Sun

One month before the final exams, Ethan was finishing school.

Mornings in the city always started the same way.

Ethan loved this hour. The sun hadn’t risen high yet, and its rays glided across glass facades, turning the avenue into an endless corridor of light.

The air was clean. The automatic filters worked perfectly. Somewhere in the distance, street vending machines breathed out the faint smell of coffee.

He walked slowly. He still had an hour before today’s exam.

In his headphones, Maya’s voice played. She had recorded a biochemistry lecture for him when she found out Ethan wanted to apply for the science program.

Her voice was calm. But when she explained the mechanisms of cellular respiration, there was a spark in it that made Ethan believe science was truly incredible.

“Ethan!”

He turned around.

Marcus, his friend and eternal sparring partner, was catching up with long strides, tugging his backpack strap into place. He was out of breath, grinning anyway.

“What are you doing here so early?” Ethan asked, pulling out one earbud.

“I was looking for you.” Marcus fell into step beside him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thought we’d go together. Nervous?”

“A little.”

“Come on, you’re the smart one.” Marcus smirked. “I’m the one worried about the physicals. If I fail, my dad says I’m going to the factory.”

“You won’t fail.” Ethan shook his head. “You’re the fastest in the group.”

“Speed’s good, but you need endurance too.” Marcus paused, like he’d been saving this. “I heard they’re expanding the GUARD intake this year. They say if you show results, you can get straight into an elite unit.”

Ethan said nothing.

GUARD didn’t appeal to him. He wanted to be in a lab, like Maya. He wanted to understand how the world worked, not just protect it.

They passed a bus stop crowded with people in identical gray jackets, workers hurrying to their shifts.

A little further off was another stop with a shelter and benches, where people in expensive clothes boarded clean, high-speed buses.

Ethan noticed the division. He didn’t dwell on it. It had always been like that.

Off to the side, an elderly man in worn-out clothes sat on a bench and read a newspaper.

Ethan caught himself thinking that people like that were rare. The city was clean, tidy, almost sterile. Even the homeless, if there were any, seemed to disappear before dawn.

“Look,” Marcus said, nodding toward the intersection.

A GUARD patrol approached. Polished badges gleamed.

There were four of them, in dark blue uniforms with weapons on their belts. People parted before them like water before a ship.

One of the patrolmen glanced at Ethan, briefly and indifferently, and walked past.

“Cool,” Marcus murmured. “Now that’s respect.”

“It’s not respect,” Ethan said quietly. “It’s fear.”

“What’s the difference? The main thing is order.”

Ethan didn’t answer.

They turned into the park where the examination center already loomed, a glass cube reflecting the sky.

“Alright.” Marcus stopped walking. “I’m off to the range. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Marcus clapped him on the shoulder one last time and jogged toward another entrance.

Ethan watched him go. His friend dreamed of GUARD, of the uniform, of power. Ethan dreamed of something else.

But both of them believed they were heading toward something important.

He entered the building. The glass doors slid silently shut behind him, cutting off the noise outside.

Inside, it smelled of sterility and fresh paint.

On the wall hung a poster: “The future is in your hands. Choose your path.”

Beneath it stood three silhouettes: a scientist in a white coat, a soldier in a GUARD uniform, and a worker at a machine.

Ethan’s gaze lingered on the first.

Maybe I really can do it, he thought.

He didn’t know that soon, the choice would be taken from him.