The House Part 1

Quick Blog Note Here: This book was written for National Novel Writing Month and is being published as it is edited. I have a challenge for those reading this book: Many of the characters are named after people who I know but only one character is truly based off of someone I know.

The Month Trilogy book one

THE HOUSE

By Rock4ever

To Emily who got me to do this and who is going down

Part One: Business as Usual

Prologue

The Following is an excerpt from the Complete Authorized History of The House by Claudia August, a prominent House Historian. The book was written prior to the birth of Philip October.
The House is not a house, or at least not exactly a house. It stands Hundreds of floors high with several under the ground as well. No one is completely sure how anyone got into the House, as it has neither doors nor windows. The current theory advanced by the chief scholars inside the House is that after the Great Unpleasantness which was the most devastating event in the history of the Planet Earth, so devastating in fact that it is not documented in any Earth History Book, the Founders built and moved into The House and then sealed it off from the outside.
Most accept this theory while others say that the founders used their mystical powers to build the House. But even the “True Believers”, as they refer to themselves agree that the Founders moved into the House because of the Great Unpleasantness.
The House functions both as a home for its many residents and as a giant factory. The House is completely isolated from the outside so the Founders built in a school for the young residents and numerous different production lines to create things which were deemed necessary for the survival of the House, weapons, clothes, and the like. Eventually luxury items were also produced after the workforce grew.
Food is produced by machines which were built by the Founders. Only the 16s, an elite group of residents who will be discussed more in a moment, know how to work the machines. This is due to the fear that Terrorists could sabotage the machines and thus destroy the House's only food source.
The Founders made several laws so as to ensure that the Great Unpleasantness could never happen again. The first law that is listed in the Founding Charter is known as Rule One, Rule One made all Romantic Relationships illegal. All children were to be wards of the state and created through scientific means. The children would also receive as a surname the month that they were born. Their first name would be given to them by whichever person happened to be filling out the naming forms. This law stopped families from forming. The Founders strongly believed that families were harmful to society.
The other important law that the Founders made was that when a resident in 16 he or she will find out whether or not they are a member the 16s. The 16s run the House and, on their 16th Birthday, they are taken underground and shown various secrets that they are then forbidden to speak about. This enables the House to function without the constant fear of terrorist attacks.

Chapter One in which we meet Philip October and he receives an unexpected birthday present

