.

 

“Well, I’m still going to read it without a consideration of your opinion.” I said, and stuffed my face inside the book to play the part of my book-worm self. Zachary laughed, and went back to Thor.

“Why a third grade book?” I asked. “I thought we were all supposed to be geniuses.”

 

Zachary said nothing, for once. I took it as a compliment and went back to reading.

 

All of a sudden, BAM!!, the tram screeches to a stop and we were all shoved off of the bus with our immense luggage. Cally and I walked towards the back of the line to the IQ testing facility, again followed by Zachary and his posse. When we get to the building, a girl named Kai shows us to our rooms.

 

“Now I expect we can all be mature enough to have girls and boys on the same floor! Boys in the odd numbered doors and girls on the evens. For the first two days you can choose your roommates, but from further on they will be assigned.”

 

That got a cheer from most of us, and we all ran to the first room we saw, while tugging our friends. I started to unpack my bags, while Cally continued to talk about Zachary. So, I did the natural thing. I put in my headphones while I unpacked, but acted like I was still listening.

 

After the two hours that Cally talked fluently through, we went to the cafeteria where we were served lunch. The cafeteria was a big circular room with 15 long tables with the fun-spinny office chairs. The buffet was huge, consisting of anything anyone could eat for an entire lifetime.

 

The line was equally as big.

 

Cally and I stood towards the back of the line, which was moving as fast as turtles stampeding through peanut butter. Finally, I got to the first station, fresh fruit. No. Anything reasonably healthy I passed on.

 

So, at the end of it all, I settled with mashed potatoes and ice cream. Not kidding, they actually tasted pretty good together. Ally looked across her table, just so she could stare at me, and then realized what I was eating. She laughed and pretended to throw up at my eating habits. Zachary sat across from me and I could tell Cally was really holding in a romantic comment. I continued eating, pretending I didn’t notice his presence. Then Cally and I started talking about the test. I told her how we are supposed to be taking the math and science portions of the assessment. She looked like she was about to pee her pants. Cally hated science. She preferred reading and writing.

 

When we were all done with our lunches, we threw our plates in the recycling bin and sat back down. Then a lady with a tight pressed pant-suit came to the stage in front of us and explained what part of the assessment we were going to do today.

 

“Now,” she said. “You will all be completing the History portion of the assessment today.” What?! “You will all be assigned a testing partner, which will be someone your teachers have recommended for you to study and complete your assessments next to each other during our test session today. Your partner and yourself have had a similar IQ on your other assessments as well. I will read the partners in alphabetical order.”

 

“Cally Frener and Ally Henderson!” She called. I gave one last sympathetic look to her as she and Ally went and sat at the first pair of desks.

 

The names continued to be called, until there was only two people left; me and Zachary Gefferson.

Chapter 2: Testing Partners

        Chapter 2- Test Partners

 

Zachary and I walked over to the last table, and I sat in the lonely chair in the corner. I have no friends or contact to anyone eligible to be my friend in the corner. This is most miserable I have ever been in my life. The worst part of it all was that Zachary tried to communicate with me. So, trying again, I shoved my History book in his face, and pretended to study. He laughs, in that annoyingly cute laugh of his, and I wanted to punch him in the face with his laugh, (metaphorically) the feeling was almost unbearable. My hair starts to slowly turn a dark pink. And did I say cute? What I meant was: How in the world can someone in this world be so annoying, yet cute? Ughh… that’s worse. Oh, well.

As we sit down, he smirks and opens up his history book and starts reading, acting very interested in the part that he was reading. So, I started again on Hamlet, getting very close to the end even though I had just started it today. The hours passed so quickly, Zachary had to come bang me over the head with his History book. I groaned and got up, not realizing I had fallen asleep.

 

“You know you didn’t have to hit me that hard.” I remarked.

 

“I had already whacked you twice before you decided to get up, so yes, I did have to hit you that hard.” he gave me a giddy smile and ran away to the buffet line.

 

“Hey! Come back!” I yelled and ran up the buffet line to confront him about his ever-shrinking maturity. Cally sees me and winks and points in his direction, where Zachary is gesturing to have Cally and I stand in front of him. Right next to Ally Henderson.

 

“Oh no,” I said to Cally.

“Oh…Yes.” she said.

 

They were giggling wildly, and Cally’s nails were painted hot pink. I swear, the weirdness of this place is going to make me puke. When we got to the first station, I realized how much I couldn’t eat. So I went with a Coke, and Cally and I went to eat in our rooms. After I finished the Coke, I got sick. Really sick.

