The Other Earth

by Amber LaShell

  I nodded, "I understand that, but why are you saying yes now?" I asked her.

  She stood up, "Honestly. Because of you" she said.

  I stood up next to her, "What do you mean?" I asked, surprised at that answer.

  "You make me want a better life for myself, and that makes me understand when someone else wants a better life too" she said.

  I felt my mouth drop open, "I make you want a better life?" I asked.

  She nodded and grabbed my hand, "You make me feel things that I didn't know I was capable of before" she said.

  She leaned in and kissed me quickly, pulling away so fast I thought for a split second that maybe she hadn't even touched me. She let go of my hand and walked away from me before I could answer her. I sighed and put my hands over my eyes, wondering what the rest of the day would bring, stuck in a vehicle with both Brandon and Vanessa.

  ***

  I stepped onto the small bus and looked inside and seeing that Brandon was in one of the back seats, I quickly walked to the back and sat with him. He looked over at me and smiled, making me heart do a flip as he stared at me.

  "This thing is huge huh? It's almost like a bus" he said.

  I nodded, "Yeah, but it looks different. It's like there is no place for a motor, what do you think that's about?" I asked.

  He looked around, "I asked about that and it seems as though all of the vehicles here are run by electricity, they never even invented a motor like we have. I think this has a lot to do with why they have so little pollution" he said.

  I nodded, "That would also explain why everyone mostly walks everywhere too" I observed.

  He leaned, "They made them too expensive for most people to own them. Those one person car things that we saw are mostly used by people very high up in the government, they are the only people that can get them."

  I shook my head, "But they don't pay you any money, you just show your identification and can get whatever you want" I said.

  Brandon shook his head, "No, that is how it is for most people, but they do have money. Regular people don't even realize it because only certain people can get it. It's weird right, that they will put so many restrictions on people but live high on the hog themselves?" he said.

  I nodded, "Yes, it does seem very odd. It's almost like the entire planet is communistic and yet people are given some freedoms. I still don't really get it" I said.

  Brandon looked up as a few of the kids started to load the bus, "We can talk about this later."

  I nodded as Andrew came onto the bud and sat in the seat in front of us, "Hey Randi" he said, smiling at me, with a goofy grin.

  I gave him a quick smile as I look over at Brandon, who is looking down at his hands, trying to hide the fact that he is laughing. I nudged him in the ribs and jumped, laughing a quick laugh out loud that sounds like a seal dying.

  Another teen-aged boy with short black hair and a long face walked up and sat down next to Andrew. I hadn't really met many of the people who had come in to be tested and I didn't recognize this one, as I could have been stuck in the filing room when he had come around.

  "Hey Andrew" he said.

  My eyes widened as a large booming voice came out of his small frame. He looked like he was only a couple of inches above five feet at the most and probably ninety five pounds soaking wet, but his voice was smooth and loud and already had the quality of a large man.

  "Hey Kidd, this is Randi, she works with Vanessa" he said, pointing to me.

  Kidd turned around and smiled at me, his brown eyes sparkling. "Nice to meet you" he said, in his smooth voice.

  I nodded and looked up as Vanessa stepped onto the bus and looked around. Spotting us she waved and walked to the back, taking the seat right next to us. She stood up and watched as the rest of the kids entered the bus before she looked over at Kidd and Andrew.

  "Did you guys get something to eat?" she asked them.

  They both nodded and held up their wrapped breakfast from Vanessa's father's deli. "It was hard to choose, everything looked so good" Andrew said.

  I laughed, "So how long is it going to take to get there?" I asked.

  Vanessa looked down at her watch, "It takes about ten hours to get there" she said.

  I choke on the sip of coffee I had just taken, "Ten hours?" I ask loudly.

  She nodded, "Yes, it's pretty far away" she said, looking around the bus again.

  "I just didn't expect it to take that long. I didn't even know I was coming, I didn't bring any clothes or anything."

  "You won't need any, they will give us clothes for tomorrow. We will stay the night there tonight and then setup everyone in their houses tomorrow, stay one more night, then come home after that" she said.

  I look over at Brandon, "Did you know we would be gone for two or three days?" I asked him.

  He smiled and nods, "Yes, they told me this morning. I didn't know before that."

  I lean in and whisper to him, "How long did it take you in the ship?" I say quiet enough for only him to hear.

  "Only about two hours" he whispers back.

  I sigh, "If only we could take that" I whisper.

  He laughed, "Only if we could go alone" he said, winking at me. I nudge him in the ribs again, trying to make him quit winking while we are around people.

  Vanessa smiled at me as she saw us laughing, "What's so funny?" she asked.

  I shrug my shoulders, "Oh, nothing of importance" I replied, hoping that for once my cheeks wouldn't give me away and go completely red.

  I watched as Amanda, the girl who was so excited to be going to Sector six, stepped onto the bus and sat down near the front. Vanessa made a hand signal to the driver to let him know that everyone was there and that they could leave. I sat back in my chair and looked out the window as we started to drive away. The bus moved quite fast for something that was only electric.

  I look over as Vanessa moves in quietly to us, "There is something I need to talk to you guys about" she whispers.