October 28th

Philip October woke with a start. It was his birthday today! What time was it? He looked over at the clock which hung on the dormitory wall. Naturally he was up obscenely early. His roommates would probably literally murder him if he woke them up now.
He swung off his bed and grabbed his robe. He slipped it on and tiptoed out of the bedroom. He had only three roommates which meant that they got two largish rooms, three closets and a bathroom. No one was really sure why four people sharing a room only got three bedrooms but most people just shrugged and said that the Founders knew best and that was that.
One of Philip's roommates, John June, did not accept that explanation.
“The Founders wouldn't just think up some random rule that makes no sense.” He would often say, “They must have had some reason. Or they were just insane, in which case we should draw up a new charter with different rules.” Marcus November and Mathew January, Philip's other roommates would always laugh and say that not enough closet space probably wasn't reason enough to scrap the whole Founding Charter.
Philip walked over to the door to the room and looked down at the mail that had come during the night. He scanned it with his eyes. Where was that letter. The one that would tell him that he was going to be entered into the ETT, Elevated Teacher Training Program. Ah! There it was. He bent down and picked it up. He opened it and almost dropped it in shock.
There printed in big bold print were the last words Philip ever expected to read. The Letter read:
CONGRATULATIONS PHILIP OCTOBER
YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS A 16
Please Report to Floor one at ten:30 AM
The entire staff of the House offers you their congratulations
SIGNED Ben September, Vice President of The House.
Philip dropped the letter, totally shocked. He had never expected to be named one of the 16s. He had never really stood out in school and his technical ability was non existent. The only thing that he was good at was teaching! That was why he was going to enter into the ETT. He had to go and talk to Margret November. He went to the closet that he shared with Marcus and threw on some clothes. He quietly opened the door and slipped out.
Philip lived in Room 1232 which was on Floor 27 and Margret lived on Floor 20 in Room 876. The Founders had anticipated that, since there was such a great number of rooms, that it might get a little hard to navigate the hallways so they had installed computer terminals at various points in the wall that provided navigation if needed. Philip had visited Margret so many times however that he no longer needed the use of the House Positioning Systems, or HPSs as they were called.
Philip walked quickly down the hallways and down several sets of stairs until he reached Margret's room. He knocked at the door and Allison October, one of Margret's roommates, opened the door.
“Hey Philip.” She said smiling, “Happy Birthday.”
“Hey Allison.” Philip said, “is Margret up yet? I kind of need to talk to her.”
“Oh,” Madeline December, Margret's other roommate said walking into the living room, “Does that mean what I think it means? You're a 16?”
“Yeah.” Philip said, he knew he was being a little brusk but he really needed to talk to Margret, “I am. Is she here?”
“I think she's in the bathroom.” Janet December, Margret's other roommate said, coming out of the kitchen. As Margret was a 16 she and her roommates got slightly better quarters. Margret had made the unusual decision to stick with her original roommates instead of moving in with other 16s. “Coffee, Phil?”
“Philip.” Margret said, stepping out of the bathroom drying her hair, “Is that you?”
“Yeah.” Philip said again, “Can I talk to you, alone?”
“Sure.” Margret said, and led Philip into the tiny kitchen. She shut the door and turned to face Philip.
“Margret,” Philip said as Margret pushed her shockingly red hair out of her face, “I'm a 16.”
“Really?” Margret said smiling, “That's great, Phil.”
“No it isn't!” Philip yelled and then quieted down, “I'm not prepared to be a 16! I almost failed House History for God's sake! Plus I don't even know what it is you guys do!”
“I can't really talk about it.” Margret said, smothering a small smile. “It's top secret to all those not part of the group. And even though you've been picked, you haven't been initiated yet.”
“What's so funny?” Philip demanded.
“It's my roommates.” Margret explained, still grinning, “It just occurred to me what they must be thinking we're doing right now.”
“What?” Philip said and then the truth dawned on him. “Oh my God. Are they going to report us? We have to go out and talk to them right now! God Almighty!”
“No Phil It's fine. They're fine with it.”
“Fine with it?” Philip said looking around wildly, the stress of his important birthday was really getting to him, “Fine with what?”
“Fine with us.” Margret said laughing, “I told them about Easter.”
“Dear God Margret, are you insane?!!” Philip said blushing remembering the kiss that he and Margret has shared curring the Easter/Spring Solstice/Passover celebration.
“Phil,” Margret said laughing, “It's really not that big of a deal.”
“Not a Big deal?” Philip said outraged, “The first freaking law that the Founders made was No Romantic Relationships. I'm pretty sure that us breaking that rule kind of falls under big deals.”
“Our Generation doesn't care about that rule anymore.” Margret said reasonably, “Once we take power we'll probably stop enforcing it.”
“That's all well and fine.” Philip said, considerably less reasonably, “But our generation aren't going to be the ones to shoot us in the head, are they?!”
“Valid Point.” Margret said, “Seriously though chill out Phil. How is anyone going to find out?”
“Well how about this...” Philip said, harsher than probably was necessary, “Your stupid roommate, what's her name? Janet, gets caught with some boy and when they question to save her neck her she says 'Oh well Margret and Philip are a couple' and then we're dragged in and shot!”
“A,” Margret counted off on her fingers, “Janet is not stupid she's very bright.” Philip snorted. Margret shot him a look and continued. “B, she would never be caught with a boy. C, if she was she wouldn't sell us out. D, No one has ever been shot because they broke Rule one, and E, I don't like your tone.”
“Ok,” Philip shot back, “A, she failed three classes last year. B, Seriously? Never be caught with a boy? She's blond for God's Sake! C. Maybe so. D. The new chief foreman is pretty harsh and there's a first time for everything. E, Yeah well my tone doesn't like you either.
Margret laughed and Philip cracked his first smile as a 16 year old.
“You're too funny.” Margret said, “I'd give you a birthday kiss but I don't want to cause either of us to get shot.”
“Yeah well.” Philip said laughing and stepping toward Margret, “Being shot never hurt anyone.”
Margret stepped forward as well and together they broke Rule one.