24 December 2012
So you want to know all about me. I've been locked up since my life began. I am an Illegal, an outcast. I am Gemi VanNatta, age 16, born on April 8th, 3062, seven minutes after my older sister, Alana. I am no one to Kasmim, the "perfect" world I have hardly seen. I am a hidden identical twin. Here is my story...
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I wake up to an icy breeze, slipping through a crack in the wall, and nipping at my nose. I lay there, letting the breeze play with my hair and stare up at the rotting beams of the attic. Today is the day of the Census, the day I dread each year. Every three years, each family is to travel to the center of Kasmim, once called something like Newt Yok. The Enumerators clear each pouch of the city to make sure no one is purposefully left behind, so that means I have to go too. Being face to face with danger is better than being questioned then killed. Most Illegals are caught at birth, taken away from their family. I'm lucky. I came unnoticed. No time to go to a birth clinic or see a doctor. I'm lucky and grateful.
Finally, I get up, stretch, and lightly pad over to the stand-up mirror. The ornate carvings dance in the candlelight piercing the early morning sky. A perfect but dreaded day. I study myself in the glass. Same golden hair,
heterochromia eyes; one green, one blue. My skin is pale and my nose is
small. I'm all the same as my sister. I'm not unique at all, which makes me ashamed of myself. I stare at the mirror than finally force myself to slip through the trapdoor into Lilan's room. Lilan, my younger sister who is not a twin, is still sleeping peacefully. No worries for her, not a care. I tiptoe over to the ornamented door that leads to Alana's room and carefully open it. She hands me her dress from last year's Census and awkwardly walks out. Things are always stiff between us; her thinking she has done something wrong by being the older twin and me not knowing what to say. I change into the cotton crimson dress and it falls heavily on my shoulders. It's still too big. That's the problem with me, I have weird DNA since I'm a twin. All my family is tall and I'm short. I'm not like other people. I'm DIFFERENT, not UNIQUE or SPECIAL. I don't belong. That's why twins are illegal in Kasmim. Just because they're different.
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I walk down to the kitchen to pin on my wig sitting on the granite counter. I sit down at the table and chew the oatmeal silently in my mom's chair; as she went to wake Lilan. My father and Alana sit awkwardly, already finished with their breakfast. We all know that today is dangerous...
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An hour later, we arrive at Kasmim's central square, patrolled by Enumerators . Alana and I are soon separated from Lilan and our parents. We walk to the 14-16 year old section, squeeze hands, and let go. I follow the group under the stone "Eutopia" bridge, my heart pounding like a drum. The shining copper gates close with a thud behind us. My heart quickens, knowing that if I am caught, there'll be no escape. The group files to the Enumerators at the tables in the front of the courtyard by the sparkling turquoise waterfall. Soon it is my turn to be questioned and fingerprinted by a thin, wiry Enumerator named Fraila, according to her name tag. Her thin smile appears when she sees me, which only makes me feel worse since she well, SEES me. This is my first Census by myself. Last Census, I was 13 so I went with my parents and they answered all the questions for me. "You can come closer, sweet. I assume this is your first year?" I nod and look around, but all the other 16-year olds don't look nervous at all. "Where do you live?" she quips. "Ummm.." 'Come on! Think!' I search for the name of the pouch I live in and my address. I fold my hands, shift my feet, and duck my head down. Everyone gasps. I look up and see Fraila with her mouth gaping. A wisp of golden hair falls over my left cheek, shining in the sun. My wig had fallen off.
Gemini Chapter One • Opuss № I