Author's Notes:

So! Here we are again, with chapter 2! I don't have to do any disclaimers again, do I? Okay...good...Also, I don't think I have lyrics for this chapter, mostly because as I'm typing this, I'm listening to Too Much Love Will Kill You by Queen. This song has nothing to do with this chapter... I blame shuffle. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! :D

Claire waits patiently in the family room with her mother, father, and brother until the Dockelifile to arrive. She wanted to attempt to skip the meal today, but she was doubtful that she would succeed. "What will my parents do if they notice I'm not eating it?" she asks herself as the door opens and the men in jumpsuits march in with platters. The family get up in an almost robotic, automatic manner and take their seats in the kitchen. The men serve the Dockelifile to each family member and then promptly exit the household. Claire looks around the table at her family, as they all bite into the food, not even a slight twitch at the first taste from any of the people. "maybe...maybe I should just eat it...just today... I need to know how Dominic gets away with not eating this meal." Instead of skipping out on the food, as she promised Dominic, she takes the bite, also not noticing the odd taste or the way it was affecting her. When the meal is over with her dad goes on to say,"What a blessed meal, we can only thank our dear Absolutist for such a blessing." to which his family replied, "I believe." The father dismisses his children to bed, wishing them a good night.

At Midday Mealtime the next day, Claire decides to purposely sit where Dominic usually sits before he got there. Her friend questioned her, but she covered it by saying, "Sorry, Ariel... I need to talk to him privately. I'll sit next to you next time. He really wants to talk to me." Ariel gives Claire a look of understanding and shuffles back to her normal table. Claire sees Dominic enter the cafeteria and sits patiently as if not to raise any suspicion. He is shocked to see her sitting at his table when he arrives. "Good afternoon, Dominic." she greets. "Good afternoon, indeed!" he replies enthusiastically, with a bright smile. His face slightly changes for a moment, but he composes himself in time before anyone could notice. Claire, however, did take notice of this rapid change in his face. "What was that?" she asks.

"What? Do you mean my facial expressions? Why I turned red?" he replies, throwing in more unanswered questions. "Oh... I didn't notice you turning red... You changed all too quickly to notice." she murmurs, becoming intrigued. "Well, I change color because...That... it... goes along with...how you supposedly make me 'feel', I guess... I found a friend who explained this to me... but I'm not sure if I understand it thoroughly." Dominic tries to explain it, the way his friend did, but was missing a few key points. "Why does it change so quickly?" Claire continues to ask. "I have to compose myself because if I don't as quickly as possible, and someone like a Mentor or a Server or even the Absolutist, catches sight of me in this way, I could be seriously punished," he pauses, trying to think of the quote his friend told him, "'Our society is a very corrupt one,'" he whispers, "Dockelifile really does have an affect on our brains. I think it's poisoning us, slowly, until we become immune. Adults only continue eat that toxin so their children will follow suit. They're basically ill beyond a cure... That's why I want you to stop eating it as soon as possible. We're so close to becoming immune..." He looks at her, his eyes burning into hers, alas, the stare proved to be ineffective when she had Dockelifile in her system. "Your safety is all that matters to me at this point." She blinks, feeling his whispers cool on her skin, yet his words adding on a burning sensation. "Dominic, if Dockelifile is so poisonous why does the Absolutist eat it himself?" she challenges on reflex. He puffs into his cheeks in frustration. "The Absolutist has no care in the world about us. He thinks, that if we lose our emotions, we'll have a perfect society and obey his every whim. He doesn't eat Dockelifile, he wants to be the only one who can express emotions." He says. "Emotions? What are you talking about, these 'emotions'?" She says, her face bell for the next class rings and Dominic sighs, "Meet me in the park after dinner tonight, make sure you've skipped the meal and I'll explain how emotions work where no one will bother us."

"But... how do you not eat it, without getting caught?" He laughs, "Oh, it's fairly easy. All I did was throw it out when no one was looking..." she gives him a look of doubt. "It'll work, trust me..." He whispers, getting up to go to his next class.

After the servers made their way out of the household, Claire stares at her dish, in deep thought. Taking her fork, she spears the jelly-like substance and brings it to eye-level, closely observing it. It was an opaque, off-white color, and jiggled with the slightest twitch of the hand. She looks up at her family and observes them. They all had just finished their last bite, every move they made seemed robotic. Their eyes were glazed over, her father echoes the Dockeil Appeal, along with her mom and siblings. She watched in amazement as her her two brothers were sent to bed, her presence going unnoticed by the rest of them. "It's like I've suddenly become invisible..." she thinks to herself. She takes this moment to rid herself of the wretched food as her parents make their way upstairs to bed. An alien reaction started to overcome Claire, a warm, salty liquid running down her face. "Dominic was right...about everything..." Claire says to herself as she witnesses her parents, astounded. Her eyes start to fall heavily. She yawns, a human reflex she hasn't experienced until this moment. She had no idea what it was like to be physically tired, it was just another robotic adaptation the absolutist intended for the citizens of Dockeil. "I have to meet Dominic in the park!" She exclaims, shaking out of her sleepiness. Claire slips through the door, making sure she didn't make a sound.

