The last of my brother stood in front of mom, dad and I. Snow bunny skin, as mom would say, now hibernated in a summer’s dirt. His chest was bare in the glassed in room as we stood in front of it. Only wearing a pair of blue jeans I got him for Testing Day, with new holes and tears at the bottom. Chestnut hair just like dad’s. Instead grown out and flipped in a bunch of different directions instead of the coded way of styling your hair. Probably this is the image of dad when he was a teenager. We never talked about our parents past, it’s against the code. Here we were looking the example of “against the code”. Danny had hazel eyes just like mine, widened while his flushed lips creased in fear.
“I told you so.”
A noise buzzed through the room we were in. Red, blue and green lights lit through my brother who stood ashamed in front of us. The first drive was taken from his chest, the red one, his emotions. Carving through his freckled chest with a sharp silver blade, to be tinted by blood. Danny quivered his lips are kept his glaze at me until the drive was taken away. His longing and fearful eyes lost their glaze his eyebrows dropped and his lip uncreased. The drive was placed in a white bucket in front of Danny. Who now was only staring at me. The whole room turned cold as his chest started seeping hot red blood.
Blood was flicked off the blade, hitting the glass that guarded us. The second drive was taken from his head, were his brain was. The man in a all white hazardous cleaning suit separated his chestnut hair.
Stifling could be heard from dad.
Dark red fell down from Danny as the man managed to pull out the drive. Being thrown into the white bucket making a clatter noise, causing Danny to twitch. Danny’s face stood still while the color of his cheeks faded. My fingers started to numb out. Is he feeling the same thing while blood rushed out of the holes in his body?
The last drive, the one everyone judged, the main focus that this society determines us by. Our only hope to making it. Occupations and skill. The man in the white suit grabbed the bloody blade and just cut through Danny’s pale as ever wrist. Tearing the blade through the bleeding pink drained muscle and cream bones. Mother turned away from the sight and let of a sob.
“That’s not my son! That not, THAT’S NOT MY SON!”
Dad turned to mom to join her in remorse. Dad started sniffling in his speech trying to comfort the both of them, sounding so little.
“He’s not in trouble anymore, he’s away from it now.”
I stood still, the drive was thrown into the drive where the other two kept their lights. Danny was already dead, once the Occupational drive was taken out, he collapsed. His eyes kept open, but now they stared at the white blank tiled ceiling. The man in the suit pulled out a liquid from one of the many pockets he had on his left leg. Poured in into the bucket.
The light purple liquid poured beautifully through the bottle, covering all of the drives. Wait…….
That’s soap.
Danny body started to shake his head shook up from his body and his chest twitched the opposite way. His muscles were tensing rapidly, pulling his body in seperate directions.
Danny’s not a robot. Were human. He’s frying how is he frying he can’t fry? He can’t fry! My fingers lost all of their blood. My heart could barely pump, it stood almost still but it kept a pulse. The same away as when there is an accident on the highway, cars slow down to look at tragedy. My thoughts were running as my body couldn’t stop to believe what I was seeing. It was impossible. This is impossible.
We are not robots.
Smoke guarded the room puffing from Danny’s hot mess. The man walked back into the back corner and observed. My brother was not even my brother anymore, mom was right.
His pale complexion warmed with the electric shock going through his body. As if he stayed out in the Sun for too long as he used to when we were in elementary school. Never leaving the shore, playing with warm sand as we stayed away from the “scary” ocean water.
But this isn’t the beach. This wasn’t the Sun’s work.
My brother was burning alive.
A flame came from the red light on his bled out chest, where his emotional drive is held. The death regulator man stepped out into the smoke cloud and pulled out the soap again, then stepped back into the corner.
No.
“Stop...DAD MAKE IT STOP!” No no no... this is not happening.
“It is what it is….” A hand comforted my right shoulder. Her nails were white and perfectly shaped. No one else is here.
Danny’s skin kept darkening, until dark brown complexion came. The blood could not be recognizable anymore, everything was the same shade now. His skin burst out his arms were like a carved tree shaving, all twirling into the flames. The smoke from the flames kept clouding. I could still see him clearly tho.
As if the smoke as nonexistent.
He’s not a robot. I’m thinking too much.
Dark red pulsed through the flames as they burned through his body, the muscle lost it’s flex and he stopped moving. Yellow fat seeping through his corpse, igniting the flame more than soap did. Everything happened at once. The man came back from his corner and pulled out the SF74, a smoke filter made in 2074, to clear the air again.
Nothing changed. I could still see the same horror in front of me.
A movement from my shoulder to my hair tingled the back of my spine. Plastic nails could be felt from the stroking of my bob.
“In order to make this society a better place. We must set rules and guidelines. Danny...unfortunately could not meet those and went against the statute. Those who go against the statute must be dealt with. Do you understand Leah?” Her voice was stern but comforting all at once, with power in every word she said.
The stroking stopped, the whole room went cold. All my nerves came back to me, my fingertips could sense again. My body heat flooded through me as my pulse came back to normal. I held her hand where she comforted me before.
A ring was on one of her fingers.
“Yes.”
Danny wanted to be a blacksmith when he graduated, before everything.  He was fancisted into molding and the different elements of metal.One of his primary goals was to create a ring for mom for all of the hard work she has done for us. The ring had a cross format on it, I could feel the intersecting metals and stones that beautified the accessory.
“You take the test, and you will pass. Understood?” Her voice was demanding, no question in it.
“Yes mam.”
Who is this woman? How could she know if I am eligible to pass the test or any test? Danny wasn't a bad kid, he just spoke his passions and his mind. There’s nothing wrong with that, a society needs that to become stronger. He gave no harm to society. My eyes swelled as my tears came burning down my flushed cheeks. I could feel the heat within in. I turn around to see this woman.
Smoke was around the room. The lights turned off as the clouds covered the room.
But smoke was in the white room..where Danny was? The lady was gone and my parents sniffling and whispers could not be heard. All was silent, except the noise of fluids and peeling.
The woman was gone. As the smell of burned metal entered my nose. The smoke filled my lungs clouding my airways, I couldn't breathe.
No.
The lights switch could be heard and the lights were on again. Mom and dad stood from behind the glass, in a midst of a sob.