Our Identity

Take a deep breath. Inhale, and exhale. “I don’t understand why I am being grounded. Aren’t we supposed to be a peaceful community” I roared, “How can we live peacefully if we have people like that invading and bullying us around?” 

“Well, you shouting at them wasn’t very peaceful” mom replies. 

“But we can’t just let them barge in here anytime they want and take our food, even people!” I exclaim in a rabid rage. 

“Melody, you know that we have no control over what happens, ok just accept the way things are”. 

“I can’t believe you, any of you. You just cower inside your houses whenever those people come, it's like you don’t care enough.” My words grow calmer “Is that what it was mom? You didn’t care enough about dad?”.

She looks down and I realize my words hurt her, but I don’t care. She could have tried to do something when they took him away, even Dad could have fought back. I walk back to my bed and my mind goes back to what had happened that morning. The strange men had come back and tried to take an old woman at the trading market. I yelled at them and tried to push them back, they overpowered me and held me as they took her away. Everyone just fled as soon as they appeared. It doesn’t make sense. It’s like nobody realizes that something is wrong, that it’s not normal for people to be taken from their lives and their families. My dad just left without even trying to stay, accepting his fate like there was nothing to be done. That’s what mom keeps telling me that there isn’t anything we can do, but how can they know if they haven’t tried. I go to sleep in

In the morning my little neighbor Max is being taken away from his parents as they walk him to school.  I know it hurts them. I see it in their face, but all they do is run back to their house as the men leave with Max. What would happen if I followed them? Before I make a conscious decision, my feet are already moving stealthily behind them. They pass through the thick forest, surrounding us. When they get to the outer wall they simply pass through, like ghosts. Dad used to tell me that this wall is here to protect us from dangerous creatures that are outside, but that doesn’t make sense, not if it can be penetrated so easily. I walk up to it right after they are gone and stick my hand through. I drag it across for a couple of meters until it hits something hard, so I decide to stick my head through with my hand. The sight is astounding. There are fields that extend as far as the eye can see ending in tall, jagged mountains. But what catches my eye the most is the building in the middle of it all. It is multiple houses tall and wide. I’ve never seen a building that tall or even heard of one. I pull myself back in and run to my house. 

I have to know the truth. I walk in and my mom is there with many of her friends. 

“Where did you go walking today, Melody?” my mom inquires.

“Oh, I went to the wall”, I wasn’t going to keep it from her. It's not like she would do anything about it anyway. “I followed the men that took Max, and they went straight through the wall like it wasn’t even there. So, I stuck my hand through, and nothing happened”.

“You know that you shouldn’t be doing that, something could happen to you”, she scolded calmly. 

“Yeah, well nothing did” I continue confidently “I also passed my head through, and there is a really tall building out there”

“Do go there anymore, you don’t know what might happen if you do that again”.

“Well, I came back because I’m gonna plan how I’m gonna get back to that building”, I confessed. 

I retire to my room with a nod to my mom’s guests. I grab a backpack and stuff it with some water, food, and a change of clothes. I go out to the yard and catch a jarful of fireflies. Back in my room, an inkling of fear makes a pit in my stomach. Nobody has done this before. What if I’m being too rash? What if I make things worse? What if I die in the process? I remember every time I’ve seen someone being abducted, the terror in their eyes, the grief in the eyes of their families, but they seem unable to comprehend fully. I won’t be able to rest until I can do something for my father, for Max, and that lady from the market. For everyone here that barely has enough to eat. I close my eyes and fall asleep to the feeling of purpose. 

“She must not leave”. I hear a voice outside my room. “If she does, who knows what will become of us. What if she angers the strange people and they attack us?" I realize it’s Rose, one of my mom’s friends from last night. “But we shouldn’t hurt Melody,” utters Charles, one of our neighbors. 

“We won't,” Rose replies, “We’ll simply tie her down. That way she is safe, and we are all safe”. 

I stand up in a panic and grab my backpack. Rose bursts in with a rope in her quivering hands. She approaches me slowly, eyes wide in fear. 

“You shouldn’t do this Melody” she trembles. 

“I do. Please understand, we can’t keep living like this, it isn’t right, things shouldn’t be this way”

“It is the way we have always lived, and it is how we will keep on living,” she sounds stern now. 

Charles makes his way in and lunges at me, throwing me down. Rose follows suit and ties my hands and feet with her rope. They lift me, sit me on my bed and leave. I shout for help, and my mom walks slowly in with a bowl of soup. 

“Rose is convinced that you have gone crazy”

“I have gone crazy. Why can’t you people understand” I cry. 

“Do you want to eat?” she says, raising the spoon. 

“No thanks, I’m fine” I bite.

“Ok, call me when you need anything.” She walks out and closes the door. 

I swing my feet to the floor as quietly as I can and turn my back to the mirror. My wrists begin to burn as I twist them in their restraints and try to reach the knot with my fingers. This isn’t going to work. I squat and fall slowly on my knees and roll until I’m sitting up right. I bend over to try to reach the rope that is at my ankles. But I’m not flexible enough to reach it. I lie with my face to the ground and manage to reach the knot at my ankle with my fingers and untie it. I struggle to stand backup, and my breathing is getting heavier by the second. I move my wrists back and forth, and up and down. It loosens. I walk shakily to my desk and rub the rope against the edge. I guess it's a good thing I got the metal desk instead of the wood one I really wanted. I wince in pain, careful not to make too much noise, as I feel something crawl down my hands. The rope gives out and without a second thought, I grab my backpack and I am out the window. As I run into the forest, I realize that I’ve reached a point of no return. I can’t go back to those people that don’t understand, people who are too dumb to see what is right under their noses. It’s a terrifying thought.

