by Shelly Crane
And I knew right where I was going.
The stacks weren’t far—right smack in the middle of everything. It was getting darker by the minute and I kept to the shadows in the alley as much as I could. The heat from the granite still sweltered up to me and I wiped the sweat away from my forehead with the back of my hand.
My thoughts came back around to Maxton whether I wanted them to or not. What if he hadn’t turned me in? What if I had actually believed that he was going to come back for me? To be honest, I almost did. Maybe it was just me wanting to believe. Maybe that was just my messed-up belief in people because they always betrayed me. But he did betray me.
I pushed away all thoughts of men and betrayals and…Maxton, and focused on what I needed to be thinking about.
When I came to the end of the alley, I searched for the signs in the sky like I used to do as a child to get home from school. It was the only way to know how to tell one building from another and know which way you were going when they all looked the same. Dark. Tall. Towering. Dilapidated. That’s what downtown looked like. That’s what the stacks looked like.
I always knew it was my building because it had two holographic billboard screens in the sky that met almost like a ‘V’ right above my building. The commercials were different, but they were still there. I sighed, letting out a painful breath of precious air I hadn’t known I was holding.
To be honest, I didn’t know where my next breath was coming from, once these ran out. I was going to have to find someone to buy it from illegally. That was going to be…different.
I moved my hair around my face like Maxton taught me and moved swiftly, walking straight and slow, trying to seem like I belonged there, the can of spray tucked snugly in between my breast where it wouldn’t be noticed but I could grab it quicker than my pocket. I mean, who would think a boob-grab would produce a weapon? I could think quick, too, Maxton.
People were out and about in the stacks. They always were. People milled around and hung out, conversing and laughing in small circles outside each other’s doors. Mom and I never did. We were loners and kept to ourselves, but I could always hear them out there, laughing or playing music sometimes. I had always wondered what it would be like to have real friends, like Maxton. But then he seemed to act like they weren’t his friends at all, that they were just acquaintances who were all stuck in the same circumstances. But even that sounded better than being alone.
I made my way through the first wave of people and the first building. Only seven more to go until my building would loom over me and I would be in the clear. Well, until I had to climb the ladder to my floor and somehow get inside my pod that I was sure another family lived in, and persuade them to let me inside without calling the Militia. No biggie.
There were some rougher areas in the stacks, but most everyone kept to themselves and didn’t bother others. We all knew that we had enough problems and didn’t need more. It was a strange kind of alliance that had formed since the government shift. We were on the bottom and the bottom was tired of it. We were too tired to fight each other.
No one really looked at me as I made my way through the wide dirt paths that separated our buildings. A few glanced my way, but most just minded their business and paid me no mind.
Memories smacked into me hard when I reached the corner of the last building before mine. I remembered being younger, shorter, more naïve, optimistic that life would get better, looking up at this building and looking forward to seeing my mother at the end of the day.
My bottom lip began to quiver and I bit down on it. No. She told me to be strong. She said for me to be strong and fight, and that was what I was going to do. I was finally free.
I walked faster as I made my way across the paths between both buildings. When I reached mine, I looked up. All the ladders lined up along the building’s side looked almost like a painting. I remember my ladder by instinct and didn’t hesitate. I hooked my belt on and began to climb.
One rung after another, my heart beat faster and faster. I tried to think of what to say, what to do, what to ask of these people when they answered the door. Could I just say, ‘Hey, I left something here before they made me a slave, mind if I grab it?’ I think that might work. When I reached my door, I was out of time and options. I raised my hand to knock on the metal door gently. When I heard movement inside, my heart kicked into high gear.
When a little girl answered, I all but laughed in relief.
“Um, hi,” I said, so eloquently.
“Hi.” She looked a little put out.
I smirked. “Are you home alone?”
“That’s your first question?” I felt my eyebrows rise to my hairline.
“How old are you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m ten. And I’m old enough to be by myself. I do it all the time. So what do you want anyways?”
“I used to live here, in this pod.” She continued to stare dully. “I left something here. I wanted to grab it real quick.”
She thought about it for a second. “What’s in it for me?”
I did laugh this time. “Okay, okay. We’ve obviously gotten off on the wrong foot. I’m Sophelia.” I waited. “Come on,” I goaded. “I know you want to tell me.” And I knew she did, because when I was little no one ever asked me my name. Even now, for that matter.
She pursed her little lips, looking angry and hopeful all at once. “Amber.”
“Amber.” I smiled. “That’s pretty. Well, Amber, I used to live here, when I was eight, with my mom.”
Her eyes widened. “I’ve lived here since I was born. That means that…”
She knew what it meant. Everyone knew that a child that didn’t live with their parent was a slave.
“Yeah.” I swallowed. “I had to leave a couple things here, hidden. Can I grab them? And then I’ll leave.”
She squinted. “Dad would skin me alive if he knew that I let someone in here with him gone to the mines.”
I smiled, unhooking my belt from the ladder. “I won’t tell him if you won’t.”
