Penance
Chapter 1
21 August, 0028 A.V
20:00 (8:00pm)
Audra's hands shook with weak anticipation. Four more hours. Four more hours until her fifteenth birthday. Not like it mattered, or anyone cared. Nobody here really cared about birthdays, and when they did they didn't say anything.
The Known despised birthdays, the entire concept of the thing. The reason is simple- when a Known turns sixty, and they haven't already BOOMed, the Penance takes you away, probably to face the same fate as a Known who would go through the BOOM.
Why the Penance call the K-Virus-infected the Known is because the Known have been exploited and revealed, their personal lives taken from them, their privacy unlocked. The BOOM is what the Known call the event in their lives where the K-Virus emerges in a person. They call it the BOOM because that's the sound the door makes when it is opened- BOOM.
The door locks both ways- in and out, just in case of an escapade. Every officer has a key. Sometimes the door gets jammed, so when the Penance tries to get in, they have to kick it open, causing a rattling BOOM. Though it was scary to Audra when she was a child, she got over it. She knew it was so nobody escaped. No one has ever escaped the Tower.
Or the Hallway.
Or their cell.
Audra and her ten-year old sister had been born here, in the cell with two cots, a toilet, a sink, a table, and a bookshelf of countless books. They hadn't much to do here other than reading and whimpering, and sometimes starving. They were fed by Penance officers twice a day, seven days a week.
The Tower used to have a cafeteria, but they stopped that because of an attempted escape. The only time they got to exit the cell was a) you showed symptoms or b) it was a Friday. Fridays kept the Known sane, and kept them from being obese (generally impossible) and made them more fit (As if). But the main thing it did was helped the Known socialize.
On Fridays, the back door to the cell (There are two, the main front door and the back door) would open, and the Known of Hallway 1563 of Tower 28358 would spill out into an indoor track.
The Penance, wearing gas masks and quarantine clothes, would keep them moving, making them run a few miles to keep them healthy, then send the Known back inside. But while Cara and Mother ran in total silence, Audra ran with the only friends she had that loved her like they were her siblings- Eve and Milo.
Audra had been friends with Eve and Milo since before she could remember. Eve lived in the cell across from Audra, and Milo used to live in the cell next to her. Milo's entire family went through the BOOM; two even did the unthinkable- they Jumped. Milo did not follow his family's footsteps. He chose to stay behind, and help the others, mainly for Eve and Audra's sake.
The Penance moved Milo into Eve's cell, and the two became very close. Not romantically close, but more of a sibling bond. Eve was an orphan at birth, so she never experienced the feelings of love toward her parents, never felt the heartbreak as one of them BOOMed. So she instantly connected with the recently-orphaned Milo.
And every Friday, Audra connected with them more and more. She began to not only love it, but she revered every other day as another day of torture.
Unfortunately, today was not a Friday. Today was the bleakest, longest, and most boring Sunday possible. The kind of day that made Audra's ears explode in the sound of silence, begging for conversation. Cara was reading one of Audra's favorite books, The Holy Bible. Audra's mother silently insisted that they read the Bible. Audra read it lightly as a child, but when Father and Cade BOOMed, she read it so intently it hurt others to watch.
Mother sat on a cot, looking at the wall as if there was a window there, a habit given to her by the luxuries of society. Audra had no such luxuries. Audra looked a Cara reading the Bible again. Cara's brow was relaxed and her eyes were closed. She was praying. Audra had prayed many times when Father and Cade left.
She prayed that she would wake up from this terrible dream, that she would become dumb, cute baby in another country, knowing about the Known, but thinking, I sure hope someone helps with this terrible tragedy, not I feel so awful, I'm in such a terrible place. Of course, this wasn't Audra's biggest wish.
Sometimes, one can be in the worst of conditions, in the worst of places, in the pit of it all, and when they wish, it isn't to get out of the terribleness of their lives. Usually, it's actually something stupid to other people, and sensible to the wisher. Audra's greatest wish was to have a lifetime supply of conversation, and a million handfuls of words.
...And good clothes. All her life she had worn the same kind of clothing- a thing called a T-Shirt, that read ever to precisely, "Tower 28358, Hallway 1563, Cell 13, I.D 49284- AUDRA" in bold, white letters on a black T-Shirt as its background. On her lower half, she wore sweatpants, which read her I.D all the way down one pant leg. Everyone wore these- it was the only clothes they were provided with. Except for twice a year, every Known was provided the next size up.
And, every year on the same day, they took a huge shower. It seemed so ironic and dumb to Audra, that they would spend so much money and put in so much effort to keep them alive, if they were going to execute them anyway.
Like pigs for the slaughter. But they lived in the most mysterious of places, the V.Z, so it wasn't surprising. The V.Z stands for Virus Zone, the area that was once the United States. Tower 28358 was stationed in the state once known as Virginia. At least, that's what the booklet said that was so kindly provided to them in each cell.
Just the same old thing. Her ears preened the air for sound; her eyes blasted the cell for something interesting to look at, her hands clutching her favorite book, The Diary of Anne Frank. In Audra's mind, she was Anne Frank, hiding from not only her worst enemy but fear itself. But reality sunk in. Audra already had been captured.
She was already in the worst position ever. Then why on Earth did her skin still scream for the mythical being called sunlight, and why did her mouth still protest the unusual amount of pressure kept on it by keeping the lips shut?
Then a single sound made the entire world stop spinning. Maybe it was a whistle of the wind, its forceful cry whipping around the Hallway? But wind had never been in the Hallway. Maybe a cough? No, it was too beautiful to be a cough, and too real to be a wind's cry. But Audra knew it was real. It made her eardrums rattle; her brain water; her eyes widen.
