Hi! So, this is an original short story, and the first original thing I've ever written that I'm confident enough to post on this website. It does contain some very mature themes, and if you hate it that's fine. It hurt me to write to be quite frank, but it's a dystopian short story, they're not gonna overthrow the government in just 2500 words. Okay? Okay. Enjoy I guess.

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Malecite-1512 opened her eyes to the very dull sight of her bedroom. The cement walls, the cement floors, the barred window, the grey metal draws, and the two beds with itchy grey blankets and grass stuffed pillows. She sat up and glanced at her roommate. Malecite-1513 was still sound asleep, meaning the alarm hadn't sounded yet. Malecite-1512 had woken up early. That wasn't something you were supposed to do.

She slowly laid back down and turned her back to the door – if you could really call it that. It was just a frame with bars and a timed lock. She heard the heavy footsteps and sucked in a breath, hoping she looked like she was still asleep. When the footsteps faded, she knew she was safe. After a few minutes, the booming sound of the alarm sounded and she sat up, looking to her left and watching as Malecite-1513 also arose. They had twenty minutes.

They got out of bed and Malecite-1512 looked through their draws for their uniforms. Malecite-1513 took out their mud-covered boots and dropped them beside each of their beds. Malecite-1512 pulled her green trousers onto her long legs, changed her shirt to the green one, labelled on both sides with her name, and then put her boots on, struggling with the laces as Malecite-1513 brushed their fingers through their hair.

Once she was changed, Malecite-1512 pointed to her roommate and then to her hair, getting a nod in reply. They sat stood on the bed and braided Malecite-1512's hair for her. She had never asked where her roommate learnt this skill, not having much access to a pen so that she could. The two were a stark difference to each other in appearance. Malecite-1512 had dark skin, black hair and towered over most of the other's her age, but her ribcage was quite visible even through her shirt. Malecite-1513 on the other hand had a skin tone Malecite-1512 could only describe as pinkish, with blonde hair, and a short and chubby stature. The only thing they had in common was their eyes. Green.

Ten minutes had passed. They only had ten more to get to the cafeteria or they wouldn't get any food. They pushed the door open and joined the other Malecite's on their way to the cafeteria. On their right was all of the bedrooms, on their left was a series of classrooms for children of ages 5-10, storage closets, and every few rooms there would be a nursery housing up to ten babies at a time. All of the rooms had one thing in common. The design. Cement, grey metal, and bars.

They reached the last nursery, labelled above the door with the numbers 0090-0099. Inside Malecite-1512 could spot that nine of the cribs were already full. It must've been sometime in December if they already had over 90 babies born. Inside she could also spot two nurses tending to the babies and feeding them green water. Green water was green because of the chemicals used to kill bacteria in the clear stuff.

Another nurse came in with a baby wrapped up in a green blanket, putting them in the only remaining crib, marked with the number 0099. Malecite-0099 was wailing out, but they would soon lose that ability. All Malecite's had lost the ability to make a single sound with their mouth after the age of 1.

Soon, a woman with wiry red hair came bursting in. What caught Malecite-1512's attention was the woman's eye colour. Purple. She was an Amethyst. Malecite-1512 had never seen one up close before, it was very rare that anyone from one of the other factions had a Malecite child. Two of the nurses held her back as she thrashed around.

"Give me my son!" She screamed. "I just want to hold him once please!"

The third nurse sighed and walked over to her, pulling a thick, black, L-shaped weapon from his belt, and pointing it to her forehead. She continued to thrash around, unfazed by the death-machine pointed to her head. Blind. Amethyst's lost the ability to see when they turned 1, just like how Malecite's lost the ability to make noise.

The weapon touched her head and she stopped, beginning to tremble as tears tracked down her cheeks.

"Amethyst-4238 you have had a child," the nurse explained, "you are no longer needed."

A loud bang sounded, and the woman fell limp, blood leaking from her forehead. Upon hearing the sound babies began to cry out, some so quietly it was clear they'd been there for almost a year, and some loud enough to have been maybe a few weeks or months old. The nurses were unfazed by it. Malecite-1512 used to cry when she saw death, but she had since gotten used to it.

42, the number was stuck inside Malecite-1512's head. Most woman died at the age of 40, because by then most had already had children. Men and the non-gender-conforming citizens all died at age 40 no matter what.

