None of them knew the color of the sky. They only knew it was dangerous.

How was it dangerous? No one really knew. Those who did know about the sky had long ago died off. Some claimed it was poison; others clung to the belief that fire had rained down and destroyed everything. I heard rumors that it may have been both. I had even heard whispers of a few lucky ones disappearing in the night to go to the surface.

I was one of those who escaped. After a particularly horrid flogging, I decided to take a chance. I would rather die trying to look at the sky than be beaten for not working fast enough.
I waited until my guardian, an elderly woman named Lisa, fell asleep. I didn’t dare to gather any belongings or food. The bundles would only slow me down. I would have to hope the rumors of food on the surface were true. I hesitated at the door. Lisa had done her best to protect me. When I was about to be put to death for stealing food for my sick mother, she stepped in. She argued that I was only a child who didn’t have a proper home. All I needed was a good home and a reasonable person to take care of me.
A few days later, soldiers came to the shack my mother and I lived in. Even though she was sick, she tried to stop them from taking me away. One of the men hit her in the back with the butt of his gun. She collapsed onto the dirt floor. The soldiers tore me away from my mother’s unconscious body and took me to the part of the city where the wealthier citizens lived. They stopped at a large house. The same man that struck my mother pounded on the door. Lisa opened the door with a smile that morphed into a look of terror. She took me from the soldiers holding me, shouting incoherent words at them.
I was put in her care at the age of seven. I never saw my mother again. Lisa would only smile sadly whenever I had mustered up the courage to ask about her. I still worked in the fields. Even if I lived with Lisa, I was still a worker. She didn’t seem to care what my rank was though. She treated me as if I were her daughter. She fed me parts of her luxurious rations. She had broken laws by teaching me information banned to my caste. I learned about colors from her. Not just shades of brown, but hues no other worker knew.
I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to. After nine years of taking care of me, Lisa was getting weaker in old age. She needed her full rations. She didn’t need to worry about me anymore. I took a shaking breath as I stepped through the stone doorway.
The lights along the tunnel walls were dimmed, so I could get to the air ducts easily. The issue was the guards stationed outside the metal maze. They stood in the light, the polished metal of their guns shining. I took a large rock in my hand and threw it down the tunnel I had come from.
That got their attention. The burly men shared a look before calling out, “Who’s there? It is past curfew.”
Receiving no response, they crept forward. After a few meters, they broke into a jog and then a steady run. I didn’t dare to breathe as they ran past me, hands on their guns. If they saw me, I would be in front of the firing range. Nothing Lisa could say would be able to stop them this time.
Once they were engulfed in the shadows of the tunnels, I bolted. I crouched down and began crawling through the air ducts. My fists and feet pounded against the thin metal, alerting the guards that they had been tricked. They came back, shouting threats. It didn’t matter. Their shoulders were too big to fit in the ducts and shooting would damage the air ducts. It felt like I crawled for eternity, but eventually, I found a rusted ladder that led up to a man hole; to freedom.
I saw it the moment I crawled out of the buried air duct. The light almost blinded me. I was used to the dim fixtures that lit the tunnels and homes under the earth. As soon as I could see again, I scrambled to me feet. I almost jumped out of my skin at the sight of grass. The bright green was amazing after having lived in a world of brown. There aren’t any flames. There aren’t any poisons in the air. The sky is happy. There are white balls of fluff swimming in endless blue.
My lips curved upwards and I let out a laugh. It was loud to me, but nothing stirred. It didn’t matter though, I was free. I was finally free. After 17 years of being buried with the hopeless, one moment of courage freed me.
My feet carried me. I didn’t care where I went. All I knew was that I would never go back. My elated thoughts ended when I tripped. My arms shot out to catch myself. They did nothing to stop my fall. I hissed in pain. It felt like pins had been stabbed into my palms, face, and stomach.
