Under normal circumstances, I would wake up on the morning of the 31st and be welcomed by the comfort of my room. Streaks of morning sunlight would stream through my room, casting its gleaming rays over every corner, giving everything a subtle morning glow. It was the epitome of comfort and security. Something that you feel less and less of as you get older.

I would begin the day by greeting my parents, having breakfast and then getting ready to go to the Central Sector with my family. Being an only child meant that this process was usually quite quick. I didn't have to wait for anybody else to get ready. As a general rule, my parents were always early for anything. From Unit Lessons to Ceremonies, it was a priority for them to always be early.

Thirty-one March. A day I had always dreaded.

It was not because I was yet another year older, or that everyone I interacted with spent the entire day reminding me of that fact. It was not even because it was another year closer to The Day. It was because every year, on every teenager's birthday, the Leaders sent them on a compulsory blind Excursion. This Excursion always began with a Test.

I was told that the Excursion would be a mock up of what we could possibly experience after we turned Eighteen. The only difference was that this was in a completely controlled environment. The Leaders controlled the circumstances and situations we would face based on their examination of our Tests. This wasn't something we could prepare for and we never knew what the Test and Excursion would have in store for us.

The odd thing about the this was that as hard as I tried to, I could never remember any of my previous Tests. I distinctly remembered every single one of my birthdays. I remembered what I did during the day and even what I wore. But for reasons unbeknownst to me, I could never remember what I did in the Tests or what happened during the Excursions.

I remembered going to the Central Sector for them, but every moment from when I walked into that Test to when I walked out of the Excursion Simulator was a complete blank to me. I always found this strange, but my parents constantly reminded my of how dangerous questioning the Leaders and their ways could be. Especially if it was regarding the ways of The City and The Motives of The Leaders.

They enforced this by reminding me of the story of Earl Dorin. He was a lonely, elderly man that worked in the Forest Sector. He worked alone, sometimes with a few other members of The Sector, but mostly alone. He had no family unit and was fully devoted to his work in The Forest Sector.

It was during the time of Construction. Buildings were popping up overnight and trees were always being cut down to provide supplies for the Construction Sector to work with. Mr. Dorin, as my parents would always say, was a curious man. It was this curiosity that got him into trouble with The Leaders.

One day, Mr. Dorin decided that the Construction Sector was taking too much from the Forest Sector and decided to speak to The Leaders about it. He made a spectacle of it and even gathered a group of people who were willing to speak to the Leaders with him.

The day for Earl and his allies to speak to The Leaders came, and he set out to speak to them. He was in good spirits but this enthusiasm wasn't shared by his allies. By dusk of that very same day, Earl's group of allies returned without him, ashen-faced and refusing to speak to anyone. Not even amongst themselves, about what had happened with The Leaders. The next morning, the group returned to work as if nothing had ever happened and Earl was still nowhere to be seen.

Rumours went wild. People claimed that The Leaders had sent Earl to the Prison Sector for questioning and rallying against them. Others believed that they had Exiled him. The Optimists preferred to believe that perhaps The Leaders had defied their own laws and had given Earl a job within the City Sector. But even I knew that that was a long shot.

My parents never listened to or encouraged rumours of any kind. However, they constantly reminded me of how important it was to never do what Mr. Dorin and his allies had done, because it would always end badly. We never found out what happened to him or where he ended up. The City never mentioned him nor did they mention anything about the allies that were with Mr. Dorin that fateful day. He simply disappeared.

It was because of this that I had to very quickly learn to stop questioning The City and The Leaders as well as their motives. I had to teach myself to silence the innumerable questions that filled my head every time something that I thought was strange happened in our lives. It was no easy feat, but I sure as hell made sure I did everything in my power to make sure I achieved it.

I continued to live this way. It became the norm for me. I stopped questioning the Tests and diligently under went both the Test and the Excursion. I lived this way for all the years to follow. All those days were eventually leading up to my Eighteenth. The day that changed every teenagers life forever.

Now, it was my turn. My birthday would be different. I was not going to be tested or put in a simulation. I was not even going to go back to the comfort of my home or my Family Unit. On this day, everything would change. It was the day I would receive My Glow, My pathway and My Destiny.

To say I was nervous, would be the understatement of the century.