The stone hall echoed with the scrape of shuffling chairs and tables. The lighting pulsated, from glowing orbs, the colour of oranges, positioned near walls throughout the room. Every child in the room was quiet, in fear of disobeying. 

Today was another school day. Alice sat in the back left of the room, at an ancient wooden desk with years' worth of scratches and pen marks. Everyone else's desks were identical: a scribbled-out heart an inch away from the corner, a deep, inch long scratch on the side. 

The silence was contagious until a woman entered the room, with rabbit-like features she clutched a clipboard, needle-like claws holding the softwood in place. 

"Good morning, students."

"Good morning Miss." An instant replay droned from the motionless children in the room, including Alice. A girl's grey-coloured, large ears twitched briefly in front of her.

Alice reached into her school bag, pulling out a heavy book. As the woman stepped down from the front of the room, identical books thumped into place on the desks. On the inside cover of the book read the Civilian's Agreement:

 1. Stay within the lines.

2. Be a part of the community.

3.Don't Break Curfew.

4. Violent acts are forbidden.

5.Appreciate the life around you.

Drawn next to the last one was a picture of the glowing lights and the bright city, in full colour next to the black-and-white of the rest of the text. She began reading the assigned section.

200 years ago, our brave country fought to eradicate the world of war and the ultimate sin of independent thoughts. Before our society was established, there were countless wars, genocides, and hatred towards each other that were all caused by people's individual minds. Here, in the present, we can finally appreciate the power and rightness of being as one. 

It was soon after that the government perfected the DNA enrichment trial, and every citizen was genetically modified with that of a native species of animal, guaranteeing survival among the bitter cold of wartime.

Alice looked up from her reading; some of the children were doing the same, and some were glancing around the room, enjoying the raw beauty of the cave they were studying in. The boy next to her had warm, canine eyes and was staring, relaxed, at the glowing orb over his shoulder.

Alice closed her eyes; after last night's lack of sleep, her thinking was foggy and her heartbeat was slow. As her eyes closed a thought raced through her head. What did I just read? It didn't feel logical at the moment. How can thinking be a sin? She jerked awake, bumping her neighbour in the process. He yelped in surprise, then went back to reading. As Alice glanced an orb, her thoughts jumbled again. Well, of course being different is bad! As she looked away, the same protesting thoughts came back. Curiosity overwhelmed her, and she poked the fox-boy next to her. He didn't react, eyes still glued to the orbs finding them hypnotising.

He mumbled, drowsily, "Isn't it beautiful in here? I just can't get around to the reading." He paused. "I feel so at peace." His words drowned down to a sigh at the end, right as someone cleared their throat and the next lesson began.

~

Alice left the school, starting down the winding, glittering blue path to the bottom of the city, where she and her family lived. Her hooves clicked softly on the sparkling quartz and various ores. The sky up above swirled in dark, mysterious galaxies even though it was only 3 pm. It had been this way since Alice was born: no sun, as the sun was feared, and dark, relaxing night time continued for years at a time.

She reached her home, carved into the deep, vibrant rock, and opened the door. Her parents were in their front room, tidying excessively.

"Hello, Alice," they chimed together. "Please help us. We're expecting company."

 Alice looked confused. She rarely saw anyone not of her family except for when she went to school. She went down the hall to drop her bag off in her room. Her sister's room was across the hall, and vacant. 

Her thoughts were very clear after her strange discovery from earlier. Because she wasn't brainwashed, this sight shocked her. She peeked in. Her sister's belonging were tidily packaged up into cardboard boxes. Not a single thing was left in the room except a barren bed frame and one of the lights in the middle of the ceiling, casting a golden glow on all the walls, which made her feel momentarily light-hearted while noticing it. She jerked her head away and skipped quickly back into the front room, worried.

Her mother was dusting their old, high-definition television. It was on, and through the wisps of feathers, Alice saw a wolfish newsman cheerily discussing the week's weather forecast.

"Clear skies throughout the month." The skies had always been clear since Alice's birth. She confronted her parents. 

"Where's Belle?" Her voice shook even though she tried to cover it up. 

Her mother looked at her with warm, doe eyes.

"Belle has been Removed. It is for the best for our family that she be taken away due to actions or items found to be hers." Her mother quoted the Civilian's agreement flawlessly.

A pang of sorrow shot through Alice's heart. Her heart skipped a beat. The strange feeling came again, tugging her heart down to the pit of her stomach. She had never felt like this before. An orange glow reflected in her mother's inhuman eyes.

A knock on the door caused Alice to flinch nervously and back away towards the hall. Peeking timidly, she saw her father's bulky hands twist the brass knob, and heard the gears shift inside. A tall, strong-looking man with massive, velvety antlers in the indigo suit that government workers wear was standing on the porch.

Alice ducked away, into her sister's room. With her heartbeat in her ears, she saw something hidden in the bed frame as she was catching her breath. Glancing about, she nervously walked over to it and pried it out from the wood. It was a piece of paper, folded many times until it was a solid rectangular block of paper. She clutched it tightly in her hand, prancing across the hall to hide it under her bed. 

