It had been 3 months since I left the Lab. Every day I woke up to my parents calling me for breakfast and Aldo bounding up to force me out of bed. I chose whatever my heart desired from the fridge and spent the day sitting outside, pondering the importance of my parents.

It was at the start of one of these mornings that I woke with a start to a soft scratching sound and a thump outside my door.

Warily, I climbed out of bed and grabbed a book in my hand. I presumed that story about the war had been more than just a story to me. I felt people were out to get me.

The book was raised high in my hands as I prepared for an attack. Suddenly the floor met my cheek and a heavy pant was in my face.

Aldo.

With great effort I heaved him off of me. He ran around in circles with his tail beating against my leg; when all of a sudden he stopped in front of my door. He looked once out into the hall, and then back at me. I shrugged my shoulders knowing that he understood body language, so he then ran behind me and nudged his nose into my back as if to propel me forward. I did as he wished and moved into the hall where he led me downstairs to the kitchen.
He let out monstrous barks, which made me shiver.

"Stop it! You will wake up my parents!" He didn't seem to care for he simply barked louder. "Dumb dog." I muttered, even though I knew he was an incredibly smart dog.

Aldo skipped into the kitchen in the way dogs do and barked at the table. To my great surprise, my father had left a note:

We have both gone to work.
Will be back at 4pm.
Your school starts at 1pm and will last an hour. In the meantime, Aldo will look after you. He knows the rules.

From,
Father

P.s: Don't go into the basement. It's dangerous.

Over ridden with suspicion I immediately ran to the door leading to the basement. As I made to try the door, Aldo grabbed my pyjama bottoms and pulled me backwards.
"Aldo! No! Let go!" In response he growled savagely and pulled me back into the kitchen.
'He knows the rules.'
I groaned at the dog's intelligence.

I returned to the kitchen where the air was once again fresh with the scent of lavender, but this time it also had a hint of cinnamon. I ordered cinnamon rolls and pain au chocolat croissants for breakfast after I had a craving, and ate them under the guard of Aldo. He even stalked after me up the stairs once I had finished.

Eventually I left the house to go to school. I had a surge of excitement within me but then it dawned on me I had no idea where I was meant to go. I stood on my porch looking out at the marching pedestrians, hoping that someone was wearing the same humble uniform as me: Black shoes, tights, pencil skirt, tie and blazer, with a white shirt.

Alas, there was no one that was wearing my uniform and I ended up joining the marching pedestrians once more- false hoping that my feet knew where they were going.

***

It was quite some time before I heard the comforting sound of his voice; and I turned so quickly I caused a collision with the pedestrians around me. I stepped aside from the path and waited for him to catch up with me. How did he get out?

"Do you by any chance know where to go?" 

His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he barked as if for a reassuring yes. Several people inclined their heads towards our direction when he barked, but they didn't object to the noise so I ignored them.

Once again Aldo led the way. I followed him for at least 20 minutes before he turned down a narrow path that led to a ramshackle of a wooden hut.
It was no larger than half the size of a football pitch and it had a withered look to it (what with its paint peeling off and alarming splinters protruding out of it). On the inside I could make out custard yellow walls and several heads, which only meant one thing:
I had arrived, and I was late.

I hurriedly strode towards the hut and tried with great difficulty to ignore the accusing looks of some of the people in the class. My feet were making a great raucous on the gravel but there was nothing I could do to silence them.

Eventually I made it to the shabby double doors that was the entrance to the school, and I ordered Aldo to sit down in front of the bench outside.
The front door swung open with a loud creak, and closed after me with a hollow slam. There seemed to be only one classroom, to which the door was directly to my right. All of the walls seemed to be a custard yellow colour, but the floors were plain concrete, and the ceiling was so low down that if I jumped, the palm of my hand would be able to slap it.

Someone in the classroom gave a deliberate cough, which was followed by laughter to express how awkward the situation was. Eventually a woman of what seemed mid 30s greeted me with a warm smile. She had a deep and posh British accent along with very dark brown hair (almost black) in a high bun. She had dark brown eyes and faintly quivering lips. Her face was thin and lined with stress. She wore a white blouse that was buttoned up and tucked into black trousers. She also wore small heels.

"Welcome, welcome! I wasn't expecting any new visitors but please, come and join us. We are only 10 minutes into the lesson."

I gratefully followed her into the lone classroom.

***

The classroom was the same size as the entrance hall (roughly a quarter of a football pitch) with 3 rows of 12 desks facing east. Each desk had either a boy or a girl scowling at me with disgust.
There was a large Roman numeral clock above the blackboard that the teacher was standing in front of. Someone coughed again to cause more laughter, and I felt my cheeks warm.

"Enough of that Avery."
A boy with strawberry blonde hair looked at the teacher with a somewhat apologetic frown and returned to his work in front of him.

"There is a seat at the back dear." She pointed to a 3-legged stool at the back of the classroom, away from everyone else. I grudgingly sat in it and bitterly wished the lesson would resume.
The boy closest to me grunted and turned his head back to his work.

"Do you have a name dear?"

"Flora..." I muttered.

"What was that you said?"

"Flora... James" A few people gasped and the boy closest to me grunted again as if with mockery.

It is only a name isn't it?

The teacher cleared her throat nervously and finally resumed the lesson.

