by ID Johnson
Walking out of the classroom, Rain bumped shoulders with a tall, dark haired girl named Owl. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“It’s okay. But are you?” Owl asked. She wore her hair in two braids, like a little girl, even though Rain thought she was twenty-two, a year older than she was. Most of the girls in her classes were since she’d been advanced. “You look like you’re deep in thought.”
“Oh, yeah, just… thinking about the lecture.”
Owl raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t ask anything specific. “Well, I hope you do well on the quiz tomorrow. I think I only caught about half of what she said, she was telling us so much all at once.”
“Right?” Rain snickered in agreement, like she thought the same thing, even though she hadn’t been paying careful enough attention to note how much information there was. And she’d had no idea there was to be a quiz the next day. She’d have to go home and study.
The hallway was crowded with girls headed all different directions. Only the upper students had classes here, so most of these women were as old or older than Rain, but a lot of them sounded like little children, giggling and carrying on in groups as they made their way to class. She wondered why she’d never noticed before. It was as if they just went through their day, from one class to the next, doing what they were told. Eating, sleeping, studying when it was expected of them. They listened to everything the Mothers told them. They believed whatever the Mothers said.
At the next corner, Owl waved. “Well, see you Wednesday.”
“Yep. See you later.” Rain found a small smile for the girl, thinking she was nice and maybe they should talk more often, and watched her turn down the hall that led to the Communications wing.
Rain hurried up to the next corner and went left to Medical, trying to press her thoughts from earlier aside. She could probably skate through a quiz in history class and do okay, and even if she did poorly, she had a good enough grade in that class that it wouldn’t knock her average down too much. But Medical was a different case. She would need this information in the future in order to do her job. She couldn’t fake that.
Cloud was already there when Rain walked in. She smiled and gave her a little wave, and Cloud did the same. This class wasn’t a lab, only an hour of lecture, and then Rain would have the rest of the day off, which was good because she’d need it to make up for what she’d missed in history.
“Hi,” Rain said, sitting down in her seat in front of Cloud. “How was your math class?”
“Yuck.” Cloud stuck out her tongue. “We’re having a quiz this week.”
“Great.” Rain had the same class, only on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Mondays and Wednesdays, like Cloud, and at a different time. So she’d have to be ready to listen tomorrow. She couldn’t screw up quizzes two days in a row. Rain got her tablet out of her bag and then turned around so she’d be ready when Mother Swan started, but the instructor was still at her desk, looking over her notes.
“I wonder what the lecture will be on today,” Cloud said in her ear. “I kind of hope we are done with fetuses for a while. All I’ve dreamt about since the lab is crying babies.”
Rain turned halfway to look at her. “Really? Crying in the incubators? Or out?”
“Both,” Cloud said with a shrug. “But mostly… on the Bridge.”
Rain wrinkled up her nose and turned back around. “That sounds… awful.”
“It has been,” Cloud admitted. She leaned in even closer to Rain’s ear and whispered. “I know they say it doesn’t hurt, and the fetuses don’t know any better. But I’m not sure I think that’s true.”
A lump formed in Rain’s throat as Mother Swan stood and approached the door so she could lock out anyone who wasn’t in her seat when the bell finished ringing in about twenty seconds. Images of tiny babies screaming their red, scrunched up faces off came to mind, as Motherly arms carried them across a Bridge shrouded in clouds. Rain had no idea what the Bridge really looked like, but that’s how she’d always pictured it. She’d never allowed herself to picture what was on the other side, but now that Cloud had shared her secret, Rain couldn’t help but think it wasn’t good. Not good at all.
Chapter Twelve
Rain entered Weather House with a lot on her mind. Cloud’s comment at the beginning of class had her distracted the entire time Mother Swan was lecturing, so now she had two quizzes to prepare for. She flew up the stairs to her level, down the hall, and pushed through the door without giving a second thought to what might be happening on the other side of the door.
Mist was sitting on her bed, but she wasn’t alone. Another girl--woman was probably a better word since she was a couple of years older than them--was sitting next to her. They both looked up, caught off guard, as Rain stopped in the doorway, and she thought she saw Mist move something underneath her pillow.
“Hi, Sunny,” Rain said, closing the door behind her and pretending like she wasn’t shocked to see Mist had company. In all of the years they’d roomed together, which was most of them, she couldn’t ever remember her best friend having someone in their room. Sometimes, their other roommates would have people over to sit and chat about things that meant very little to Rain or Mist, but this was unusual, and Rain was certain it had something to do with whatever Mist had found in the cellar in the woods the other day.
Still, it seemed sort of silly to call her friend out in front of a guest, so she hung up her backpack, grabbing her tablet out of it, and stretched out on her bed, hoping she could concentrate enough to study for the tests she had coming up. Cloud had mentioned chemistry was a killer today, too, and Rain had that tomorrow.