 

I will spare you from the description because I would hate to relive that experience again. Let’s just say that mashed potatoes mixed with chocolate chip ice cream do not throw up nicely. Well, what does? Cally did the best thing, and ran out of the room with a wash-cloth covering her mouth. At that time I had thought, Good job Cally, strong as an ox. But, as it turned out, she had went and got the nurse. The nurse told me her name, and gave me a sedative to help me sleep. I slept well into the night, and woke up with a start. Five minutes before the test.

 

On my forehead, there was a sticky note that read:

Maiah!! You need to wake up!

Thanks Cally, your help is appreciated. *Cough, Cough, says sarcastically.*

 

I uncover myself and put some clothes on and walk out the door, down to the testing room marked with: Maiah Keaner, Zachary Gefferson. As my hair slowly turns a deep shade of red, I walked in. Zachary was already there, waiting for me with his pencil in between his top lip and nose, creating a realistic toothbrush mustache. I laughed, trying to conceal it with a cough, but it was inevitable. I had laughed. At something that Zachary Gefferson had said. Kill me now.  

 

As I sat down, a man in a dark suit and black tie walked in, giving me the largest stack of papers I have ever seen in my life. At the top of the papers was a form that said: History, Assessment One. Again, history isn’t my strongest suit, but let’s give it a go.

 

“This is the history portion of the assessment,” he continues in an official sounding voice. “You will have until lunch time to complete it, and then you must turn it over and an official will come over and take it away. Do not worry about ripping the paper or pencils, they are industrially unbreakable.”

 

Question One: Explain how the fifth World War started in 2017. Give the names of three generals who were in the front lines and if they had any history of alcohol or drug addiction.

 

Easy, the fifth World War started as an act of rebellion against the government purposely enacting an oil spill. The three generals were Charles Overhill, Jackson Landers, and Andrew Gefferson.  (Zachary’s Grandfather) Now, the last question, I don’t understand. If they had an addiction, why would they be in the front lines. Studies show the worst kind of soldiers are dumb and active because they’ll go berserk and start shooting everyone. So I’m going to say no, they did not have any drug or alcohol addictions.

 

The questions start to blur as I keep going, trying not to get nauseas. Zach looks completely comfortable, and closes his packet 20 minutes before lunch. I sigh as I come to the last questions.

 

Question 246: Give your best explaination to why Ava Fulkerson disappeared, with details of your opinion on how/why she disappeared.

 

This question surprises me, since it is such recent history. Ava Fulkerson disappeared about 10 years ago, but this made history because she was born into politics, being Jesse Handleton’s daughter.Surprising the whole world, she openly denied having anything to do with her father, seeing as she was a Morph, and he had made her what she saw as a monster. You see, Handleton didn’t test it on the public first. He tested it on his own wife. After knowing th truth, Jesse’s wife left him, leaving their daughter in the middle. Most think after she learned what her father had done to her; and thousands more, she ran away. Others think she was kidnapped. It remains a mystery.

 

Question 247: Explain how the Morph serum was created, and the current whereabouts of the scientist who created it. Also, include your opinion about Morphs and how they benefit or hurt the perfect world we live in today.

 

They can’t ask this question?! They’re basically asking us if we think we were created because of a good reason or a bad reason. And now they’re also asking us whether we are stalkers of Jesse Handleton, the man who created the serum in the first place. We all know he lives in the United Nations building where he continues his studies on making a new and improved human hybrid. I finish my essay long answer, including how I don’t know if it is also a good thing if you passed the test, seeing as we haven’t seen or heard from my brother and dad for years. I was about to answer the last part of the question when the bell rang.  

 

There was a bell wrung, the sound of lunch starting. Across from the testing stations, I can hear groaning and some tears. I guess I’m not the only one who hasn’t finished. Zachary smirks and runs up to the lunch buffet, but I don’t care to join him. I feel queasy, and run back to our room. I am met by Ally Henderson, who sat in the bathroom, throwing up a lunch or dinner from yesterday, I don’t remember the last time she ate.

 

“Are you alright?” I chuckled and coughed, she looked at me malevolently, and continued to throw up. “Of course you’re not. You’re throwing up.” I get the look again. “I was just thinking, do you want to worry about our test scores together, I mean, I guess that’s why you’re throwing up, isn’t it?”

 

I wait a couple of minutes, and she stops, goes to one of the rusty sinks, washes her mouth out, and continues to walk into my room. She wraps herself in a blanket, and lays down on the bed, cradling her stomach.

