Zoo

by Tara Elizabeth

  “You’re welcome, but I’m the one that’s honored. You are a legend in our family. Everyone loved you, but everyone thought you were crazy.” He laughs, sort of passively. “They say that you would tell stories about dreams you had, not a lot of detail, but enough to entertain everyone at holiday dinners. And those ‘dream stories’ were passed down from generation to generation. It was only in the past 60 years that we realized they were more likely memories. We’ve been preparing for you two for a long time.”

  Kai turns away from us and offers his hand to a Keeper off to his right. He pulls the Keeper closer to our little group and informs us, “Before you leave, I want you to meet Josephine, my sister. She has helped as much, if not more, than I have.”

  My mouth hangs open as Josephine pulls off her mask. Her pale blonde hair and jet black eyes stare back at me. She’s an exact replica of me, but with dark eyes like Kale’s. This is too weird.

  “You’re the girl with the feathered mask that came with Kai to watch us. Now it makes sense . . . but how do you look so much like me? That’s impossible.” I’m absolutely astonished.

  Josephine answers with a wispy voice, “Our parents can choose what we will look like. We can isolate and manipulate genes now—almost perfectly. Blonde or brunette, blue eyes or brown, so on and so on. They wanted me to look like you but with Kale’s eyes, and they wanted Kai to resemble Kale with a mixture of both of you in his eyes. They wanted you to know us when you saw us.”

  “That’s unbelievable—especially you, Josephine. The resemblance is amazing,” I say.

  “I’m sorry, but we need to move soon,” Kai interrupts.

  I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with Kai and Josephine. I haven’t had enough time with them.

  Kale tries to get us going. He hugs and thanks Josephine first, while I pull myself together. I can tell he was also surprised by the shocking resemblance. Things are happening too fast for us to ask all the right questions or even think of all of them. But, I can’t help myself. I have just one before we move on. “Josephine? Is that a family name?” I ask her.

  “It is.” She smiles at me before asking her own question. “Do you know where it comes from? No one has passed that information down through the family. Is there a meaning behind it?” Her voice is beautiful and calming. It’s the only other physical difference I’ve noticed between us.

  “In our first enclosure, our neighbor was named Josephine Derby. She saved me from myself many times. She sang to me and kept me company when I lost hope. I owe her a lot.” I wonder what’s happening to her right now. I wonder if the Rebels helped the people in that zoo as well.

  Tears form in this young Josephine’s dark eyes. She tries to blink them away, but one escapes and rolls down her rosy cheek. “Thank you,” she says. “Now I know. And I actually remember her.” She hugs me, and I hug her back, instantly loving a girl I’ve only just met.

  Kai interrupts, “Again, I’m sorry to cut this short, but we have to get you two back now. It’s time.” He taps his wrist where I’m sure the infamous watch is hiding under the arm of his suit. “The other Keepers will come looking for us soon. And we need to help with the rebellion some more,” he adds.

  As Kale and I squish in our wet clothes, while following Kai and three other Keepers down a long white hall. I walk beside Josephine. “Do you think you could look out for Josephine Derby for me? I want her to be safe,” I ask her.

  “Of course,” she answers. “Now that I know about her, I will make it my priority after we get you back.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her.

  The hallway forks and we take the path to the left, ending up in front of an unmarked door. One of the silent Keepers presses his index finger onto a screen in the wall beside the door. It beeps and the door slides open. This room is empty and white as well, until the door slides shut behind us.

  Things start to appear one by one. In the far corner, there’s a leather chair with a small side table next to it. On top of the little table is an ashtray with a half smoked cigar resting in its center. Close to us, is an oak desk with a matching chair. They are both facing a fake window that has a projected or digital image of a city on it. I’ve never seen a city so clean and orderly. The buildings are strange and there are flying cars and pedestrian versions of the Hoppers. The glimpse of the future world is overwhelming.

  In the center of the room is a chrome and black metal frame in the shape of a horseshoe. It’s tall enough for a very tall person to walk under it. A portal?

  The three Keepers we don’t know split up. One sits at the old-fashioned oak desk, one is doing something on a screen in the wall, and the other is pushing buttons on the metal frame. Kai says, while pointing at the shiny archway, “This is the portal.” I knew it! He adds, “We call it Stephen.” Stephen? Really? I’m not asking.

  Kai continues, “It will send you back to your time . . . to the point of your accident. Kale, as you know, your family didn’t have a body to bury, so we don’t need to worry about your replacement body.”

  Kale never told me that. When we were punished and they showed us our families after our deaths, his must have been looking for him instead of mourning. I wonder how long they kept up the search. No body, no closure. That’s terrible. Kale’s body language changes as Kai mentions this. He turns slightly inward, but still listens to Kai’s important instructions.

  Now to me, “Emma, they sent a pod-body back in your place.” He hands me a tiny metal thing that looks like a thumbtack. “Be careful with that. When you get back, stick it into the body. It’ll dissolve it in seconds. Don’t stick it in your own body.”