It took what seemed forever for me to realize I was in water. It took longer for me to find a place to stand where my feet wouldn’t sink into the earth. Something frightening in the water caught my eye. It had skin the color of pearls. Its eyes were wide and milky gray. Its face was framed by matted ebony hair that hung past bony shoulders. The blue of veins was the only color on the bony creature. Terror gripped me as I moved to get a closer look at the beast. It moved with me. I reached out to touch the strange creature. Its arm extended to me as well. Shrinking back in horror, I realized the monster was me. I shuddered and clambered to the shore.
Water weighed me down, but I managed to climb up onto the shore. I had lived with people who looked just like me, but I had never thought I looked like them. I was different. I was the girl who wanted the sky. I let out a scream of frustration.
What if I was like them? I couldn’t be. They wanted to hide and work and be beaten. I wanted to fly and take risks. I gripped a fistful of my disgusting hair and yanked. Pain shot through my scalp, but I only pulled harder. Out came a clump of ruined ebony.
A scream tore from my throat. I ripped more of my hair out, throwing it away from me. I didn’t want to be like them! I wanted to be me, to be considered a person.
A sound behind me made me jump. It sounded like when the men snapped roots apart to expand the tunnels. I struggled to my feet, searching for the source of the noise. “Who’s there?”
From between two trees, a boy stepped out. His skin was pink. He had the same black hair as I did, the same gray eyes, but his skin was pink. He held his hands up, wary of me but not wanting to scare me. “I’m Jason. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was hunting, and I heard a scream.”
“Well, you did scare me.” My voice wavered, but I held my chin high.
“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Why would I need your help?”
He pointed to my head. I lifted a hand, feeling around. Pain. I pulled my hand away. It was covered in thick blood. I looked back up at Jason. “I did this.”
“I know. My brother tried to scratch his skin off. ” He smiled at me, understanding why I was so upset. “Everyone did something like that when they saw themselves.”
“Everyone?” I eyed him, not sure if I could trust him. He was a boy, after all, and about my age. I held my body still, refusing to shudder as memories of what I had seen boys do flashed through my mind.
Jason nodded, worry flickering in his eyes. “Yeah, everyone. There’s about twenty adults and a few kids. We can help you. There’s no reason to be afraid.” He held out his hand for me. Reluctantly, I took his outstretched hand. I would believe him for now. He didn’t flinch away from my bloody touch.
He led me through the woods. He was quiet for a while. I imagine it must be hard to think of what to ask a girl you find ripping out her hair in the woods. He cleared his throat. “What’s your name?”
I looked at him. Workers didn’t have names. We had numbers assigned to us at birth. With a bitter taste in my mouth, I told him my caste. “I don’t have one. They just called me W-772.”
He stopped. His eyes bore into me. “Alright. How about this, what do you want your name to be, W-772?”
We stood there. He stared at me intently while I looked at him in amazed skepticism. I could have a name? Any name in the world? A name that had nothing to do with a number? I could hardly believe my ears.
Jason laughed quietly. He had probably been through this before. “Well?”
“Lisa.” I spoke the only name I knew. I knew I wasn’t worthy of sharing that name, but it was the only one I knew. Everyone else had been a number, a sir, or a ma’am.
“Lisa, huh?” He looked over me and nodded. “You seem to be a Lisa to me. Alright, Lisa, let’s get going.”
Joy filled me when he said I seemed like a Lisa. I had a name. I was a person. He slid his hand back into mine, giving a gentle squeeze. I wanted to pull away, but I didn’t. I would need his friendship if I were to survive in this new world. I knew he could easily kill me, but he could just as easily guide me.
Together, Jason and I continued through the woods. He kept me from stepping through plants that would give me rashes. When I stumbled, he caught me. I felt foolish, but he was surprisingly sympathetic. He had gone through the same thing. The smooth, safe tunnels were gone.
I smiled. I didn’t need safety. What was the fun of flying if you knew you couldn’t fall?