Odd One Out

He was disappointed when he woke up. He stretched and climbed down from his perch. It was time to return to the orphanage. Not that it mattered much. They never noticed much of his presence anyway.

Before leaving, he took a wistful glance at the area. Reluctance showed on his face. But he still had to go. He turned around and exited into the silence.

It was late evening by the time he reached the orphanage. He took his wet shoes off at the entrance and made his way to a bathroom to wash off the muck.

As he made his way to the dinner table, he felt something off. There was a strange forlorness in the air. He neared the main hall. The mess hall was just ahead of it. The hallways were too quiet. Where were the other kids?

Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder and tightened in a vice like grip.

"Where were you for the whole day today? Eh? Do you know what you have done?"

It was one of the Nuns. She jerked him angrily and dragged him to the main hall. She threw the doors open and barged in.

"Here," she said as she threw him towards the floor.

Doll realised that something was very wrong. All the Nuns and the kids were present. There was even the Master and a police officer.

He rubbed his smarting wrist and shoulder and stood up. He didn"t make eye contact with anyone and kept his head lowered.

The Head Nun who was sat on the chair gazed at him sternly. "Where did you go?" Her tone frosty, she continued her interrogation, " Were you in the woods?"

Doll tried to remember if he had forgotten something important. Did a kid tattle on him?

He meekly nodded his head. "Were you hiding from us when we came to look for you?"

He immediately shook his head.

"Speak up!"

"No, Ma"am!"

" Due to your mischief, your friend Perr has unfortunately pa.s.sed away. What do you have to say about yourself?"

Doll was bewildered. Perr? The one whose bed was right next to his? Dead? Why?

The Head Nun stood up and got to leave. Before she reached the door, she ordered, " No food or water for two days. Put him in the Box."

...

The Box was a tiny room with no windows. An adult would only have enough s.p.a.ce to stand still. It was cramped, dusty and dark. It was square and only was a fifty square centimeters in area. The only ventilation opening was a hole that was covered in a black cloth.

Doll felt his stomach rumble. He had skipped both breakfast and dinner. The orphanage did not have lunches.

He was still confused about the situation. It wasn"t until the next morning that he could ask one of the younger girls about it when she pa.s.sed by. The girl narrated the whole incident to him through the door. There was even a hint of disgust towards him in her speech.

He was appalled and horrified. Perr had died. The reward was only a pair of socks and the punishment, his life. There was another causality along with him and five other people who were injured because of an offset mission to help locate him. To others, it was his fault. He was unable to be contacted. And it was all because he was an Odd.

The only way people could contact other people was through their systems. No one ever had the need for external communication devices.

He was so close to Perr but yet he still, somehow, indirectly caused his death. And it was not just his, but another person"s too.

Today was the day of the funeral. They buried Perr and the other person together on the same day. Three of the other injured had attended too. The remaining were still suffering their punishments.

The dreary skies made the funeral all the more sombre. Perr"s best friend watched the proceedings blankly. His face still felt the wetness of his friend"s blood. It had become raw with all the scrubbing. Some of the matter had entered his mouth too. His mind kept replaying Perr"s head exploding over and over again. He hadn"t slept the whole night as he locked himself in the bath and kept scrubbing till a Nun had to come in and stop him.

As Perr was lowered into his grave, the rest of the children stood by silently spreading flower petals. Each person had three petals. They would tear a petal in half with another person. When they collected three halves, they would say a prayer and swallow the petals. Finn watched his only brother and best friend being covered by mud. His cold grave was filled with glacial and frosty soil.

Each petal had a symbolic meaning.

The first petal stood for Happiness.

The second for Sorrow.

The last petal stood for Forgetfulness .

It represented the happiness they shared in life, the sorrow they shared in parting and the promise to forget the dead and live the rest of their lives to their best for the sake of their dead brother or sister.

The snowflakes fell and danced along with the chilly winds. It made merry and gilded about its own joyous paths and joined the funeral march with its cheerful, skittish play. It was almost mocking.

...

Doll couldn"t even see Perr one last time. He did have a much better relationship with him as compared to others. They couldn"t be considered buddies but merely acquaintances who shared the same room for ten years. At least Perr never deliberately made anything too hard for him.

Doll choked up. He couldn"t help it. He was branded a murderer. He remembered the cold, frigid stares of the orphanage inhabitants as he was escorted to this room. He had sinned because he slept soundly as his roommate pa.s.sed in a gruesome way. All he needed was a drop of his blood. A single drop in exchange for his life.

The cold box felt very much like the shoe box in which he was placed in before being abandoned. He shivered as he leaned on the metal wall. It was cramped and he had to draw his legs in to fit.

....

The reporters and news stations were having the time of their lives. Such a case was quite rare. Almost all news was about the Odd mission incident in Ravew. Unlike the days on Earthland where people had televisions, all communication devices had been replaced by systems. Only a large advertis.e.m.e.nt screens were fitted in public places. Announcements were usually made through them to increase the level of attention to a particular topic. Each system was connected to an even larger system of networks called the Net.

Rik sipped his tea as he stared at the news headlines on the blue glowing screen in front of him. His system was of the [Journalist] type. He was a freelance writer in his free time and a deadbeat editor during his work hours. Most of the time, he simply had to create articles just enough to make a person turn his head and pay attention.

He wasn"t too moneyminded and was quite easy going and was fortunate enough to get a friendly system who didn"t give home many hard tasks.

" Here is another case of an IMM that has taken the residents by a storm. A young boy, aged thirteen had unfortunately lost his life due to a Timer mission. The boy had to obtain a single drop of blood from an Odd. Unfortunately, the only Odd in the country was no where to be seen at the time. He was also uncontactable and hence....."

IMM stood for Incomplete Mission Mortality. Cases of people who died due to being unable to complete a mission were referred as an IMM.

"There were two casualties and five injured. Two are still in coma..."

Rik was so engrossed watching the news that he missed a notification that appeared in his missions list.

His system was a bit irked by him. It decided to beep loudly in its host"s mind startling him and causing him to spill his hot tea over his thighs.

"Host Rik! Listen to meeeeeee! Look! There is a new surprise for you~ A mission! Let"s check it out," the system cheerfully said. It ignored its host who was fanning his scalded crotch and continued, " The new mission will be..... In Ravew! Host! Quick! Get the flight tickets ready! We are going to Ravew! Yay!"

"Rewards: Photographic memory (minor). Host will be able to remember any written text he has seen.

Punishments: You will lose your apartment to a fire. And also, all your embarra.s.sing secrets will be exposed on your school chat group"

Rik started. Ravew? Wasn"t that all the way on the other side of the planet? He didn"t have enough money for the tickets!

" Host! Work hard! Your time limit is a week to purchase the tickets. As compensation, this lovely system will cancel all daily and long term missions for a month excluding the missions that are related to the current mission. Currently pending missions will also be erased."

Rik had a faint premotion that his mission had something to do with the news shown this morning. "Looks like I will have to borrow from my dearest sister again....."