"Is there something wrong with me?" I whispered to the grunting boy. He waved his hand in the air as if swatting away a fly. I leant back in my chair full of anxiety and decided to forget it and listen to what the teacher had to say.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Wyse. Since we only have an hour, I would like to begin our first lesson with questions and answers. Raise your hand if you have a dog at home?"
Everyone in the class raised their hands and Avery even made a remark that some brought them with them.

"Yes, yes, as I would've thought," Dr Wyse said as she looked around the class.

"This is because of protection. As you all know, our village was bombed and our houses were built to look identical because of the desired Communism." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Thank goodness I was told.

"What you do not know is that every household was provided a dog- furthermore, a guard dog, to learn the rules of Communism and protect the members of the household."

"Is that why my dog is aggressive?" I spoke without thinking.

"My dear, no dog should be aggressive."

"Oh... because he growls at me if I attempt to go into my basement." Many people gasped.

"My dear... no one should have a basement."

"But... I-"

"Shut up." The grunting boy hissed at me through gritted teeth. I took his word and remained silent, while Dr Wyse carried on, slightly startled.

"N-now. As some may have recognised, your windows change colour depending on the world outside. This is because the leaders of this dictatorship believed that everyone should go to bed at the same time and eat at the same time, to make sure we have a healthy society. Next lesson I will explain what happens if you don't abide with these rules."

After this statement, the lesson returned to the topic of guard dogs and droned on about how different dogs have different characteristics.

"Speaking of dogs...Flora, what breed is your dog?" Dr Wyse queried. At this time I was daydreaming about Aldo and I came out of this trance when the grunting boy shook my shoulder.

"What?" A chorus of laughter surrounded me until Dr Wyse calmed everyone down and repeated the question.

"What is the breed of your dog Flora?"

"Oh... erm... a Rottweiler." There were screams of horror and the teacher looked momentarily stunned. Before I knew it, she was tightening her posture and clapping her hands.
"That's it, times up! I'll see you next week." She avoided eye contact with me and brushed everyone out the room. I looked at the clock above the blackboard and gasped.

"But miss... there is still 20 minutes of the lesson?" I could tell she feigned not hearing me because she glanced over and then erupted into a loud hum.
On the way out, some people were muttering that it was my fault the lesson had ended so quickly. I was about to leave the school when she said the last thing I wanted to hear:

"Flora, perhaps it  would be best if you don't return to school."

I gawped at her. "What? Why?"

"Well, you managed to subdue Avery into silence which is quite impossible for most, and you scared some girls witless. It's safer if you remained at home."

"What? How?" I was dumbfounded.

"You will know when the time is right."
She stacked her papers into a neat pile to pronounce the conversation was over.

"And it is best if you keep everything about your family to yourself. No questions asked please."
I sighed in frustration and left without another word.

How many people were going to tell me that I would know what is going on 'when the time is right'?

I pondered on this question for so long that I walked right into the grunting boy.

"Oi!" He cried.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Sure, because a 6ft boy is hard to see." Underneath his rudeness I recognised his smooth voice. I forces myself to keep my mouth shut for I would've said something over-the-line insulting and so I took Aldo and headed home.

I heard the crunch of his footsteps on the gravel behind me and turned to face him.

"Why are you following me?"

"You aren't the only one living in this village." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. I blushed with embarrassment and turned away from him. He reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Do I know you?" He questioned. He looked into my face and held his gaze with my eyes. Come to think of it, his sharp features seemed familiar too!

"No...I..."

"Yeah... I do."

I looked closer at his features and didn't realise how I couldn't have recognised him. The shoulder length mousy brown hair; the placid face, and defensive tone. Noah.

I beamed at him and laughed. I laughed so hard that he chorused in with me.

"You survived!" He laughed, "I don't believe it!" His laugh was hearty and filled me with warmth. Aldo bounced up and down in front of us. "Look at you! You're healthy! God, how long has it been? 3 months? You're practically a woman now!" His words flowed with maturity and sophistication. I couldn't believe he was alive as well; the last I saw of him he was being dragged away to who knew where!

"So how'd you get out?" I wanted to know everything.

"Hey, hey! Can we just think of the fortune we're given to be reunited?" His words shook as if the memory of his escape was painful. I felt ashamed, of course he was right.

"I can't believe it." I immediately changed the subject and he nodded to go along with it. We joined the marchers in silence and grinned like we were kids again.

I forgot how close my house was to the school and grudgingly stepped onto my drive.

My feet were dragged to the front door and Aldo ceased his bounding.

"Hey, Flora," Noah said as he too stepped away from the marchers, "we'll see each other again."

"By any chance did you hear I was expelled?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. It takes some skill for someone to get expelled on their first day," He laughed jovially.

"What are my parents going to think?" I tensed at the thought of dad's anger.

"Not impressed I presume." My lip was bitten with fear. "But I am." He grinned in the way when a child has done something wrong but they are proud of it. His smile faded when he saw I wasn't smiling with him.

"So... I'm not going to see you again, am I? I can't... I will have to remain in the house now. After all we've been through." Some dust was kicked to the other side of the driveway.

"No one can stop you leaving your house..." He took a step closer to me.

"3272" He whispered softly with that familiar grin on his face.

Within a few minutes he was gone; submerged into the crowd of pedestrians.