In Two Worlds
There stood Alex in the field. He had always feared this day. Five days ago he had remembered being in the same spot with his friend but instead they were frolicking, laughing, and enjoying life. Today was different though he couldn’t stand being here. Even yesterday was okay, but he knew he had to stay here in line for hours. Alex had loved not being able to see color and not be able to hurt his eyes in the sun like everyone in this room had hated. Everybody else had waited five years to see color, but today had not been his choice. Ever since he had been eleven he had developed a problem, an issue. He hadn’t seen what everyone else had.
They all said life was dull there but he had not seen what they described; he had seen beauty and magnificence. Everyone called him dumb and stupid that he thought shades of grey were magnificent. After an hour of memories streaming through his head he had cried and cried because of the day he remembered. That day hadn’t been regular; they had let everyone do what they wanted that day. October 29, 2136, was the day that no one worked but the out-crew. These men were mostly just laborers; they worked when somebody else could not. That day somebody picked him up while standing behind him and all the sudden he lied there unable to move for a week!
That memory was his worst. When he woke he had unbearable pain and very terrible eyesight; he felt he was in a different world. Grey was now inexistent to Alex and he had only a few hours left until he had to go to “color." Color and black and white had meant nothing him now. All he knew of was that soon would be a very stressful time and that he could soon be leaving the world and going to the Emptiness. Emptiness was what everyone claimed as the end. Although no one ever claimed them wrong Alex never believed them because they had never reached the end. Alex had always feared the moment he would enter the end but this could not be on his mind right now.
In no time at all he was walking into the testing room where the men asked him questions and gave him different body tests to see if he was able to go to color world. Alex couldn’t believe he was standing there with a man talking, having questions like: where’s your mother, do you like doing art, or where would you like to live. After a minute had passed Alex knew he had already been half tested. Most of the times the men just look at you and do a few eye tests and all the sudden you’re on a train converting to another world. Finally Alex knew he might just pass but what was in store for him was to be unknown until he finished the tests.
Slow walking was always a certainty that something was wrong so he just skipped over to the eyesight checkroom. A man was standing at the door with a smile stuck to his face but suddenly he looked curious.
Alex looked back, grinned at the man and said, “What’s my first test?” He had suspected that the man noticed he was hiding something but he kept his act up. The man appointed him to the machine that was almost never used. Alex felt uncertain, his life depended on this moment so he had said nothing, but he put a questioned look on his face, which considered him a regular citizen.
The man got him adjusted to the machine and Alex sat there staring at grey. How could he do this? Alex thought. Finally the man appointed him to a room called “conversions." Finally he had shown his true expressions and cried until three men greeted him and told him to stop. They had mentioned their names and asked what had happened but the men had already recognized what was wrong. After minutes of examining him they had asked him whether he would like to see his parents before he had gone to court.
Before the men had time to ask any more questions Alex had shouted, “yes!" the three men in the suits had soon called Alex’s parents. After about thirty minutes of waiting Alex had received news that his parents were in the building and being tested. Alex knew the testing of his parents would be very quick but after an hour he had really questioned what he thought was true.
Since this had been longer than his testing session he had asked a guard, “Why are my parents testing taking so long? Is there anything wrong?”
The guard had responded with a quick answer of, “Son I am not allowed to tell you the details, but I will tell you that we may have found a reason why you are not like anybody else.”
“I understand that I am restricted of knowing details but you haven't really told anything answering my question I had stated before.”
“Alex I trust that you won’t tell anybody that I gave you these details, but your father is the reason of your abnormality and we can change this for you. I believe this must be hard for you but you are the decision maker of your fathers future, so I believe that you should put tons thought into your decisions following today.”
“Before you continue I would like to know your name because I feel like you may be a main part in my life and you may make most of my decisions.”
“Alex I am Jupiter and I would just like you to know you will now make your life decisions and your life is in your hands unless you decide to put it in somebody else’s. Where was I before?”
“You mentioned that I was in charge of my fathers life and he caused my abnormality.”
“Oh yes Alex you can make decisions for yourself and you can even make other peoples. This may lead you to a terrible place in life or a great place. Before you have only dealt with minor consequences but now wrong decisions may lead you to the end. You also need to know that life for your father should not end wonderful because what he has done to you is not okay and a boy like you does not deserve this. I would like to answer more of your questions, but I must go. Maybe we can talk later”
Alex felt worried, confused, and uneasy once Jupiter had left but Alex was sure to find him again so they could talk. After this conversation Alex wanted to focus on what Jupiter had said about consequences, but he knew the choices would be to the extreme.
Later that day Alex’s mother came into the room in tears. Alex had never seen her like this, but after waiting a few hours alone in a room he was prepared for anything. His mother looked at him uneasily and looked worried for him. Alex felt he needed to comfort her but he was unsure how because he had never done so or even needed to. Alex looked at her one more time and felt tears run down his cheek. This had made him feel uncomfortable because he never felt the feeling it came with before. The feeling was an unexplainable one with more emotions than any other feeling he had known of.
Before Alex and his mother could speak the three men came in again just with what seemed to be his father. The men spoke quickly and told him to make his decision fast. This decision was what consequence his father would have. Alex had thought that maybe he could go to the jail for a few nights, but that was before he had seen his father in tears with whiplash marks.
Alex had said,” No I will not give my father more pain for giving me an extraordinary gift that I love!”
The men took Alex by the arm, dragged him into a flying machine (called an airplane) and dropped his father first into an arena where a man took a gun and shot him instantly. His father lied there still with the others shot from years before. Alex felt he was going to fall over, but he couldn't because he had to save his mother and himself. As they lowered his mother he jumped down ten feet. This hard landing made his legs shriek with pain and fall over. All three men looked at him with shock and said nothing.
Alex with his shriveled legs now screamed,” Don't shoot my mother you already shot my father and now I only have one parent. If you shoot her I will be parentless and could you imagine yourself at the age of 16 without a mother or father! My father was a great man and you killed him, but my mother is a fantastic woman and she did not do anything wrong so you must not kill her!”
The men looked at him and dragged his mother into the airplane. Alex watched his mother get dropped off in to the office of the three men and with her worried look for Alex it sent them off into another unknown land. This land had looked interesting because everything looked regular.
One of the men said,” Son this is your new home and everyone here is just like you.”
Without saying anything else he was on the ground and the airplane was gone. Jupiter was there and Alex’s first words to Jupiter were,” Is this Emptiness?