She rolled her eyes again. “If I get caught—”
“You won’t.” I pushed inside and shut the door behind me.
“Hurry. What is it anyway?”
I was hit as I looked at the pod around me. It was exactly the same as when I lived in it, except for a few sparse items strewn around. I had to mentally push my memories aside to focus and not buckle up against the wall and just cry as I remembered the way I heard my mother scream, the way the men watched her fall, the way they told me I would be a slave.
She told me to be so brave…
I wiped under my eye once and sighed loudly, grunting. “Enough, Sophelia,” I whispered to myself before taking another deep breath.
“Hey, watch it, oxygen hog,” I heard her mutter.
I pulled the chair over and reached up into the panel of the ceiling, praying so hard to my mother’s God that it was all still there. When the panel clicked away and I saw golden hair, I laughed out loud as I pulled out the doll and then the book. I replaced the panel, wasting no time, clutching the items to my chest tightly.
I slid the chair back into place and looked at the girl. She was looking at me almost sadly.
“Those were there this whole time and I never knew?”
“I’m sorry. And I wish I could leave them with you, but I can’t. They aren’t just normal things. They’re special to me.”
She nodded and kicked her shoe into the wall. “Sure.”
“What—”
The door to the pod started to open and I froze. She looked at me with eyes that said This is all your fault!
“Dad! You’re home,” she said and ran to him as he came in. I went to stand beside the door, putting the items on the floor beside me, my back to the wall, and got ready. I hated to do this, but there was no other choice. I hoped that Amber would forgive me.
As soon as he came through the door and shut it, I hit him with the incapacitation spray. Then I put
my hands over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream because that was next. And it was. She screamed and kicked as her father fell to the floor, his eyes open, watching us, so scared.
Gosh, I’d never felt so awful.
“He’s just asleep. It’s not hurting him. Amber, stop!” I hissed. “Stop. Stop. He’s awake. He can hear you and see you. He just can’t move.” She stopped moving, but was breathing heavily. “I just didn’t want him to alert the Militia before I could explain.” I looked at him. “I’m sorry.” I looked at her over her shoulder. “I’m going to release you. Don’t scream. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She nodded and as soon as I let go, she dove for her father.
She looked up at me from the floor. “Why did you—”
“I told you. He would have alerted—”
“No, he wouldn’t have!”
“Yes, he would’ve.”
She looked back at him and he was looking at me like I was the Earth’s commander in chief himself standing in his pod. If I were made of flint, this whole place would be ablaze. She puffed a little huff from her lips, her cheeks red with anger. “You still didn’t have to do that.”
“He’ll be fine in a minute. In fact, I need to get going before he gets up.” I leaned down to be eyelevel with them. “Thank you, Amber. I lost my father when I was just…” I couldn’t even finish that sentence without choking up. I smiled and let the tear pool in the corner of my eye before using my knuckle to rub it away. “When I was little. My mom died when I was eight. So I know how much he means to you. Believe me, I’m not here to hurt either of you. My mom gave me something for my last day of birth with her, hid it here, and…I just had to get it. I’m sorry.”
I stood to retrieve my items and turned to go. The man’s eyes locked onto the doll and widened. He tried to speak. “Wait,” he ground out. “You’re…Wendy’s…daughter.”
My entire body covered with goosebumps. “Yes,” I whispered. “How did you—”
He smiled in spite of everything, letting his head fall to the floor, tired from holding it up. “Fly, little…Sophelia. Fly.” I gaped along with his daughter. He picked his head back up and said steadily. “You have it. It begins.”
“What—”
“Go. Everything you need…you have.” I did need to go. I had to find a place for the night, but this was too much. “But you are not alone. Not anymore. Look to the stars…and you will find us.”
“But—”
“You have it, now go. Before they come. Go.”
I nodded, not understanding the peace on his face as he sat up. I thought I was going to have to fight my way out and here I was, leaving like I was a guest.
“Wait.” He stood slowly. “Here.” He walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a small shoulder bag and handed it to me. “Wish I could give you more.”
“No. This is great.” I knew people in the stacks were on rations. I had more than they did at this point. “Thanks.”
I stuffed my items inside and turned to go.
“Fly, Sophelia.”
I looked at him once more and wanted to ask him how he knew what my mom used to always say to me, but somehow knew he wouldn’t give me the answer.
**
With my bag across my chest, the treasures securely at my back, I wove my way through the dark buildings. Curfew would be soon and I would have nowhere to hide. I’d have to find somewhere to stay soon, just until morning.
I felt just like that little girl I used to be as I walked along. The stacks were just like I remembered them. Everyone was so loud and boisterous, yelling out and talking animatedly about their day. Well…actually, I didn’t remember that. People were pretty laid back. They laughed, but it was playing around. I didn’t remember it ever being this loud before. What was going on? I looked around and found everyone…
Looking at me…
I didn’t stop. I kept moving, acting as if I hadn’t noticed. My eyes flicked to the big holographic screens above my head and saw my face. Plastered on every one of them. But it wasn’t just my face, it was a video. It was me, walking through stacks alley.
