274 (Complex Series, #4)

Chapter Four

Her words send my mind reeling. When the Officials come to get you…I was right. My worst suspicions were completely true. The Officials are coming after me and I am going to the Unknown.

She doesn’t want me to fight back. She says it’ll only make things worse. How can things get any worse when you are already going to the Unknown?

I’m not going to be meek and feeble, peacefully and gently with Officials. I’m going to at least go down with some pride.

Bridget catches the confusion in my expression. She groans and lays her head in her hands, “I know, I know, this is really confusing, I know. I want to explain, but I don’t have the time. You should really be getting back to your Teachings. I’ll file some report about why you were here with me. I promise that things will become a lot clearer. I wish I could be the one to explain everything to you, but I don’t have the time or extra risks to spare. I’m really sorry for all the confusion.”

Bridget seems to be talking more to herself than to me. I don’t understand half the words she says.

Was Marie’s messages and my responses intercepted by an Official? Did someone see me smiling at Marie’s “performance” during Mid-day Meal?

Bridget abruptly stands, “I need to get you out of here. Just leave through the door and go to your next Teaching, okay?”

Bridget presses the button by the door that opens it. I stumble out into the hallways. They’re completely desolate. Never have I seen them so empty, so bare. The steel shines brighter than normal without people’s bodies dimming it.

There’s a certain type of beauty to seeing a place normally busy and filled, completely bare.

I slip into my next Teaching. Eyes glance my way at my sudden arrival, but they obediently fly back to their holograms in front of them. The Officials standing in the room follow me with their eyes, watching as I shuffle my way to my seat, clicking on my hologram.

I nonchalantly start my lesson, my palms sweating.

Bridget mentioned something about putting in some type of report as her reasoning for talking to me. Does that mean that she wasn’t supposed to talk to me? Why wouldn’t she be not allowed to talk to me? She’s an Official.

Officials don’t break the rules. They’re the ones who enforce them.

Is Bridget trying to helpme?

 The Officials’ stares eventually move on. Maybe they got the report Bridget put in, explaining my absence.

Throughout the rest of the evening, I construct the perfect plans for the way I will be taken to the Unknown. My way. The way that every girl will remember me.

I’m jittery the entire Late Meal. I tap my finger against the hem of my gray skirt, nervous for Free Hour. I barely chew my stale bread, wanting to simply get this over with.

The Teaching Bell finally buzzes, signaling the end of Late Meal. I force upon myself a calm façade, leisurely walking and placing my tray on the conveyor belt for cleaning and calmly filing along with everyone else to Free Hour.

The moving stairs seem to inch along as worry blossoms slowly inside of me.

What if I’m making the wrong choice?

The moving stairs level out as we finish climbing. I step lightly out at top and begin walking around the track, my palms slick with nerves. I discreetly wipe them against the gray cloth of my skirt.

I pull my tight braid over my left shoulder, tucking my fingers under the rubbery band holding the entire plait together.

I tug it out, slipping it into my hand. I unweave my braid, my fingers getting caught in my light brown hair. My clumsy fingers struggle to quickly unbraid my hair.

Lillie, who’s walking by my side, sees what I’m doing. Her eyes widen hugely until it seems as though her bland, blue eyes are popping out of her sockets.

I’ve never seen another girl with her hair out of a braid. The only time our hair isn’t in braids is during Renewals, completely private.

Nobody has their hair out of a braid during the day.

Gasps escape the girls behind us, the hissing murmurs increasing. An Official has already begun marching towards me.

Bridget.

I flick my wavy, wild hair over my back. It tickles against my neck, but I love the softness as it brushes my cheek.

I pick up my pace quickly, passing in between girls. I slip through small spaces, through bodies, trying to simply get away.

Bridget stalks after me, girls clearing away from her.

I move even faster, but not quite a run. I dart past people, trying to get lost in the crowd.

Bridget gains on me. While I have to slip past and around girls, everyone behind me clears out of the way for Bridget, giving her a straight path.

Her fingers graze the back of my shirt, but I slip away before she can grip it.

I see more Officials quickly join the crowd of girls, all after me.

This is exactly what I wanted. I’m adding more obstacles by moving among the girls during Free Hour. Even though everyone is trying to move out of the way of the Officials, there aren’t a lot places they can go.

I break into a sprint as they begin closing in on me. I rip past girls, knocking shoulders. I need to at least try to make an escape, no matter how futile it may be.

I duck, dart, slip by, and pass multiple girls, my hair whipping into my face. My hair is suddenly yanked back, my neck snapping.

Bridget has a handful of my hair gripped in her hands. She pulls me close, locking my arms behind my back.

She growls at me quietly, before the other Officials reach us, “Why did you do that? Don’t you know how much worse you just made that for yourself?”

She slips something out of her pocket, a regretful look on her face. It’s deep, green shot, the same one they used on Marie. It made her freeze and drop to the ground.

I swallow hard as Bridget pokes it into my arm, pushing the green liquid into my vein.

Bridget murmurs, a fierce and honest look on her face, “You need to pretend to faint or you willdie.”

The intensity in her eyes terrifies me. I decide to obey her, just this once, convinced by her severity. I force my eyes to close, slumping into Bridget’s arms.

My feet are lifted off the ground, my body swaying slightly. I realize that they are carrying me somewhere. The slight noise of Free Hour fades away into completely silent halls. I have no idea where we are, but I don’t risk opening my eyes.

I hear a voice coming from someone near me, most likely an Official, “I’ll fill in her report for her departure to the Ecru.”