Sapience

by bret Wellman

  When the bell rang, a loud ding, a shaggy brown haired boy with pimples walked up to my desk.

  "So how’s your first day?" He seemed dorky but all-in-all a good kid.

  "It just started." I said. Two blond haired girls stared at me from behind him. I did my best not to show them I had noticed.

  "Well yea but how is it so far?" by the expression on his face I could tell he was a bigger nerd than I thought. Soon it wasn’t just the two blonds staring, it was the entire class.

  "Good..." Part of me just wanted to cut the kid off mid-sentence and make a b-line for the door. Better to not make enemies, I figured.

  "Hey do you mind showing me to my next class?" I pulled out my schedule and handed it to him.

  "Yea sure, my next class is right next door to yours." I followed him to his desk so he could gather his stuff. "I'm Neal." He added. I just nodded.

  The halls were surprisingly less crowded than I had expected as we made our way to second hour. My guess is that the school was meant to hold many more than the measly five hundred it held right now. Some classrooms were completely barren I noticed as we walked past. Not a single desk behind the locked doors.

  "So where did you go before you were here?" He asked.

  "A school in one of the Kingdom's royal cities."

  "Were there a lot of kids in your school?"

  "A lot more" I lied, there had been less than one hundred in our wing of the building.

  He looked expectant "I bet you had so many girls to choose from."

  "We were too busy training to notice." That was the truth.

  "Training?" He looked at me curiously. My jaw went tight.

  "Like homework and what not."

  I would have to watch what I was saying to these people. If one wrong thing I said got reported, the Kingdom might come crashing down on us.

  He just shrugged it off, believing what I said.

  We walked back by the front office to a set of classrooms on the other half of the building. Neal followed me to the door.

  "Good luck." He said as I walked through.

  The rest of the morning passed about the same. Both my English and Science teachers made me stand up in front of the class. By the second time I was no longer embarrassed but still made my way thankfully to my seat.

  After a couple of classes I was getting waves from people I had met earlier in the day. In every class at least one person would start asking about my past and I would have to lie. I tried to keep it simple so I wouldn’t get the lies mixed up in the future.

  Neal caught me before lunch and walked with me to the cafeteria. I listened as he explained who and where everyone was in the social ladder of the school. From what I grasped, the football players ruled the land.

  We ate at a table with six of his friends. He introduced all of them but their names were quickly forgotten. Damn this new brain.

  I was the center of discussion for a while until they started running out of things to ask. I kept my answers as plain as possible, a necessary strategy to keep my history on the down low. As the main group started to break apart into a bunch of smaller conversations I heard a couple names I recognized.

  "I heard Spencer and Brianna Frost just stood there and watched," a boy with black hair said.

  "I would of too. It’s not very often you get to see two kids fighting on campus," another boy with bright red hair and freckles said.

  "Yea but they didn’t even try to get a teacher."

  Spencer and Brianna were the names of the two younger escapees I was looking for. They were eighteen, exactly the same age as me.

  I listened intently through the rest of lunch but the names never came up again. Eventually the bell rang announcing the end of lunch. Neal waited for me to get up then showed me where my history class would be.

  When I walked in I was forced once again to introduce myself before I could sit down. The class started quickly and I was soon hearing stories of the great Kingdom's rise to power. It was all worship and false stories of how the Kingdom saved its people. I knew the truth. The Kingdom hadn’t saved anyone, it hurt them.

  One story was about an evil man who had been put to death after blowing up a famous building. The government had swooped in with a great display of power and captured the man in his sleep, proving to the people that no one could hide from them. I happened to have read a document once that laid out the plans of this “Attack”. The man was an innocent nobody, barely a thorn in the Kingdom’s side. He ran a small town news paper that was just a little bit too patriotic for the Kingdom's liking. So the government set off the bombs and framed the man. That last part was what they didn’t teach us.

  Before I knew it the bell rang and I was off to gym.

  The Gym was off on its own in a field house. It took me a while to figure out where to go and when I finally did I was running late.

  I burst through the two black double doors and stumbled into the yellow floor of the gym. The ceiling was higher than in any building I had ever seen. I guess that’s not saying much considering the government building and the school's ceilings weren’t very high and those were the only buildings I had ever been in. To my right there was a towering set of wooden bleachers that almost stretched all the way up to the ceiling.

  A group of students in gym shorts and tee shirts gathered on a similar set of bleachers on the other side. A large man in a red sweat suit holding a clip board was calling names as I walked up.

  "Brianna Frost." I froze as he said the name.

  She raised her hand as she saw me.

  She had dark brown hair that was almost black, deep dimples on her cheeks and big blue eyes that glowed the same as mine. Her body was small and petite, yet lean and fit from the years she had spent training for the Kingdom.

  The Kingdom separated the boys and girls as we grew up. There was only a short time in every day we were able to interact. Though I had never really ever talked to Brianna I remembered her from the government building. I didn’t remember her being so… attractive. That was what made me freeze. I wasn’t ready to see her in that kind of a light.

