Glitch

before he caught up with me, or I ran into
    someone else who would note me as anamoulous. But then
    I realized where I was, and why there were no other sub-
    jects around, and an idea sparked.
    I turned sharply around another corner and paused for
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    G L I TC H
    just a moment to pull a hair tie from my pocket before
    sprinting down the hall. I gathered my fl uff y fl ying hair into
    a a tight bun. I could still hear the hydraulic hiss of the Regu-
    lator’s boots as he pounded his way into the hallway behind
    me. I hoped he hadn’t seen me too clearly.
    I took the left branch into another hall and stopped
    short. A herd of students fi lled the width of the hall, fi ling
    slowly past me in the direction of the cafeteria. Lunchtime.
    I forced myself to breathe normally and keep my heart mon-
    itor still. I stiff ened my back into the ramrod posture of
    all subjects and eased into the crowd. Over my shoulder I
    heard the Regulator reach the end of the hall behind me,
    but I kept walking steadily forward, not daring to look.
    Students fl anked me on all sides, a slow tide of gray bodies
    sweeping down the hallway.
    Inside, my mind was screaming to run, escape, but I
    forced my limbs to move slowly. I kept my face perfectly still
    as I passed by the Regulator. He was scanning the crowd
    along with the rest of the nearby Regulators, but his eyes
    passed right over me.
    For the fi rst time, I was glad for the monotony, glad we all
    looked exactly the same. Maybe I did have a place to hide
    after all. In plain sight, camoufl aged by looking exactly like
    every other drone around me.
    “Greetings Zoel,” Maximin said when I sat down at my cus-
    tomary place at table 13. I was still glitching, and my nerves
    were frayed. I was glad to see a familiar face, and when he
    requested assistance with neurochem, I wanted to hug him
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    Heather Anastasiu
    for being something normal and reliable. But my mind was
    still wrapped up in the terrifying events of the morning.
    Not to mention I still had no idea what had happened
    during my disappearance. I’d not only found myself on the
    deadly Surface, with no explanation, but somehow the diag-
    nostics had not discovered anything anomalous in me? Not
    the glitches, not my ability, nothing ? Or had they discovered
    it all and fi xed me? In that case, after three weeks of silence,
    why was I broken again?
    “Zoel?” Maximin asked.
    I looked back over at him, realizing I hadn’t heard a word
    he’d said.
    “Pardon my lapse in concentration.” I counted to ten over
    and over in my head to calm down. I clicked through my text
    tablet to get to the lesson we were studying but my mind was
    racing. Nothing made sense.
    I took a long sip of the fruit supplement on my tray. The
    thick fruity concoction shocked me with its fl avor. My eyes
    widened momentarily, and I barely recovered enough to
    keep a surprised gasp to myself. I looked at the smooth pink
    liquid in the stainless- steel cup, trying to identify each indi-
    vidual taste. Peaches. Maybe mango, too. I inspected the
    liquid closer and saw tiny black seeds. Strawberries. That was
    the other fl avor. Every taste was suddenly and overwhelm-
    ingly strong.
    “Zoel?”
    I chided myself internally. I was completely shaken up to-
    day, but I had to go back to basics. Just as I’d practiced for so
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    G L I TC H
    long, I had to remember that the fi rst rule of glitching was to
    keep it hidden.
    But to make matters worse, the dark- haired boy with
    aquamarine eyes was back. The same one I’d thought could
    be a Monitor. It seemed like everyone was watching me more
    closely since my disappearance, right when my glitches were
    suddenly the most diffi
    cult to keep under control.
    I searched my memories. His case of Flu 216 had caused
    an Academy- wide priority vaccination. Could it be just a
    coincidence that it happened at the same time as my disap-
    pearance? I didn’t know what to believe anymore, but I
    knew I had to stay away from him. I couldn’t trust myself to
    hide my glitches anymore, and even though the boy didn’t
    turn his eyes to me once during the entire class, I had the
    prickling sensation that he was acutely aware of my every
    breath.
    I was glad when we were released from classes and I was
    able to make my way to the subway station, away from such
    constant observation. I longed for the peace and quiet of my
    personal quarters. I could have sworn that when I’d fi rst
    started glitching, everything had