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Forbidden Propinquity is so much shorter than my other story, but is still long. This idea came to me in the fifth grade (WOW I was a STRANGE child) as well as two other good tragedies. I might write them, but maybe not.
AND YES.
I DID READ ANTHEM.

OR

FOR
Since I was very little I’ve worked for Neuras. The tubes never even seemed slightly ominous to me, just transporting Energy from one part of the plant to the other. All we had to do was one job—don’t let the pipes break. It seemed easy enough, and for the most part, it was. We could ignore our jobs for a while and chat, but until the pipes swelled we didn’t have much to worry about.
Mom says that I shouldn’t EVER let the pipes break no matter what. If I’ve been stabbed in the heart and the pipes are swelling, she said to go to the pipes. I say that if I’ve been stabbed, there are greater things to worry about. She called me insolent and walked away.
The pipes rarely swelled. Our room was Room White, third in a chain of five rooms: Room Black, Room Grey, Room White, Room Red, and Room Blue. They each had different purposes: Black was the release room, Grey was the filling room, White was the decision room, Red was the leak room, and Blue was the purification room. I didn’t get why White was the decision room, but as they say, never question Neuras’s wishes. So I didn’t.
So there I was with the other sixteen year olds, watching some white pipes run through a white room filled with white machinery. It’s not like I couldn’t stand it, but it was rather boring. All we had to do was watch one pipe transport Energy to one of three machines, where it split off into two pipes: one to Room Red and another to Room Blue. We were never to enter another room. Neuras would probably kill us if we did. He didn’t want us finding anything out before our time.
Our time was coming. When we were five, we went off to the education center, where we were taught for ten years. When we were fifteen, we left for the House of Neuras, where Neuras’s cohorts would split us into different Rooms. We were then taught for a year about our job and here I am, in Room White. Our time was coming. Seventeen is when we go to the House of Neuras a second time, for Judgement. We’re then evaluated and sent to another room for the rest of our lives.
It’s not easy being sixteen.

IF
My speaking to James initiated the entire thing. I said to him, “James, do you think that we’ll be stuck in two Rooms forever?” He pondered the question and answered.
“Probably not, Gabe,” he said to me. “I’m pretty sure that when we die, our souls are meant to wander around, looking at all the Rooms we please.”
I looked at him. “But James,” I said, “What if we can’t when we die?”
He turned to me. “Huh? Neuas said—”
I sighed. “But what if Neuras is wrong?”
“He’s never wrong. He’s Neuras.”
“Are you sure?”
He paused. “Yes. I’m sure.” He seemed pretty serious about this. I’m not so sure if Neuras is right about the afterlife, if we can wander the Rooms, but I haven’t seen any souls come into Room White.
I raised the question. “Perhaps we should flee into another room, only to see what it’s like.”
He grabbed me by the lapels. “Are you serious? We could get killed!”
I countered. “Think about it. If we die, we will wander around the Rooms. If we wander the Rooms now, we will die. When we die, we will wander around the Rooms. Do you not see the cycle here? Neuras might want us to wander the rooms, which is why he assigned us to only one!”
He paused, thinking about my preposition. “You may be right, Gabe,” he said to me. “It makes sense, seeing as how Neuras knows what is best for us. He says that what is best for our souls is wandering the Rooms. Perhaps we shall put our souls at ease and look around.”
I shook his paw. “Great! Where shall we go to first?” I asked him. He thought about it, taking in everything we learned in the education center.
“Perhaps Room Blue. I have always wondered why we were deciding this,” he said to me.
“Then we shall go to Room Blue!” I exclaimed. I tugged him by the arm to Room White’s door, then exited with James.
This was not a good idea on my part. I simply raised a hypothetical question, and James blew it out of proportion. My intentions were never to disobey Neuras, I was simply bored. We stepped out into the carpeted hallway and walked to the east toward Room Blue. There was one problem, though: our suits. “James, we are still wearing our Room White suits,” I said to him. “What should we do?”
He thought. “Perhaps we should say that Neuras assigned us incorrect uniforms, and that our Judgement was yesterday. We could pull it off.” I thought about it, then nodded.
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said to him. I shifted my tail a bit and, paw quivering, opened the door.
Room Blue was just that: Blue. Everywhere. It was just Room White, except with different machines. We stepped forward and noticed that there were no Blue Uniforms. We could sneak around in here as we pleased. I noticed the Energy that was pouring out into a blue basin from a white pipe, from Room White’s pipes. So this is what we’ve been protecting, I thought. I walked over to it and dipped my paw into it. “What is this?” I asked James. The Energy looked nothing like I thought it would. Energy was red, a dark red, and thick. It seemed to be like water, only metallic to the taste. It didn’t seem like something that I had seen before, but there were quite a few things that I hadn’t seen before. I turned to James. “This is Energy, James. This is what we’ve been pumping in Room White.”
James walked over to the basin and leaned over. “This cannot be Energy,” he said to me.
“Why not?” I challenged. James stuttered, not knowing the answer. I smiled proudly. “Who’s to say it is not? Let’s go to the next room. Room Red.” He nodded and followed me out the door.
“Room Red is the release room, correct?” I asked James. He nodded, and I pointed in Room Red’s direction. “Let us discover Room Red.” I looked up to see all different transparent pipes running from room to room, filled with what we’ve seen in Room Blue: Energy. It didn’t bother me at all yet. I opened Room Red’s door, ready with an excuse, and entered.
The room was filled with Energy. It was pouring into another basin, overflowing even. Room Red’s Uniforms were attempting to contain the Energy in the basin with their brooms, but to no avail. Energy began to trickle our way, so I grabbed James and ran out, slamming the door.
I turned to James. “Perhaps Room Red was not the best idea” I was about to say, but a woman’s voice behind me interrupted me. “Perhaps you should stay in Room White, Sixteens,” she said to me. I turned to see Neuras’s Release Patrol: a Black Uniform. “What is your reason for being out here?” Her tail twitched. Not the best sign.
I stammered. “W-we needed to use the restroom, madam,” I said to Black Uniform. She spat on us and laughed.
“Fools!” she yelled. “You know better than to lie to a Release Patrol. Lying to us is lying to Neuras. Why is there Energy on your suits, if you were in the restroom?”
The jig was up. “We were exploring other room for next year’s Judgement, madam,” James said to the Release Patrol. She nodded.
“Very well, follow me, Sixteens,” she said to us, dragging us toward Room Black.
The release room.
Room Black was not black. Room Black was white, whiter than Room White. In Room Black were Release Patrols standing around the room, perhaps guarding, and a man wearing a black suit and red tie with a needle in his hand.
“Welcome, Sixteens,” he said to us. “I am Neuras.”