  Pure terror crossed her face as she watched me staring at her.

  "You must be the new guy." The large man in the sweat suit glanced back to his clipboard. "William Fay?"

  Snapping out of my trance, I nodded then made my way up to where she was sitting. She was rigid, every muscle in her body tensed as I sat down next to her.

  "I’ll kill myself before I ever let you take us!" She said in a tense whisper without looking in my direction.

  I didn’t know what to say. Her anger was overwhelming. I couldn’t believe it, what was the matter with this girl?

  "We’re never going to be some government pet." A tear rolled down her cheek. I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.

  "Me neither, that’s why we broke out." I said trying to defuse the situation.

  "You may think us physical users are dumb but you’re not fooling me."

  The Kingdom had separated us into two groups back at their buildings, physical and mental. Physical users had the power to do things like control fire and ice, some could make things levitate using only their mind. There were only three mental users: Adrian Lillie and I, our power was simply being unbelievably smart.

  Without warning Brianna jumped up and started to run down the bleachers.

  "I’m sick." She said as she past the teacher. Within seconds she had sprinted across the gym and out of the door.

  What had gotten into her? I wondered as I pulled out my phone and clicked speed dial. It rang twice then I heard Adrian’s voice.

  "Did you see them?"

  "Brianna, they're using the last name of Frost." Before I could say anything else Adrian hung up.

  "I’m going to give you a warning because this is your first day Mr. Fay. No cell phones in class." The teacher announced.

  Embarrassed I put the phone in my pocket. After roll call the teacher lead us to the basketball court for cali
sthenics. It felt good to stretch my limbs after sitting at a desk all day. As I stretched, my mind kept wondering back to Brianna. The way she looked was stunning and the way she acted was frightening. Did she think I was going to take her away?

  "You think you’re better than me?" A deep voice asked.

  Three jocks were standing over me. The smaller two laughing like the bigger one had just made a joke.

  "No" I said. I definitely didn’t want to be on this guy’s bad side.

  "Well you’re not and if I ever see you look at Brianna like you did today, you’ll be sorry." His two buddies burst out laughing as he turned and walked away.

  The rest of gym went by uneventful. The teacher separated us into groups then sent us onto the basketball courts. I made it a point to avoid the three jocks. When the bell rang I made my way out while everyone was heading toward the locker rooms.

  Last hour government went by in a flash. I sat in the back and listened to the teacher, a woman with curly black hair and glasses, Ms. Tannin. It was basically more worship of the Kingdom and things you will have to do for them when you get older.

  The final bell rang and I made my way out of the class, happy the first day was over. Most of the kids went to their lockers, I was in a hurry to get home and made a b-line for my car. The evening sun beat down on me as I crossed the parking lot.

  When I got to my car I was almost the first one out of school. Apparently everyone liked to stay after until the busses left on the other side of the building.

  "How did you find us?" A voice I recognized asked. I turned to see a tall, lean, and muscular boy with straight teeth and untidy blond hair.

  "Spencer." I said and took a step forward. I was quickly stopped by Brianna who held the point of a long icicle to my throat. I hadn’t even known she was there. I knew she would kill me if I so much as flinched so I tried to stay a still as possible.

  "We used your daily habits and personalities to figure out where you would decide to go. Between that and the initial direction of your departure we decided there was a sixty percent chance you’d end up here." It was hard to talk with the ice poking my throat but I think I did ok.

  "What’s the Kingdom giving you to catch us?" He said through clenched teeth.

  "Nothing, we broke out just like you."

  Brianna pushed the point harder making me cough. If I couldn’t find a way to make them believe me I would soon be dead. I could see it in her eyes.

  "He’s not lying." Out of nowhere Adrian came walking up and pointed a gun at Spencer. "And if I were you I would watch where I stick that thing."

  Seeing the gun pointed at Spencer’s head made Brianna reluctantly pull the ice from my throat. I'm never going to live down the fact that he saved me. I thought as we all squared off.

  I looked around the parking lot, there were a few kids coming out of the building. No one seemed to be paying close enough attention to us to notice what was going on.

  "How’s your sister Spencer?" Adrian asked casually as if we were all sitting down for coffee or something.

  "Why did you come here?" Spencer said without moving a muscle.

  Though Spencer looked scared Brianna just stared at me, her blue eyes full of hate. I wished I could tell her what was going on. Let her know we were friends and not enemies but right now anything I said would be taken as a threat.

  "We figured it might be fun to stay with friends. We can help each other Spencer." Adrian’s cocky calm never broke stride.

  "You’re not going to fool us so stop trying."

  "Whatever." Adrian shrugged. "William get in your car and go home." He put the gun in his coat and started walking away.

  "I didn’t mean to cause any trouble." I said to Brianna before closing my car door and speeding away. None of the students walking by had seen our showdown and showed no alarm. They just gawked at my Aston Martin.

