The Judges

Walk. Look down. Don’t let them catch your eye. If they do, you're done for. They like to catch loaners. Like cats hunting on the savanna they find one straying from the group and attack. Not physically, not at this stage at least. But it they find something wrong they will dispose of it. Here differences are looked on as flaws. Your shirt has a stain on it? Gone. Your socks are mismatched? Gone You are late? Gone. Even a sneeze could get you spotted! The cameras help the judges spot the differences among the children.

Everyone wears the same white button down shirt. Boys wear grey shorts and girls wear gray pleated skirts. No color. Hair is kept short. Boys always have it cut to their ears and girls have it cut just below their shoulders wear it pulled back into a ponytail. You continue walking to class with your arms filled with books. Even though they are heavy, you stand straight up with perfect posture. If your spine bends once the cameras will catch it and the judges will see and you will be taken away to the camp. The camp is where they put different children. Once there, children are trained to be normal again. That is why everyone behaves.

They behave so as not to be judged. Here everyone is judged. From birth you are judged. As soon as you are born they take you away to judge your appearance. If you look normal then you can go back to your parents, but if there is something different they dispose of you immediately. Few children make the cut. You are lucky to be one of them, right? Sometimes if someone isn’t behaving properly they might have a trial with the judges, if they are found guilty of “disturbing the System” they can be put away in camp temporarily or even placed into permanent camp. These places are supposed to teach you the rules of the community and the punishment of disturbing the system. But you know better, after all, no one who goes in ever comes out.

In class you sit down and take out a pencil and paper for taking notes. Upon the board are the Notes for the day. You write them down. It takes up exactly one sheet of paper. Next you put the sheet of paper into your binder. For the rest of the period you study the sheet until it is memorized. You repeat in the next class, and the next, and the next. It is then time for lunch. This is the scariest part of the day. Most children are sent to the camp at lunch. Differences in preference of food, where to sit and who to sit with. You always sit at the same table with the same people, and the same meal so as not to get into trouble. Eating is tough work as well. To try and not spill one drop on your uniform and to continue with perfect posture. You eat your meal at a normal pace. And when lunch is over you get up and take your tray to the cleaning station. And continue on with your day. It is always like this. No changes. Ever. Not until today.

You are walking down the hall when everything stops. The doors from the end of the hallway open and in walks a girl. She has never been there before. You know this. This is strange but not as strange as what her attire is like. She wears a loose navy blue shirt and bright red pants. Her hair is cut as short as boys and is the same color as her pants! Resting in it is a pale blue bow. Her legs are long and she is quite tall. She walks down the hall everyone stares at her. There is somthing wrong. Girls aren't like this. That isn’t how it works! She should be sent to a camp if not disposed of. She is different from everyone else. She stands out. She is an imperfection from others. Everyone can see her and notices. Everyone including the cameras. They all spin around and look right at her as she walks down the hall. They are programmed to see even a quick change in tone or color and this girl is sending them on red hot alert.

Whispers start to fly. Usually the only noise is the clap of children’s shoes hitting the ground but today the whispers buzz like the sound of bees. They rise and rise until they are almost deafening. Girls and boys alike bend towards eachother to tell their opinions of this new girl’s appearance. “Why does she looks like that?” “Where did she get those clothes?” “She should be put away in a permanent camp!” “Why hasn’t she been disposed of by now!” All the questions and observations fly across the hall like flies. The noise continues to grow until a loud beeping blares at us from the speakers. A electronic woman’s voice sounds, “Children, please continue to your classes or you will be sent to the discipline room” The discipline room was where children who behaved naughtily go. There are chairs and children sit in the chairs until they have learned the behavior that got them there and proved that they won’t do it again. It isn’t fun. Feedings are only once a day with unappetizing food. All the children immediately stop the whispers and continue on with their day.

The odd girl walks down the hall. People see her and keep walking. No one likes her it is clear. She is different and almost got you to the discipline room. You go into your next class, Mathematics. And do the notes and examples. After class she is sitting on a bench outside the judges chamber. She is reading a book. It is quite long. The next day she is still there. But this time she is eating a sandwich. Her hair and clothes are the same. She has obviously been there all night. There is a scratch on her arm. And she has a black eye. She has been fighting. You don’t understand this girl. As you walk you overhear a classmate whispering “I heard that she is part of the resistance! That her entire family goes into places like that and refuses to leave until the cameras are taken down! That they are trying to abolish the judgement!” the other child whispers back “I know! My father told me to stay away from her, that she is bad news! He told me the judges are about to give in. Apparently there have been attacks on judgment houses and escapes from camps!” You have never heard of these things. But the sound of not having to fear the cameras all day long and striving for perfection every second sounds nice. You want to stand with the girl but are afraid of the punishment.

The next day she is still there and the next. She is there for three weeks and some how never runs out of food. Every morning that school starts she has a sandwich in her hand and the same outfit. One day you walk into school and a strange sight awaits. One other girl is wearing a pale blue bow in her blond hair like the odd girl’s instead of the regulation ponytail. The cameras go off with their little alarms and she is summoned to the judges chamber. As she walks in she smiles at the odd girl on the bench. The next day she isn’t back, but instead two other girls have taken action, they both have pale blue bows in their hair. They are also taken to the judges chamber. The routine repeats itself again each day and the amount of children at school goes down. Boys start doing it too. But instead they wear pale blue ties.

After about two weeks of pale blue bows and ties, and children being sent to the judges chamber. It stops. Not the blue, the punishments. Children keep wearing the colors but are no longer punished. The judges aren’t caring. They’ve given up. Because of this children start wearing more than just bows, they were full outfits filled with pale blue. Some children die their uniforms the blue. You want to participate with the rebellion. You hate the rules, but fear rules your mind. Soon there are other kids wearing more than blue. There is red and green there are combinations of other colors. Soon there are patterns. Sometimes there are stripes or dots of floral prints. Soon everyone is wearing something.

About week later you walk out of class in your navy blue striped shirt with green floral leggings and look around. There are millions of colors and patterns around you. There is chatter amongst your friends. The buzz of people talking fills your ears. Everything is how it should be. But something is missing. You look around the hallway and look for whatever is wrong, and then you see it the bench is empty. The bench outsides the judges’ office is empty. The girl is gone. Where is she? You look up and down the halls but don’t see anyone. But there among some of the younger kids she is. You run over to the girl. Your mind doesn’t know why. You have never talked to her in your life, you don’t know anything about her. But you run over, through the bunches of kids talking and laughing. She tries to open the doors, but your grab her arm. She flips around at you, her eyes are big and her lips are pursed, she stares right at you with her piercing green eyes. When she sees you her face softens and you see her fingers relax. She is a couple inches taller than you so you have to look up. Millions of questions and words pound against your head, but only one reaches the tongue, “Why?” the words leave your mouth and she smiles. Her lips begin to speak but she holds herself back and stops.“Why Not? “