The Search For the Truth

All was quiet, but there was a nice breeze. I found myself closing my eyes, and allowing the wind to touch my skin, cooling it off from a long days travel in the sun. A breeze was rare; unheard of even. 

“Come on, we have to go.” 

I opened my eyes to the sound of Austin’s voice. He looked concerned, as he often did; I was sometimes convinced he only had one facial expression: worry. 

“Just let me grab my bag” I tell him, only to see him holding it up in his right hand. 

“I got it, right here; let’s go” he demands, and I oblige. 

“What’s the hurry?” I decide to ask him. “I haven’t seen anyone around for miles; we’re safe for now” 

“Don’t ever think you’re safe” Austin scolded me. “You don’t know when someone is going to come and find us” he adds, looking behind his shoulder. I suppose you could say I owed my life to this man. If not for him, I don’t think I could survive. But then again, it was his fault we were even his this position. 

“Look, I get you’re paranoid- but we can’t go on like this forever” I sigh, slinging my bag over my shoulder. It had only been a few weeks but I grew tired. I was tired of looking over my shoulder. Tired of searching for food. Tired of evading the Constables. My life was fine when I lived in my blissful ignorance. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, Austin helped me see the truth. 

“Look, Samantha” he stopped in his tracks to face me. I cringed at the sound of my own name. I hated when he used my full name, and he knew it. He always did it when he wanted to say something serious. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess, okay?” 

“I came willingly” I interrupted, but he shook his head. 

“Take a look around. I doubt this is how you envisioned spending your college years.” He gestured to the mess that surrounded us. Mess was not really the correct term, but I didn’t know how else to describe it. 

“With you is how I envisioned spending my college years” I say softy, and immediately I can tell I’ve struck a nerve. I smirk to myself; I guess we both knew each other too well. 

“Stop.” He sighs, running his hands through his hair. “It’s almost curfew. We have to find some place to hide.” He changes the subject, and I’m not surprised. 

“Hey!” Austin’s eyes go wide when we hear a man shout at us. We both turn around, seeing several constables coming our way. 

“Shit, shit, shit” he keeps mumbling, his eyes darting back and forth. I look at him for guidance; do we try to run? Do we let them take us for deportation? Before I have a chance to ask, he puts his arm in front of me and gives me a reassuring glance before turning back to the men that approached. 

“What are you two doing out here?” The one on the left barks. I can hear the disgust in his voice as he looks down at us. It didn’t faze me, I was used to being looked down on; that was the way of the world. 

“We’re just heading home” Austin is obviously lying. We were easily 50 miles from home. In the few weeks since our quick departure, we managed to make decent progress, since we were walking on foot. 

“Oh, were you?” The constable asks with a sneer. “Let me see your identification.” 

Austin looks like he’s going to protest before rolling up his sleeve, revealing the bar code tattoo on his right forearm. 

“Scan it” the constable tells his companion, who immediately digs into his pockets for his phone. He scans it, and gives a nod. 

“Get home. Wouldn’t want to get caught out after curfew.” He’s clearly pissed off about something; perhaps he had a feeling Austin was lying. 

“No, sir” Austin tells the man, giving him a curt nod before grabbing my arm and tugging me in the opposite direction. I know better than to ask any questions until I know we’re far enough away. 

“How did you do that?” I asked, genuinely curious. “It should have told him we’re far from home” I tried to understand how he did it. These tattoos, as they are so nicely referred to, we’re given to us at birth. They were used for all kinds of information. With one scan a constable could tell where we lived, who our family was, where we worked, where we went to school, places we frequented, and any social media posts that may have been flagged. They helped the constables keep us under control, as Austin liked to put it. 

“Don’t worry  about it” Austin said gruffly, and I sighed. He was a very secretive person, and of course I understood why. Growing up how we did, you learned to keep your opinion to yourself. If you didn’t, there would be dire consequences. You were to maintain the status quo, and never to question it. 

It started with Austin’s father. He had been killed a few years ago for failing to abide by the proper rules and regulations. Apparently, according to Austin, he had been doing some research. Of course, this research was highly illegal. 

But Austin couldn’t accept his fathers death. After he found his research, there was no stopping him. That’s how we ended up here, fifty miles at least away from home. We made our daring escape in the dead of the night, and haven’t looked back. Not that we could; if we were to return, we would be sentenced for disobedience; there truly was no turning back now. 

“Austin” I pleaded, walking along side him. “How did you do that?” I asked again, this time it coming out a lot harsher than intended.

“My dad. In his research, he said there was a way to manipulate the tattoo without arising suspicion” he spoke very quietly, as if being scared we might be overheard. 

