Sunset Rising

by S. M. McEachern

  “Get off!” the woman yelled at me, and pushed me into the stone wall.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, continuing to search the crowd for her face.

  “Sunny, what are you doing? You’re going to be late,” I heard a familiar voice say.

  It was Bron, one of the guards in our sector. The guards in the Pit were all dressed in white uniforms so they stood out in the darkness. Their stark presence was a constant reminder that our every move was being watched. Some guards were meaner than others. Bron was one of the good ones. She and my mother were friends. Well as good as friends can be when one of you was a bourge from the Dome and the other was an urchin from the Pit.

  “Have you seen Summer?” I asked.

  Bron shook her head no. She shifted her gun onto her other shoulder and placed a comforting hand on my back.

  “Most likely on her way to work, which is exactly what you should be doing,” she gently urged me.

  I could see the concern on her face. I knew she was trying to speak with my mother’s voice and it wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate it, but so much had changed in my life over the past two months and Summer has been my main source of strength. I didn’t want to go to work without her. I didn’t want anything else in my life to change.

  I moved further along, away from Bron, and then flattened myself against the cold stone wall to let people pass. When I went to school, my history teacher taught me that life in the Pit hadn’t always been so crowded. Our ancestors only numbered around 200 when they took up residence in the Pit, and 283 years later our population was almost 30,000. In the past, we accommodated our growing numbers by constantly mining further down into the Earth. Now at almost three miles deep, the bourge engineers tell us no more. We are on the verge of collapse. A few of the mines have already closed which resulted in miners being fired. The ones that continue to work in the mines are scared.

  As people brushed past me, I overhear a lot of conversations about the upcoming royal wedding. The President’s daughter is getting married in two days and there have been rumours about a feast being sent down to the Pit. The wedding is going to be televised and word is that a big table full of food will be set up by each television in the common rooms. And from what I can overhear, people are already making plans to stake out a good spot.

  Maybe Summer and I will try to get a good spot too. If there really is going to be a feast, the food will go fast. I just hate the thought of having to sit through the wedding. I’m sure it will start with a Presidential Address, reminding us of all we have to be thankful for. He’ll remind everyone in the Pit how generous they were when they gave us shelter from the bombs, flash some pictures of our ancestors signing the Treaty, and then a quick rundown of how we have all thrived living in the safety of the Dome. But like most people living in the Pit, I couldn’t care less about the wedding or giving thanks. I am only interested in the food.

  “Sunny,” I heard her call my name.

  “Summer, I’m by the stairs!” I yelled back.

  “I know.” Suddenly she was right beside me. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you standing here. Why didn’t you go ahead without me?”

  “We always go to work together. Where were you? We’ll be lucky if we’re not late.”

  “Oh, we’re going to be late,” she confirmed matter-of-factly. “We’ll be lucky if we don’t get caught.”

  “We’re going to get caught when we scan in.” I searched my mind for a solution and came up with a weak one. “Unless we take our alternate route.”

  We hadn’t used the old mine shaft in months, because the last time we did we got in trouble for showing up to work dirty. But it only cost us half a day’s credits and we didn’t even get a beating. Summer thought about it for a second then gave her nod of approval. She knows as well as I do that losing a few credits was better than losing our jobs. We veered around the stairs and headed for the end of the hallway, which put us heading into traffic instead of with it, making our progress slower. But once we reached the shaft, it would be a lot faster. I continued to mumble apologies as I squeezed past people and endured their rude looks and even ruder comments.

  “Have you come looking for me to break my heart some more?” a deep, familiar voice whispered in my ear.

  I felt Reyes’ arms slide around my waist. Even though I’m taller than most girls, I still needed to tilt my head back to look him in the face.

  “You two really do make a nice couple,” Summer complimented us.

  “She’s right,” Reyes agreed and ignored my rolling eyes and attempts to loosen his grip on me. Gently he picked up a lock of hair that had escaped my ponytail and wound it around his finger. “So when are you going to marry me, Sunset?”

  “Can we talk about this some other time?” I said, annoyed. He knew I hated it when he used my full name instead of Sunny. He was saying it deliberately to provoke an argument.

  “We talked about it last night. I was hoping you changed your mind this morning. I told you I don’t want to wait ten more months.” His dark eyes searched mine, looking for the answer he wanted to hear.

  “And I was hoping you would understand my situation, but I see you don’t. We need to talk about this later Reyes. Summer and I are late right now,” I said trying to squirm out of his embrace.

  “Don’t put me off Sunny. I barely got any sleep last night,” he complained.

  “I’m really late Reyes,” I said. I could hear the panic in my voice.

  I tried to pry his arms off me, but instead, he tightened his grip and lifted me up off the floor. As our eyes became level, he kissed me roughly on the lips.

  “Tonight we talk again. Promise me,” he gently demanded.

  “I promise,” I agreed, although I knew I wouldn’t change my mind.

  He kissed me again and then passed me along to his friend, Raine who was standing next to him. Raine passed me to Mica and Mica passed me to the next boy. They all knew we were headed to the old mineshaft. Many people took it as a short cut when they were desperate to get to work on time. I looked back and saw Summer being passed along behind me and in no time we were deposited in front of the door to the shaft.