The mysterious stag's voice rang throughout the house. Her father's voice called for her, and she masked behind a smile as she walked, almost robotically, out from her cover.

"This man has come to remove Belles' possessions from our home."

"Why has she been Removed, sir?" Alice tried her best to appear under the influence of the lights, but even the stag looked at her like the "sir" was overkill.

His voice was booming and reached Alice's very core. "We have found written evidence in her possession that clearly opposes our morals and beliefs. Multiple written texts were found, and she was Removed at 2:38 this afternoon." He droned on, and then moved forward, walked down the hall, and returned with one of the heavy boxes.

After he finished taking all the boxes and the bed frame from the house, all the while Alice still standing perfectly still and in shock

"Have a good evening." Alice's mother then shut the door behind her and went into the kitchen, put a pot of water on the stove, and waited silently. Her father walked in after her.

"What's for dinner, dear?"

~

After dinner, Alice rushed to her room, back to the piece of paper she had wedged under her mattress. It was still there, and she carefully unfolded it, being careful not to look directly at the light hovering above her bed. It was crumpled in some places, but the writing was still clear enough to read.

She quickly read it. There once were days where the sun shone on the ground every morning...The people went to and from their jobs, wrote letters, stories, poems by the light of swinging electric bulbs...They elected presidents, made their own decisions...

Nowhere in the story did it mention anything that Alice was familiar with. What's a president? What does electric mean? She was huddled in the corner, away from the light's glow. On the top line it read, "Belle, Age 13." This paper was years old. They must have found the others.

She hastily folded the paper back up, shoved it in her coat pocket, and quickly put it on. She slipped out the door.

The streets were empty because most people were still having dinner. She stepped down the path leading up to the house, and watching another truck that was identical to the one that had taken her sister's belongings, noted its direction.

It went left, into a dark cave, lighted occasionally by one of the orbs. She hurried down the pathway into the dark. The orbs caused the shadows to be a deep, blue on the glittering ground. She walked quickly, a wind passed through the fur on the side of her neck.

She paused as she saw a white line at the end of the tunnel as she recalled the 1 rule, Stay Within the Lines but continued anyway. Nobody seemed to notice her as she walked straight through to the end.

A few people were in a room at the end of the hallway, lighted bright orange by the intoxicating lights. One pig, a rabbit, and a dirty fox. She stormed past them silently. They noticed, and instead of shouting, were curious, as if talking to a toddler.

"What are you doing here, kid?" They were smiling as they walked closer to her. "This is not the place for someone like you."

Alice ignored their comments but couldn't understand why they weren't doing anything other more as she had broken the first rule. She continued, to try and avoid them, to the next room locking the door behind her.

At the back of the narrow room, there was a large, old, rusty, red lever, labelled Main Power. Alice had an idea, and if that idea was correct, this was exactly what she needed to do. She grabbed it, with both hands, and shoved it down with all her might.

The lights flickered off, but there was a new form of light emitting from somewhere. Confused shouting began, and Alice ran out of the room, half out of fear, half out of curiosity of why it was not completely dark.

Exiting the tunnel, there were people in the streets, all being lit by a peculiar bluish light. They were looking up, some screaming, all in awe or fear. Ears were plastered to heads and tails were between legs.

Above the city was light blue, brighter than any of the lights Alice had seen in her lifetime. She almost tripped. In ridding the world of the lights, she had brought the evil back into the world.

Panicked, she ran past her house. Sirens echoed in the distance. She heard mumblings.

"It was some deer kid." They all seemed out of breath.

She collapsed in an alleyway. If the sun was supposedly so evil, why hasn't anything happened yet? No one had burst into flame, as some of her classmates in Primary school had hypothesized.

Shuddering, tired, and out of breath, two wolves found her, one picking her up. They dumped her in the back of a blue van, Removal Services painted on the side.

~

When Alice woke, she was in a dark, stale smelling room. She was confused, panicked, and her arms and legs ached. She sat in a red chair. Across from her sat a woman. 

This woman had no DNA Enhancements.

Her hair was a light, platinum blonde, but was fully human. No fox's snout, no deer's antlers, no wolves fur, no rabbit's ears. Her eyes were piercing and her breath caught in her throat. 

Lighting the room were a series of glass balls with light flowing through. Electricity? The woman began speaking.

"You know you've done something unspeakable." Alice nodded, mortified. "You know." She paused. "And for that reason, you have been asked to be disposed of, Removed."

Disposed of? What does that mean? She couldn't speak. She stood up, without a word more, and walked up to her, stroking the fur on her head. She chuckled, her voice bittersweet.

"A silly-looking invention, really, the DNA Enhancements. Makes me feel like I'm in some fairy tale." She walked back to her desk and pressed a button, speaking into a microphone.

"Come and take her away."

A young doe walked into the room, eyes glazed and black, with markings like Alice and a face like Alice. She put her hands over her mouth before Alice could cry out and guided her away.

Tears clouded her vision. Then, turning a corner, she shoved her through an open door into an empty room, locking it behind her. As the red smoke began to pour in, the last thing Alice saw was the face of her sister looking through the window on the door.