IS
Neuras was human instead of canine.
Neuras stood up straight.
Neuras had glasses.
Neuras scared me out of my wits.
“I’ve been watching you,” Neuras said, not raising from his seat, “all the way from your ideas in Room White. James, come here.”
James stood up straight.
James was scared of his pants.
James walked to Neuras.
Neuras smiled.
“This one came up with the idea for room hopping,” Neuras announced to no one in particular. “He shall be the first to be released. Sit, James.”
James sat.
“Stick out your arm, James.”
James stuck out his arm.
Neuras tied a ribbon around his arm and plunged the needle in. James let out a scream and I saw the life leave his eyes. “You see, Gabe? This is what happens when you oppose me. Release Patrol, take him to Room Grey. He shall be drained of his Energy and pumped throughout my building.” The Release Patrol didn’t think. They took James’ lifeless body to Room Grey. I was next.
“Gabe, come here.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No, Neuras,” I said to him. “It’s been enough. I’ve seen how much Energy there’s been flowing into Rooms Blue and Red, and I feel that if you take workers’ lives in order to use them for Energy, then you are more twisted than I had first thought.” I am not going to lie, I was scared as anything now. I’ve seen what Neuras can do, kill with a needle, and I was afraid for my life. All of the Release Patrols were seeing James to Room Grey, so it was only me and Neuras.
“You do not understand, Gabe,” Neuras said, raising from his seat. “I am NEURAS. You worked for ME for the last year. I judged you. I paid for you. I gave you a home, a family, even a friend to work with, and this is how you repay me?” He walked toward me, growing angrier with each step. “You have it backwards. You were meant to die. That’s why you were born. To become Energy for your community. Your life spreading out to many. I set it up for the good of the community. For the good of all people. For the good of the WORLD. And you DARE oppose me?”
“No, Neuras, you have it backwards,” I explained, walking toward him. “We work for YOU against our will. We have put up with your inhumane way of taking Energy from people. We have put up with YOU glorifying YOURself, and this is how you repay us?” I walked toward him, growing angrier with each step. “And to top it off, we thought you were god. How laughable. You, a god? You’re more like a devil to us. Your stupid ideals. ‘Oh, your souls will wander about the Rooms after you die’? Don’t make me laugh. When have I ever seen or felt or heard a soul in Room White?” I turned my back to him. “You never cared about us. You only cared about yourself. And I’m TIRED of it!” I yelled at him.
“You. Impudent. BRAT!” he yelled, charging at me, needle drawn. This was the time to leave. I rushed toward Room Black’s door, exiting and slamming before Neuras could exit. I dropped to all fours, running as fast as my feet could allow, Neuras trailing me closely. I exited Neuras’s Work Tower to the community and ran as fast and as far as I could, exiting Neuras’s grasp.

AM
I never went back there. I never dared. Neruas is still looking for me, perhaps, but I don’t care. It’s not like I’m going back. Besides, I’ve accomplished what I wanted. Neuras’s Energy system has been shut down. All communities must now run on a different Energy, hopefully not as cruel as the other. All I know is that Neuras is still out there, somewhere, looking for me, to use me as the last bit of Energy. I will never forget James. Ever. His sacrifice freed us from Neuras’s iron grip—one life reaching out to many. Who knows where his soul is now? Maybe wandering Neuras’s now vacant Rooms. But I’m sure that if James were alive right now, he would salute my efforts with a shake.
Was I right? Who knows. Maybe Neuras was right. Maybe it was for the good, for the better, for the world. I don’t care, though. I’m still me. Gabe.
Energy.



OR-IF-IS-AM


Again, critique if you will, I need to rewrite it like....tonight