It was how things worked. For your first five years you learnt how to properly function. Then for the next five years you were in school, learning to read, write and farm. For the next ten years you worked in the gardens, and then once you reached age 20 you were told how to have children and would try to have some of your own, working in the kitchen's if you weren't pregnant. If by 40 you hadn't had children you were either killed, or for woman that became your only job for the next five years until your eventual death.

Another nurse came in, holding a baby in her arms and stopped when she saw all of the cribs had a baby.

"Oh, have we already reached 100?" She asked, getting a nod in reply.

She then walked over to the table and laid the baby onto it. Only 100 children were allowed to be born a year. She grabbed a small axe from the wall and in one sharp movement, there was a thud, and the baby fell silent.

Malecite-1512 turned away and continued for the cafeteria. She had maybe two minutes left when she got inside. She grabbed a tray and lined up with the other Malecite's. As she slid along, she was given her servings. A small piece of stale bread, three tiny cups containing berries, pea mush and gravy-soaked steak. The last thing she received was a tall cup of green water.

She sighed, knowing for certain from all of the farming she'd been doing over the last 5 years that there was definitely enough food to give each citizen much more then that. However, the Brown's took most of that. She didn't know if anyone else called them the Brown's, but they were the citizen's with brown eyes. They were in charge of security, nursing, and parliament. From what she knew, they were the one's that created the system they had.

Malecite-1512 took her seat in between Malecite-1510 and Malecite-1514, beginning to dip into her food. The bread was dry and scratchy, the meat was soggy and chewy, the berry's were mush too sweet, and the pea mush had a texture that almost made her vomit. Her favourite part of the meal had always been the green water, so she saved it for last. It was a bland taste, and swallowing it felt like swallowing a tube of lead, but it was much better than any other part of the meal.

A few of the Brown's came in and without a word, collected all of the pregnant woman and everyone ranging from 40-45 in age. They lined them up in front of the exit with much protest. Citizens threw themselves about and wriggled to escape the strong clutches of their imminent death. But it eventually stopped, and instead all of the citizens trembled, with tears streaming down their cheeks. Several loud bang's later, and the floor is littered with bodies and the crimson liquid of blood drenches the cement floors.

Malecite-1512 glances across the table and sees Malecite-1513 trembling and trying not to cry. The poor kid never got used to seeing death and still reacted very much the same as the younger Malecite's.

The bodies were taken away and the cleaners started to mop up the blood. It was nothing they weren't used to seeing every month. The gleaning, as Malecite-1512 called it, happened monthly, when Brown's would come in and kill of anyone that they deemed unfit to live longer.

After everyone's plates were cleared, they all moved to leave and begin the days work. The exit led to a staircase, which brought them to a path. If you were to follow the path you would eventually find yourself at the crops. Malecite-1512 worked with grains such as wheat and barley. They were all given a flask, containing green water for them to drink while they worked in the blustering heat.

Malecite-1512 looked to her left, seeing the other factions leaving their stories below Malecite's. The lowest was Garnet, the red faction. They were all deaf and in charge of construction. Just above that was Fire Opal, the orange faction. They had no sense of smell and tended to the animals, occasionally bringing manure to the Malecite's. Next was Topaz, the yellow faction. They had no sense of touch, and they were in charge of manufacturing.

Malecite-1512 then turned to her right, looking at the factions above hers. Just above was Aquamarine, the blue faction. They didn't have the ability to taste and were in charge of entertainment. Above them was Amethyst, the purple faction. They were blind and worked in teaching. Then, at the very top was Pearl, the pink faction. They couldn't feel human emotions and made the bland and quite honestly ugly clothes everyone else wore.

Malecite-1512 followed her fellow Malecite's to the crops and went straight for the wheat crops. They were quite large, but she had learnt how to work the machinery at age 9. She didn't know what methods people used to have, but there was a machine that could both pull out crops and replant them. However, it was small, so she'd have to walk a total of 2,000 kilometres a day if she wanted to avoid the punishment chamber. She'd only ever been there once before and vowed that she never wanted to endure it again. You were hung upside down for an hour and then sent back outside without your flask to continue working.