The other two were oddly silent, as if they didn’t want to continue their discussion in front of Rain. She glanced over at them, trying to decide if she should take her tablet somewhere else, but then she figured this was her room, and they could go elsewhere. Her angsty thoughts ended up being unnecessary, though. Just as she’d wrapped herself in a blanket of bitterness, Sunny asked, “How was your day, Rain?”
She lowered her tablet, fighting her eyebrows’ urge to arch. “Fine, I guess. How was yours?”
“Okay,” Sunny gave a shrug. “You’re Medical?”
“Yeah. You are, too, right? Final year?”
“That’s right.” Sunny’s hair was dark, which didn’t match her name. She wore it in a long braid, which she flipped over her shoulder as she spoke. “Nursery ward.”
Rain took a deep breath. That’s what she’d been planning to do, too, and Sunny was almost done with the program. She probably knew a lot that Rain didn’t. A flock of questions flew to mind, but she didn’t know Sunny well, and she didn’t want to bombard her with questions, especially not when most of what she wanted to inquire about had to do with the doubts Mist had placed in her mind recently, and while she could no longer ignore her own thoughts, she wasn’t quite ready to admit she was having them.
“Do you have labs tomorrow?” Sunny asked. Mist shifted next to her but didn’t speak, which wasn’t unusual for the girl.
“Not tomorrow.”
“Good.” Something about the finality of Sunny’s response left Rain feeling unsettled. “I’d just stay away from the medical building tomorrow, if I were you.”
Rain looked at Mist, sitting up straight as she did so. Her eyes flipped back to Sunny. “Why?”
The pair across from her exchanged glances. Mist slowly shook her head. “Just… don’t go over there tomorrow afternoon if you can avoid it.”
“I have IW tomorrow afternoon.” She looked at Mist again. “You know that.”
“You can cancel and reschedule. You haven’t done that in a long time, and we’re allowed to once a month.”
Rain cocked her head to the side and studied Mist’s face. “Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “What happened to no secrets?”
“This information isn’t mine to tell.” Mist sounded a bit more defiant than usual. “Besides… we don’t even know for sure
if anything is going to happen.”
“Going to happen?” Rain repeated, sitting up now so that both of her feet were on the floor. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Sunny said, waving a hand in front of her face like it was all a misunderstanding. “It’s fine, Rain. You should be okay in IW anyway.”
“You think?” Mist asked, her forehead puckered.
“Yeah, I think so.” Sunny picked up her backpack that was propped against her boot on the floor. “I’ll see you later, Mist.”
“All right. Have a good night, Sunny.” Mist dropped her eyes, like she was having some sort of an internal argument. Rain stared at her, and even when Sunny said goodbye to her, she didn’t look away to say goodbye back.
When the door was closed, Rain couldn’t hold back anymore. “What is going on?”
“I told you, it’s not something I can discuss with you, Rain.”
“Am I walking into something dangerous tomorrow?”
“No, nothing like that.” Mist rolled her eyes, like she thought Rain was crazy. “We just heard a rumor that something might happen tomorrow afternoon near the Bridge, that’s all. I’m guessing it’s just a story anyway. In all of the years of Michaelanburg, no one has ever done anything against the Motherhood’s wishes, right? Why would anyone start now?”
Rain felt her stomach tighten as she considered what the possibilities might be--not just of whatever this plan her friend was talking about could entail but also what the ramifications of taking such action against the Motherhood would result in. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. “Mist, are you involved in this plan, whatever it is?”
“No.” Her answer came quickly, and Rain believed her. “Neither is Sunny. From what we’ve heard, it’s older girls, women. Not Mothers.”
“But you won’t tell me what it is?” Rain felt herself growing agitated again.
“I can’t.”
Folding her arms, Rain stared at her friend for a long moment. “I don’t feel like I know you that well anymore, Mist. And it scares me.”
The blonde didn’t look offended or surprised. “I guess I’ve changed, Rain. My eyes have been opened.”
Rain’s gaze went to the place on Mist’s bed where she thought she saw her hide the object earlier, but she could see no trace of it now. Part of her wanted to demand to know what she was keeping from her. She didn’t want to force her best friend to let her in on her secrets, though. Mist would tell her when she was ready to, and if she was never ready, then perhaps that would be in Rain’s best interest anyway. The thought of standing up against the Motherhood had Rain feeling queasy. With a sigh, she picked up her tablet and settled back against her pillows.
Mist did the same, but before she started with her homework she said, “Don’t spend too long over there tomorrow, Rain. Get in and get out.”
Rain turned her head to look at her friend, but she had her tablet on now, so Rain knew the conversation was over.
