Chapter 3

“ - Record - Archive connection compromised - closing local connection -”

-3rd Uni, 1rst month, year 145-

Yeetlhy had not been able to get any sleep. She was too excited about today’s event. An annual event. The day that allows every 10 year old of the colonies to enter the Instruction center. It was not that big of an event in general. Most citizens didn’t care about it. But in the eyes of our 10 years old child, it was an important part of her life that was about to happen.

She has never been allowed to go outside before. Her world was revolving around her house and the people that she could see through the windows. Her parents never really cared much about her knowledge of the society. Since they were almost never at home because of their work, she was able to move around freely. But going outside was strictly forbidden. And Yeetlhy didn’t want to disappoint her parents. She learned how to read thanks to her connector. It was the “person” that would have a conversation with her.

But that wasn’t the case anymore, at least not for long. She was now allowed to take a step outside of the house. She let many fantasies go through her mind. About the friends that she would make, the classes, the future adventures. As soon as she heard the connector’s voice telling her to wake up, she swiped left and ran towards the bathroom. Yeetlhy had dark rings under her eyes, her face was pale and skinny. A sign of abuse that she mistook for one of sleeplessness. Someone threw clothes and other tools at her. She turned around to see her father at the door, looking at her with disdain.

“Don’t mistake that for an act of love” he said, “Do this everyday and don’t shame us.”

He forcibly grabbed her arm with one hand and her head with another. Yeetlhy could feel her body being completely immersed in water. As she couldn’t breathe, she tried to escape from the grasp of her father. A waste of energy. After releasing her, letting her body fall on the floor, he took the brush tool and did her hair. The young girl was in pain and crying. He then held her face and applied a skin spray. The man said with a cold voice

“Put those clothes on and don’t be late”

Yeetlhy cried even more after her father left. It was supposed to be a joyful day, and instead of congratulating her, he treated her like trash. She held the clothes against her chest and stood up. She saw her reflection in the mirror and couldn’t recognize herself. Her hair was straight, neat, it felt soft and fluffy at the touch of her fingers. Her face looked more lively, no more dark holes, her cheeks looked tender, it certainly didn’t look like she hadn’t been fed anything for the past 4 days.

“Is this me ?” said the young girl in disbelief.

While putting her clothes on, Yeetlhy thought about the complete change of her appearance. She finally looked normal, like the other kids that she saw through the windows. Her eyes were filled with excitement again. She went down to the kitchen with a smile on her face. She was so happy that she had forgotten what her father did to her a few minutes ago. She entered the kitchen and happily ate some bread. She was so excited that the bread that she has been eating for 10 years seemed to be tasting better than usual.

“Mom, dad, I’m going to the Instruction center today.”, screamed Yeetlhy before slamming the door. She started running.

She arrived on time but was out of breath. The room was full of other kids her age, all chattering. She never heard that much noise before and quickly felt overwhelmed. Too many people in the same place, different scents, making her feel dizzy. She needed to sit down, and some fresh air. The girl almost fell against a wall. It became harder for her to breathe as her temperature was rising. She heard a ping.

“ - The director of the Instruction center in now entering -”

The room went quiet. The kids weren’t excited anymore but were now disciplined and focused. Yeetlhy felt a cold breeze on her body, allowing her to regain some kind of composure.

A tall woman appeared on the stage as well as a notice on the screen. Olya Cunnlan, 42 years old, Director of the Instruction center. She didn’t look at the kids and moved her hands a bit. She then introduced herself.

“Hello everyone. I am the director of the Instruction center, Olya Cunnlan. I am here to supervise the well-being of the apprentices and communicate your results to the decision center to ensure that you find your place in this community. Today is the day your life as part of this society starts. Now that you are all 10 years old, you have to learn what this society can teach you to serve it better. It will probably be difficult for some of you, but rest assured that your futures and happiness are in my best interest. You will not be left alone. ”

The kids were focused on the woman. Yeetlhy was using her connector to read the script. Strangely, the atmosphere made her feel more at ease.

“You will spend your days here for the next 10 years, even more for some of you.

At least 5 years learning about history, math and Yellenite. And another 5 years learning magic, literature, and science. These classes are obligatory and evaluated. Each class will last 45 minutes per day.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

For the rest of the free time, given by the decision center, you will have to join at least one option. The options are not evaluated, and you can change the option as many times as you want. Those options will help you learn different competences that could be useful for the results that will be communicated to the Decision center.

And at the end of each year, you will have to take an exam that will evaluate your learnings and abilities which will help us personalize our teaching programs and find the right path for you.

