The Unfavorable Read online

  “We had gone to him a week before my Rite. Hers wasn’t for another month. We had discussed it and figured that if anyone had the power to overrule the Mainframe, so we could be together it was him.”

  “We presented our case to him,” Micah says. “It was very business-like. Although he said he would think about it, we left that meeting feeling like we had won. We thought we had convinced him to let us be together.”

  “When my Rite came, Skylark and I were both excited. Ecstatic, even. We didn’t think anything like this would ever happen. We were so sure that we would be together…”

  “I waited in that gray room for half an hour before Cloudore decided to show up,” he continues without stopping or slowly his story. As if the thought pains him too much to think about for longer than a few seconds. “He was beyond livid. I have never seen a man’s face so red, nor his eyes so bulged. I was afraid that they would pop right out of his head at any moment.”

  “He cornered me before telling me that he knew I wasn’t a fit mate for his daughter, and that my Bleeding Rite had proven that,” he describes. “I argued that my grade was spectacular and that my score showed promise, but he wouldn’t listen. He called me a liar. Screamed at the top of his lungs that I had failed in every single category possible. I was below average in everything and had to go. My punishment for loving his daughter was to live as an Unfavorable, and never to see my family or Skylark every again.”

  “Wow,” I whisper.

  My head is going a mile a minute trying to think and digest. Micah has never been able to lie to me, and this is no different. I can hear the sincerity in his words.

  “That story is so farfetched, but I believe you,” I conclude. “He can’t do that, though, can he? There has to be some sort of checks and balances system so the Arbiter doesn’t abuse his power like that.”

  “He holds all the power,” Micah sighs. “As long as the citizens believe that what he’s doing is reaching for Geha’s ultimate goal, the Loyals do whatever he wants.”

  A heavy silence pours over us. My head begins to spin from all the new information I’ve obtained. I had always believed that our system was perfect. Finding out now that it has been corrupted is beyond heartbreaking.

  “I really did miss you, you know,” Micah acknowledges, breaking me from my intense reverie of the future I have ahead of me. “I didn’t just try to get word to you about still being alive and well. Every year, just before your birthday, I tried to get a Loyal to help me pass along a gift for you. Every single year.”

  “You aren’t serious,” I accuse, a bit guilty. I hadn’t even done that for him…

  “I am,” he nods. “Come. I’ll show you. I’ve kept every single present I’ve made for you over the years in the hope I would be able to give them to you someday.”

  Micah stands from his chair, and I follow. He walks hastily toward the back of the hut, where the short hallway branches into two rooms.

  Choosing the right side, he opens the door and leads me to the far-left corner where a beautiful wooden chest sits. It isn’t large but would be heavy on my lap. It’s so heavy that Micah struggles slightly to lift it from its spot and onto his small, hay bed.

  With a sigh, he opens it. Inside are six different items. One for every year that he was forced to miss.

  Two stuffed animals that look like they were handmade – he probably bought it at the market – with one a teddy bear and the other a bunny rabbit, three hand-carved wooden animals – all ones I recognize from my school books as a bear, lion, and chimera – that he must have made himself, and a gorgeous quilt that reminded me of the trees with how many colors are scattered about it.

  “If you can’t stay here,” Micah starts. “Then I want you to take these with you, back to Geha.”

  “What do you mean?” I inquire, knowing full well what he insinuated, I just can’t bring myself to say it. “What are you asking me, Micah?”

  “I want you to stay with me, Al,” he clarifies. He looks up from the contents within the chest and looks at me with tears gathering in his eyes. “I’m asking you to stay in Landow with me, outside of Geha. I’ve missed you these last six years, but it didn’t hit me how much until realizing you’ll have to leave. I can’t stand the thought of never seeing you again. Not after everything that’s happened.”

  I bite my lower lip hard in an attempt to keep myself from crying. He’s right that I’ll have to leave, I just hadn’t thought of it yet. I want to respond, but I’m unable to form words without a sob escaping. He talks more, taking my silence as a sign that I haven’t made up my mind either way yet. He isn’t wrong.

  “You’ll be so much happier here than in Geha,” he persists. “There, everyone is judged by their talents – their strengths and weaknesses. Out here? In Landow and the other villages around the area, we are all celebrated for who we are, no matter how average. I don’t want you to suffer through an unhappy life, forced to be with someone who you don’t love and doesn’t love you in return. It kills me knowing that’s what awaits you.”

  “Your offer is very generous,” I sniffle, reigning in my sorrow over leaving long enough to respond. I essentially recite the same words I gave to Ryder when he asked why I wanted to go back. “It’s not about being happy, though. It’s not even about tradition, it’s about the greater good and being able to advance everything we have. We all have a responsibility to continue the design that Geha started. Everything he set up for us with our ancestors when they first arrived on this planet. I can’t just abandon that.”

  “You know that’s a huge pile of manure, right?”

  “Even so,” I sigh. “It doesn’t make it any less true.”

  “I suppose,” he exhales, running his left hand through his scruffy brown hair.

  “And I can’t take those with me,” I admit, solemnly.

  “Why not?”