 

“Did you not finish either?” she asked. I shook my head, and sat next to her.

“I was on the last question, and didn’t get to fully explain my answer.” I continued, frowning at the memory.

“I had three pages left. God, I’m so slow!!! It took me years for the first question. Except for the part about Zachary’s grandfather, of course.” She starts chewing her blonde hair with nervousness. Of course, all of the girls in my class aced that question.

 

“Why did you get him?” She asked accusingly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, though I kind of knew where this was going.

“My dad payed the lady that gave us the test partners; I don’t know her name, but he payed her with a big check so Zachary and I could be partners. My family needs the money, and Zachary’s family is the only one that could give it to us. It was my job to persuade him.” At that I almost puked with disgust, and Allison shamefully pulls out a vial of blue liquid, and a tear slips down her nose, balancing over her lip.

“When he wasn’t looking, I was supposed to pour this in his water, and he wouldn’t notice; it’s tasteless. This would put him under control, with this in my hair. She takes out the bow in her hair I always found immature, and I could see a small device sticking out. This is a sort of neurotransmitter so I could control him with my thoughts. I would go to the mysterious lady, and she would take Zachary and I home where he could, or my thoughts, could persuade his parents to donate money to this charity my dad and I created, hardwired to our bank account. Can you imagine going from one of the richest families in the world, then one of the poorest?” She grips the front of my shirt, tears streaming down her face. “You can’t imagine, Maiah Keaner.” she says my name as if it’s an insult. I storm out of the room, Allison screaming after me, “It’s not fair, you don’t deserve him!”

 

What is wrong with these people?! I don’t love Zachary, as if! What makes them think that?! He’s the most annoying person on this planet that I have ever met and I hate, hate him! He causes so much trouble for other people, especially me, and he thinks it’s ok! People need to meet this guy for real, and then they would see what I see.  

Chapter 3- Broadcasting Day

Chapter 3: Broadcasting Day

I continue down the hallway until I reached the bathroom. I ran into one of the showers and cried. I cried and cried. I’ve never let myself let out my feelings like this, but I needed to. Why does everyone think it’s my fault I got pared with Zachary, if I could change it I would!

 

************************

After I got with my unnecessary breakdown, I went to my bed and layed down, trying to not pay attention to Allison, who was fast asleep in the room diagonal from me. Cally walks into the room a couple of hours later, and passes out. I couldn’t go to sleep, so I decided to pass the time by staring at the ceiling. It was decorated with blue polka-dots, (Cally’s choice; not mine.) When my eyes started to get fuzzy, I could hear voices cheering from down the hall.

Zachary’s friend-(I think his name is Keith) passes our door, and stands in the doorway, his face shining with sweat.

 

“Maiah, you want to go to the roof?” says Keith. “Zach built a parachute with nurse uniforms, and we’re going to jump off the roof. Zachary said you might want to come watch.”

 

I’m sorry I did this to Keith, he really didn’t do anything, but I spit back, “Zach doesn’t need my approval, he can kill himself without me just fine. Oh, and tell him I hate, Hate, being partners with him. He always thinks I’m lucky to be partners with him, but it’s quite the opposite. Make sure to pass the message on.” I gave Keith a glare of hatred to give to Zachary, and slammed the door in his face.

 

I went back to my bed and pressed my face deeply into my pillow. I must have slept a long time because when I got up, Cally was gone. Though, this time I wasn’t late for the test, it was only 5:45 a.m., and breakfast is at 6:15, so I might not be late today. I peel off my pajamas and pull on a comfy sweatshirt and yoga pants. I shrug on my sandals and sidestep out the door.

 

I walked down the hallway and into the cafeteria, where 40-60 eyes are staring back at me. They are all dressed up in their best outfits, all except for me and Allison. Apparently both of us were still in an emotional hangover. I went over to the very back table, and sat next to Allison. Cally and Zachary come and sit on either side of Allison and me.

 

I crouch down on the table, and put my arms around my head, to block out all of the surrounding noise. Zachary leans close and whispers, “That’s great attire, for broadcasting day.” I can hear him trying to silently laugh behind me, and I can also smell the overdoing gel he had put in his hair this morning. It almost made me cough. Personally, I didn’t care I would be reviewed in front of the whole world looking like a homeless person; I’d be the only comfortable one on camera. I’m also surprised he knew the word attire. That’s a big word for someone with a brain the size of a ping pong ball.

