At 13 years old Grace had never truly been outside in nature, she craved the outdoors. To run and jump and play and have fun with her peers. However Grace lived in Erudite, which meant she spent most of her days locked inside with her eyes forcibly glued to a book. The pursuit of knowledge is drilled into members of Erudite from a young age, instead of at the age of 5 learning to ride a bicycle they may be learning about photosynthesis or the elements on the periodic table. Grace was always curious growing up however her curiosity ventured more into what is out there in the world, what the other factions were like, what it would be like to leave and escape, anything and everything outside those stone walls.
'I want out' I thought to myself as I paced around the 3rd floor library. We have a library on 6 of the 12 floors here in Erudite, apparently you can never have enough books. I had been assigned 5 hours of study in the library this morning and as I never seem to get any work done I have been assigned my own personal prison guard as I like to call it to oversee that I actually get some work done while I am here. I was told last week that my grades were so low that I needed to be observed to see if it was my lack of intelligence or my lack of desire to pursue knowledge, or any other stupid reason that I am failing my tests. It isn't even that I am failing! It is ridiculous, to be accepted as a knowledgeable person here you need to be achieving 90% plus on every test you take, most students don't even get under a 98%. However I have been achieving around 80% and for my teachers that is simply not acceptable.
Finally I have seen my moment to escape, my irritating parasite of a supervisor Gaines has gone off to use the toilet. I grab my bag and run to the fire exit at the back of the library and climb to the ground floor. As I get outside the front doors I am surrounded by more and more concrete, there isn't a blade of grass to be seen. Come to think of it, the only grass I have ever seen is pictures and diagrams in the botany books I have had to study in the past. I had no idea where to go so I just turned to my right and started running. The cool wind was whooshing through my hair as I ran, sweat began to bead on my forehead, running wasn't something I had done a lot, and exerting energy outside was not something seen as a good use of time when one could be improving on their knowledge.
After a while that I was sure I wasn't being tracked by any cameras or being followed I slowed my pace to an even walk. After an hour of walking I saw a green field in the distance. 'GRASS' I yelled aloud and started running towards it. Once I reached the green blades covering the earth I fell to the ground and rolled around while giggling, weaving my fingers through the soft blades. I stopped moving and lay still, smelling and taking in the feel and texture of the grass on my body. Coming from above I hear a loud roar of laughter I leap up startled, quickly the fear moved throughout my body as I looked around to see the source of the noise. Above me in the trees a few meters away I see a pair of feet dangling from a high branch, I walk over and see a boy whose face I swear I have seen somewhere before. 'What's so funny?' I proclaim as I look up at the dark haired boy. 'You were actually rolling around in the grass that was hilarious four eyes' the boy called down. Shocked I remembered I was still wearing my clear plastic lensed glasses, something I didn't medically need for assistance, just something that the Erudite wore to improve their appearance to look like they are more intelligent. Feeling embarrassed I pulled them off and shoved them in my pocket, the boy jumped down from the high branches and landed right in front of me. He was also wearing blue clothing which meant he was also a member of Erudite that must be why his face looks slightly familiar I thought to myself. 'My name is Egbert... I mean, Eric' the boy said pointing his hand in my direction to shake. 'Eric isn't a very Erudite name' I told him, 'I know, I don't really like living in Erudite so I just decided I should change it' he explained. 'Oh I'm Grace' I said, 'I don't really belong either, that's why I had to escape for a while, I needed a break'. 'Well it's the perfect place to come' said Eric. I couldn't help staring at the boy, he wasn't as skinny as the other boys in Erudite, he must come out here often to be able to run around and get fit. Eric caught me staring at him and smirked. His eyes bearing into me as though he wanted me to know that he knew he caught me staring.