Behind her she saw her roommate Malecite-1513 with their own machine, prepared to cover the seeds that Malecite-1512's machine would drop in soil. Behind them was Malecite-1514, poised with a manure filled machine. And at the end of their line was Malecite-1515 with a watering machine, containing the clear water. It wasn't good for humans to have, but plants loved it.

After what felt like hours, a boy with an orange shirt saying Fire Opal-1780 walked over with a large container of manure. Behind him was another three people, carrying the same thing. They dropped the containers nearby. The four Malecite's scrunched their noses in disgust at the smell, but the Fire Opal's didn't seem all that bothered by it. No sense of smell, Malecite-1512 thought.

The four Fire Opal's then pulled out their own flasks and guzzled down what looked like orange water. Orange water!? Malecite-1512 looked at her friends and they all wore the same expression of complete shock and confusion. What the Hell was orange water!? The only good drinking water was green! The chemicals that killed bacteria made it so! Unless that wasn't the case.

The Fire Opal's left and started to have a conversation. Malecite-1512 shook her head and continued to collect wheat and drop seeds. But when she started to feel thirsty, and she went to drink from her flask she stopped herself. Fire Opal's drank orange water, and Malecite's drank green water.

She instead poured it into the soil when the other's weren't looking and stole some clear water from a nearby pond, drinking that instead. It tasted exactly the same, but the texture was much nicer. Silky was the only word she could think of to describe it. It was so gentle compared to the green water, which felt like it was stretching your throat.

By the end of the day, she had finished her flask and was happy to be going back inside and away from the blaring sun. Her friends drained the rest of their flasks, gulping down the green water. She pouted, but she was in no position to say anything and had no idea how she would let them know clear water was exactly the same. So, she settled for letting them know once she figured out what the green stuff did.

At dinner, she was given the same meagre scraps as breakfast, but this time she watched the cup of green water with an eagle eye. She took her seat at the table as per usual and went about eating as per usual. Until she got to the green water. She had no intention of drinking it. She instead would sneakily pour it into her friends cups when they weren't watching, and poured the rest into her mouth, but refused to swallow. When she had her shower, she spat it down the drain and used her hands to cup the clear water into her mouth.

She continued like this for a month. Eating, pretending to drink the green water, and really drink the clear water. She was surprised no one had caught her yet. Maybe they had and the Brown's decided they would just let her get sick and die. But she very much doubted that.

But it was after a month, when the next gleaning took place that she realised what the green water had been doing. Citizens were gathered and brought to the exit where they tried to wriggle out of the Brown's grip. The last person on the line was a boy. Malecite-4059 he would be now. But he was the one that had snuck her and others more food when he'd been working in the kitchens. He'd been the one that actively disobeyed the Brown's. And she was going to watch such a kind and caring person die.

The Brown held the L-shaped weapon to Malecite-4059's head and he began to tremble. She was feeling a tornado of emotions, fear, sadness, anger, but above all else, disgust. Disgust that the Brown's were about to kill the only person that had ever cared about the younger generations.

There was a bang, and Malecite-1512 shot to her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs; "NO!!!"

She immediately covered her mouth. She had made a sound. It felt weird, all she had done was breathe and it made a sound. That wasn't supposed to happen. She was a Malecite. Malecite's couldn't make noise. Her eyes shot to the green water and the horrible thing hit her. Babies didn't lose the ability to make noise. The ability to make noise was taken from them. And the exact same thing was happening to the other faction's.

Garnet's drank red water that took their hearing. Fire Opal's drank orange water that took their sense of smell. Topaz's drank yellow water that took their sense of touch. Aquamarine's drank blue water that took their ability to taste. Amethyst's drank purple water that took their sight. Pearl's drank pink water that took their emotions. It had nothing to do with the colour of their eyes like they had been taught.

Two Brown's grabbed Malecite-1512 and dragged her to the front of the room. She thrashed about and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her throat felt tingly, it was strange to hear the sound of her own voice, but she had one and she would make it heard. She tried to figure out what sounds would make water. She said oddey, otter, wardai, and just as she figured out how to say water, there was a bang, and the room fell silent.

Her experiment was for nothing.

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Soooooo, what did you guys think? Was it bad? Was it good? I would really appreciate the feedback. So, please vote, comment and if you want me to write any other short stories I might. Thank you!

      - Turtlefreakakw2