“I think it did arise some sort of suspicion” I told him with a frown. “He seemed pretty pissed after he scanned your tattoo” I reminded him, not that I needed to. 

“Yeah well, it’s not always foolproof” Austin shrugged. “But it got them off our back long enough to get far away from here” he pointed out, and I couldn’t argue. We’d have enough time to be out of sight, but certainly not out of mind. 

We walked along the side of what used to be a road for what felt like an eternity. My feet began to throb from the shoes I wore that were a size too small. My lungs were burning from the long walk. I tried to get the last drop from my water bottle with no luck. 

“Austin-” I was about to voice my displeasure when he stopped in front of what looked to be the remnants of a house. The house looked to be an old Victorian style, one that was hardly seen in today’s world. “Woah” 

“Yeah. We’re here” he stated, wasting no time going up to the front door. 

“Wait- what if someone lives there?” I asked him, but it doesn’t stop him.  He continues to walk towards the door, which was left slightly ajar. 

“Careful” Austin whispers, opening the door. It opens with a creek, revealing a run down living area. There was no furniture, only a fireplace that was across the room from the front door. The dust had to be at least an inch thick, and there looked to be ash on top of the layer of dust. 

“What is this place?” I ask Austin, who’s busy looking in his back pack for something. He pulls out the map, and taps on the page. The closer I look, I realize it’s not a map; it’s a layout of the house, this house. 

“It should be here” he mutters, heading straight towards the fire place. We both walk carefully and unsure, the creaking floorboards causing me to jump. He looked at the fire place, with a puzzled look on his face. “Dammit.” 

“Will you please explain to me what’s going on?” I asked, annoyed. Losing my balance I set my hand on the side of the fireplace. Austin looks mad, until he realizes I’ve pressed some sort of button; the inside of the fireplace spreads open, revealing a secret door. 

“Nice work” he complimented me, taking no time going through the small opening. He still won’t answer my question, and I become more frustrated with the situation. 

Following him through the opening, we come to what looks like a library. Unlike the house, there’s no dust or ash; it’s in pristine condition. It made no sense to me; why was this house here, clearly hiding this library? Though there weren’t many books, it had the layout of one of our libraries. 

“What are we looking for?” I asked Austin, who clearly was looking for something in particular. 

“I don’t know” he confessed, setting down his back pack. “My dad lead me here. His research led him here. From his notes it seems like this is the place where we can find out the origins” 

“The origins?” I asked, confused. 

“Of our world. Of how all of this shit happened” he gestured around him. “Why we have these stupid tattoos, why were so divided. Why we can’t have our opinions, or have any freedom of expression. Why our food is so scarce, and why people like us who search for the truth, end up just like my dad” he ends his rant, slightly out of breath. “The world wasn’t always like this. And I think my dad knew it” 

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to believe him, but it went against everything we were taught. There were rules; strict rules. If you abided by them, you could live. If not, well, they didn’t always tell us the consequences. 

“Then let’s find out” I told him, taking a look around the room. It wasn’t a huge room; no smaller than your typical primary bedroom. There were no windows, but the walls and floors were pristine, and looked like they were recently redone. I looked around the room to see if there was anything that looked out of place when I saw it. “Here.” I point to a small shelf in the corner that held a large ledger. 

Austin rushes over to the shelf, holding his breath as he opened it. He spends a little bit of time reading, before he pulls out a small heart locket, with the letters T.W etched delicately on it. He picked it up, we both admired its beauty. 

“T.W…” I trail off, taking it from Austin’s hands. He looks back to the book, but I inspect the locket a little further. It’s tiny and silver, and the small little latch is undone. Opening it, I’m disappointed when nothing is inside. 

“This is it” Austin looked at me with a smile. “It has everything!” He’s smiling, happy his dad’s work and death were not in vain. “Sixty years ago, there was world war three, caused by something called cancel culture?” Austin reads, and we’re both confused. 

“What’s that?” I asked him, and he shrugs. 

“I don’t know. But it caused a war, and it looks like there was a massive atomic bomb that absolutely levelled the world…” he trails off, looking at me. “This has everything.” 

“So, what do we do?” I asked him, my heart racing. 

“You hand it over.” 

My head whips around at the sound of the familiar male voice. He was alone this time, his companions gone. Did he follow us here? 

“I’ll do no such thing” Austin spat, clutching the book close to his chest. Before he can notice, I shove the locket into my pocket, hoping if we get searched they don’t find it. 

The constable smirked, clapping his hands before a swarm of men file into the room behind him. Austin and I back up, stopping when we hit the wall behind us. 

“I’m sorry Samantha” Austin whispered, and I cringed at the use of my full name. 

“This isn’t over” I sneered at the constables, but their smiling faces are the last thing I see before I find everything go dark.