  When I pulled out of the school a shiny black and red crotch rocket cut me off while doing a wheelie. I slammed on the brakes and cringed as Adrian flicked me the bird. I couldn’t help but laugh at his stupid one handed maneuver. Why he chose a crotch rocket I would never know. We both stopped at the first light in town. At least he had the brains to wear a helmet. It matched the red and black of his bike. He revved his engine and I knew what he wanted. I tightened my hands on the wheel as I prepared to race him home.

  Chapter 3

  The next day I didn’t know quite where I stood.

  A lot of people were beginning to warm up to me. A group of kids even asked if they could take turns sitting in my car when I got to school in the morning. Neal slapped me five at the door (a nerdy gesture but I did it anyway) and followed me through my next two classes. The stares from yesterday had died down leaving me some room to breathe. At lunch the six other kids at our table treated me like I was just another friend.

  But yet every time a passed Spencer he looked like he wanted to kill me. The Jock from gym (I found out his name was Blake) knocked a pile of books out of my hands when I passed him in the hall and soon after I caught a few whispers about me from his high and mighty friends. Some people flat out ignored me when I asked for directions to the bathroom before gym and the worst was Brianna chose to act as if I never even existed.

  All morning I found my mind kept wandering back to what she might be like when she saw me today. I practiced what I would say over and over.

  “Hey, sorry you think I’m here to capture you. Want to be my partner in gym?” or “Want to team up today? I promise I won’t kill you.”

  When I was driving into school I even thought about what she might be wearing. Tight blue jeans, or maybe a skirt! Would her shirt match her glowing eyes? I quickly realized I had never seen her in street clothes. At the government buildings we were assigned uniforms and yesterday she was in her gym attire.

  Most of the morning flew by without me even noticing what was going on around me.

  Unfortunately when I tried to talk to her at gym she turned her head and walked away. For the rest of the hour she hovered around Blake without giving as much as a glance in my direction.

  The gym teacher split us off into teams and sent me on the other side of the gym for a basketball game. I watched her the whole time waiting to see if she would look over. I was looking for the slightest hint that she believed what I had said yesterday. It never came.

  I walked to government feeling disappointment flood my body. I guess in reality this is what I should have expected.

  It is a good thing they are cautious, I kept telling myself as class started, yet couldn’t get rid of the frustration I felt.

  I wasn’t really feeling up to do anything the rest of the day. I tried to interact with the other kids but I pretty much just wanted to go home. I kept catching myself drifting off when the other kids were talking.

  When school was over I found Neal standing by my car asking for a ride. "Please?" He begged. I would feel bad if I left him behind.

  "Okay." I finally said. He was in the passenger seat within seconds.

  "This car is sweet! How can you afford it?"

  "I come from a very rich family. When my parents died all the money went to me." A drastic lie I realized, but one that would make a good cover.

  "I'm sorry. Nobody told me."

  I started to drive out of the parking lot without responding. That ought to add a nice little touch to the lie.

  "So my parents just bought me the new Kingdom defender video game." He said trying to break the awkward silence. "It’s two players, you in?"

  The idea of playing a character that had the same background as me, a child raised and altered for the sole purpose of defending the Kingdom, sounded kind of cool. Except that the truth is, we were meant to kill in the name of the Kingdom... and all the Kingdom’s video games usually sucked.

  "I still have to unpack." I said.

  "Oh well that’s cool." He was clearly disappointed. I felt bad but Adrian would be waiting.

  Neal lived in a small town
house on the main strip in town. I had to parallel park on the curb in order to be out of traffic. Not that there were many cars that drove by, just an old station wagon and a beat up truck. You could hear the clicking of the blinking, yellow, stop light when he opened the door. This was the first time I got to see the town up close. It was very rustic and not very active. It felt kind of cozy to be honest.

  I dropped Neal off and after a few dozen "thank you’s" I was on my way home.

  Last night I had found out how Lillie and Adrian had done so much to the house. It was simple; they spent every waking moment of their time working.

  I wanted to have a little fun before they put me to work so I past our driveway and kept on going. I pushed the pedal to the floor and soon the trees were shooting by in a blur. At full speed I passed a car and it seemed almost as if it were sitting still. That was crazy, considering it was probably doing over fifty-five. The sound of the engine roared as I pushed its limits. It felt good to see the world fly by, the trees were a solid wall on either side. For an instant I forgot about my life outside, I forgot about the Kingdom and all the pain they had caused me my entire life. It didn’t matter that my mind was dulled, that I wouldn’t amount to anything anymore.

  The image that haunted my dreams ceased to exist in this place. My first memory, the picture of a baby being ripped out of its mothers arms. I shouldn’t have ever been able to remember that day. By all means I was way too young. But something in the chemicals of my brain allowed me to remember. In the end that was the image that allowed me to rebel against the Kingdom. It was the one thing that made me see through all their lies.

  No, the image was gone here in my Aston Martin, doing one-eighty down the road. Half of me wanted to keep on driving, to never stop ‘til I ran out of gas. Eventually the half of me that contained common sense took over and I turned back for home.