Trapped By Reality, Freed By Imagination 

“7:OOam, all citizens must commence work or school duties in 1 hour, all citizens must commence work or school duties in 1 hour.”

As usual, the crude UV sun rose across the synthetic dome as Sehun opened his heavy eyelids, awoken by the foul morning alarms that rang around the small world he belonged to. Reluctantly, the rainbow-haired teenager got up and looked out of the square window that stood before him and sighed deeply.
“There has to be more than this… there has to be.” He reminded himself as he did every morning whilst observing the glowing edge of the world with complexed disgust. This is what Oh Sehun had done every day since he could remember: Hoped for something more substantial than the fish bowl he was confined to.
In a state of disinclination, he changed from the comfort of his pyjamas and proceeded to start his daily rituals, the same as any other day, the same as every other day.

“Sehunnie, don’t you want breakfast?” His mother requested smiling falsely towards her son as he passed the mundane kitchen without giving more than look.
“No, mum.” His face was contorted to form a foul frown.

That was what set him apart from everyone here: his realism. The synthetic emotions that defined everyone in the city were suffocating Sehun, he hated being the only pessimist in a world of ignorant optimists.
“Sehunnie, are you ok?” His mother asked handing him his bag before he left for work.
“Mum, I’m fine, please don’t worry so much.” Sehun forced a smile before leaving the house, sighing again as he shut the door lightly as to avert his mother’s attention from his life-long sulk.

The young boy walked adjacent with the school students, ‘that should be me.’ He thought enviously as he made his way to work.
You see, Oh Sehun was ‘special’, as they had described it when he was recruited; Sehun was one of the few creatively talented people in the dome-dwelling civilisation who was enrolled to decorate the inside of their prison wall with beautiful sets, he would paint and paint until his section was done and then be told to redo it as a change of scenery was in order. The young boy was put on the scheme at the age of 12 and since then was paid generously. Despite this, he would still give anything to get out of his job and attend the school like the others.  

When Sehun arrived at ‘his section of the dome’ as it were, the bag he was carrying was dropped carelessly on the unnaturally green grass.
“Chaerin noona, what is it this week?” he called over to the girl who was painting about 50m away from him.
“Tranquillity,backdrop meadow, green, but anything calm or relaxing in the foreground.”  She shouted back and smiled before getting on with her work, Sehun nodded politely before violently cursing his boring job.
“Ugh, tranquillity, who are they trying to kid?” the pale boy questioned looking up at the large building towering through the centre of the oversized bowl that surrounded them. Said building was known as ‘the core’.

The core was a strange place; it was where everything went and everything came from, like the heart of their city and the only thing keeping it alive. It was by far the biggest thing in existence, as far as Sehun was concerned; he could barely see the top. Most people worked in an industrial environment on one of the 200 floors of the core and when Sehun thought of it that way he didn’t mind having to paint the dome for a living. Besides the city suburbs, weren’t all that bad; the green synthetic grass and flawless cobblestone paths almost made up for the simulated sky and UV sun, not to mention the monstrosity that was the core which controlled them.

“12:45pm, all citizens must de-commence work or school duties in 15 minutes, all citizens must de- commence work or school duties in 15 minutes, activities will recommence in 1 hour.”

Sehun hated the way the people in the city where controlled, told when and how to do everything, never allowed to make even the most simple decisions for themselves. The young boy immaturely mimicked the message while carefully finishing the row of daffodils he was painting.
“Finally, 50 square meters down 450 to go.” Sehun murmured irritably while moving on the mountain he had decided to paint.
“Why on earth can’t they just do all this with TV’s like they do the god damn sky?” The boy whined to himself, the truth being that the authorities needed something to keep certain people busy, certain people with certain motives and suspicions regarding top secret factors. In short-hand, Sehun was a trouble maker.

He was just moving onto the base of the mountain when a noise began to ring in his ears. –scratch~kk, scratch~kk- it was faint but defiantly there and sounded like nails running along a chalkboard.
“Um, hello?” the pale boy said unsurely, looking all around but no one but Chaerin was in sight.
The sound came again but this time, Sehun looked suspiciously at the curved wall ahead of him, narrowing his eyes and doubting what he suspected. He laid his palm flat on the cold; metal like material, feeling slight vibrations hit his skin in waves as the sound did in his ears.
‘Aish, it must just be some kids playing footie at the other side of the dome; vibrations travel through this thing like ripples on water, I’m surprised I can even paint’ Sehun  thought to reassure himself, shaking his rainbow decorated head, but even he knew it didn’t explain the scratching.

“Mum, dad?” Sehun called out as he walked through the door of the generic house he shared with his mother, father and annoying- elder brother.

