~Chapter 1~

~Shit this is really going to hurt.~ Was all Cori could think as the pavement approached her swiftly.

She awoke with a start in a sterile looking bedroom that she had never seen before. Her skateboard was lying across her stomach. The first thing she noticed was how gray everything was. She looked down and even her clothes had become gray and formless. The color on her skateboard stuck out almost garishly in comparison with the rest of the room. She got up and moved to a small mirror on the wall. Her face looked the same. Light brown hair and blue-gray eyes, but she looked a bit washed out, like she hadn't been in the sun for a long time.

Cori's eyes flicked to her dresser. There was a small photograph of her and a guy she'd never met before in her life. She moved to the closet hoping to find anything but gray and groaned as she saw row upon row of shapeless gray cotton shirts and long, loose cotton "Skirts?!" she almost cried. "Oh this truly is hell!" She opened the door to her bedroom to reveal a narrow hallway branching off into a bathroom, sitting area, and kitchen. The whole layout gave Cori the feeling of living in a metal box. There were no windows anywhere. Light was produced from uncovered fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling. ~Those are going to give me head aches in no time.~ The whole effect was a sterile metal box. ~I feel like a fucking lab rat.~ she grumbled to herself.

Cori moved into the kitchen. A calendar hung in the kitchen under a clock. September 20, 2003. It was the right day, but this wasn't her apartment, these weren't her clothes, that wasn't her boyfriend, and she really hated gray. She sat at the table, trying to figure out what could have happened.

Someone knocked softly on the door.

"Come in." She grunted absently.

The guy from the photograph entered. "Coriander?" ~Since when has ANYONE called me by my full name?~ "Are you ok?" He asked a bit condescendingly. ~Why would I be with this jack ass?!~ "You weren't in class." He was accusing her now. ~Ok. Now I know two things. I'm supposed to be in class and I really don't like this guy.~

She smiled disarmingly. ~I might as well get some info.~ "I fell and knocked myself out for a few hours. I just woke up."

"Ok." He accepted the answer. ~Moron~

"Can you tell me where I'm supposed to be next? I'm a bit disoriented." She asked sweetly. ~I really wanna puke all over that hideous gray shirt of yours.~

He cocked an eyebrow and if at all possible his nose went even higher. "You SHOULD be at work in an hour. I SUGGEST you shower and get there." He gave her a cold peck on the cheek and turned to leave.

Cori's eyes flashed. ~Is this guy REALLY that stupid??~ "Thank you. And by the way, whatever relationship we supposedly had, well it's over." She slammed the door in his face. "Asshole." She muttered and walked back to her room. ~Well I still don't know where the hell I work, but a shower's not a bad idea. At least until this nightmare is over.~

Someone else knocked on the door as she was towel drying her short hair. "Come in!" She called.

It was a girl this time. Cori had done some research in "her" room and knew that this was Katherine. "Ready for work?" Katherine asked politely.

"Yeah just let me throw on some shoes." Cori nodded.

"Coriander-?" "her" friend began.

"Cori. I don't like my full name."

Katherine looked at her quizzically a moment and then continued. "Is it true you ended things with Jonathon?"

"Yes. He was pissing me off and bad things happen when I get angry." Cori shrugged and grabbed her bag. "Let's go."

"What's angry?" Katherine asked.

Cori paused. * insert anime eye twitch here * "Forget it." Cori turned to the door again.

"But you can't just end it. You two were matched." Katherine said wide-eyed.

"What?!" Cori almost laughed. "There's no way in hell I'm going to marry someone I didn't choose. Especially not a stuck-up prick like that!"

Katherine just stared at her, open-mouthed as they exited. Cori started coughing as she inhaled the heavily polluted air. ~And I thought New York was bad.~ Katherine had put on a portable oxygen mask. Cori dug in her bag and found an identical one. ~This is fucking ridiculous.~ she fumed. A lamp post cracked unnoticed by either of them. Katherine apparently drove a large SUV. ~No wonder the environment's gone to pot. Mmm.Pot. I wonder if they have it here..Wherever here is.~

They took off the masks in the car. "What were those words?" Katherine asked. "Hell, prick."

Cori stared at her. "You don't swear here?"

"Swearing is undesirable. Only the inferiors know how to swear."

Cori sighed. ~This really is hell.~ "Hell is a place were evil people go when they die." She explained.

"Oh! So it's another word for heck!" Katherine smiled innocently.

"Uh..Yeah.Exactly." Cori smiled. "And prick..well that's something you can call a guy when he's not being very nice. You can also use bastard, dickhead, son of a bitch. Asshole and Jackass are pretty non gender oriented. And bitch is for girls." Cori explained the fundamentals.

"What do you mean when someone's not nice?" Katherine asked.

"Hasn't anyone ever said something to you to make you feel inferior?" Cori asked.

"Well my brother and father used to tell me I was inferior to them for being a girl. But that's true. Girls aren't as strong or smart. We're really best staying at home raising children and letting the husband work."

Cori's eye started twitching again. ~I wouldn't be so upset if she didn't believe every word of it.~ "Girls can be just as strong and intelligent as men! Some can even be better." Cori protested.

"Maybe you." Katherine shrugged. "You were one of ten girls allowed to attend University. Not all of us can be smart."

Cori gaped. "Kat. May I call you Kat? No one can tell you what to believe about yourself. I know that if you hadn't been discouraged from birth, you would be in University with me. Many more women could recognize their full potential if they allowed themselves to."

"You can call me Kat. But don't say those things too loudly. You'll get arrested." Katherine hissed.

Cori didn't know what to say.

Apparently, Cori worked in a textile factory part time. It reminded her of pictures she'd seen in history books of the industrial revolution where rows of women bent over machines producing vast amounts of fabric. Cori stood next to Kat and they began the work quickly and monotonously. ~Damn these people are crazy. Maybe I should see if I can get to Canada.~ Cory thought as gray thread ran through her fingers. The foreman stalked up and down rows terrorizing the girls under his direction. Cori felt angry bile rise in her throat as she saw all the girls meekly bow their heads to his torrent of verbal abuse. ~They can't honestly believe all this crap about male superiority.~ The machine Cori was working at began to smoke and the girls all jumped back from it. The gears ground to a halt and it sat there smoking.

"What did you do you stupid girl?" The foreman demanded of her.

Cori glared at him and the machine burst into flames.

"What do you think you're doing? Looking at me like I'm your equal. Get in there and put out that fire or I'll have you on the streets." He sneered.

Cori smirked. "You are not my equal. You are inferior to me. Wrapped in your blanket of ignorance, you have lost all shreds of humanity. You are worse than the lowest dog."

He grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. "That's it you're out of here." He snarled.

Cori jerked her arm out of his grasp. "Don't you dare touch me." She hissed and kicked him in the back of the knees and his legs crumpled underneath him.

Cori felt a sharp stab of pain in her leg and blacked out.