The World He Thought He Knew

THE WORLD HE THOUGHT HE KNEW

BY

Bria Wilson

PART ONE — IN THE BEGINNING

Have you ever been to a place where everything is truly perfect? Where the grass is always green, the sky is always blue, and everything is in order? In the beginning there was devastation and chaos. The only way out was for women to take control. Irina was sure if men were to gain power again, they would see another disastrous event like this one. She gathered the most brilliant women minds left and began her plans for a better world. Although she did not live to see it her goal realized. Euphoros is that place. Euphoros is a golden marvel, perfect beyond reproach. You will never find a better place.

Or so we’ve been told.

PART TWO — A LOOK FORWARD

“Run, come on we’re running out of time” I screamed. Our small window of getting out of here was closing fast with the guard right on our tails. Ender, Ky, Mara, Ryker, and Hailey right there with me. “Samuel they’re getting close” Ender yelled out of breath as I’m sure we all were. I knew they were close which is why we had to keep running it was our only option. If there was another way out, I would have loved to have taken it, but this was our last chance. If the guard caught us, we were as good as dead.

I could only hope that this wasn’t all a trick to catch us. After we found out there was a way out of this place, we knew we had to take it. Even if that meant trusting Remi. As we approach the edge of the dome, I could see the shimmer of the glitch we were told would lead us out of here. “Guys there it is” I point out the tiny shimmer in the dome. I sigh in relief. I could tell everyone was feeling the same. But nothing comes without a price. Standing in front of our way to freedom was Remi. It all comes crashing in how seeing her brings me back to how we got here in the first place.

PART THREE—TODAY OF ALL DAYS

The alarm blaring wakes me up violently from my sleep from my sleep. Today was the day I was put in my place for good. D Day is today for our fresh faced twenty-one-year old’s. The day the rest of our lives are decided for us. Here in Euphoros as a guy I’m under the rules of all our women and what they say is law. They decide how you will contribute to society or if you even will. There once was a guy who was “displaced” because he was not deemed fit to contribute to our society under the dome. Ever since the event all men have been under the watchful eye of our better halves. No one ever talks about the event anymore but, it involved a president Crump and a bunch of nuclear war heads. What a mess. But now life is much more simple, perfect most people would say.

My parents have been waiting for this day for forever, same as my sister Sasha. She cannot wait to see me out of the house working like her. My sister the mechanical engineer. Ha, as if I want to be working on keeping the dome up and running every day, I quite like the simple life I lead. Then again today doesn’t feel like any other D Day. This one feels more important, maybe it’s because it’s mine and I’m not just watching them anymore. On my father’s D Day, he was assigned tech assistant at the power source for the dome site. He and my sister work together, although Sasha is his superior because she is a woman.

Mom choose to work for the libraries. After working her way up all these years she is the head of them now. I’m more like her in that way. On D Day you are hooked up to the cerebral cortex specter, as it maps your brain it will decide which job is best suited for you and how well you’re expected to do it. And I don’t think my brain is wired like my dad’s or Sasha’s.

I leave my bedroom to the kitchen to see both the parents before I leave to meet up with my friends. “Mom, dad” I sigh “Sasha.” Mom is the first to speak “Hi sweetie are you excited for today?” “Yeah, son ready for Placement?” my dad chimes in. I blow out some air “is anyone ever ready for D Day?” I ask. “Why do you insist on call it that?” my mother shakes her head. I laugh, “because that’s how it feels.” My mom and Sasha never had to go through D Day seeing as they are women and got to choose how they wanted to spend the rest of their lives doing. Men are to be placed on placement day and are expected to be happy about it. There hasn’t been an incident where any man has gone against his placement. “I have to go now; I’m meeting with Ender and Ryker before D time.” My mom answers for everyone “We’ll see you at Placement.”

Samuel leaves his building to head towards the park. A sort of gathering place for everyone in Euphoros. As I’m walking to the park, I notice yelling coming from in-between two buildings. I stop to peek, my curiosity getting the better of me. When I’m close enough to make out what I was hearing, I see a man “IT’S ALL A LIE!!” he shouts. “THEY WANT US HERE FOREVER…THEY WANT US HERE FOREVER!!” I move closer, as he continues to shout, I realize he’s an old man with grey hair, his clothes are dirty, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in days. He was holding a heart shaped locket in his hand shaking it furiously. “NOTHING IS REAL” this man repeats over and over again. Then out of no where three women in black surrounded the screaming man. Once they were in full view, I recognized the triple moon symbol on their vests signifying they were in the guard. “NO, NO… NO” he screams as the women close in on him. “YOU CAN’T SILENCE ME.”

I watch as two of the women grab him and the other pulls something from her belt. There was something wrong with this, something very wrong. Why was this man screaming, why did he look homeless, no one is homeless in Euphoros? I felt a tap on my shoulder, as I turned around there was another guard. “Move it along boy” she says. I turn back to look at the old man in trouble, but him and the other three women are gone. I turn back to face the guard in front of me “Where did they go?” I ask. “I said move along boy.” As she goes to walk away, I notice something on the ground. When I go to pick it up, I see it’s the heart shaped locket the man had been waving around. I pick it up and put it in my pocket. I take one final look at where the old man had been before I keep walking to meet my friends. But I couldn’t help but wonder who the old man was and what would happen to him and why today of all days did I encounter such a strange course of events.