  “Thank you,” I called out to Reyes, but I’m not sure he could hear me anymore. He was probably already descending the stairs to go work in the mines.

  I opened the door to the shaft and we slipped inside. Light was almost none existent here, but my eyes quickly adjusted; although we had climbed this way so many times before, our hands and feet had a memory of their own. Even though it was a one mile climb up to the main level, without thousands of people crowding our way it was faster.

  “So you haven’t told me why you’re late,” I reminded Summer.

  “I stopped to talk to Adam,” she said. I heard her breathing hard with the exertion of climbing and waited for her to continue. “I think he might ask me to marry him.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at her or yell at her. “We’re late because you were flirting? I mean do you even like him?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked in an exasperated voice. “It’s fine for you, Sunny, you already have Reyes. But when my parents are Culled next year, I’ll have no one. I need to find a partner and most boys our age are already married.”

  She was right. Partnerships in the Pit were every bit as important as having a job. A single person wasn’t eligible to be assigned an apartment because it was considered a waste of space. It was the driving force behind most marriages in the Pit. Although in my case, it was the reason I couldn’t leave my father.

  “Oh Summer,” I said exasperated. “If you weren’t so picky, you could be married by now. But whenever a boy is interested in you, suddenly you’re not. I think you like flirting more than actually like having a boyfriend.”

  “That’s not true,” she defended herself half-heartedly. “I just haven’t met the right one yet.”

  “Well, you’re running out of time,” I pointed
out.

  Summer could have her pick of any boy she wanted in the Pit. A full head shorter than me, her small stature and delicate limbs gave her an elegant feminine quality. I always felt large and clumsy next to her.

  “Dad lost his job yesterday because he didn’t show up for work,” I said, changing the subject.

  “Oh, Sunny. What are you going to do?” she asked sympathetically.

  “I told Reyes last night I can’t marry him until after the next Cull,” I said.

  “You’re postponing? Again?” she asked in surprised. “That’s a bit drastic. I’m sure your Dad can get another job. He’s had a lot of experience in the mines.”

  “People are being fired from the mines for less reason than they fired him for. He’s barely been eating since mom left and now he’s too weak to get out of bed.”

  “But you’ve put your marriage on hold once before and I can’t imagine Reyes is happy with postponing again. And you’re not getting any younger, Sunny. You’re almost eighteen. Aren’t you afraid Reyes is going to get fed up with waiting and move on to someone else?”

  I had never thought about Reyes being with someone else. We were always meant to be together. Of course he would wait for me. I knew if I gave him enough time he would eventually understand that my father needed me right now and I couldn’t leave him.

  But there was wisdom in her words. At seventeen, I’m middle aged and that didn’t bode well for getting approved to have a child. Population control in the Pit was getting stricter all the time. Reyes really wanted to have a child, but if I was to be honest with at least myself, I didn’t. I guess that’s why I didn’t feel there was an urgent need to get married right away.

  I finally reached the top of the shaft and scrambled onto the platform.

  “We will finish this conversation, Sunny. You have to talk about it,” Summer pressed as she scrambled up behind me. “Urgh! After all that climbing, we’re still a minute late! How are we going to do this?”

  I slowly opened the door to make sure there weren’t any guards in the hall to catch us. The light on the main floor was so bright I had to force my lids to stay open against the glare until they adjusted. It took another precious half minute of our time.

  “Let’s see if the back door is unlocked and sneak in,” I suggested.

  “We still have to scan in. They’ll know we’re late,” Summer reminded me.

  “Yes, but forgetting to scan in won’t get us fired. We’ll probably just have to go without lunch or something.”

  “Ooooh…” Summer moaned, gripping her already hungry stomach. We had both missed breakfast.

  When we were sure no one was around, we stepped out of the shaft and quietly made our way down the hall. We managed to sneak along like that until we reached the back entrance to the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief when I turned the doorknob and it opened. We slipped through the door and took off running toward the change rooms. It was mandatory for all kitchen staff to wear clean uniforms. Once we had our uniform on, it would be as if we had been there the whole time. But as we ran into the change room, I had to pull up short and Summer slammed into the back of me. Our kitchen supervisor was waiting for us.

  “So you thought you could put one over on me?” Bailey asked in her high-pitched voice.

  “No ma’am. We weren’t trying to put one over on you. Traffic in the stairwell was heavier than usual and it made us late. We were running to make up for lost time,” Summer lied.

  “Hhmph,” she snorted. “It makes no matter why you’re late, you are. I should fire you O’Donnell. You’ve been nothing but trouble lately,” she glared at me.

  Maybe it was from the long climb, but my limbs suddenly felt weak and shaky. She couldn’t possibly fire us after we tried so hard to make it here on time. I heard Summer’s breath catch in her throat and I knew she was trying to hold back tears. That’s when I noticed my own eyes were starting to sting.

  “There’s one option open to you to save yourselves from being fired,” Bailey said with a sly glint in her eyes. “The President is hosting an important dinner tonight and they’ve requested females to serve and entertain the gentlemen guests.”