  I open my mouth to ask him what will happen, but he cuts me off before the first syllable slips out. “You don’t want to know what’ll happen if you do. I promise.” Kai notices me clutching my side and asks, “What’s wrong there?”

  “I think I cracked a rib.”

  “Pinot, throw me a scanner.” He turns to the Keeper at the desk, who rummages through one of the desk’s drawers. He finds a scanner and then tosses it over to Kai. That is the same thing the Keepers bring through the zoo when making their rounds. “We can fix that for you,” Kai offers before he scans me. He points to the drenched book hanging from my shoulder.

  I hand over my book, which he tosses over to Josephine. She walks over to the screened wall where one of the Keepers is working. She presses a few buttons a sticks the book in a slot in the wall. It disappears.

  “Ready?” Kai asks.

  I nod yes and hold still, waiting for him to finish scanning me.

  “Two bruised ribs, bruised cheek, rope burn under your arms, and a lot of scrapes on your buttocks and lower back. I could heal all that for you, but you were in a serious car accident. It would be beneficial if you had some injures when you returned. However, the rope burns and scrapes on your backside—we’ll have to repair those.” He looks over to Kale. “I can fix those cuts on your face if you want.”

  Kale shakes his head.

  “You sure?” Kai asks.

  “No. I’m good. Thanks,” Kale responds. Why?!

  Kai shrugs and turns back to me. “Okay. Well, let’s get you fixed up.”

  Pinot tosses over something else before Kai even has to ask for it. “This is a Healer. Lift your arms up and turn around slowly.” He holds the metallic wand a few inches above my skin as I spin. It heals my skin as it hovers over it. When it’s done, I thank him, but internally I wish he could have repaired the rest of me as well. I’ll have to heal slowly back at home—the normal way. Blah.

  And I wish Kale would let him heal his face. The cut above his eye looks terrible.

  Kai tosses the Healer back to Pinot and turns to face us. He taps the watch that is surely hiding under his white suit. “It’s time. Ready?” he asks. Then he smiles at both of us.

  SAYING GOODBYE

  “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Look, we’re here. So everything must have worked out.” Josephine offers me a warm smile an
d then hands me my book, which is now bone dry. As I thumb through the pages, I discover that it looks just like it did when Cat first gave it to me.

  “Thanks,” I say as I close the book. I hug her one more time before we leave. Then I lean over and hug Kai. We’ve all said our goodbyes, except Kale and I.

  “Wait,” Kale says to Kai. “Will we remember each other? Will we remember this place? You said that I talked about dreams, but do you think I really remembered and didn’t want to say too much?” Kale asks some very important questions that I hadn’t thought of.

  Panic rises within me as turn over each question in my head. I have worries of my own. How will we find each other if we can’t remember? I want to remember him. I have to remember him. I love him too much to forget. Don’t I?

  “We’re not sure,” Kai answers honestly.

  “Then we’re not going,” Kale cuts him off.

  “Kale. Wait. Let him finish.” I pull him closer to me.

  “Based on the stories passed down and the fact that you ended up together after living so far apart, we think you will remember. Plus, we’re counting on the fact that you do, because if you don’t, you’re going to have a real issue with the extra body, Emma . . . ”

  The pod-body!

  An alarm starts to blare, making it hard to hear the rest of what Kai is saying. He starts to motion toward Stephen, the portal. Time to go.

  I throw my arms around Kale’s neck, not wanting to ever let go. He wraps his around my back, but doesn’t squeeze too hard, remembering my injury. Screw my injury. I can’t get close enough.

  We kiss like we’ll never see each other again. We hold each other’s faces and stare into each other’s eyes, trying to memorize everything about the one we love. I have to remember his dark, beautiful, almond shaped eyes, the tattoos that are etched into his tan skin, the way he knows exactly what to say and how to be with me, his soul, our love—I need to remember it all. We kiss again, but more sorrowfully like we’ve already lost each other, even when evidence of our future is standing only a few feet away. I can feel Kale doesn’t want to let me go either.

  “I love you,” he whispers in my hair.

  “I love you.”

  ***

  When I was little, my family took a trip to the beach. We made snow angels in the sand. My mother named the three of them, “Love, Hope, and Faith.” I was Hope. I am Hope. I am hopeful that everything will be the way it was meant to be.

  I let Kale pass through the portal first. I can’t call the stupid thing Stephen. Sorry.

  He disappears from me, but I know that I will see him again soon. And I will remember him.

  “What about my clothes?” I ask before stepping through.

  “The tack will take care of that as well,” Kai answers. “Oh and Emma, thank you for believing me.”

  “I knew it was you.” I smile at my great-great-great-whatever-grandson and granddaughter, and then I step into the portal . . .