  I looked over at Brandon for a second and then looked back to Vanessa when I saw him looking at her intently, "What is it?" He asked.

  She looks around and moves in as close as she can, practically sitting in my lap, "I made sure that the driver for this trip was someone in the coalition because we are going to be making a small pit stop on the way back from sector six."

  "A pit stop, to where?" Brandon asked her.

  She looked around again, "The underground city called Europa. It is close to sector six and it is the one that houses regular people that want to live a free life, the one I told you about" she said, nodding to me.

  I nodded, remembering our conversation about it, "Okay, how long are we going to be there?" I asked.

  "Not long. We can't be gone long enough to make anyone suspicious, so we will have one night at the most. I just need to speak to their lead person about getting the option of moving there." She hurriedly whispered.

  "You are trying to move there?" Brandon asked, a concerned look on his face.

  She nodded, "Yes, I just don't want to live life the way I have been anymore. I am not happy, and I think I have the right to be happy. The only thing is that I have to have everything setup and ready to go so that when I do go I will be there and underground before they even realize that I'm gone."

  I sat back and sighed, "This is all so crazy." I said, wishing I was back home. Even though we had the pollution, at least we could choose our own lives.

  Vanessa reached over and put her hand on top of mine, "It will all work out Randi, don't worry" she said, smiling at me and winking.

  She slid back over to her own seat and sat back closing her eyes as she enjoyed the ride. I looked over at Brandon and he was looking at me oddly. I looked at him for a few seconds and realized that he was wondering about the way that she had smiled and winked at me.

  "What is going on?" he whispered.

  I shrugged, "What do you mean?" I asked.

  He looked over at Vanessa and leaned in to whis
per lightly in my ear, "I see that way she has been looking at you today. What is going on?" he asked again.

  I swallowed hard, for some reason nervous. I leaned over and whispered back into his ear, "It's nothing. She kissed me yesterday, but it was just because I was comforting her at the time." I said.

  He pulled back quickly and looked at Vanessa for a second with a hurt look in his eyes, "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked quietly.

  "Well, it happened when you were gone, and when you came back, we were just a little busy" I whispered to him.

  "Is that why you attacked me in the shower? Were you picturing her?" he asked, a hurt edge to his voice.

  I shook my head quickly, "No. I wanted you. I missed you. I don't have any feelings for her, I promise" I said, curious as to why he was suddenly jealous.

  He sighed, "I believe you, I do. I just want to take a nap right now though" he said, sliding past me and walking up toward the front of the bus and lying down in an empty seat.

  I swallowed back the tears that were threatening to spill out of me eyes and scooted over to the window and put my forehead on the cold glass, hoping this trip wouldn't end in disaster. I sighed as I watched the scenery fly by, agitated that Brandon would get so mad when I hadn't done anything wrong.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  I felt someone shaking me as the bus started to slow down. I opened my eyes and saw that Vanessa was the one that was shaking me awake, even though I hadn't even realized that I had fallen asleep. I looked toward the front of the bus and saw Brandon sitting at the front right behind the driver.

  I sighed as I turned to look out of the window, hoping that he wasn't still mad at me, even though he hadn't spoken to me in hours. I watched as we came to a large gate, much like the one they had in sector six, but this one was plain, large black iron that lifted to only about six feet into the air. I wondered for a second why the gates here were so much smaller than the sector one gates, but realized that they probably didn't have the problem of people trying to get out of this sector.

  The gates opened slowly, letting them pass through quickly before shutting again. I slid closer to the window and saw that this sector was completely different inside as well. It had more green than sector one did, and it almost seemed cleaner.

  We pulled into a large lot that was surrounded by a large park. There were people standing around waiting for the bus to bring the next group to their new homes. Another thing that was different here were all of the people. They were all wearing color, and not all the same color either. Some were wearing blue jeans with different colored shirts, and I spotted a woman wearing a purple skirt with a black blouse.

  The people here looked so much like home that I felt tears close to the surface of my eyes trying to escape down my cheeks. I took a deep breath as we came to a complete stop and the doors opened. I watched as the driver and Brandon stepped out of the bus and went to speak to a man who looked to be in charge, though he was wearing a bright yellow shirt with blue jeans.

  I sat in my seat as the new young residents started to file out of the bus, and were waving at the crowd. There were people smiling and waving, and even a few were cheering after each person stepped out. I watched as Amanda spotted her boyfriend in the crowd and started to cry as he ran to her, pulling her into a bear hug.

  "Are you ready?" Vanessa asked beside me.

  I looked around and saw that we were the only people left on the bus and I nodded, finally standing up and grabbing the small bag that I had been lying on. I followed her off of the bus and stepped out into the sunshine, my vision temporarily blinded.

  "Are you okay?" I heard Brandon say from beside me.

  I looked over and once my eyes adjusted to the extra sunlight I saw that he was looking at me with a concerned look on his face. I nodded and leaned in close to him so that nobody else would be able to hear me.

  "This place just reminds me of home" I whispered into his ear.

  He nodded, "Yes, I told you it was more like home. Come on, let's go and get these kids settled in" he said.