 

I shift my head over to the other side of the table so I don’t have to feel his presence, it is most annoying on a morning like this. Cally gives me a sympathetic look and the bell rings for breakfast to start.

 

Cally and Zachary leave Allison and I at the table alone. A couple minutes later, Cally returns with a plate full of food, but I refuse.

 

“You have to eat something,” she says. “I swear you look like a stick. Come on. Here comes the choo choo train!” I laugh wearily and take a bite of an overripe banana, tasting particularly sour in my mouth.

 

Before I could finish, the lady in the suit comes into the room, unannounced this time.

 

“Today, as you all know, is broadcasting day. You will all be interviewed in front of the entire world. Afterward, you will start the first portion of the math assessment right after you get back.”

Yesss… Finally! I get to take math. I mean, obviously, it’s the best part of the assessment, and we do so much that it takes up two portions of the test.

 

“Finish eating breakfast, and,” she casts a side look at me, “Make yourselves look presentable.” and she dramatically walks out the door.

 

Cally looks toward the woman in wonder and curiosity.

 

“I wonder what her name is,” she says, her eyes still staring towards the door in which the crazy lady had left through.

 

“There’s probably a reason why she’s not telling us.” and there most likely is. Now Cally has triggered my curiosity, a fate not unlike opening Pandora’s Box. So, as a group we decide to go out the door to see if we can ask the crazy lady for her name. But, when we get to the door, she’s gone. In her place sits a limousine that probably cost more than my house.

 

“Get in.” says a rough voice, and makes a gesture and the door nearest to us flies open. Thinking that the man who said this would be able to make us if we didn’t comply, we got in the vehicle, the door slamming behind us. The interior was nice, and there was a mini bar, which I hadn’t noticed until Zachary tried to touch it and it zapped him with a shock of electricity, so he sat back down in his chair. After about 25 new passengers, we started off, driving down the streets of New York City.

 

It was really a beautiful place, even though half of it was plastic replicating what was once natural. Once, a couple years ago, Cally and I decided to go to the restricted section of the public library. We forged my mom’s signature to get in, and we felt as though we committed a sin. But while I was inside, a certain book caught my eye. It was, crammed in between Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and the Hobbit by Tolkien. Thus started my love for Shakespeare.

 

But the book I had seen was the Lorax. Obviously made for children, it was barely an inch thick, covered with trees that at the time I thought looked almost exactly like my own hair. Different colors swam across the page, although the words told a different story, quite unlike the misleading pictures that made you think of a happy ending. It told of a world that had forgotten the importance of nature, or just having something real. I fear now that we have repeated our own history.

 

Outside the tinted windows of the limousine, I saw birch trees, although most people would mistaken them as oak, because the government had made them that way. The inside of the trees during winter, instead of being shown by the outside bark naturaling fading away, a landscaper came and flipped a switch at the base of the roots, making the tree appear white.

 

When we got to the broadcasting area, (31st Street News)they didn’t let us out of the car first. I even speculate that we were the last out of the limousine. The men in the black suits escorted us inside the news building, and I was almost blinded by the lights. They revealed a stage, not unlike one for a concert, or political debate, which my situation, was one of the same. They must of thought we were kindergarteners, because each of our names was etched in capital letters, so we would know where to sit. I was placed in between Zachary and his friend Keith, who both seemed to think that leaning too close to me so they could get in whispering distance was the right idea.

 

“Will you both shut up!!!” I said, not to nicely. “Can you not see we are currently in the most secluded area, making a presentation that is going to be seen by the whole world?!” Zachary and Keith started giggling like little girls.

 

“Well,” Zachary grinned at Keith. “We must make it interesting, shouldn’t we?”

 

I don’t think anyone, not even the crazy un-named lady, was prepared for what happened next.

Chapter 4- Zachary and Keith Get Us Killed... Almost

Chapter 4: Zachary and Keith Get Us All     Killed… Almost

 

In the minutes following, Zachary and Keith don’t say  a word, but I can tell they’re scheming. All I can do now is sit and nervously toss around in my chair. But then the crazy lady greets us all on the stage, and begins to tell us the order of what is going to happen.

 

“Of course,” she begins, “Everything you say will be live, and just remember, this is an important part of the test that determines where you will be in our society, whether you will be the next leader of the nation, or the garbage man that lives down the street.” A few laugh at that comment, but I don’t suppose it’s meaning to be of humor.

 

I will call your names, in alphabetical order until I complete the whole list. Then you will ride back to the testing facility where you will begin the first math portion. Is everything clear?” the crazy lady concludes.