A whisper had been heard.
20:00 (8:00pm)
Audra's hands shook with weak anticipation. Four more hours. Four more hours until her fifteenth birthday. Not like it mattered, or anyone cared. Nobody here really cared about birthdays, and when they did they didn't say anything.
The Known despised birthdays, the entire concept of the thing. The reason is simple- when a Known turns sixty, and they haven't already BOOMed, the Penance takes you away, probably to face the same fate as a Known who would go through the BOOM.
Why the Penance call the K-Virus-infected the Known is because the Known have been exploited and revealed, their personal lives taken from them, their privacy unlocked. The BOOM is what the Known call the event in their lives where the K-Virus emerges in a person. They call it the BOOM because that's the sound the door makes when it is opened- BOOM.
The door locks both ways- in and out, just in case of an escapade. Every officer has a key. Sometimes the door gets jammed, so when the Penance tries to get in, they have to kick it open, causing a rattling BOOM. Though it was scary to Audra when she was a child, she got over it. She knew it was so nobody escaped. No one has ever escaped the Tower.
Or the Hallway.
Or their cell.
Audra and her ten-year old sister had been born here, in the cell with two cots, a toilet, a sink, a table, and a bookshelf of countless books. They hadn't much to do here other than reading and whimpering, and sometimes starving. They were fed by Penance officers twice a day, seven days a week.
The Tower used to have a cafeteria, but they stopped that because of an attempted escape. The only time they got to exit the cell was a) you showed symptoms or b) it was a Friday. Fridays kept the Known sane, and kept them from being obese (generally impossible) and made them more fit (As if). But the main thing it did was helped the Known socialize.
On Fridays, the back door to the cell (There are two, the main front door and the back door) would open, and the Known of Hallway 1563 of Tower 28358 would spill out into an indoor track.
The Penance, wearing gas masks and quarantine clothes, would keep them moving, making them run a few miles to keep them healthy, then send the Known back inside. But while Cara and Mother ran in total silence, Audra ran with the only friends she had that loved her like they were her siblings- Eve and Milo.
Audra had been friends with Eve and Milo since before she could remember. Eve lived in the cell across from Audra, and Milo used to live in the cell next to her. Milo's entire family went through the BOOM; two even did the unthinkable- they Jumped. Milo did not follow his family's footsteps. He chose to stay behind, and help the others, mainly for Eve and Audra's sake.
The Penance moved Milo into Eve's cell, and the two became very close. Not romantically close, but more of a sibling bond. Eve was an orphan at birth, so she never experienced the feelings of love toward her parents, never felt the heartbreak as one of them BOOMed. So she instantly connected with the recently-orphaned Milo.
And every Friday, Audra connected with them more and more. She began to not only love it, but she revered every other day as another day of torture.
Unfortunately, today was not a Friday. Today was the bleakest, longest, and most boring Sunday possible. The kind of day that made Audra's ears explode in the sound of silence, begging for conversation. Cara was reading one of Audra's favorite books, The Holy Bible. Audra's mother silently insisted that they read the Bible. Audra read it lightly as a child, but when Father and Cade BOOMed, she read it so intently it hurt others to watch.
Mother sat on a cot, looking at the wall as if there was a window there, a habit given to her by the luxuries of society. Audra had no such luxuries. Audra looked a Cara reading the Bible again. Cara's brow was relaxed and her eyes were closed. She was praying. Audra had prayed many times when Father and Cade left.
She prayed that she would wake up from this terrible dream, that she would become dumb, cute baby in another country, knowing about the Known, but thinking, I sure hope someone helps with this terrible tragedy, not I feel so awful, I'm in such a terrible place. Of course, this wasn't Audra's biggest wish.
Sometimes, one can be in the worst of conditions, in the worst of places, in the pit of it all, and when they wish, it isn't to get out of the terribleness of their lives. Usually, it's actually something stupid to other people, and sensible to the wisher. Audra's greatest wish was to have a lifetime supply of conversation, and a million handfuls of words.
...And good clothes. All her life she had worn the same kind of clothing- a thing called a T-Shirt, that read ever to precisely, "Tower 28358, Hallway 1563, Cell 13, I.D 49284- AUDRA" in bold, white letters on a black T-Shirt as its background. On her lower half, she wore sweatpants, which read her I.D all the way down one pant leg. Everyone wore these- it was the only clothes they were provided with. Except for twice a year, every Known was provided the next size up.
And, every year on the same day, they took a huge shower. It seemed so ironic and dumb to Audra, that they would spend so much money and put in so much effort to keep them alive, if they were going to execute them anyway.
Like pigs for the slaughter. But they lived in the most mysterious of places, the V.Z, so it wasn't surprising. The V.Z stands for Virus Zone, the area that was once the United States. Tower 28358 was stationed in the state once known as Virginia. At least, that's what the booklet said that was so kindly provided to them in each cell.
Just the same old thing. Her ears preened the air for sound; her eyes blasted the cell for something interesting to look at, her hands clutching her favorite book, The Diary of Anne Frank. In Audra's mind, she was Anne Frank, hiding from not only her worst enemy but fear itself. But reality sunk in. Audra already had been captured.
She was already in the worst position ever. Then why on Earth did her skin still scream for the mythical being called sunlight, and why did her mouth still protest the unusual amount of pressure kept on it by keeping the lips shut?
Then a single sound made the entire world stop spinning. Maybe it was a whistle of the wind, its forceful cry whipping around the Hallway? But wind had never been in the Hallway. Maybe a cough? No, it was too beautiful to be a cough, and too real to be a wind's cry. But Audra knew it was real. It made her eardrums rattle; her brain water; her eyes widen.
A whisper had been heard.