"Dominic...?" She calls out when a figure comes into sight from a bench. It was so dark, she could barely see her feet set firmly on the ground. "I'm here..." He says, crooking a finger out to her, gesturing for her to sit next to him. Claire squints to focus on Dominic's movements and then finally makes her way to the bench. "Good evening, Claire!" He greets her with a smile that seemed bright even in pure darkness. She smiles back, this time her smile was genuine, humanized. "Same to you, Dominic." Dominic could hear a change in her voice, it was her natural, un-drugged voice. It was as sweet as sugar, his skin warmed at the sound of it. "So, how was it? Skipping the meal? Odd, aye?" He asks. She nods, "Absolutely! It felt as if my family were dead, and I was just becoming alive!" He looks at her with a warm gaze, "But it also was like you were the one that was actually dead, yes?"

"Exactly, my family didn't acknowledge me once after they had consumed the meal..." She trails, leaning toward Dominic for a better view. "It was the same for me... So, are you aware of what you have been feeling since you skipped the meal? Describe how you felt after," Dominic pushes, "And I don't think we should be here for too long..."

"Well..." Claire hesitates for a moment, twiddling her fingers in thought. "When I saw my parents, their blank stares, how they neglected my precence I... I had this really odd- I'm not quite sure what it was...but this started to happen." She struggled to explain until she felt the strange liquid drip from her eyes as they had earlier. Dominic reached out, stroking her face with his thumb to wipe the tear and scooting closer to her. He frowns, wishing she didn't feel the way she did. "From what I've learned... I'm thinking you we're experiencing 'sadness.'" He murmurs, continuing to stroke her face, the feeling comforting not only to her, but to him also. "'Sadness?'" She whimpers, leaning into his touch, not sure of what he was doing to her, though it was a pleasant feeling. "Err, yeah...I'm not sure, though, even the simplest of emotions are difficult to explain."

"C-could you name some?" She asks, the warmth of Dominic's body pulling her closer until their thighs touched. "Hmmm," he hums, staring at their touching skin, "Well...There's Happiness...there is sadness, anger...those are the basic ones." He eyes Claire, knowing she would want more of an explanation, her eyes wide in intrigue. "Happiness is...It's kind of like...Let's put it this way: you skipped your meal and came all this way to talk to me about it, that makes me happy. Puts a smile on my face..." He stammers through his explanation and smiles nervously. "So, happiness is a good feeling." Claire states, beginning to comprehend it. Dominic nods and smiles. He continues to explain the other emotions he named, having to stop from time to time to answer Claire's queries.

"And then there are more complex emotions such as...Excitement, frustration, melancholy, anxiety and others...then there's, erm...'love'." Dominic swallows heavily, the sound of the word making him uneasy. He swings his leg that was touching Claire's across his other, making sure nothing on them touched, he finally drops his hand from her face. "Why such an emphasis on 'love'? What is it?" Claire inquires, the spot on her face where Dominic caressed, suddenly becoming cold. "Errm, I- I can't explain it..." He stammers, shaking his head and looking down to avoid her eyes further. "Maybe one day, I'll take you to the friends I've met, they can explain this much better than I can... Maybe we should both be heading back to our homes, I'll see you at school tomorrow, Claire." Dominic rises from the bench and crosses his arms, waiting for The girl to rise. "I guess, you're right...Bye, Dominic..." she starts to head toward her house, but something stops her, "Wait!" She calls to him as he walks away. He stops in his tracks and turns around, seeing Claire run back to him. "Thank you so much, Dominic...really." her arms move mechanically toward the boy, neither of them quite sure of what Claire's arms were about to do. Her arms wrap around him awkwardly, for Claire, it just seemed like a natural instinct. Dominic responds by pulling her closer, "Err...y-you're welcome, Cl-Claire..." he gulps, the warmth of we body overwhelming him. He let go reluctantly and folded his hands behind his back. "Good night, Claire..."

"Good night, Dominic." He turns around for the second time and heads for his home, his conversation with Claire he ha tonight still lingering in his head.

...then there's, erm...'love'.

Why such an emphasis on 'love'? What is it?

I- I can't explain it...

"Dominic," Claire says, approaching the boy after school the next day, "I want to know more...about emotions." He voice drops down to a whisper as Dominic averts his eyes to make sure no one was eavesdropping into their conversation. "I said I would take you to meet my friends, didn't I?" He grills, sounding a bit frustrated. "Yes, I know! But when exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Soon!" He exclaims, throwing his hands in the air angrily. "Dominic..." She murmurs calmly, refraining from putting her hands on his arm to comfort him. "I'm sorry..." He mouths, Claire didn't hear him.

Hi, there! Well, first of all I would like to apologize for the delay, I could blame it on a number of things, but it was mostly my fault. I've been lazy with my writing, and I just finished writing this chapter...a week ago or so. So it's been about six month since I updated... The good news is, I'll have the next chapter up sooner and it won't take me 3894382104 years to post it, I promise. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I thank you for reading it~