 

“We all mutter a simple, “Yes, Ma’am.” and she nods, and walks off the stage.

 

“Gefferson, Zachary.” A clear voice calls from the back. Zachary stands up and walks though the 2 inch thick steel door, which most believe is for our protection, but I think it’s to keep some of us from running.

 

“Keaner, Maiah, on deck.” A different voice calls, as if we’re in some second grade talent show.

 

I keep my head down as I walk towards the enclosed room, but a large man stops me and directs me to a blue “x” taped to the floor. Ten minutes later, Zachary comes out, his face glimmering with sweat. I reach out to try and comfort him, but the large man in the suit stops me again, and, like  gentleman, opens the door in front of me, and shoves me in. The crazy lady sits on the desk a large stack of papers clasped in her hands.

 

“Hello, Maiah,” she begins, as if we’re on a first name basis. “Today I will be interviewing,” (More like interrogating) “You on your past, present, and future.” She giggles, and I can almost imagine it as an evil cackle. Gosh, this woman is crazy.

 

“First, please describe your childhood to us, Ms. Keaner.” she asks, and I try to answer formally but I fail.

 

“If you must know,” I terribly start, “I was born not 15 miles from here, and I have a mother, and I had a brother and a father.” she interrupts me.

 

“I’m sorry, Ms. Keaner, but you speak of your father and brother in, past tense?” I clenched my fists together, but I still snap back without remorse.

 

“I haven’t seen or heard of them after they passed your test.” I say without remorse, “And to continue, my family began to believe I was a Morph when my hair turned colors.” I paused, letting crazy lady and the people watching soak my message in.

 

“I’m sorry… What?” crazy lady says.

 

“One of my powers as a Morph is that I can change my hair and eye color at will.” As an example, I use my anger to make my hair undeniably red. The crazy lady gasps and sits back down, not hiding the fear in her eyes.

 

“When did your parents call or alert the authorities of your development?” she asked.

 

“My mom never did.” I said, “She assumed people were dealing with likely problems and didn’t want to annoy.”

 

Crazy lady acted as if she was going to explode.

 

“I hope you know, Ms. Keaner, that no one else, in this world, has developed this,”she pauses, thinking of a word, “Talent, of yours.” I shift around in my seat, hoping someone bursts through the door, and saves me from my doom with the crazy lady. But, the next best thing happens.

 

A whole armada of fists start pounding on the door, and crazy lady looks to the guard, and he opens the door. Zachary and Keith, and my whole testing class fall into a big heap in front of my feet. I can’t help it, I laugh.

 

“I think we’re quite done with you, Ms. Keaner.” she snaps and the large man pushes me out the door, through my classmates. I fight tears as I see the crazy lady have a nervous breakdown in front of my class, just to complain about children born with Morph capabilities.

“They just don’t understand…” she weeps,”They’re given all of these abilities and they see them as something they’re entitled to.” she pauses. “You know what they are?” No one answers. “Monsters… just monsters!” And, the best thing happens. Her hair turns white, and back to her original dull black hair again. 

I turn, speechless, and walk away from the door, my face shining with tears.

 

Before I can get out the door, I am joined by Zach, Ally, Keith, and Cally. They all laugh and giggle like little children, and Zach grabs my arm before I reach the door.

 

“Hey,” He stops, leaving room for more laughter, “Come on, you just disturbed crazy lady’s drama party, come celebr-” he stops when he notices my tears. “Maiah I’m sorry, what happe-” I cut him off.

 

“Just leave me alone.” I say dramatically, and walk out the door and to the limousine. The door opens automatically, and I slink inside.

 

After a few minutes of being alone, I can hear protests outside the door where I’m sitting. I can make out the distinct voices; Cally and Zachary, and a low, gravely voice I can only assume could be the driver. Then my door opens, revealing my group of friends staring down at me. They all enter one by one, and then the door closes behind them.

 

“What was that?” Zachary asked me. “We distracted the crazy lady and got you out of there, but it looked like you were about to leave too. What the heck did she ask you?”

 

“Past, present, and future.” I mutter.

“What?” Cally said confused. I’d forgotten; no one else had gotten to do broadcasting day but Zachary and I. Before I could explain, Zachary explained for me.

 

“She asked us about our past future and present.” he said, and returned to the expression he wore when he first came out of the office.

 

“Well, it only seems a fair trade if you tell us the story of your incident as well.” I laugh, and Zachary fades more and more into the back of his seat.

 

“Only if you graciously tell us first.” he says with a smirk.

