2

A cool breeze tickled my elbow that was outside the window. Bright yellow rays of sunlight nourished the sunflowers as they danced in the free open fields. I looked outside to see the tiny yellow lives relish the warm sunlight that radiated everywhere. Coming out of Danvere the air that inflated my lungs felt richer and the sweet scent of the wet soil omnipresent in the air.

Hah…

I took in the fresh air. All this felt so… So free, as the heavy shackles that had always bounded me were finally broken.

Somehow, a perfumed scent rudely intruded upon my newfound peace. I looked towards the direction the suffocatingly lovely scent had wafted from in front of me. My eyes turned to find a ponytail dance about in the air as the bus drifted across the bumpy country road. Long blonde hair with streaks of purple drew my attention to the face of the person who was currently looked far too engrossed in the book to enjoy the refreshing touch of aesthetic beauty.

I shifted to the seat beside this person of interest.

One look at the face and my eyes were left wide open.

It was a 'he.'

Seeing a man with such lush hair was not a daily affair in Danvere. My arrival to the side seat had gone by completely unnoticed. I looked at his face.

He was dark skinned. Big eyes and a small nose gave him a rather feminine outlook. But the scattered facial hair could easily identify him as a beautiful male member.

I wanted the continued silence to end. So, I took the first foot forward.

"Hi there."

The longest three seconds of my life went by as my hand stood there; stretched out, kissing air.

"Hi."

Finally came a response which oozed with enthusiasm. There was so much energy that my stretched-out hand was met with the meagre action of turning of the page. That book had to be a hell lot of interesting.

Haha- With an awkward laugh I withdrew my arm, scratching the back of my head. A bashful expression fixed on my face. My eyes drifted onto his book. It was the 'Freshman Guide' mandatory for every student of the Birchmoore University to go through. I had already read it twice driven by sheer excitement.

"I saw the book you were reading. Are you a freshman at Birch too?"

The general three second rule came into fruition once more.

After the customary wait, came back an affirmatory nod.

This made got me quite excited. Questions about what to ask a fellow student started formulating inside my head. My eyes turned cloudy and unfocused. But a splash of cold water washed away all my excitement.

"My name is Sullivan. I ranked 5th in the National Entrance Test. I don't like to waste my time. So, if you, are anyone beneath rank 50. You don't qualify to have a conversation with me, and this is the last time we talk. So, go away. But if you are someone above 50th then you can continue to humor me."

"Huh?"

A questioning whimper escaped my mouth.

I had never seen someone quantify the criteria for friendship with such efficiency.

My face soon brightened up because the man sitting in front of me showed no hint of pride or superiority while saying all this. In fact, it felt like he was just stating the fact. This meant that he was one of 'those.'

'I never thought that I would meet someone this interesting this early. If what I think is true, then all the things that happened till now made perfect sense.'

"Sure, I'll tell you if I fall into your criteria or not. But first, can you answer my question?"

The black beauty nodded.

"Are you from the Institution?"

Taking the normal three seconds I waited for his reply.

And to my pleasant surprise, there was no reply.

"Are you from the Institution?"

I repeated my question but with a bit of pressure added to it.

But the reply never came. He acted as if I hadn't asked the question.

Haha-

My palms rushed to shut my mouth as it went off once again.

Now, I was truly glad that I escaped that hellhole. But to think that I would meet someone this unique this early, was truly unexpected. I had always wanted to meet him but who would have thought that I would meet him now.

The Institution.

I had heard about the institution while going through the one of the scientific magazines.

A subclinical inability named Alexithymia was glorified during the late twenty-first century. This was a trait that was special because of its unique symptom which turned people essentially emotionlessness or a better word emotional blindness. The people suffering from it were particularly known as Alexes.

Throughout the entire length of their existence, the Alexes were portrayed as defectives that existed meaninglessly in the society. But this ended when the scientist Dr. Richard Munroe came out with a thesis that changed the basic outlook towards them.