When you reach 16 years old, you will have to pass the aptitude test which will allow you to use magic.

When you reach 20 years old, you can either submit your results to the decision center or keep studying until you are 30 years old. Now please choose your options on your connectors, it will automatically save your choices and prepare your schedule for the year.”

All the kids who were barely conscious were pulled out of their sleepiness by their connectors. Yeetlhy, whose mind was so full of information she didn’t know how to deal with, looked at her screen. There was a list of 6 options available. The girl thought really hard about which options would make her parents proud. She chose sports and technology. She wanted to try science, but she thought maybe she wouldn’t have enough time to rest and study.

Once it was over, the connector displayed her schedule for the next day. She didn’t really care about it and left it aside, assuming that, when the time comes, her connector would just show her the way.

The kids just started to slack off when the director claimed that it was the end of the ceremony.

All the kids walked towards the main plaza. Forming small groups, chattering, playing together. Yeetlhy looked at them with envy. She was all alone in front of the Instruction center’s hall when a group of kids called her out.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you around before, are you from another colony ?”

“No” answered Yeetlhy, “I live here, in the military area.”

“I live there too, and I’ve never seen you before.” said the child in a very accusatory tone.

Yeetlhy was a little anxious as she couldn’t understand why the kid was talking to her like that.

“My parents didn’t want me to go around the neighborhood, they said it was too dangerous for a little girl like me and that I had to stay at home and wait for them to come back.”

The girl really wanted to integrate the group. She pointed her house on the map and shared it with the other kids. It took a while for the children to realize who Yeetlhy was.

“You’re the child of Syenha and Behnart !” screamed a kid.

All the kids ran at Yeetlhy, laughing and yelling, asking her all kinds of questions.

“Is your mother really a dragon ?”

“Have you seen the military center ?”

“Have you seen them kicking bad guys ?”

“Can we come to your place ?”

“Can you ask your parents to teach us ?”

Yeetlhy was flustered, she never had that much interaction with people before. She tried her best to answer questions honestly but when she saw the disappointed face of the kids in front of her, she thought it was okay to change the truth a bit. She created stories about her mother turning into a dragon and Yeetlhy flying on her back, rebels invading her house and her parents fighting them to protect their child. All the kids were bewitched by Yeetlhy’s tales. When one of them asked:

“So can you use magic ?”

The red-headed girl didn’t know how to answer that. She could either lie, and gain the friendship of all the kids but would need to pretend for the rest of her life; or tell the truth, and be met with the dissatisfied faces of the kids in front of her. The girl took a few minutes to think about it, and decided to tell the truth, thinking that the tales of her parents would be enough. The kid who asked the question was a little saddened by the answer but was quickly set aside. The other kids were much more interested in her parents.

The connectors interrupted Yeetlhy’s stories.

“You’ve reached the limits of your free outside time, please go back to your house.”

All the children followed the orders of their connectors. Yeetlhy did the same and went back to her house. Feeling as if today was the happiest day of her life. But once she arrived in front of the door, she had this weird sensation that her joy was going to break down once she passed the doorstep. She decided it was nothing important and entered the house. It was empty, her parents were probably still at work. She ran to her room and excitedly prepared her bag for the classes. Yeetlhy also decided to clean her room, then the entire house and once she was done, she fell asleep on her bed.

After a few hours, the young child was woken up by the noise of her father coming back. She went down to welcome him.

“Hi, where is mommy ?”

“At work.”

“When will she come back ?”

“She won’t.”

“Why ?”

“Why should I care, go back to your room.”

The tone was strict, firm, an indication that Yeetlhy shouldn’t bother him any longer. But the day felt too wonderful for her to notice those signs.

“I had my entrance ceremony at the Instruction center today, and it was…”

Yeetlhy couldn’t end her sentence. Her father had grabbed her by her throat. Unable to breath, she remembered what happened in the morning. Fearing that this time he would really kill her, she tried her hardest to escape from his grasp. The man threw her tiny body through the room. The girl started breathing loudly, then screaming. She was afraid. She was used to this kind of treatment and yet this time felt different. All this time she thought it was normal, and she never felt anything about it. But today, it was worse. Not in the violence of the act. It was painful. Too much hatred, and she couldn’t handle it. So she screamed. Sick of this much noise and afraid that it will taint his reputation, her father finally spoke.

“Go back to your fucking room and don’t come out. I don’t wanna see you again today.”

Yeetlhy screamed for a few seconds before understanding what her father told her. She ran to her room and hid in the closet with her cushion.

“-Initialization - system reboot - connection …”