Once I get to the wall, I pause. I rinse the blood off my wrists and wrap them up with fragments of the shirt I had in my backpack. I pass my hand through the wall, and the rest of my body follows it. With more determination than ever, I run towards the building. After 10 min I grow tired and look back at the wall surrounding my home. It looks thick in places, kind of unfinished. Who built it? Why? A rumbling noise surprises me from behind. A car is headed towards me, and I don’t know what to do. Running is useless, so I wait. A man gets off, with the same uniform as those who keep stealing from us. 

“Why are you out here?” he asks.

“I need answers” I snap, “Who are you?”

“Rogers. Come with me”

I stand my ground and cross my arms. 

“If you want answers, you have to come with me” 

“Are you gonna take me back?”

“No, I’m taking you over there,” he points at the building, “Isn’t that where you were going anyway?”

I exhale reluctantly and step into the car.

There are two more men inside in the same blue uniform. The drive is short and quiet until we get to the building. 

“Follow me.” Rogers commands. 

I walk behind him and watch as the doors open as he’s in front of them. The building is mostly white and polished inside. The people stare at me as I walk by, and I glare. Whatever is going on these people know and could be the cause of it. 

Rogers enters a little room and instructs me to go in as well. He presses the highest number on the buttons, and the floor beneath me moves, I jump. 

“It’s an elevator,” he explains. “It carries us higher up the building”. 

My stomach finally catches up and I press my hand against the wall behind to maintain my balance. 

The doors open and we step outside of the elevator. A woman sits at the back of the room at a huge desk. 

“Welcome” she greets. 

I simply look at her. Her hair is black and cut short right below her chin. She wears shoes that lift her heel as though she were on her toes. She has an air of authority. 

“I assure you, I am by no means a threat to you” she states, “My name is Amelia Harris”. 

“I’m Melody,” I say hesitantly. 

“How are you here? No one has ever gotten out of that city” she squints. 

“No answer my questions first” I bite, “Why do you keep taking people?”

“Ah… I’m sure you are angry, but there is a perfectly reasonable, and complicated explanation.” She paused and looked at me intently. “What do you notice of the people you live with? Do they seem off?” 

“A little…” 

“Like what?”

I take a breath, “They don’t seem to grasp that something is wrong, they won’t do anything about the people that you are kidnapping”. 

“Like they are afraid, aren’t they? Physically incapable of doing anything?”

“I wouldn’t say entirely physically incapable, but they are afraid to extremes”

“What do you mean?” she inquired. 

“Well, a neighbor was afraid that if I went outside the wall things would get worse, and she tied me down so I would stay”. 

“Well… that is a good sign”

“What are you talking about? You still haven't answered me!”

She motioned with her hand for me to calm down.

“There was a war a long time ago, stuck in a stalemate for years. People kept charging filled with courage, but countermeasures for both sides were strong. We don’t really remember why it started, that is not the problem it left us with. One side, figured out a way to incapacitate the enemy, but it wasn’t a gun, a bomb or deadly gas, no. It was a virus, highly contagious. The hosts didn’t display any symptoms. In fact, they didn’t even know it existed, but they saw its effects. ‘The Yellow Generation’ or ‘Invertebrate Children’. The kids born after the release of the virus were cowardly, afraid of their own shadows. It was a miracle they learned to walk, but unfortunately only so they could run away. No cure has ever been found, only that the effects dissipate overtime”. 

“Ok, let's say that is true, what happened to the ones that released the virus? And why are we locked up in a city with no real walls?”

“Apparently part of the team that made and released the virus did it so both sides would be affected, and the senseless killing would stop. A few people didn’t suffer any effects, but there were too few, so they made their own community that's where most of us here are from. They created smaller communities and penned up the rest of the world. It took time but that’s how they could keep things in check and try to look for a cure. People eventually started showing signs of changing. That lady that tied you up for example, and you. As for the walls, we figured building them wasn’t necessary, only a couple holograms and we spread a couple of stories that the outside was dangerous”.

“Why are you taking people and our food?”

“Extensive research has shown that to a certain point distress can help further the change, and that is what we can do. We don’t leave you without food entirely though, and the people we take are well taken care of here and help our research.”

“Ok, then. Show me my father” I demand. 

“Of course, what is his name?”

“Mathew Rider”.

We go back to the elevator, but we go down farther than we came up. My father is there in a small room having dinner with Max. He turns to me, and his eyes tear up. “Melody, did they take you too? You wouldn’t believe what is going on? Turns out we are victims of a virus.”

I interrupt him with a hug. 

“I know they told me everything, I’m so glad to see you. I made it out on my own”. 

10 yrs. later…. 

So much time has passed since I first came here, but we see people come out of their communities all the time now. We are building free cities with normal people. The variety is becoming amazing, from the way people dress to how they speak and what they eat. Little by little, we are becoming who we once were, brave souls that stand up to change what is wrong, that conquer seas and mountains.  I guess the creators of the virus were like that too. They were brave enough to stop a war that could only end in our own destruction, even if it meant taking some steps back. Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps back and wait. As we regain our identity, I can’t help but wonder if we are rebuilding the right way or if we are headed to another doomed future. We can only hope that we don’t fall into the same mistakes the people before us made, but only time will tell.