Chapter Thirteen
All day, Rain listened to discussions between the other girls in the hallways, before class started, in the restroom, everywhere she went, trying to get an idea as to whether or not anyone else knew what Cloud was alluding to the night before. But she didn’t hear so much as a stray whisper that made her think anything was going down at the medical building that day. She even hinted to Cloud that she thought there was some gossip, but her friend had no idea what she was getting at.
By the time she was making her way over to IW that afternoon, she’d resolved herself to the idea that Sunny and Mist were nuts. Either that or whatever had been in the works had gone wrong or been discovered. She approached the changing rooms concentrating more on getting this over with so she could go finish up her homework as opposed to actually being worried about some kind of coup on the part of the younger women.
Making her selection had not been easy. Mist’s words about liking the Inseminator kept playing over and over in her mind. It seemed absolutely ludicrous to even consider liking one of these men--or caring about them at all, for that matter. To prove her point, Rain fully intended to select someone else, someone other than 24C. A couple of other guys had caught her attention in other visits. 46A and 19E weren’t so bad. She didn’t have to pick 24C again--ever again, for that matter.
When she went to make her selection, however, 46A was taken, and 19E wasn’t in service. She glanced around at her other choices. One of them, 39P, was a definite no. He had been just awful the one time she’d tried him, moving his hips and trying way too hard. It had been unpleasant to say the least. She had about twenty other Inseminators to choose from, but rather than go with someone else she didn’t know who might be uncomfortable, she went with the familiar and chose 24C, deciding she just wouldn’t tell Mist. if she asked, she’d lie. It wasn’t like 24C was going to be telling anyone who he was with.
Rain walked into the chamber, put her bag away, and placed her toes on the line, waiting for the chair to roll in. The thought of lying to Mist was eating at the back of her mind, but it wasn’t as if Mist had never lied to her before. She’d gone to great lengths to hide whatever it was she’d found in that basement. Even though it had been on Mist’s bed for much of the evening when they were both studying the night before, her so-called best friend never offered to show it to her. If Mist could keep secrets, Rain could do the same.
The wall opened up, and 24C’s chair shot out, coming to a stop in front of her, as it always did. Rain took a second to look at him, though, before she mounted him. She wasn’t looking at his inseminating organ, though she couldn’t miss it. Rather, she was studying him as a person. What if the world was the way it had been back when that house they’d found had been built, and 24C was allowed to walk around with the women, just like he deserved to be free? What would he be like? Would they be friends? Or more?
It was a silly thought, and Rain knew better than to stand there and ponder it when she had a job to do so she could get home. Even 24C seemed to think she was taking too long. He didn’t say anything or move, but he gave off a sensation like he wanted to, like he would’ve liked to lift his head and ask if she was going to get on with it. Tired of being confused, Rain climbed up into the chair, lifted her skirt and got to work.
She started out doing things the same way she always had, but a few minutes into her session, some of the comments other girls had made before about how to make it more enjoyable entered her mind, and she wondered if she could ever even do any of those things. It was her understanding that 24C couldn’t see her at all through his mask, but he could hear her. What if she started rubbing herself and enjoyed it too much? Would he laugh if she started to moan? What if she took off her gown so she could touch her breasts, but he could see her after all? No, as much as Rain wished she could be so uninhibited, for now, she decided to keep with what she’d always done.
The process seemed to be taking longer than usual, though, and Rain began to wonder if maybe 24C hadn’t gotten the correct dosage of the injection he was supposed to take before they began. Normally, he was finished within ten or fifteen minutes. Today, it was going on twenty. Rain tried moving faster, gripping more tightly, and that seemed to help, but her impatience was wearing thin. She considered using Mist’s method and stroking his chest, but the thought of putting her hands on him made her uneasy. He did have a nice physique, that was clear even in the dim light, and it was one of the reasons why she came back to him, she supposed. But she wasn’t ready for that either.
She continued her new method until she felt perspiration dotting her forehead. She did note a scent coming from him as well, and thought about what Mist had said about her favorite Inseminator. Whether or not 24C smelled differently than the other guys she’d been with, Rain couldn’t say, but it wasn’t an unpleasant aroma.
After about twenty minutes, she felt his body tighten up, and he made those soft noises that let her know she was getting there. Relieved at the signs that it was almost over, Rain pushed hard for
the next few seconds until he made that familiar sound and discharged his semen. Glad for this to be over with, Rain climbed off and took a deep breath, ready to reach for the wipes as soon as 24C was pulled back into the other room.
But something was wrong. Not only was he not moving, an annoying buzzing sound started chirping in the hallway. Confused, Rain stepped to the door, not sure if she should open it or not since her Inseminator was still present. In fact, she was pretty sure she couldn’t open it until he was gone because doing so was considered a safety violation--she thought it might be locked.