March 7th, 2803. That was the date, memorized in school. The date that had meant that everyone was independent. Perfectly free to their own life. No one had a soul in the world to take care of…or to take care of them. No one carried anyone else’s burdens. All were singly powerful.
It had taken years, even decades to achieve. Wasted years, Kimberly thought to herself. They first had to secure a way to make life a thing without end, therefore creating no need for a new generation that would have been dependent on others until they grew. The existing generation must also be kept from a knowledge of their relatives and, until they were old enough to fend for themselves, were taken care of by an entirely new person everyday (so as not to create an attachment).
Having friends was forbidden. A harsh word she thought. But she had not heeded it.
She let herself drift back then, and tryed to wrap herself in the warm feeling that Onna had called love. Onna, she smiled, her friend. No, Her…Mother. The word was astonishingly deep and cozily comforting. Quietly she touched her cheek, where the mark lay. The red mark that the government had tried to take away. The only thing that let them know, because Onna had remembered it from giving birth to her. She recalled the last meeting she had had with Onna. Before Kimberly had hid, before they had taken Onna away. She was not killed, of course, they couldn’t afford to kill anyone; but taken far, far from here. In that meeting she had touched her cheek gently, as Kimberly herself was doing now, and she spoke, with tears in her eyes.
“I love you, my child,” she had said, “My child.” And they had embraced.
“I love you, too!” Kimberly whimpered into the warm shoulder that was becoming damp.
A tear rolled down her cheek now, in reverent remembrance of the others she had shed. How had they let it come to this?
They both had known that their plan must go through. They must break free of the chains that held them. They must teach others to love.
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