  “I can barely sneak back and forth with just myself to carry, I would never make it unnoticed with a huge wooden chest in my arms.”

  “I understand. They’ll be here whenever you want them. I’m not going to stop making you gifts, though. You and Skylark are the only two within the walls that still matter to me. I’m not going to stop caring.”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  He smiles and gives me a hug. It feels unimaginably good having his arms around me in a tight embrace. It’s as if nothing has changed between us. I’m home. Our love and care for each other is obvious. I feel it in his touch, and I squeeze him around the middle in return. This may be the last time I ever see my older brother.

  “Bye, Micah,” I sniffle again.

  “Bye, Al,” he replies, his voice quivering.

  I let go and rush out of the room and out of the hut without stopping or turning back for one last glance. Tears are flowing freely down my cheeks, and I don’t want me crying to be the last thing Micah remembers about our brief time together.

  Unsure why, Ryder catches up quickly and walks at my side. He doesn’t say a word, and that’s okay. I don’t need him to show me the way back anymore, but I don’t want to be alone right now, either. I want to be able to say goodbye to him as well.

  The walk back is peaceful, but somber. Ryder is unusually quiet. There isn’t one snarky remark, and none of his usual cockiness or confidence. Logically, I’m aware his mood is a direct result of my impending final departure.

  I try to talk to him about it, but he doesn’t answer me, only grunts. It makes for a real lonely walk. He doesn’t even look at me. His gaze stays glued to the dirt while we walk. It isn’t until we start seeing the Boilers entrance that he shows any sign of recognizing I’m there.

  I’m at the threshold between the outside world and the red clay underneath the city I despise when Ryder stops me. He grabs my right hand gently in his, pulling it towards him so that I’m facing him. Still, his eyes stay lowered. This time they stay on our hands, and how neatly mine fits into his.

  “Wait,” he breathes.

  I barel
y hear him with how softly he speaks. If there had been even a slight wind, I never would have heard him at all. His right hand stretches out for my left, and I give it to him. He holds them tenderly, rubbing his callous thumb along the tops of my hands. It’s comforting and melancholy.

  “It’s really difficult for me to talk about how I’m feeling,” he begins, anxiously, “mainly because I’m not sure how to. I’ve never felt like this before. All I know for sure is that the thought of never seeing you again scares me.”

  He pauses. I can feel him shaking just from holding my hands. Taking a deep breath, he steadies himself before continuing.

  “I want you to stay in Landow, too,” he admits, squeezing my hands gently. “I can’t explain why, though I wish I could. It makes me angry knowing that you’re going back to a life where you won’t be happy and won’t fit in. Where no one will ever appreciate everything you have to offer the way you deserve. You aren’t like them. I don’t want them to corrupt and change everything that is different and wonderful about you.”

  His voice breaks on the last word. As if choking back tears. Never letting go of my hands, he slowly lifts his head so that our eyes meet. There is unmistakable anguish and a need in his gaze that makes it unbearable to look away. I want to take his pain away, so he doesn’t have to feel any of it because of me.

  All I wanted was to find out what happened to my brother after he disappeared. I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone, let alone care about someone who wasn’t blood related to me. It’s only been a few days, and this all feels so surreal.

  What I’m feeling and he’s saying is hard to comprehend, but I listen. Take it all in as much as I can. I want more than anything to stay and keep him from feeling this way. I don’t want him to feel the need to say any of these words. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and not even close to what I expected when I set out to find Micah...

  Ryder searches my eyes before speaking again.

  “Stay,” he quietly pleads. “If not for Micah, then for me. I know you feel a pull to me, too, the way I feel with you. The injustice done to your brother should be more than enough reason for you to abandon that society, but if it’s not enough…then do it for us, too.”

  I stare into his eyes, stupefied. When Micah asked, I wanted to say yes and forget all the negativity and pressure of Geha. I just didn’t have the courage or audacity to forgo millennia of tradition and foresight for my selfish needs and wants. Now, with Ryder asking me to stay, I can’t say no.

  “Will you meet me in the blueprint room in an hour?” I ask eagerly, excited. I have a plan, but I need him to be here.

  “Does that mean you’ll stay?” he inquires, confusion lining his brow. Cautious anticipation shines in his eyes.

  “Can you meet me?” I insist.

  All will be revealed in time.

  “Yes, of course,” he confirms. “I’ll wait all night if I have to.”

  Without hesitation, I lean in, wrapping my arms around the back of his neck and pull him close. Our lips touch and passion ignites. His arms slink around my waist and they pull my body against his. Every single cell in my body vibrates from the energy his kiss brings me.

  It’s tender and sweet. Loving even. I never want it to end. It fills me with so much joy. I’ve never experienced so much before, and there’s more when I think of my future with him.

  I want to kiss him all night long, but if I don’t let go and head to Geha soon, I’ll never finish my plan. And it must be done tonight. I pull away reluctantly, and jog to the gate. I make my way through it, up the stairs, and back to the house I grew up in without looking back.

  Chapter 15

  Ryder

  I watch her run away from me even after she disappears from my view. Running my fingers along my lips, I can still feel hers against them. My head is still trying to wrap around the idea that I poured my heart out to her. That I asked her to stay in Landow with me.

