We are all the same here. We all have gleaming red hair down to our shoulders and have the same ID: 54136. We wear the same white blouse and the same black pants. We are equals. Emotions aren't expressed here. This is America now.

When I was a little girl, I remember those rare summer days when I could run outside in my colorful clothing and play with my friends. When I could be original anywhere; even school. Now the only place where I don't have to hide is at home where I can be Claire-- not a number.

I come out of my daze as everyone in the class raises their hand as one. "The answer?" I don't even look at the board because I know the answer. The response is in unison. "Four" We sound like a machine; mechanical.

Emotionless. Voiceless.

As the bell rings, we stand up in unison and file into the gleaming hallways. I barely notice the lines anymore. I barely feel. Barely think. The only thing I can think about now is Caspian. The name drives me every day. Caspian. I met him three years ago when we were freshman at a high school here. At the same one we are bound to now. This used to be Maine; now it is province 1. I marched in the same line down the street to the neighborhood where we all lived. It was like a parade watching everyone break off solemnly into their separate homes. I closed the door to my own home; relieved.

"How was level three?" My mother asked quietly. I laughed as loud as I dared. "Same as always," The school system is broken up into four levels now. The first level is the eqivalent to grade school, the second as middle school, the third as high school, and the fourth as college.

Like my mother said, I am in level three. I am 17 years old, and so is Caspian. Once we get through level four, we will be assigned a family to reproduce, etc. Hopefully, we'll keep our sanity that long. Some part of me knows that one of us will loose it beforehand. It won't even matter though, because Caspian and I won't be paired. They always pair people with the same hair color to sort of make little clone children. I shake myself out of the daze I find myself in often. Right now, I just hope that Caspian will come here soon.

Every other night he tentatively knocks on the door and we go up to my room to hang out. The lights go out at 6:00pm every night. Suddenly, I feel light headed. I barely see my mother come around the corner. "Honey are you okay?" "Uh, yeah mom. I'm just going to lay down." I'm already walking up the stairs. When I see the white wall, I turn the corner and take another turn. I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open; my nervous system running.

I have strange dreams of institutions and life before the war. After an eternity, I open my eyes and see a figure instantly after. I'm awake. "Caspian!" "Hey sleepy. I thought you were in an eternal coma or something." "Why didn't you wake me up?" "You look so damn peaceful when you sleep, Claire. I'm not going to disrupt that." I sat up and smiled at him. "We all get too much fucking sleep anyway."

He beckoned me to come closer. When I did, he scooted me onto his lap and kissed me. I put my hands into his white-blonde hair. Soon after, we were both panting. I opened my eyes. Seeing his blue ones, I blushed. "What are you blushing for, Red?" I laughed. "Seriously, you've been my girlfriend since you were fifteen--" "Casper," I groaned before laying on him. I kissed him again, opening my eyes just before the lights went out. My shirt was already partly unbuttoned, and I was unbuttoning his. I yearn for the scent and the warmth of his skin. I'm tired of the itchy cotton shirts. The white everywhere. The lines. Everything. I wish I could just stay here in this moment forever. I wish I could constantly breathe in the scent of his skin and lay here with him.

"Baby, you're so beautiful." I smiled. "Even with this shit on." He tugged on my stiff shirt. "Casper!" I squealed. I shifted my lips closer to his and kissed him again. He tasted so sweet I could barely tear myself away. He changed the subject. "I saw some renegades today walking over here." "Me too," I reminded myself of the shifty men walking beside our line. "Watch out for them, Claire. They'll kidnap you," I shuddered, thinking about what had happened to my friend Brittany a month ago.

She was in my group, but became a mother soon after, so she was replaced. Just like all of the other girls that got raped. The renegades have special connections with the government to get out of school, so they hang out drunk in their clubs all day. The dangerous ones come out to watch the schooled and sometimes kidnap one or two. Especially the red heads. They loved to fuck them up the most.

"Claire? Claire!" I shook myself. "You've been doing that a lot lately." His green eyes clouded when he sat up. "Please," he held my face with both hands. "Don't leave me. Please," He was still pleading with me when I realized there was something wrong with him. Something different. Tears dropped from his left eye and then his right. He put his hands on my thighs as I put mine in his hair. "Caspian. Caspian look at me." I looked into his eyes, now rimmed with red. "Look, I'm not going anywhere except for the institution and your arms. And my bed." I admitted.

He didn't smile. I was still searching his eyes, which were somewhat different still. Why did they look so off? Then I realized that they were green. Not blue. "Look, Claire. They know you. They know you and I'm so sorry for that. I'm so sorry." He was shaking even more fiercely now. "Caspian what are you talking about?" He wouldn't look at me. Not even through a crack in his hands. "What are you talking about? Caspian, I want you to look at me and tell me what the hell you're talking about." He looked at me for a second before taking a deep breath.

"The renegades know you. They know your name. They know who you are and who I am and what your number is." "How?" "Alex. He-- he was one of them and remembered me telling him that you were hot as shit. He found more info. Today they were scouting you- looking for you. Tomorrow. They're taking you tomorrow." I vaguely remembered Caspian's best friend Alex from before the war. "What are they going to do to you if I don't show tomorrow?" "They'll kill me, but Claire I don't want you to die. I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to you. Hell, Claire, I can't even live with myself now. Please, just-- I can't even--" "There's no fucking way you're dying." I buttoned my bleach white shirt. He was still shaking. Helping him up, I hugged him. "Nothing is going to happen to me. I swear. You know me."

