Chapter 2 : Divisions

Long ago man discovered fire an invention that had changed their lives in many different ways. Even though some insignificant it had all played a role into changing the world into what it was now.

An advanced technological haven that housed many different mechanisms which would all shock their ancestors.

The three girls were both lucky and unlucky to be born into this world at this time as everything would not happen without the other happening.

Even though they had lost their families over night at least they had met two other fated souls that would go on to be their everlasting life line.

"Get up everyone!" the shrill voice of their matron sounded all around the room giving the still muddle headed girls the final push they needed.

They each sat up and quietly stared at the other remembering what had happened the previous day. It has been a long day that they would never forget.

Thankfully they were young confused and timid and hence had no time to mourn and cry out for a loss they didn't yet understand.

All they knew to do was to hold on to each other and move forward despite everything feeling so fishy and rushed.

Xu Wei was the first one of her bed and quickly pressed the button on her bedside before walking off into the room that had revealed itself.

The other two finally seemed to get the memo and also climbed off their beds and following in what the other girl had just done.

Half an hour later they were ready and joined the line of calm girls who were trailing out the dorm in a line.

All the girls were dressed in white collared shirts a pair of grey slacks, black socks and a pair of black polished shoes.

It looked like the scene out of a female military camp as they all walked to the parade ground where their days always started.

A group of uniformed adults stood in lines on the podium and were silent as they watched the children assemble according to their dorm halls.

Dorm halls were labelled using letters in the alphabet and applied to both the boy and girl dorm area ensuring they were properly mixed up as they lined up.

"Good morning everyone" Miss Shen spoke out as soon as the children were done lining up.

She was dressed in a blue nurse like dress that framed her figure beautifully making her look colorful in the sea of beige that the other teachers were clad in.

"Good morning Mistress Shen!" a loud unified response was given by all the children and teachers giving the new children a shock.

Ever since the three had arrived in the evening they had not been able to meet any other child and were shocked seeing them behave so mechanically.

"As you all know today is the first day of military training for our kindergarten class." she started with satisfied smile.

"So I expect you all to be at your best behaviour and follow the schedule given to you." she went on her eyes looking around the crowd as if trying to burn her words into their minds.

"That is all from me, Mr Lu?" she asked turning to the bespectacled lanky man standing behind her.

"All new children will be required to wait in the dining hall after breakfast." he simply announced before dismissing the children.

They followed the lines to the square dining hall building which stood tall at the corner of the school with a couple different entrances.

Su Lin curiously looked around the sterile looking place and followed along the line as they walked into a cream painted room.

A faint scent of food assaulted they noses as they stared at the huge room lined with long stainless steel dining tables.

Every table held fourteen placements with seven on each side. They already knew their table number and seat number as it had been one of the few things written on the booklet they had been given after their arrival.

Hence they calmly followed the line to their seats where a tray of a simple Chinese breakfast greeted them.

The entire orphanage was silent except for the sound of the children quietly taking their breakfast steadily like adults.

The three girls felt uncomfortable as they kept looking around the other children wondering why there were so robotic but didn't comment with fear of being to loud.

They silently took their breakfast before copying the other children in placing their dishes at the end of the table where a dish shoot was conviniently placed.

The other eleven children on their table finished their meals and all left silently one by one leaving them all on their own.

Gu Mang scanned the now scarcely populated dining hall trying to see how many more children would be left with them and was relieved to see about three other children.

Albeit scattered they all looked just as confused as they watched the other children leave the hall for their classes.

They didn't have to wait for long before the familiar Mr Lu walked into the dining hall and approached their table which was in the centre of the room.

"Come gather!" his voice loudly boomed prompting the other children to stand before also approaching the table.

The three children included a girl and two boys who all seemed to be older than them with a couple of years.

"I am sure all of you were given the welcoming speech and orphanage guide and don't need me to repeat anything." he started as soon as the other children had sat down.

She looked around at all the other children as they answered with a shake of their heads and also shook her head when Mr Lu turned to also face her.

"Good since you already understand everything I will get straight to the point." he went on handing each one of the older children a form.

'Child Nurturing Program' was written at the top of the form along with other sections asking for their names, ages and other personal information.

"For you to be able to choose a Division to join you will have to fill in this form." he continued.

By division he meant different study paths that were offered by the orphanage.

Each study path was utterly different and would plan out the entire life of an individual hence was taken very seriously as children often made the choice at a young age with the help of their parents.

A couple years ago the government had passed a law that stated that all children were required to pick a specified path and would have to follow it through to the end.

Of course one would be allowed to change their choice but were only given three chances and had to be done before the child turned ten.

Not only that one had to pay a fine for doing this and it was not commonly practiced as it would be a costly time consuming procedure.

"The three of you can quickly fill it in and bring it into my office during the tea break." he said dismissing the older children leaving the three confused girls staring at him expectantly.

"As for you three your forms were already submitted and you will be required to beging you STEM classes as you wait for approval." he finished.

Gu Mang had already spoken to her parents and had been registered as a Civil service worker and was now shocked to hear this.

Su Lin was even more shocked as she had chosen an art based division with her parents just earlier this year.

"But sir I-" she started to argue only to go silent after the man shot her a glare.

Xu Wei was the calmest of the three as she stared into the eyes of the teacher with a small almost unnoticeable smirk making him feel uncomfortable.

He didn't understand why she was so calm as he knew she had chosen the economic division and was expected to protest the institutions' decision.

She seemed to have expected as much as she held the hands of the other girls beneath the table and squeezed them managing to calm them down.

They had spoken the previous day and had concluded that everything that was happening was strange but they would go through with it just to see what would happen.

Mr Lu didn't seem to notice as he also did not understand why the orphanage had gone to such great lengths to change this particular girls' division something that had never been done before.