The first thing I remember was the blinding light. My eyelids opened and I blinked until the fuzzy flashing dots stopped. The first thing I thought was, Where am I?
The room I was in had all white walls, ceiling, and floor. It made the light even brighter. I was enclosed in a glass case which looked like a coffin. I didn’t remember what this place was or why I was here. Also, who was I? I looked down at my french-manicured fingernails. The hair on my back felt long.. When I looked to the side, I could see its wavy brown-ness. This feeling in my gut was rising that I was trapped for an unjust reason.
“Hey!” My own voice surprised me as I let out a staccato shout. I took a deep inhale and then, “Let me out!” echoed around the room.
“You’ve awoken,” a man’s voice replied. “Good. It’s time to let you out, 15-22.”
“What’s that?” I asked as the man unhinged the top of the glass case and let me out.
The man smiled but it creeped me out more than it comforted me. “You are the 22nd 15-year-old who has been collected and 15-22 is also your name.”
I had a word for myself  now, that complicated things a little less. 15-22, that’s me. The man walked over to a mirror and mentioned me to follow him. I stared deep into the green eyes of my reflection. That’s me? I stroked my hair and smoothed out the sky blue loose-fitting dress that I was wearing. I wondered how I got the dress because I didn’t remember it. Then again, I didn’t remember much of anything.
The man left me with an apple, a turkey sandwich, and a glass of water. It was around a half hour before he returned. Once I was given the food, I realized how hungry I was. The apple was juicy, yet crunchy. Just how I like it, a thought came into my head. It was strange because I didn’t remember eating an apple before.
The man opened the giant steel door to the room. “We are ready for you. Follow me.”
I followed him down a long hallway that was a pale blue-gray color with black tile floors. There were many steel doors along the hallway that looked just like the one that led to the room I was previously in. It surprised me to see ten other people in that room. Five of them were dressed like the man who was escorting me. My mind told me that they were a wearing what a typical doctor would wear. Maybe I can’t remember many things because I’m sick, I thought. Maybe that’s why I’m here.
The other five people in the room looked like teenagers. Two of them were girls and wore loose-fitting dresses like the one I had on. One of the dresses was green and the other was orange. The other three teenagers were boys and wore loose-fitting t-shirts and pants. Two of the outfits were red and the other was blue. They all had similar confused expressions on their faces and the girl wearing orange even looked a bit afraid. A woman wearing a white blouse and a black pencil skirt entered the room. The man left the room almost immediately afterward and was followed by all of the other people who looked like doctors.
The woman, who looked in her mid-40s, flipped her over-bleached blonde hair and began to speak to me and the other teenagers. “Ah, welcome,” she sighed. “I’m sure you all know your number names by now. So, let me explain how things are in Life, which you are going to live. There are a few essential rules but I’m sure you all will do very well in Life.” She handed us each a piece of paper that had the rules written on them.”
The woman turned toward me, “15-22, please read us the rules out loud.”
I read, “Rule 1: Always follow directions given by Officials. Officials are recognizable by their white shirts or blouses. Rule 2: Do not speak to anyone who is not wearing the same color clothing that you are unless you are given permission by an Official. Rule 3: Show up to your assigned job on time and do your job to the best of your ability. Rule 4: Do not accept anything others say, or speak of anything yourself, that questions the Officials or Life. Rule 5: You may have friends but it is prohibited to love. Rule 6: Do not attempt to leave.”
Something from my distant memory told me that some of these rules weren’t sensible, but I pushed the thought aside. The woman led us out of the room. We all walked to the end of the hallway and then clammered down wide metal stairs to what looked like a subway station. There was no one else there besides us. The whole room was painted in tones of gray and there was a large mural on the right wall. “Life,” it read in swirly white letters with blue, green, orange, and red flowers sprouting out of it. In the middle of the floor there were six benches arranged in a hexagonal shape.
“The color of your train will match the color of your clothing and it will take you directly to your correct region. These wristwatches that I am holding will be your greatest help in Life. If you remove them from your wrist you will be violating the fourth rule of Life. Good day ladies and gentlemen.” The woman gave us our wristwatches and left us all there to wait for our trains.
Almost instantly, the blue train arrived. The boy who was wearing blue clothing and I boarded the train. The inside of the train was brighter than the graveyard-like train station. Everything inside the train was in shades of blue. I sat close to the door and the boy, even though all of the other seats were available, sat right across from me.
“Who are you?” he asked in a friendly tone.
I answered, “I’m 15-22, and you are…?”
“16-31.”
Silence surrounded us for most of the train ride. I was staring out the window into the blackness of the tunnel wall while 16-31 was fiddling with his wristwatch. “Wow,” 16-31 broke the silence, “This is like a SmartWatch.”
“What’s a SmartWatch?”
“Ummm… I forgot. Sometimes I get these memories that randomly come to the surface and they make perfect sense for three seconds, Then the sensibleness of them just fades away and I am left with nothing but that small memory. Do you remember things.”
“Just the basic things I assume everyone else remembers. Nothing like a SmartWatch, whatever that is. But, I want to know what’s going on, why it’s going on and why I can’t remember anything”
“Yeah, me too.”
The train stopped and its doors opened. We both got out and discovered that small maps on our wristwatches were showing us the way to where we would live during Life. 16-31 and I began to walk in opposite directions.
“Maybe we’ll see each other again!” I heard 16-31 call from the distance.