  I nodded, turning to follow him. We walked back toward the man with the bright yellow shirt.

  "Hello young lady, are you going to be staying here with us too?" the man said, winking at me.

  I smiled, "Don't I wish" I said, noticing that he looked a little like a skinnier version of Santa Claus, rosy cheeks and all.

  "Randi, this is Freddie. Freddie, this is Randi" Brandon said, introducing us.

  Freddie nodded, "Ah yes, Randi. It's nice to meet you dear. Brandon here told me a lot about you when he was visiting the other day." He said, once again winking.

  I wondered whether he really knew something that I should know that he knew, or if he just had a twitch that made him wink at everyone.

  I simply smiled at him as Vanessa quickly walked up, "Hey Freddie, how's it hanging?" she asked him.

  "Oh you know, same as always Vanessa. A little to the left and shooting blanks" he said.

  I felt my cheeks go red as Vanessa and Brandon laughed beside me. I had not expected this jolly looking man to say anything like that.

  "Don't blush little lady, I didn't mean to offend you" he said to me.

  I shook my head, "No it takes much more than that to offend me, you just took me by surprise is all" I said, trying to give him a sincere smile.

  Freddie looked around at all of the kids that were being dropped off, "Mighty fine batch you got this year Vanessa. Some of them seem to know each other already" he said, nodding his head toward the young couple that were now making out.

  Vanessa smiled, "Yes well, let's find these kids a home shall we?" she asked, patting Freddie on his large arm.

  I leaned over to Brandon, "Do you actually know how this works?" I asked in a whisper.

  He shook his head, "No, I know probably about as much as you do" he whispered back into my ear.

  We all followed Vanessa and Freddie around the bus and into a large house, which was actually much larger than a house should be, and as we stepped inside, I could see why. I wasn't just a house, it looked to be an office and maybe even a hotel too, just not exactly like the hotels we had back on Earth.

  Freddie led us into a large office that was big enough for Vanessa, Brandon, me and even the group of people that needed to find home to all file in comfortably.

  "Okay, so we have a couple of empty apartments and we have a couple of apartments that need roommates. We are pretty lenient here and if things don't work out you can always move. Now, do we have anyone that knows who they want to live with?" Freddie asked as he sat down behind the large cherry wood desk that was sitting in the middle of the large room.

  Amanda raised her hand, "I know who I want to live with" she said quietly.

  Freddie smiled, "Oh let me guess, the young man who had his tongue down your throat outside. Is that a correct assumption?" he asked.

  Her cheeks went red and she nodded, "Yes he was my boyfriend from before" she said, looking down at her hands.

  Freddie clapped his hands together, "Oh, so you must be Amanda. He has been talking about you for weeks now. He was very excited to hear that you were coming and he has already spoken to me about living arrangements. You will be staying with him in one of our smaller one bedroom apartments that are reserved for couples" he said, scribbling something down on a pad.

  I looked over at her and saw that she was beaming, excited at the prospect of living with a man that she had fallen in love with at what I assumed was a young age.

  "Okay who is next?" Freddie asked.

  I watched as one by one that kids were given a new place to live. It was odd hearing that most of them were given roommates with people who were already here at sector six with only Andrew and Kidd getting a two bedroom bachelor pad together. I laughed as they gave each other a high five, obviously happy about that decision.

  I sighed as Freddie closed his notebook, "Okay that's done, now lets take everyone to their new places!" he said with excitement, once again m
aking the image of Santa Claus pop into my head.

  ***

  I gave Andrew a small hug as we stepped out of his large apartment that he would be sharing with Kidd for an unknown amount of time. He looked happy to be starting his new life away from parental guidance, though I hoped that this was a community that looked after each other as the newcomers were always young.

  "Bye, enjoy your new life" I said to him as he started to close the door.

  "See ya" he yelled as he finished closing the door.

  I sighed, "They just seem so young to be living on their own already" I said as we all turned away from the door and walked out to the street, which has darkened some while they were inside.

  "Don't worry, they have good neighbors that will keep an eye on them" Freddie said, grabbing Vanessa around the shoulders as they walked.

  "So what do we do now?" Brandon asked, shoving his hands into his gray pockets.

  "I was actually going to talk to Freddie about just that right now." Vanessa said from in front of them.

  I could see Freddie's head turn toward her in the semi darkness, "What do you mean? I thought you were staying at my place tonight?" he said, obviously trying to keep his voice quiet.

  "I know, and I was planning on that. The thing is though that I have been invited to tour Europa and tonight would be a good time as they won't be expecting us to leave until tomorrow." She said.

  Brandon stepped up, "Wait, I thought we were supposed to be staying for two nights? That's what I was told when they gave me this assignment" he said.

  "What is he talking about" Vanessa asked Freddie.

  "Well, if you would have given me time to talk to you about it, I would have told you that I setup the tour of Europa for you, and I convinced the bosses that we needed you here an extra day to sort out some paperwork that needed to be done so that you would have time to tour it" he said, puffing out his chest slightly, very proud of himself.

  Vanessa pulled him into a big hug, "I knew you were good for something!" she yelled.