The Morning Cycle

It was cold outside, making the warmth of her blankets and the thought of just sleeping in and ignoring all of her responsibilities all that more enticing. They were tedious when she thought about them with a brain that was only half awake. But she had to get up. While every fiber in her body was against it, logic told her the consequences for not being up and ready on time wasn't worth an extra few minutes of sleep.

With that thought in mind, she forced herself up and out of her heated bundle, pale feet hesitantly pressing to the cold, porcelain flooring. Once her weight was off the mattress, a long ring resonated off the pure white walls. A compartment slid open in the wall and her bed was dragged into the dark space. She sighed as she watched the bed go and she found herself already longing for the day to end now so she could sleep again.

Her attention was pulled to the door. It hissed loudly as the pressure was released, and it swung inward. She stared through the now open doorway, out into the orderly lines being formed in the hallway outside it. A man clad in black leaned into view. "London Ryce," He barked. "Grab your clothes and let's go."

She glanced at a chair beside the door. A neatly folded outfit lay there, obviously the clothes the guardsman had been referring to. Stepping forward, she scooped the outfit up and hugged it to her chest. She was ushered from the room and out, into one of the lines. She tripped as she stepped into her designated queue, and her shoulder hit against another civilian's back. There was no response. No flinch, no turn of his head to see who had hit him. Nothing.

With yet another sigh, something she'd found herself doing quite often as of late, she straightened her back, lifted her chin and looked forward, the procedure stance. Bad posture was frowned upon and corrected, something she'd found out the hard way. Proof being the whipping scars on her back.

"Get a move on!" One of the guardsmen shouted, setting everything in motion. The lines marched forward, being guided like sheep, an eerily appropriate comparison. Another day in paradise.