“They’re not back from the core yet.” Sehun’s brother echoed back from the living room where he was happily eating all of Sehun’s rationed ice cream. Normally the Maknae would have flipped but, this month, it was coffee and he wasn’t fussed on eating it.
“Oh, how come?  Dad is normally out by 6:00pm.”  The way their society worked was on routine if something spontaneous happened it was never good. 
“Hrow the hrell should Ir know.” The older boy mumbled with his mouth disgustingly full. “brut arprantly sromsthings groing on ovrer at the erst side orf srector 13.”  
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Sehun patronisingly scolded his older brother of 3 years and amazingly didn’t receive any aggro.
“Weren’t you over there today… sector 13 that is?” his brother spoke again, clearly, this time, earning nothing but a nod from his little brother. The youngest opted to quite abruptly change the topic after the questions arose because reality was better avoided, yet maybe not always.

“What’s outside the dome?”  Sehun quizzed, looking his brother in the eyes. Dead serious. Regardless Sehun still had an innocence about him and therefore, asking such questions, didn't get him scolded. 
“Nothing, I guess… why you would think otherwise?” His brother uncomfortably replied making it obvious that this wasn’t something he thought of often.
“I don’t know, but there has to be something out there, right?” Sehun lowered his brow and looked sceptically at his brother. The rainbow-haired teen knew he couldn't be alone in his thoughts and intended to find someone with the same ideas as him.
“Well.” The elder adjusted his sitting position and leant forward in suspense, “you’ve heard the story, haven’t you?”
“Which story?” Sehun asked sceptically, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow before taking a seat and casually throwing his long legs up.
“The story.” His brother reiterated before proceeding to tell the infamous fable to his little brother. In all honesty, if would have to have taken a miracle for Sehun to escape 15 years without hearing the renowned tale. “Long before the dome existed SOL III was here in its place, they say the year was 2040 when it all changed; evil ruled the lost planet and as a result of this it was dying.”
Sehun’s soul lit up as he exploded with anticipation, “BRO!" The younger bellowed,  "aren’t you talking about Earth?” Sehun loved hearing about the lost planet even if this particular story told of its downfall.
“Hahaha Earth? What? Are you like 1000 years old or something?” The older boy mocked the dated terminology used by his obnoxious younger.
“…just get on with the story.”
“In an attempt to rid SOL III of its imperfection, 500 worthy people from each territory-“
“Territories which were known as countries,” Sehun added; he really did love Earth.
“Sure… whatever...” His brother rolled his eyes before continuing.
“-500 worthy people from each ‘country’ were chosen to live inside The Dome while the rest of SOL III was effectively gassed as to wipe out imperfections. The original plan was to live in the dome for the time it took for the planet to become habitable again but at some point, vital information was lost and we don’t know how long it would take for the harmful gases to deteriorate.”
Sehun nodded, not quite understanding but wanting to look grown-up and intelligent. “Can’t they send someone out to test it?” He ignorantly inquired.
 “No; along with the data about the gas we have also lost the information about where we actually are; sometime in the last 1000 years. There was debate/ rumours about moving the chosen people to SOL IIIa or SOL IV and completely destroying SOL III so we are unsure if that’s in fact what happened if we go out there we will defiantly not survive."

Sehun thought back to the scratching that interrupted his work earlier that day with even more a perplexity playing on his mind than the day before, it was exhausting. Acknowledging the end of his brother's dismal story, Sehun dismissed himself, as he was now 100% demotivated to do anything but lay mindlessly on his bed.

Sehun was always so sure they were still on Earth or ‘SOL III’ as everyone liked to call it. The civilisation he was part of only owned a few books about the lost planet and Sehun insisted on taking the biggest one out of the library as often as possible; he loved reading about all the different cultures and ‘natural blonde people’ it seemed the dominant genes had overtaken the recessive allele in their small society which Sehun saw as a shame. He decided his favourite of the nation was ‘the republic of Korea’ he wasn’t sure of his nationality himself but guessed he looked rather Korean despite his mother insisting that, by now, he was more than likely a bit of everything.
For the last 3 years, Sehun had been studying the ancient language that was Korean, just for fun. He was over the moon when he, by chance, stumbled across two decrepit library books teaching the language in the ‘rubbish’ cart.  He had been told to keep them if he wanted by the young  librarian; considering how much time the pale boy spent there they were both pretty good friends.

“Sehunnie, don’t you want dinner?” his mother called up the stairs after she got home.
“No, mum; I’m planning something.”
 

The next day, was again, the same as any other day for Oh Sehun. He sat in his painting spot and cursed the wall he decorated.