Right this second.
My lips parted as the number flashed under my face.
Five hundred thousand pieces of silver.
People in the stacks helped each other. They would hide each other if the Militia was looking sometimes, they would tell them to go one way, when someone had gone another, but that number…was a game-changer. And I didn’t blame a single one of them. This was what our government had done, just like Maxton had said: They asked the question What would you do for your family?
And right now that answer was betray one of their own. Gosh, with that money, they could feed an entire building in the stacks for months. I didn’t blame them one bit. But it didn’t mean I was going to give up or let them have it easy either.
It wasn’t until then that I heard the music playing—it had been playing for a bit and I was too wrapped up to notice. Their stupid classical music they blasted over the speakers when the Militia was coming or when they thought something was about to go down with the citizens in a public place. They said it calmed us, kept us from becoming too violent. They said it was scientifically proven to interact with our brains just like a drug could and help in situations of crisis or turmoil.
What a load of dung.
I gave one more look to the girl in the sky. Her face turned as the billboard spun. She looked up to the sky, too, as if looking into the unknown, looking for something even I didn’t know. I took a deep breath, so deep it hurt, not caring what it cost me in oxygen, and said goodbye to that girl.
She belonged to her father. She was a sweet, timid girl who dreamed and wished for things to be good and for people to come back who never would. She belonged to her mother. She wished to fly away to faraway places and for people to rescue her who would never come. That girl was gone and all that was left was this girl, a girl who had a purpose she knew nothing about but was determined to find it.
“I’m going to fly, Mom. I promise,” I whispered and prayed to her God that she heard me. “Please help me.”
The lips of the girl in the sky moved, too, praying to a God she wasn’t sure she believed in, but was willing to give it a shot right then.
I looked back at everyone in the wide alley between the buildings. And when I say wide alley, I mean, it had to be fifty yards. There were a few men coming toward me from that way, but so many people looking to the sky, pointing and then pointing at me. I looked back the way I needed to go, out of the stacks, and there were considerably less men that way. It was a no-brainer.
I ran straight toward the building I was walking next to. Without hooking on, because I was in a hurry, I started to go up the ladder. I heard my mother scolding me in my head. When I felt someone grab my ankle, I gasped.
I looked down at him. “If I die, you don’t get anything!”
He sighed and let me go, but stayed right on my heels as he followed me up.
The chatter around me was loud as people shouted and hollered at us. More men followed us up. I went all the way to the top floor. There was only one guy who made it as quickly as I had and I pulled out my can and sprayed him before he could grab me. I wondered how many sprays I had left. I stuck it back into its safe place and then hooked my hands over the low roof before climbing over it, swinging my knee over and rolling onto the still-hot surface, knowing that they would hesitate. On the tops of the buildings were energy boards and solar panels.
Another myth that had long plagued our people was that being too close the sun and energy-inducing products would cause cancer. Cancer had been eradicated, but they claimed that if you got near or touched the solar panels you would get cancer, bring it back, and be the cause. Though most people knew that cancer couldn’t be spread like that, some people chose to believe everything Congress told them.
I knew only a couple of the brave and desperate would follow.
What I hadn’t expected were six brave an
d desperate.
I swallowed as they began to take defensive positions around me, like I was a threat or something. It actually puffed me up a little. They saw me as a threat? Really?
I let my eyes wander around them and then caught a glimpse of the new screen they were showing. WANTED FOR MURDER now blinked above my head. I almost lost my focus as I stared at it, before catching myself.
“Murder?” I said out loud. I looked at the man in front of me. “You know that’s not true, right? They just put that on there. They’re just doing anything and everything to bring me in.”
He ticked his head from side to side. “Someone wants you real bad.”
“Apparently,” I grumbled.
“Must’ve done something bad,” he muttered back.
I laughed without humor, and it surprised me that it came out. “Yeah. I took a beating that wasn’t mine.”
I saw a couple of them flinch a little, but that wasn’t enough to stop a five-hundred-thousand pieces paycheck.
I sighed, crossing my arms strategically. “Fine. You want to fight the girl? Let’s go.” I tilted my chin toward him. “Go ahead. Hit me.”
He huffed. “No.”
“Chicken?”
“No, sweetheart. I’m not chicken.” He smiled and shook his head. This was the stacks that I knew. “I’m just not going to hit a girl. I’ll take you in real easy-like, you can go to processing, and everything happens real smooth.”
I stared at him. “You know what they do to women in confinement.” I stared harder. “You know.”
His jaw jumped. One of the guys next to him wiped his hand down his face and left, jumping down from the roof and out of sight, obviously thinking all of this was no longer worth it.
“I know no such thing. People talking is just that,” he finally said.
I shook my head. “I hope you enjoy your reward. I hope it’s worth it.”