  Well, with Micah and me. Still. Some of her is better than nothing at all.

  Even with all that, I have no idea whether she’s actually going to come back or leave me here to rot. She didn’t confirm or deny. Never gave me her decision about what she was going to do from this point.

  Surprisingly, it doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to stick to my word and wait for her. No matter how long it takes. That kiss gave me enough hope that the gut-wrenching fear I felt over her leaving for good has eased to a dull ache. So much easier to manage this way. It’s not so overwhelming.

  Peeking around the opening to the Boilers, I see everyone still working hard to keep the electricity going strong for those up above. No one noticed the Favorable practically skipping through back to Geha.

  Soon these men and boys will be going home for the evening, only to come back the next morning and start all over again for people who don’t even know where it comes from, or how they get electricity. If I weren’t in such a good mood, the thought of such ungrateful people gaining from our work would make me sick.

  Walking slowly, I make it to the small room with the scrolls within seconds and without anyone looking my way. Not that it would have bothered me if someone had. It means nothing to me either way.

  I shut the door behind me and it clicks into place. Walking around the desk, I take a seat behind it with my feet crossed on the left corner. The top of the desk is clear besides the small piece of coal. I forgot that it was still there.

  I’m one of the only people who use this room since few others can read the scrolls, but I thought it would have been moved or displaced at least a little bit since the first time I brought it in here. The first time I touched her skin, soft against my rough and rugged fingertips…

  I knew that Micah hadn’t had the greatest time these past several years, but I had no idea the reason he became Unfavorable. Although Aukai and I asked on many occasions, he refused to talk about what his life was like before coming to Landow.

  He never even told us that he had a sister up in Geha. I would never have known they were siblings if it weren’t for their facial features and mannerisms being so similar.

  It has always been easy to tell that he was forced to leave something behind that he cared very much about, but he made it seem like it was never that big of a deal. Like it was his baby blanket or something rather than a sister he cares so dearly for.

  Harboring all that anger and longing for so long had to have been difficult. I still can’t believe that Micah had to go through all that. It’s so ridiculous that the citizens of Geha would abandon those of us who aren’t up to par, but then damn a teenager to this life because he had a crush on the wrong guy’s daughter.

  Granted, I would never want to trade this life for that, but I would never want to be forced to leave behind those I love. Even though life in Landow is much better than inside Geha from what I can gather, I would never want to abandon the ones I consider family.

  I would have done the same thing in his position, and I don’t blame him for trying to get word up to Alora year after year. I probably would have helped him if he had trusted me enough to tell me his plans. If she ends up leaving me here, I will do the same thing he did until I’m able to hold her in my arms again.

  Chapter 16

  Alora

  I burst through the front door of my parent’s house like a madman, not even stopping to shut it before clambering into my room. I know exactly what I have to do. I love my parents, but after how they acted this morning, and how they’ve been acting since my Rite, I don’t even know who they are anymore.

  There is still a lot I need to learn about Micah, but his gentle nature and care has never faltered after all these years. I would rather spend the rest of my life outside these walls than helping a society that doesn’t care about all its people.

  The one thing I always held onto was how he would always care about me. I doubted it every so often when I was really missing him, but in the end, I knew. No matter what happens, he’ll be there to support me and ma
ke sure everything is okay.

  It’s why I’m not worried about how my life will turn out. He’ll always be there. And this way I’ll be able to attempt a relationship with Ryder. Even if it doesn’t work out, at least this way we can try. I have a choice as to who I will spend my time with.

  Breathing heavily from the non-stop running, I stand in the middle of my room doing circles as I do an inventory of all my things. Everything I own is just a reminder of the life I don’t want anymore. None of it really matters enough to take with me.

  With my parents leaving work soon, I don’t have any time to waste. I grab a few things of sentimental value - my baby blanket, a scarf Mom made me years ago, a stuffed animal that Micah gave me for my birthday just before he disappeared, and my favorite book that Dad bought for me a few years ago.

  There’s a brief moment of hesitation, though. I have plenty of clothing to take with me, but it seems superfluous when I’ll acquire more fitting clothing while living in Landow.

  Happy with the few items I’ve grabbed, I dash into the kitchen and into the dining room where a single notepad sits on the table. Although they probably deserve no notice about my whereabouts after the way they’ve been acting, I still leave a note for them.

  Picking up the pen off the table, I write, ‘I found Micah. I’ve decided to live with him rather than be forced to choose a career path and live an unhappy and unfulfilling life. Thank you for everything you both have taught me. I hope that you find comfort knowing your children are together and happy.’

  Once the pen is back on the table, I feel free. The weight of the world is no longer pushing down on my shoulders, trying to crush me. Ready to begin the next chapter of my life, I sprint back out the front door, making sure to shut it behind me all in one graceful move.

  Even though I haven’t entirely caught my breath from the run to my parent’s house, I dash back behind Central Hall and down the clay stairway. The breeze against my skin as I run further exhilarates me on my way back to Ryder. Humidity overtakes me as I take the last step onto the landing in front of the gate.