  HOME

  I’m seat-belted into the driver’s seat and dangling from above. I’m also lying on my stomach on the ceiling of my overturned car. The “other me” is a lifeless pod-body sent to take my place in death, and she looks like crap. I may joke, but it actually gives me the chills to see it lying there below me.

  Pod-body.

  I remember!

  I reach out and jab the thing that looks like a thumbtack into the fake me. The flesh starts to bubble. Pieces of the body start to crumble and flake away. Then the whole thing goes up in a big puff and blows away, sending tiny bits of dust riding on the wind.

  I look down—I mean up. My old clothes have spontaneously appeared on me. Not bad for a little tack.

  Back in the year 2013, there are people jumping out of their cars and screaming. My engine is steaming and the radio is still on. It’s going up and down in volume in spurts. A man with glasses and a potbelly is on his hands and knees, looking into my car. He calls from the passenger side, “Are you okay?”

  I nod yes, not ready to talk just yet.

  “Can you crawl over to me? I’ll pull you out.” He lifts his head for a second and hollers, “Somebody call 911!”

  I struggle to unbuckle the seatbelt. When I finally get it unfastened, I drop to the ceiling with an awkward thud. The impact sends pain throughout my chest. A gasp escapes my lips. As I try to push past the pain, I attempt to move forward, but there’s glass everywhere. It cuts my palms and stomach as I pull myself across it. I make it to the opening of the broken window where the man has taken off his button-up shirt and cleared the rest of the glass away. He’s coaching me along, “That’s it. Just a little further. Good girl. You got it.”

  Lastly, the man instructs me to roll over onto my back. As he grabs me under my arms to pull me out of the car, I reach for my favorite purse that has an old book peeking out of the opening. I’m pulled away from the smoking vehicle, just in time for it to catch fire. The gathering crowd’s screams sound like sirens wailing. Oh, there are sirens as well. Emergency vehicles swarm the area.

  I’m strapped onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, smiling the whole time. They think I’m in shock, but I’m not. I’m remembering.

  THE

  FUTURE

  MY FUTURE. OUR FUTURE.

  Kale and I didn’t take into account that I was taken six months earlier than he. So, when I finally find his contact information and call him in Hawaii, he won’t know who I am. I won’t tell him what happened to us, because I will be afraid that he will think I am a crazy person. With a heavy heart, I will tell him I dialed the wrong number. It will be difficult to get through the end of my senior year without any contact with the man I love—but I will make it.

  I will skip my senior trip to Paris and instead move early to Hilo, Hawaii where I will get a scholarship and go to the University of Hawaii. I will “accidentally” run into Kale on the beach one day, and like before, he will be instantly drawn to me. We will fall in love all over again, and it will be an exciting new beginning.

  One morning, Kale and I will travel down to the beach so he can surf. While I read a book and relax, he’ll catch some amazing waves. He’ll also have one huge wipeout that’ll have me on my feet and at the water’s edge in seconds. When he finally emerges from the aquamarine water, he will return to me as the same man I have always loved, but a man with another lifetime of memories. He will finally remember me . . . us.

  He will walk toward me on the sandy shore with a fresh cut above his eye and a bruised lip. I will start to gasp, but then realize that I’ve seen the same wounds on him once before. And when I look into his eyes, I will drop my book in the water and not care, because I will know that the day has finally come when he sees me. I will cry as he kisses me.

  In school, I will earn a Masters degree in Marine Biology. I will focus on rescue and rehabilitation. Sending animals back into their own environments, after I help them, will be truly rewarding and exactly the opposite of what happened to me in a past life.

  My parents will miss me, but will be so proud of their successful daughter. They will remain married and fall in love with each other all over again after I leave the nest.

  Kale’s huge family will welcome me with open arms. They will forgive me for being terrible at the family bar-b-que sports. Kale will open his own surf shop and school. He will be hugely successful—because who doesn’t love Kale? He will also teach me the art of surf, and I will actually became pretty good at it.

  We will spend many nights lying on the sand, stargazing, and holding hands. Eventually, we will marry at a small ceremony, barefoot on a deserted beach with our parents and close friends there to support us. We will name our son Kai and our daughter Josephine Hope.

  I will give Kale a very beautiful and very expensive wristwatch on our 30th wedding anniversary, which he will pass down to our son. My precious book, Emma, will go to our daughter. And at the end of our long lives, we will die peacefully together in our sleep. Neither of us will have had to spe
nd a second without the other.

  About the author:

  I write Young Adult Fiction, mostly Dystopian/Sci-Fi novels with a splash of romance and a hint of sarcasm. I'm also a graphic artist, wife, mother, and Red Vine lover. I grew up in the Deep South surrounded by bayous, magnolia trees, crawfish, and great people. My culture is a huge part of my life, and you can see some of those details in my writing.

  Zoo, is my second YA novel. I’ve also written another YA novel called Exalted. Look for it if you haven’t read it yet!

  Thanks for reading!

  Connect with me online:

  facebook.com/author.tara.elizabeth

  authortaraelizabeth.com