I made him look at me. "I forgive you." I held his hand and groomed his messy hair. It's getting long again like I like it. He caught my hand. "I'm coming early two days from now. Please don't let them touch you." I gave him a long kiss before watching him walk out of the door. After 6:00 every night, only the renegades are out, so he should be safe walking home. A while after I went to bed, I stopped thinking about them so I could remain strong. I open my eyes and see the white walls. The white bedsheets. The painted-over white windows.

Getting up, I walk over to the closet to see the identical clothing. The only thing that I own that has color now is the outfit I hid from the police. I had put it in a slit in my mattress; a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of chuck taylors. Brand new, and slightly bigger so that the day I escape I can wear them. But I won't leave without Caspian. So, i have clothes for him stored there, too. A different opportunity awaits us. A different tomorrow. I shake my head. Think about now. Checking my calendar, I see that today is pony tail day. I tuck in my white blouse and put my gleaming hair into a pony tail. I check the mirror. Perfect; as always.

'Perfection' is the institution's modo. I don't understand why, though. Nothing is ever perfect. I walk outside. On the way to school, I spot Alex standing next to Caspian in line. They are schooled in a separate house in the same institution; for they are different. They have blonde hair and blue (green?) eyes. I shook my head at how stupid all of our lives were. The "professors" teaching us memorized bullshit on air screens every day, the synchronized movements, everything. I yearn for my old life in a different time. A different America. I catch Caspian's eye while I march. I catch his brown eyes. What the hell? I thought. Why are his eyes changing colors so dramatically? I march on.

There will be plenty of time to think about it after inspection. I see the large glass doors that the institutions are known for. Inside, I know there will be a scanner. I will walk through the scanner, smile, and answer "Yes, Yes, No, Yes, No, No" to the questions I never listen to anymore. If I get an answer wrong, they will send me away. No more school, no more Caspian, no more life. I see Alex again, just before walking into the glass doors of the institution. He smiled at me recognizingly. I smiled back. Didn't Caspian say he was a renegade? That he was going to kidnap me? I'll have to talk to him later.

Walking through the white hallways, I am reminded of my place here as a clone. As a nobody; just a number. I see the white classrooms with sealed windows, the hospital-like structure of the gathering room, the unfriendly face of my first professor of the day. The security camera greeted us as we walked inside. There was a screech as the white loudspeaker projected the morning's announcements.

We said the school's slogan: "In this institution we are bonded and treated as one." As one. I have never minded the sound of it until now because it sounds so empowering and insightful. I wish that I had heard it in another life though. Those words, every day bound me to this prison and force me to shut down and to stop trying. To stop being me. To stop resisting. To stop loving my family and art and Caspian. But I will never give up.

The third bell rings, sending us to lunch. What freaked me out at first was the endless silence. Now it doesn't bother me. Now, it just serves as an endless reminder of the war. This is the third year of the war. It's known as nothing else. Just simply: the war. I don't exactly know how it started or how it will end, but Iraq sent a nuclear bomb to Russia; causing other countries to beckon war on America.

Since then, a lot has happened. Japan got destroyed right away. China is on top. No one knows where America stands. I could say that half of the countries in the world are off the map because of the nuclear bombings, and that the world is falling apart. For the first few days, all of the fish in the ports came belly-up and dead. The water still oozes green from the waste.

I remember when Caspian's father had owned a small fisherman's boat. Caspian and I would take it out into the water almost every night in the summer and I would watch him draw. He is such an amazing artist that at first, I had thought his parents had bought all of the portraits in his house. Turns out, he painted them. Painting, however, isn't what he likes to do. He loves to just draw. In school, if you looked over at him he would be using a #2 to draw.

When he started to draw me, I was a sophomore. At first, I wasn't sure what to think of it. He only draws what's on his mind, so does it mean I'm on his mind? I've never asked him about it before, but I think I might soon; just to know what he thinks about. Right now, I just want to know why his eyes are changing colors so often. The final bell rings.

As I walk home, I see a figure on my porch. Who could it be? I thought. "We need to talk". I look at Alex, giving me one of his superstar smiles. "Where?" I whisper, afraid of drawing attention. He gestures at my house, so I unlock the door and lead him up the stairs. He looks at me seriously. "Claire, you have to listen to me. Believe me. Caspian got taken away yesterday. He was cloned, and now I have no idea where he is." I shook my head. "You're lying. I saw Caspian yesterday night" I paused. "But his eyes.... They kept changing." He looked at me with a cautious glance. "So," i say, considering. "If Caspian really is a clone now, then...." "Claire, it knew you had relations with Caspian. It has Caspian's face, his personality; Even his memory."

Fearful, I look up at Alex's face. "So if Caspian is gone, will I ever see him again?" "Okay," he sighs. "If I tell you this, you have to believe me. You have to believe that Caspian was taken." I nod. "Okay," I say, thinking of Caspian's eyes changing color. "My grandfather is a Senator. He said that there is a facility where they take people like Caspian who failed the entrance test. It's a little north of here-- maybe ten miles at most. Caspian won't be returning; he knows that for sure. As far as ever seeing him again, we would have to quit school and bust him out." I sigh. Life is never easy, is it? Thinking of the possibility of not seeing the white walls ever again, I ask "When do we start?"