Lily's POV

"Jonas! He's gone! He took Gabe!" I hear Father call out. I rise groggily from my bed, sitting up until my still-sleeping mind can swallow the words I hear. Once I am awake enough to understand, I am struck dumb. Jonas. Gabe. Gone? My thoughts, barely awake, are vague and incomplete, to which my Instructors would disapprove, but I can understand myself fine.

Jonas, you see, is - was - the Receiver. I heard at the Ceremony that without the Receiver, we will all be in pain. Great pain, even worse than when a blundering dark-haired Female in my group, Wendelyn, hit my nose unintentionally with her arm - followed with an Apology and a pain-relief pill. I don't want to suffer that way, not to mention the shame on Mother and Father. What if they're Released? I could never survive by myself without a family unit. And there's another feeling I have, one that feels horrible. Like when I had to give up my Elly...Elefint, was it? No, Elephant, like when I lost my Elephant, but much worse.

Gabe, however, is a Newchild. I would not have known him, but Father was bringing him to our Dwelling for the nights to help Gabe sleep. He was going to be Released today. I knew I'd miss him. He was fun to play with, like having a little friend. And here I am now, missing him as I roll out of bed.

"Father?" I call out. "They're gone?" I see him in the Dwelling's doorway, eyes wide, face lighter than usual, even in the dark nighttime.

He sees me, and tries to look less nervous. "Oh, we don't know that," He fakes a smile, but I know he thinks everything that I am thinking, and more. He was responsible for Jonas and Gabe, so he will suffer great consequences to add to the pain we will all get if Jonas is truly gone. I am so nervous I don't even point out the fact that he lied, which is against the rules.

"What're you going to do?" I ask, voice quivering.

"Everyone will be searching. Now, go to sleep. School doesn't start at night, and you have a big day of learning ahead."

Asher's POV

"Wake up, Asher!" Mother knocks gently on the door. I roll over, onto my back, open my eyes, and grin. This week, my job is to play with the Eights for an hour a day. A few Male Eights had asked me to play Bang when I play with them. I don't like playing Bang much anymore, since it just makes me think of how Jonas hadn't liked when I played it. But the Males like it, and the Females surely must as well so, as the Assistant Director of Recreation, I must play Bang.

I prepare for my job and, dressed, fed, and energized as always, I bound out the Dwelling door, run to my bicycle, and get riding toward the field to play Bang. As soon as I am too far away from my Dwelling to run back, and still be on time to play with the Eights, I realize I forgot my pills, which I have taken since the dream that I had when I was a Ten that my groupmate, Harmony, was being held in my arms like a Newchild, me cradling her head with one hand, the other arm wrapped around her, but her feet were touching the ground. I wouldn't have remembered the dream, but I had asked my mother some weeks ago why I had begun to take the pills. I shouldn't be asking, but I never was one to stick too diligently to rules.

I am disappointed in myself for forgetting the pills, but I don't have time to get them. Besides, I get a guilty kind of enjoyment from neglecting them, and enjoying things I shouldn't is something I've always liked. I decide to go on with my day, but try not to forget too often to take them.

I am very near the Outdoor Recreation Field, so I dismount my bicycle to walk the rest of the way. Suddenly, before I can take a step, I hear a Female voice shout, "Asher! Hello!" Fiona. One of my best friends, besides Jonas, of course. She rides over on her bicycle and dismounts beside me.

"Hey, how are you?" I ask.

"Great, how are you?" She smiles. I like seeing her smile. I can only describe Fiona in one way - cute. It's a strange adjective for someone my age. Cute is the way I describe Newchildren as well. She doesn't look like a baby, but has the same appeal to me.

"Oh, I'm good," I reply.

"Hey, Asher, I need to get going. The Old, you know, there are lots of them. We all need to be there on time. Maybe we can talk later, if we run into each other!" She mounts her bicycle once again, waves, and is gone as soon as she had come. I wish we could have had a longer conversation, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. We've all got jobs to do, and it keeps the community balanced.

I am wallowing in my thoughts as I walk the rest of the way to my job when I see excited Eights run toward my area of the field, followed by the Instructor, Martha, who will be standing far away so I can do my job. It's a Rule, to keep everyone working in Recreation at ease, not being in the midst of the prying eyes of Instructors.

I know that Eights can be unruly, but I've done this lots of times to younger ages. I'm sure I can manage these Males and Females. They can't be much harder to manage than I was. "This game is called Bang," I begin, casting a smile at the Males who had so longed to play. Don't talk too fast, I think, don't mess up your grammar. "Here's how you play: Put your fingers like this-" I demonstrated the hand position required for the game, smallest, index, and middle fingers of both hands folded over one another, and thumbs up. "-and point it at someone-" I pointed my fingers at a light-haired Female. "And...yell...BANG!" The little Female giggles, delighted by Bang.

The Eights spread around the field, fingers ready, and I leap behind a bush, hands in the formation as well, and yell "GO!" The field erupts in shouts of "BANG! You're dead!" and I'm enjoying the fun. Suddenly, a light-haired Male jumps up before me and shouts, "Bang!"

I feel...pain. My eyes close, and reopen again. I am on a field, but no Eights are. There are adults all around, some standing, making explosions come from big metal objects in their hands. Guns and war come to my mind. I look down at my fingers and clasp them into the Bang position. Gun.

I am laying on the ground among others. we are laying in a pool of...something. I think it's water at first, but it smells bad and it looks...different. I am aware of an inwardly-eating pain in my abdomen. the strange water is pooling from there, but I can't think of what it may be because I am in searing pain I have never thought could exist. I close my eyes as I feel the strength leaving me, worse and worse, when an adult Male comes by and presses a button on the gun. I lose all my strength and fall limp.

I open my eyes again, back in the Community. Many Eights are shivering or twitching on the grass, some are sobbing, and some are laying limp. What happened? Did they think the same thing as me? No, not a thought, more vivid, like remembering when Jonas got mad that I played Bang. Wait - that's it, it's a memory. But where do I remember that from? And why do they as well?

Soon, the limp Eights wake, shaking or crying like the already conscious children. "A-A-Asher," a light-haired Male stutters. "Maybe B-Bang isn't a good game to play today."