His project proved that the potential work efficiency and societal change that Alexes could bring about was 10% better than any average human. To sum it up, when put in similar situations an Alex would have o.1 times better chance at excelling than their 'normal' counterpart.

But this potential needed to be unlocked. Sure, the Alexes had the potential but that did not necessarily mean that they would succeed. So, to ensure that a special place with the sole purpose of training them was sanctioned by the system.

During every generation, the face of the earth would be introduced to a new Alex. They each would come from different walks of life and could not be differentiated physically apart from the rest of us.

The youngest child suffering from Alexithymia would be adopted and nurtured personally in the facility. This facility was known as the Institution.

The Institution would nurture them till they were eighteen. When they left the facility most of the Alexes had always chosen to accept the invitation from the prestigious of the Birchmoore University, one of the most renowned colleges in the whole world.

One week ago, a news leak had created utter chaos. The article stated that the new Alex was going to enter Birch this semester, alongside me. I was too excited to meet him. But lo! The adventure I was anticipating could never come true. As the next Alex was sitting just in front of me with the Freshman's Guide in his hand.

The identity of the all-too famous Alex could never be kept a secret because of three popular characteristics that exposed them within the first week of college.

First, was itself, the fact that they would enter the Birch. This narrowed the hunt down by a lot. Many students in the campus would go on a hunt for the new Alex every time a new semester begun.

Second thing that disclosed them, was the thing that they needed the most. Their moral compass. For Alexes the existence of a strictly defined moral compass was what taught them the right and the wrong.

They could never be taught the feeling of what good or what was bad without the existence of these pointers. And the glaring inability to lie was what caught them most of the times. They were unable to lie as they were trained not to do so.

Instead, they were taught to ignore the question they never intended to answer because they were never obliged to be answerable to anyone accept the system.

But the most renowned feature was their 3-second ritual. This was what had me suspicious about Sullivan. They always took 3 seconds to answer or participate in any and every conversation.

It was kind of obvious if you think about it. They could not identify emotions, nor could they feel it. I was impressed by this character the most, because they had to complete a set of different tests every time, they had to identify the tone and the emotion that went behind each sentence and word they heard.

This involved the assessment of the pitch of the voice used, the loudness, the facial expressions and much more. You could marvel just at the fact that they had narrowed all this down to 3 seconds.

This time was just the starting time. But after the continuous exposure with outside world. This time would be reduced even further to almost no time. Bringing them closer to becoming a 'normal' human being.

I looked at his face once again after realizing the fact that he was the ALEX.

I immediately removed that still tried to conceal my face, sitting in a rather comical posture.

"Ah… So Ale… I mean Sullivan. Are you this generation's Alex?"

"…"

Three seconds passed but no reply came through.

I guess it was a bit too personal.

"Scratch that. Which dorm have you been assigned to?"

I changed my question.

"…"

Still no reply came back.

I felt like a child who continued to fester his parent but only to hit the big wall of ignorance every single time. The disappointment hit hard.

My feet carried my drooped shoulders back to my seat.

My face hung out of the window feeling relieved. At least the sweet smell of the damp soil still tickled my nose. Cool breeze splashed softly on my face as they washed away any traces of the previous disappointment. I slowly drifted off to sleep, the whistling breeze become my sweet lullaby.

A Few hours passed.

"Ahh…"

I exclaimed out of my sweet slumber to find a big red swelling on my forehead. I rubbed my head to lessen the blaring pain. My tongue clicked in annoyance to find that a yellow stripped speed breaker become my culprit.

My squeezed-in eyes soon relaxed to welcome the arrival of a different scene.

"We have reached." The loud honk from the bus woke me up if not the announcement of the obese bus driver.

A small hoarding caught my attention. Fixed on a dark brown wall.

I felt my lips broaden into a smile as I read its contents.

'Birchmoore University'

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