I didn’t know why, but I began to feel extremely tired. Once I reached my room, I flopped onto the bed. I glanced at my wristwatch and it was only 8pm. My room’s main colors were white, blue, and gold, I thought it was very pretty. I opened the dresser drawer to put in my copy of Life’s six rules. I found blue pajamas and other blue clothing. I changed into the blue pajamas and crawled into bed. My wristwatch beeped and I read what was shown, “Tomorrow is your first day of work at the Food Distribution Center. Get a good night’s sleep!”
Sleep came to me quickly.
Beep. Beep. Beep. I opened my eyes. My vision is blurry, I was in a strange bed, a machine to my right is beeping, and a my arm is attached to something. I try to move it but my arms won’t raise. Pain struck like lightning and I screamed. No, I didn’t scream. I couldn’t open my mouth. Help me. No one was coming because I couldn’t move or make a sound but the pain was unbearable. The machine stopped beeping and then my vision went black. The excruciating pain was still present. A mournful scream ripped through my head, “KARIN!”
“STOP!” I shrieked.
I blinked my eyes and found myself in the same bed that I had fallen asleep in. “What a nightmare,” I whispered. My wristwatch beeped and I realized that I would be late for work if I didn’t get ready right away. I changed from my blue pajamas to a blue t-shirt and jeans. My reflection stared at me from the mirror across the room. My hair looked hideous. I searched in the drawers to find something to tie it up with. A gold hair tie appeared in the very last drawer. I quickly pulled my hair out of my face, threw on the blue flats tennis shoes that were by the door, and headed to the area where the train had dropped me off last night.
There were many people in blue clothing that were waiting for the train already. I would guess that their ages ranged from thirteen to eighteen years old. I found 16-31 in the crowd. He looked nervous so I walked up to him and said, “You look nervous, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing,” he responded.
I didn’t believe him. “I can tell that there’s something wrong.”
His expression turned very serious. “Can I trust you?”
“You can. You’re the only person I know.”
“15-22, I’m pretty sure you know a lot more people than just me. Where are you working today?”
“The Food Manufacturing Distribution Center.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”
The train arrived and the crowd rushed inside. I lost 16-31 in the chaos. A tall boy ran into me and I almost fell over.  I ended up sitting next to a girl with short black hair. She had a white hair tie on her wrist and was wearing a blue long sleeve dress with a skirt that came just above the knees.
“You must be new here,” she shook my hand. “I’m 18-12 and that person who ran into you is the annoying 18-54. Who are you?”
“I’m 15-22,” I answered.
“Cool. I’d like to chat but I’m afraid that my stop is coming soon. Hope you live through your first work day, newbie.” 18-12 waved goodbye in a friendly way and left the train when its door opened. My wristwatch beeped and it made me aware that my stop was next.
“Welcome to the Food Manufacturing and Distribution Center,” an Official greeted me when I entered the building. Somehow I had navigated my way there. Well, my wristwatch really did most of the navigating. I was rushed to an area where they packaged fruits and vegetables. An Official told me what to do and soon I was busy at work. Before I knew it my wristwatch rang, “Lunch break!” I followed the other people who worked in the fruit and vegetable packing area to a big room that I assumed was the cafeteria. There were blue, green, orange, and red tables.  All of the tables were already set with food. I sat at a vacant blue table and began to eat my lunch. I saw 16-31 entering the cafeteria and I motioned for him to come sit next to me. He rushed over and grabbed a sandwich.
“Bring the rest of your sandwich and come with me,” he said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Just come on.”
I snatched a few fish sticks before 16-31 led me to a the hallway where the bathrooms and one box closet were.
“Quick, give me your wristwatch,” he said.
“Why? What are you doing?” I was questioning whether I should trust 16-31.
“Please, 15-22.”
I gave him my wristwatch and he fiddled with it until it make a boing-like sound. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the closet that was full of boxes.
“What are you doing!?” I said in a harsh whisper. “You’re going to get us into so much trouble!”
“Listen.” He sat down on one of the boxes. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I decided to mess a little bit with my wristwatch. It turns out that the Officials are using us for something and the wristwatches are how they give orders but also how they spy on everyone. I don’t know what they’re using us for but they’re going to make us die again once we have done our part.”
“Wait.” I sat on the box next to 16-31. “What do you mean that they’ll make us die again?”
“You see, we were all already dead. The people who looked like doctors fixed us up, put some chemical in our heart to make us live, and put some chemical in our brain to allow the memories of basic things but block everything else. We died somehow and they collected us to bring us to life. What they don’t know is that the brain chemical hasn’t been perfected. We need to leave. I hacked my wristwatch and found us an exit. I also hacked yours. The Officials can’t send us commands or see what we are doing.”
That explains my dream last night, I thought.
“Why are you dragging me into this?” I asked.
He sighed, “My memories are coming back, a lot. I found out that my name is Erik, I died in a car crash, and I’m your brother. I think your name is Karin.”
“It is.” I remembered the scream from my dream, “I died in a hospital of… cancer. I just remembered now.”
“Who’s in there?” A girl’s voice came from outside the door and then the door opened. It was the a girl in a green outfit. She had the same white hair tie around her wrist that 18-12 had on in the train. “You have violated the rules of Life. Come with me.”
“NO!” I shouted in the girl’s face.
She was about to grab me when Erik pushed her out of the the way. “RUN KARIN!”
We booked out of the buildings and ran for our lives. We ran all the way past the train tracks to a high metal fence. I began to climb and Erik climbed alongside me. When I reached the top I felt something slash my shoulder. I looked down and saw the woman with the pencil skirt pointing a big metal object that I didn’t recognize. She was aiming it at Erik’s head. I grabbed Erik and shoved him onto the safe side of the fence. I followed as something flew directly above my head.
“We made it Erik,” I gasped.
Erik smiled. “We certainly did.”