  It wasn’t hard to understand her meaning. Prostitute ourselves tonight and we could keep our jobs. This wasn’t an unusual request in the Pit. The supervisors who sent the prettiest girls were usually rewarded. Now I understood that she had been in the change room waiting for us all along this morning. The fact that we were late only gave her the leverage she needed to force us into accepting.

  “No,” Summer breathed out the word.

  “I’ll do it,” I said quickly, before I changed my mind.

  I knew Reyes was going to be out of his mind when he found out, but I had no choice. I could not afford to lose my job.

  “Sunny, no,” Summer grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. “NO!”

  “You know I have no choice,” I said, looking directly into Summer’s eyes. Reyes would never understand, but I’m hoping my best friend would. I didn’t want her to be disappointed in me.

  “I’ll do it too,” Summer told Bailey.

  “What? No, this is my problem, not yours. You don’t have to this,” I said desperately. What was Summer thinking? She could afford to lose her job. Both of her parents still had theirs and she could find other work easily.

  “I’m not going to let you do this alone,” she said in a determined voice.

  “I don’t know why you’re arguing,” Bailey cut in. “Being asked to serve at a Presidential party is a great honor. I’d do it myself if I was allowed,” she said. She walked toward us with the scanner and waved it over both our hands. “There. You’re both signed up and therefore committed. Be there or you’ll be punished.”

  She started walking away, but stopped before she left the room. “This is the second time you’ve both shown up for work filthy. You’re really starting to make me look bad. No lunch today and you both lose half a day’s credit. Now get to work.”

  Chapter Two

  At the end of the day, I stripped off my kitchen uniform taking great care not to tear it or damage it in any way. I would have to pay for any repairs. I laid it in the big hamper. The laundry staff would clean it, fold it and have it waiting for me tomorrow morning. I tried to ignore the cramps in my stomach, but they were getting worse after a full day of work without food. I wished I had time to eat, but Bailey told us to go and get bathed and check into Reception on time.

  “I’m so hungry,” Summer moaned beside me.

  “Me too,” I said. My voice sounded weary even to me.

  “I heard that if you’re a good server, they give you a plateful of food,” Summer whispered, sarcasm dripping from her voice. I smiled.

  At the thought of a plateful of food, my mouth started to water. It had taken every bit of my will power today not to eat the carrots I was peeling. I must have peeled a thousand of them. But if I had been caught eating even the peelings, Bailey would have ordered a guard to beat me. Vegetable peelings were meant for the compost, which was far more important than a hungry urchin. The food we received in the Pit was whatever was left over after the bourge and livestock had eaten their fill.

  “Maybe they’ll even give us dessert,” I chimed in.

  “Mmmm. I can taste it now!” Summer licked her lips. “Come on. We had better hurry up in case there’s a line at the bath. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  A line at the bath? I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought. No one went to the communal bath unless ordered too. Next to oxygen, water was the most important resource in the entire Dome and like the food, it trickled down from the top. The bulk of the water supply went to the bourge and the agricultural sector. The Pit received the least amount and what we did get was rationed between drinking water and bathing water. We wouldn’t even waste it on washing except the bourge made it mandatory that we bathe at least once a week in order to prevent disease.

  The traffic on the stairs was always faster goin
g down than climbing up, so Summer and I made good time getting back to the sixth level. We parted ways to go to our respective homes to collect our towels and soap. I noticed my father hadn’t moved much since I left him this morning, but at my arrival, he turned over to look at me.

  “How was work?” he asked vacantly.

  “Still there,” I reassured him as I sat on the side of his bed and placed my hand on his back. He felt frightfully thin. “I got a job tonight too. So I won’t be home until later.”

  “Oh? What kind of job?” he looked worried.

  “Just some extra kitchen duties,” I lied. He didn’t need to know what I would be doing. I couldn’t bear the thought of adding to his pain.

  “Probably to do with that wedding,” he observed.

  “Probably,” I agreed. “Since I have to get back upstairs, I can’t take you to get dinner tonight. You’ll have to go yourself.”

  “That’s okay dear. I’m not hungry,” he rolled back over.

  “Dad, promise me you’ll get up and eat,” I demanded.

  “Okay, Sunny. I promise, I will.”

  I was almost certain he was not going to get out of bed, but I knew I could do nothing about it. I kissed his cheek and then left him to get a bar of soap, a piece of coal to color my hair and the one towel assigned to me. I made my way to the bathroom and as I suspected, there wasn’t a line. Summer was already waiting for me.

  “I’ll get my towel wet,” I offered.

  The trick to taking a bath in the Pit was to never step foot into the bathtub. The cold stone tub was fairly large and deep, so if the water was allowed to sit undisturbed, the dirt and sediment fell to the bottom. By bathing in pairs, we could soak one person’s towel to use as a washcloth and the other person’s towel to dry off. The problem with a completely soaked towel down here in the Pit was that it took forever to dry.

  “No, let me. It’s my fault we have to take a bath anyway,” Summer dipped her towel in before I could object.

  “You didn’t have to say yes to tonight, Summer,” I said as I stripped and let her clean my back. The water was freezing cold and I started to shiver.