Hebetes is always cold.
Even in the warmer months, snow and frost always covers the ground, the wind always nips at your ears and the clouds in the sky just won't part, a permanent fixture of the area. Living there is a bleak, depressing experience, and to make matters worse, you have to stay there for all of your life, no matter how long that might be. The forest serves as a wall, an uncrossable ocean of trees. Few have gone in and managed to get back out. All those who did died shortly afterword. From the few accounts we have, temperatures in the forest drop into the negatives. There's nothing to eat, no berries on bushes or animals to hunt. A network of caves snake through the earth, reaching up to the surface to devour all who fall through. It's simply impossible to get out.
If you're born in Hebetes you die in Hebetes, assuming you even die at all. The ones who do are the luckiest. The first mayor of Hebetes - the first anyone can remember, anyway - is still alive today, but nobody's seen him outside of his house even once. Well, besides Doctor Beakman, anyway. I've heard that people outside of Hebetes - people who never Change - get senile as they grow older. Well, imagine that, but add on a couple of centuries of gloomy coldness, running an entire town with no chance of dying or anyone who wants to replace you. It takes all of Doctor Beakman's expertise to make sure the Mayor is still functioning correctly.
Other than the town and the forest, the only other thing worth noting is the Tower of Hebetes, which isn't even a tower, but rather, a mountain. It lies at the northern end of town, piercing the clouds. It's impossible to climb its outside. The only way to get up to the top is through the cave at the mountain's base - or, that's what everyone thinks, anyway. Nobody knows. Much like the forest, the cave is a virtual death trap. Unlike the forest, nobody has come back from the cave. Ever.
Because you can't traverse the forest, most people who want to escape do so through the cave. This is illegal, of course. Not because it's dangerous, but because the lives of everyone in the town hang in the balance.
In Hebetes, the 'Ultimate Law' states that six months after a child's fourteenth birthday, they must go to the Hebetes Temple to go through a ritual of sorts. The Changing. It's what every child fears. However, we go through it for the good of the town. It's a sacrifice - our humanity in return for being safe from outside forces. Entities older than the Earth itself. The Changing lulls them to sleep, allowing our town to persevere. That's why Hebetes still stands today.
The ones who try to escape - teenagers, all of them, trying to run from the inevitable. Futile efforts, really. There's no escaping Hebetes.
Some of the Changes are worse than others. Besides the natural physical changes, Changing does stuff to your mind. For instance, my friend Will used to be friendly and outgoing, but ever since he Changed, nothing's been the same. He's reclusive and sad all the time, an empty shell, a shadow of his former self.
The rest of my friends didn't fare any better. Jane outright hates me now for reasons she's never explained. She's judgmental and bitter, and passive-aggressive about it too.
It doesn't help that Changes usually give people otherworldly powers. Will is the most obvious about it. Liquids freeze when he gets near them, and whenever he enters a room the temperature drops. Ice powers could be fun to play around with, I guess, but Will doesn't have fun anymore. He jumps through the hoops life sets up for him. Well, 'jumps' is the wrong word. It's more like he sighs bitterly when he sees a hoop and then halfheartedly hops through the lower rim of it and then goes off to his room to write sad poetry to post on his deviantART or something.
The powers aren't always that nice, though. When Jane Changed she saw too much. The visions wouldn't stop coming, and they nearly drove her completely off the edge. So she ripped out two of her eyes with her own hands and tossed them into the forest. That made things a bit better, but I can tell she still can't think clearly. Sometimes I wonder what exactly she sees with her third eye.
I will be the last of my friends to go through the Change. I'm going through it in late December this year, actually. I dread the day of my Change, especially since it's approaching so rapidly.
My name is Jack Harts. Yes, like the playing card, I know. Ha ha ha. Everyone seems to treat me like I'm the crazy one here. The younger kids avoid me. The ones who have Changed act as if I'm an interesting specimen, a creature to be dissected to find out what's going on inside of it. I guess it's since I'm not fighting against the inevitable. I'm not throwing a temper tantrum like the other kids. Never have. Fate can't be fought, it's pointless to try. Doctor Beakman especially finds me interesting. Believe me, that's not a good thing. Getting check-ups with him aren't fun in the slightest.
But I suppose there are better things to complain about. I'm not a complainer, though. I won't pitch a fit. I won't try to run.
I am resigned to my fate.
