I walk out of the commons and into a hallway. I find Abbey leaning against a wall. Her eyes are partially closed and she looks as if she is going to fall asleep. I crouch beside her, grasp her shoulders and lightly shake her. At this she opens her eyes fully and groans.

"How long were you in there for?" she asks, stretching her arms up and legs out in front of her.

I shrug. "Don't know."

"Let's get going. I hate being out after dark" Abbey says as she picks herself up off of the ground. Together we walk out of the commons and toward the level 4 living quarters. I guess it is about 7 pm because of the sky starting to turn pink on the horizon.

"How far did you get into your test before it ended" Abbey questions me curiously. I ponder whether or not I should tell her I finished.

"I got one of the logic questions wrong" I lie. The logic questions are where most people end, so I decide that is where I falsely ended.

"Same! The one about the..." I tune Abbey's chatter out and focus on the sun setting in front of us. Dark orange hugs the edges of the sun, which sinks into the demolished buildings of the city. The further away from the colour is from the sun, the lighter it becomes, creating a fine contrast of pink, orange and blue. There is a certain beauty about it that I appreciate. Beauty is held at a low value in this city, and is hard to find.

As Abbey and I turn a corner, my eyes leave the beautiful sunset and focus on the ugly entrance to level 4's living quarters. It is made out of the entrance of a dilapidated building, with a chain fence around it. In it are a few apartment buildings, and some houses for those who have a steady enough pay to afford them.

I approach an apartment building two away from the gate. As I open the dusty glass door for Abbey, it squeaks, making me cringe. Abbey walks with me to the second floor where we stop.

"I don't think we'll be in the same level after tomorrow" she whispers to me. I shake my head in agreement and wrap my arms around her. She does the same to me and we embrace each other in a hug. I hold back tears from falling out of my eyes.

"Goodbye" I say in a soft tone. And with that, Abbey turns and climbs the stairs to floor five. I lean against the nearest wall and take a deep breath in, then let it out. Heavily breathing was a method I picked up to stop myself from crying after being bullied about my level from those in higher levels then me. Sometimes though, it wouldn't work, and I would just have to lose my dignity and cry in front of them, satisfying any need of wanting to put me down. This is one of those times.

I tuck my shoulders into my body and slide down the wall to the floor. I hug my knees as sobs wrack my body. I know I should be quiet and respect others rights to silence, but they haven't just lost their best friend, their only friend.

I start wiping the tears from my face and take a few deep breaths. I don't want my parents to see me crying, encouraging them to cry with me. When I'm ready, I open the door to my family's apartment and close it quietly, trying not to make any noise. The smell of roast chicken carries through the apartmet and fills my nose. My mother must have made dinner special tonight because she knows it will probably be our last dinner together.

I walk toward the smell and into the kitchen. My mother and father are sitting at the square table where we eat together. I pull out a chair and sit in between my mother and father. We start filling our plates with chicken and roasted vegetables in silence. The silence continues as we eat or meal.

"How did your Intellectual Examination go?" my mother says, breaking the quiet.

I shrug. "It went well". I'm unsure whether I want to tell my parents how far I got. Everything goes quiet after that, the only sound being the clinking of forks against plates.

"How far did you get", my father asks as he puts his cutlery down and looks at me in the eyes.

I look down at my plate. "I got an average way through," I murmur as I scoop some of the vegetables into my mouth.

He sighs. "How far did you really get?" I look back up at him. He knows I'm not being completely honest.

"I-I finished it," I admit to them. At this point I know that my parents want to be alone for a bit. I finish my dinner as quickly as possible, put my dish away, and head to my room. I hear heavy sobs from my mother. I think I can even hear my father crying. He has never cried, at least not in front of me. This reminds me of when I took my first intel exam, when I was 6. I sigh and crawl into my bed. The sound of muffled sobs slowly carries me into a heavy sleep.