“ing Dome, why do we even need a Dome, I didn’t ask for no Dome… Agh! Just the god damn word is driving me crazy!” to any passers by the boy must have seemed delusional.
He was again working on the mountain but this time on a stream that ran through its valley. They wanted tranquil so that’s what Sehun gave them, the scene was based on a picture he had seen in the earth book, he was currently reading about Grease so a lot of his inspiration came that way. It was nearly lunch again.
“Damn telegram message, we can all tell the time you know!” he shouted, again, crazily but soon quieted down as he felt tremors from the dome, -scratch~kk-,  scrach~kk-  the sound from yesterday had returned . Sehun raised his eyebrow suspiciously but then tried something he didn’t yesterday. He tapped back in response. –schr… the scratch halted as the pale fist collided with the thick metallic glass. The young boy waited patiently and soon received what he sought after, a reaction. Whatever was on the other side tapped back sending a shiver down Sehun’s spine.
 “Maybe we’re not alone, maybe we are even still on Earth. “ the boy muttered as the international lunch-call sounded.

“Ugh, are you still reading that book, I swear I’ve seen you on that page before.”

“That was last week dad! God leave me alone!” Sehun answered his father as any teenage boy would.
“Sweetie, leave him be; it’s educational.” Sehun’s sweet mother always defended him no matter what; he was her Sehunnie and nothing would change that. That must have been why they were always so close; she loved him for what he was.
“But why can’t he get another book; that one’s at least 900 years old, do you know what the fine is if he damages it!” Sehun’s father was, needless to say, not his biggest fan; he had a lot more in common with his older son and, therefore, didn’t take much notice of Sehun unless it was for nagging or in a futile attempt to change him in some god-awful way.
“If Sehun wants to read about Earth then Sehun can read about the earth, ok, it doesn’t affect you.”
“It does when I’m paying the priceless fine because he spilt bubble tea all over it!”
“You know he wouldn’t be that careless.” Sehun’s mother fought his corner consistently.
“I just don’t understand why he can’t like something real.”

This was the final straw in Sehun’s opinion. The colourful haired boy felt his blood boil and toes curl in under the table as he raged “EARTH IS REAL; WE ARE STANDING ON IT RIGHT NOW!” He defended the, most likely dead, planet with his life.

“No, SOL III could have been real at some point but it’s all history, get over it Sehun and do something productive!”  Sehun hated his father; he didn’t understand. Sehun loved Earth, he loved the way everything there seemed perfect; the 196 countries all so different, from the chilly Scandinavian forests to the vast Saharan desert, the deep Pacific Ocean to small streams surrounded by streamer like, velvet willow trees. How much Sehun dreamed of swinging off a long green vine into the cool water of an icy river on a hot summers day, but he couldn’t have any of that; he hadn’t even seen a flowing river before, the only large body of water he had encountered was the fenced off reservoir in sector 5 or the stagnant school swimming pool that he was prohibited use of.

Sehun glared into his father's angry eyes as he dramatically got up from the table, the atmosphere was thick and Sehun could see his brother staring into the beach wood of the dinner table, scared to avert his gaze elsewhere. He earnestly kissed his silent mother farewell and hastily made his way over to the front door.
“Sehunnie why-.”  He heard his mother’s voice sound desperately as he opened and then slammed the door behind him. 

‘Why am I taking this so seriously? Because I’ve had enough of this caged up life. Exactly.’ Sehun was now officially mad; well that’s what talking to yourself normally means, right? They say it is the first sign. A more likely diagnosis for Sehun’s symptoms would be utter boredom or maybe even loneliness.
‘I never usually take things he says to heart. But I so~ want out. What if it’s ok outside… what if South Korea is outside?’… Crazy. It was conclusive.

The recently mindless Sehun reached his painting spot and cautiously checked the area around him; he knew that no one was allowed outside after 9:00 pm but considering what he was intending he didn’t care.  The rouge teen tapped lightly on the metallic, opaque glass.
Nothing. 
‘I wonder how far down the dome goes?’ Sehun thought for a second, perplexity showing on his pale face before he wasted no time and buried his hands deep into the permeable soil.  He began scraping it away, the mud getting under his brittle nails as he dug frantically.

20 painstaking minutes later and the boy had practically got nowhere yet still seemed to have dug himself a fine hole – metaphorically that is – as a long shadow cast over Sehun’s crouched form.
“AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” A firm voice came from behind; it was a night patrol officer.Of course. The scared Sehun didn’t answer; it was clear what he was doing and Sehun knew his life was practically over. Escape attempt was punishable by death – court martial. Everything was punishable by death in this dictatorship of a civilisation.
Before he could even consider running, Sehun was sprayed with some horrible mysterious aerosol and fell limp on the saturated upturned ground, his last thoughts cursing his curiosity and fearing for his existence.

The smell hit him first; it was damp and stagnant with an unnerving hint of ammonia hanging in the air around. The scent was heavy to breathe and only made the screams that rang in Sehun’s pricked