Ancient burn

and dreams to conquer the odds and seemly achieve the impossible. Her description of what was had sounded so perfect. It left me wishing that

ids were shown unconditional love; they weren’t exploited and valued based on their usefulness. They could dream and be

weren’t allowed to grow up with their families anymore. They were groome

first-ever memory I recall was the day I was outed. I was 10 years old at the time, whic

could have done differently to change the result of my reading. I remember hoping it was a wrong reading altogether. I even tried to

had sentenced me to, but they had paid me no mind. They just went on with the reading of the n

e the ones that had. So they said. People like me were called an abomination to Urania. I wasn’t even given a birth name. No one tagged a pa

ars of extra labour to afford to buy a name for myself. I chose Evelyn Bolt. I

ered the royals that the number of abominations kept increasing yearly and the thought of this always g

*

else remained the same. He had always been the lead actor in my nightmares, but with his current decline in character,

to the families we were assigned to. It would have been fine if we were paid for our labour, but as parasites, we are regarded as slaves. We are forced to serve without pay. The little stip

the pill to slow down the decay process, but very few families provided e

before. I avoided him as much as I could because of this. I didn’t want to be at the receiving end of his next angry outburst. I had no proof of my suspicions at first, but the f

usting-looking sores, I knew he had lost control of his decaying process the same way I knew something bad was going to happen to Mama Nancy. It had been

uld I ever forget it? Aside from my slave driver, no one else had had the privilege of hitting me. You see, fighting was prohibit

me I saw her. Her expression when she was being dragged outside the hall has hunted me ever since. I saw great fear in her eyes

about me. I had nightmares about it the first couple of months after it happened. Honestly, I still do

*

p. The actual issue was that I am never able to recollect the dream. The only things I remember are the emotions I felt in the dream, which are “fear and despair”. It usually keeps me awake

sn’t doing working out for me anymore. Wrong move. My attempt at moving only m

uld be in a better mood tomorrow, even though I doubted he would. His mood seemed to worsen daily because

ight side. Grunting through the painful and

g to me was the noticeable silence. I spent most of my nights wishing sleep away thanks to my nightmares, so am always awake at this time of

ime. It never did me any good pondering on wh

drivers came into our hall at night, I snored louder. Everyone did. It was a failed attempt to convince ourselves t

I wouldn’t be next to be visited. Thankfully, I was very healthy, so they stayed away from me. They always went for the deteriorating ones because no one w

y was clouding my judgement because even if I woke her up, it still wouldn’t help me sleep. Her ability to sleep so peacefully was a superpower I wished I had. Sleep was the only relief we got in thi

rated with myself. But tonight was very different. The dream felt different as well. So was the fear. It was more intense, more personal. I tried to w

that it was going to be my worst nightmare manifesting itself in real life. There was going to be another roll call,

for it. It could happen any day of the week, but it was usually within a 4-6 weeks interval. Living in

y to recall anyone’s number, anyone at all, but come up with nothing. Everyone here is a st

lately. Added to the fact that he was on a downward spiral. I was a nuisance to the slave drivers, and I did that because they couldn’t hurt me. Not as much as they do the other

n my only friend here. I had literarily forced her to start speaking to me. Now, I miss her more than ever. On nights

r too long. Making friends was a horrible idea, because when they are taken away, you are left with all these memories to deal with, which was why I stayed away from anybody and everybody after Mama Nancy was taken. I had lear

dn’t have been pleasurable, I choose to believe she died blissfully and painlessly and I wil

anyway. She was already so weak. Considering the unfavourable con

*

pproaching from outside the hall accom

e, and he wasn’t alone. T

, I watched closely as the door opens gradually, each second adding to my anxiety. My slave

our human lie detector, as it was impossible to lie to them without being

ll. The smell of terror coming off from my hall mates only made mine worsen. W

There is scrambling everywhere as everyone is trying to look presentable. The leaders wait patiently as we kneel by our b

beds looking down as a sign of respect. A parasite never looks a

well there were the gods and then the seers which were considered myths. I was

rn into the title, while the majority were adopted into it. Royals could be governors if they wanted to, but they never contested. It was beneath them to do so. Th

s intake of the Zeluxe pill. Parasites like us were not privileged to take the pill. We relied on our bodies to control the decay process, which was no good. After a couple of years, o

eir gifts. They were also responsible for producing the Zeluxe pill to control decay. Except for the royals, everyone else depe

ly the electricians and engineers and performed any other task related to technology and a

ulation. We have no special gifts. The Royals call us an abomination. I call them entitled. They acted like the universe revolved

ention to the numbers been called so as not to miss

5, step forward,” the

a satisfying smile on his face. I had been so absent-minded; I hadn’t realised he h

er, he would be dragged here to be harvested by the healers for their experiments as well. He let me go abruptly on reaching the entrance of the harvesting ground and is rewarded by my pai

en, but now that it was happening, my mind still couldn't accept it. It’s just a bad dream,

d female. The skins of some had already dropped off, leaving parts of their skeleton on full display. For others, their stench gave them away. I had always been able to smell decay o

le were dragged in. I recognised some of them as hall mates of mine but most of them I had never s

humans than I have seen in my entire life. Did all these people come here to watch the harvest? They seemed so excited to watch what was about

urning to us, she continued “the findings from this research would be used for the betterment of Urania. It would lead to the

Uranians. I would laugh at the irony of the situation if I could afford to. Never, ever, have I been regarded as a Uranian

ly. I identified them with their blue-collar. Every sect had a

f the table while I was being brought in. A huge screen was set above the table and I could see a couple more sc

autiful lady began explaining what procedures they were going to be trying out on us. The exci

immediately when she said the possibility of success the first time was almost impossible. Whoever was successful would be handsomely rewarded. I knew the resul

took place there, but I had never expected it to be a training class. I had o

inful than having my organs removed

became louder. They were terrified. I was too. But as terrified as we were, no one tri

de a hand gesture to the guards. Horridly, they offered

” she o

o spit it out, I swallowed quickly. The guard that had offered me the bowl still

so strange about returning a bowl he offered me? I dressed farther away from his scrutinizing gaze and glanced at my colleagues. They all still had their cup in their hands, but there was something differe

here? Could there be something w

n me. I stared back at them, more co

he relaxant. How is that

someone else replied. “The question

er. I was just as confused. One thing seemed certain. I wasn’t supposed to be on th

ay out, I sight my slave driver being dragged in. I knew he was

elieve it or not, that man was the closest thing I had to family in my life. Except for Mama Nancy, no one else spoke a word

ng to figure out the puzzle that is me, but no one said a word to me. Someone was poking at my ribs, while someone else was flashing light into my eyes.