 

“Fine.” I began. “The first thing she did was ask me about my past, and I explained how my hair can change color and-” Zachary interrupts me.

 

“Your hair can change color? Maiah, the only person known to have that ability is Ava Fulkerson.” he pauses, and there is a silence.

 

“Well then, crazy lady is Ava Fulkerson!” I said.

 

“Are you crazy?! That can’t be true, she’s been missing for years, she can’t just appear and be the head of the test facility and hope her dad doesn’t notice her!” Zachary says, his face filled with disbelief.

CHapter 5- Math... Finally

Chapter 5: Math… Finally

 

I sit in the limousine, trying to think of how to explain something that Zachary has learned his whole life is wrong. I decide against it. We can always talk about it tomorrow. I decided to lean my head against his shoulder, and let myself slip into a deep nap.

*****************

 

We pass the plastic trees again, so I know we are almost to the facility where we would be taking the first math portion. Sadly, I don’t think I’m looking forward to my favorite subject after what happened today. My eyes are drooping closer to closing every second that passes by. I sit up off of Zachary’s shoulder as the limousine stops.

 

All of the kids slowly step out of the limousine compartments, while men I hadn’t seen at the facility before led us through twisted and long hallways. Eventually they started to lead us to our separate testing rooms with our partners. The men gave Zachary and I a loaf of bread, as if we were supposed to be famined while we took the test. To pass the time before the test, Zachary and I came up with a game we called field goal, where we would take something we found on the floor, and chuck it in random places to see if we could make it in.

 

After a time, the nameless men came in and handed us a packet labeled “Differential Equations”, and another titled “Algebra”. Both of them combined were only about half the size of the History portion. This shows the priorities of the United Nations. They think we need to know more about what has already happened than what can help us create what is going to happen. I open up to the first page of the Algebra packet, but the men walk up and stop my pencil from beginning of the first equation.

 

“No,” one of the men said in a gruff voice.

“But, why?” I asked curiously. The other man puts a firm hand on my shoulder, as if that would stop my question. His hand is cold and clammy, and my hair turns green with disgust. Zachary stands up and reaches out to somehow stop the man from asking anything more. As soon as the man sees my hair, he flinches, removes his hand, and retreats back to his corner. The other man takes a step forward and says;

 

“That packet is the second math portion. Take the first part first, and then you may start the second one.” he says as if it was an order. My hand slowly backs away from the Algebra packet and directs itself towards the Differential Equations. Zachary sits back down and opens his own packet. The men stay in their corners of the room, but do not leave before I start my test.

 

The differential equations start to fly past my eyes, and my hand is flying, scribbling down the numbers as fast as I could. I finish at problem 216, 15 minutes before Zachary. As I close the packet, Zachary looks up and smirks, circling his index finger around his right ear, and points to me, and then my packet. I cross my arms and sigh, my hair turning a bashful red.

 

After Zachary finishes, a bell rings and, assuming it was for a late dinner, Zachary and I try to walk out of our testing area, but we were stopped by the nameless men.

 

“Ms. Fulkerson isn’t ready for you two to go to lunch yet.” the taller of the two grumbles.

 

“Yeah, and why is that?” I inquire, and I can tell by the look on Zachary’s face that, that was not the right question to ask at the time.

 

“Well, after that fiasco on the Broadcast today, she needs to have a talk with you about, what is that she said again? Oh, yeah. Etiquette.” The man gives Zachary and I what I think to be a stink eye.

 

“We didn’t really know she was going to have a nervous breakdown, we just- well, I just needed to bust her out of there, I could see her hair change to a deep sad colored blue from the windows in that room.” He looks at me, and I can see the deep worry in his eyes. The creepy man stands up and regards Zachary with a wary eye as he says;

 

“There were no windows in that room, Mr. Gefferson. I’m sure you’re quite aware.” One of them says, and Zachary turns red, and I mouth, What does he mean? How did you know my hair turned colors?

 

Later. He mouths back.  

 

“Now, come with me, children.”  the creepy man says, and we are lead down a series of halls. We stop next to a set of iron doors, and they seat us in a pair of wooden chairs. The men stop next to us, one by me, one by Zachary, and they press a button on their watches. All of a sudden, iron bands bound our hands to the table.

“Hey?! Wha-” the mysterious man holds a finger to his lips, and he holds out a syringe filled with a pukey-green liquid.

 

 

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.10.2015

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Widmung:
I would like to dedicate this book to myself, and Sarah, who got me started out on BookRix.