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Chapter 2

“Where d’ya think you’re goin, L?”

I sigh. Idiots keep taunting me, saying I’ll end up as a lost soul. It really gets on my nerves. But I’ll pretend they’re not here. So I walk on, ignoring them.

                “Hey, I’m talkin to you, stupid!”

I froze. No one is allowed to think up or imagine insults. That sparks imagination and creativity, and even worse, dreams. So if this was just another goody two-shoes, he wouldn’t say that.

                I turn around and face him. “What?”

I see his face. He has light brown hair, maybe even dirty blonde. His skin is pale, and he had a red sweatshirt with white writing on it.

                “You know people aren’t supposed to wear clothing that shows imagination or opinion on them, right?” I ask, curious.

                He shrugs. “Guess that means you should get that tattoo removed, too.”

I put my jacket on, covering the colorful dragon on my shoulder. “So we all have faults. So what? And why are you calling me an L, when you may have just as good a chance of being one? People call others things like that when they think they’re better. It makes them feel superior, but you don’t look that way at all. So why?”

                He smiles grimly. “I’m not superior, you’re right. And I wasn’t really insulting you by calling you one. It doesn’t make me feel better to know others besides me will die.”

                I can feel my mouth fall open, and I make no effort to shut it. Not even I say the D-word. This guy has been through something serious, to not care at all what happens to him.

                He shakes off my look, and continues with his smile, which I now believe is fake.

“My name’s Rand. What’s yours, dragon girl?”

He just told me his name. Right off the bat, he told me his name. This guy is very bold. I hesitate. I haven’t told anyone besides Emma my true name. Is it really okay for me to trust him?

“Syndromei. Not dragon girl. My name’s Syndromei. But I don’t think it’ll be of any use to you, anyway.”

He laughs. “You’re Syndromei? Aren’t you like, the natural, emotionless J?”  

I snap my head back to look at him. “What? I think you are very much mistaken. I am anything but a natural. If anything, I’m a-“

“-A Random. As if. You, Syndromei, have a gift. It’s such a special gift, that the community will kill you for it.”

I laugh. How is there a way not to laugh at that? The thought of me having a gift that the community wants, yet somehow I’m still stuck in development land, is ridiculous.

                “Alright Rand, the joke’s over. Who paid you to talk to me? This is ridiculous. I have no gift, no talent, nothing. Why should I believe you?”

                He doesn’t seem to care about my comment. But then, he holds something out to me. “I’m just the messenger. The one who’s really telling you this is the person that this belongs to.”

The thing he holds out is a necklace, and a very complex and beautiful necklace at that. It’s got a gold chain, with pearls in a pattern on the side. In the very middle is a big fat Ruby. That’s weird, I thought, no one is allowed to have personal belongings such as this. It was indeed strange, but I was very, very interested.

So I took the pretty necklace with a scowl to show rand I didn’t really care nor did I trust him, and then walked up to my dorm. As soon as I got to my room, I fall face first onto the bed. I was so exhausted, I felt like that kid just sucked up any energy I could have possibly had. I feel like doing the impossible: sleeping. I still remember the day 1/29/2090.

It was cold. Of course, the winter is always cold. But that day felt much colder than all the others. It was like the atmosphere in the air had just changed. I was on my way to the J facility, just like always. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. When I got there, Mr. J, our teacher, told us we were doing soccer. It made sense, since we hadn’t done soccer in a while.  Then, the intercom came on. Then, Mr. J went whiter than a sheet and made us sit down and stop what we were doing. The Paranas came directly to the intercom; there was no: and now an important message from the Paranas, or anything like that. They came directly onto the intercom. Some of the braver few among the J’s whispered to their friends. This never happened. And when I mean never, I don’t mean almost never. I mean this never, ever, ever, ever happens. It wasn’t rare; it was an eternal never.

“Hello Students. This is your superiors speaking. We have a very important announcement. Because of recent events, we will ban the dangerous things such as sleep. Sleep creates the disease called imagination, which is very, very dangerous. If you don’t want you or your friends to be contagious and suffer from this disease, then follow our orders as instructed. If you choose NOT to follow our orders, there may be dire consequences. We hope for your cooperation. Thank you and have a pleasant day.”

The explosion of conversation was spontaneous. Some girls pretended to faint. Guys imitated what imagination looked like, pushing their friends around and laughing, making up stupid stories. Girls talked for hours, and this was an endlessly discussed topic. But when I turned to J, he had looked really uncomfortable, like he knew something more. But, if anyone had asked me if I knew anything more, I would have been really pissed off. So I left it alone and wandered around the endless campus.