Reader Part One

by Aaron Fields X

Hello.

  Hello reader, my name is Jonah. My purpose is to properly tell the stories I’ve heard in my world, Then name of my world is up to you, and there are some parts of this story that require your participation. And by that, dear reader, I mean that this tale has things in it that will not appear correct, but aren’t wrong when you’ve figured them through.

  As such I will start you with a clue, if you are reading this on paper feel free to write in the book as it will aid your understanding later in the tale. Firstly; I’d like for you to write down these 2 numbers, 106 and 202. Meaningless now but as you progress through the tale you’ll figure out that nothing is meaningless.

  And with this information, it is time to begin this strange tale.

  On a cold wet morning in zone seven a cat awoke a vagrant, knocking his half emptied bottle of cheap whiskey to the ground. The cat snickered in his own way at his mischief as he sauntered down the road.

  The cat then passed our protagonist; what was his name again? Ah yes, Bersti! Bersti paid no attention to his environment; the zone he lived in was the same as every other zone, grey buildings as to keep from inciting emotional responses from the citizens. No music, no art, the whole place was rather droll and lifeless.

  Bersti was on his way to work in the Lorsh distributers building 3. What is Lorsh you ask? Well Lorsh is a mineral that is distributed to the people of each zone; it is an important mineral indeed. As Bersti walked to work he paid no attention to the guards walking to an alleyway on his left. He knew he had to make it to work, if he were late he wouldn’t get his daily dose of that wondrous Lorsh mineral.

  But as he turned around the corner he felt something brush between his legs, what could that thing possibly be? His eyes lowered to spy that mischievous cat purring gently against his leg. The cat had smelled Bersti’s morning breakfast of Fast Cook Forl, an unmistakable delicious scent of the water dwelling creature. Bersti shooed that pesky cat away from his feet and continued to walk to his work, but once more the cat interrupted his next step.

  “Go away you.” Bersti whispered harshly at the cat staring up at him. He didn’t have time for this annoying feline. Then he heard a shout from around the corner and it made Bersti stop and turn his head. As he did so that smelly vagrant pushed passed him. He stunk of alcohol and urine, a smell that Bersti was not familiar to and it made him gag.

  Bersti was a sensitive man you know, you’d think the place he lived in would have numbed him to those pesky emotions. But alas my dear reader, we all know that one person who cries when the dog dies in the movies. Are you that person? If you are then you probably shouldn’t read these next few paragraphs.

  But anyway, let’s get back to that peculiar corner in zone seven.

  As the smelly man took a few steps passed or protagonist those two guards pushed passed Bersti who averted his eyes. Citizens were not allowed to watch as guards dealt with their business. The cat sauntered across the road and Bersti thought he’d best do the same.

  Now how cowardly of Bersti to just ignore this persons plight, but would you do anything different in that situation. Maybe you’d like to say you would, but would you really?

  He continued on his footed commute through the zone to his work, that whole situation had made him 32 seconds later that he wanted to be. But since he decided to have Forl for his morning meal he had saved 109 seconds than if he would have if he had actually cooked something proper to eat.

  He arrived at his work on time and waited in line with all of his coworkers to get his small dose of that magical mineral and begin his day. He sat at his desk, a computer primed for work and as he waited for the start bell to ring, he looked around the office, windowless and halogen lit, there was almost no noise other than the low hum of a dozen computers.

  Now, to be completely honest reader, I’ve never been in the office so I couldn’t go into much detail about the ins and outs of his work. But I am assuming that it was dull, but useful work or else the matriarch wouldn’t allow the job to exist. So allow your mind to go into detail about the monotony of it all.

  But what I can tell you is at the end of the day Bersti received his pay and a second dose of Lorsh. Today was Bersti’s market day, he’d go to the store once a week and buy his meal for the rest of that week, it was what most of the people in the zone did. But today was the day that this market trip would change Bersti’s life.

  Now, that mischievous cat sat outside the office and followed our oblivious protagonist who again, was staring blankly ahead as he walked to the market. Our little Cheshire stepped quickly behind our little Alice.

  Hmm… was that reference to obvious? How about Salem and Sabrina? No… if our protagonist wasn’t male these references would probably work better… but never the less…

  Where was I? Ah, I remember…

  Bersti walked into the market, it was warm compared to the street outside. White shelves lined with pre-packaged foods. Nothing was out of place, everything was sealed. The store was surprisingly empty. Normally Bersti would see several of the same people on his day to the market, but it was pretty much deserted.

  There were exactly three people in the market including Bersti. He went along his way and got his food, and as he was checking out when he heard the automatic doors open at the front of the store, a worried looking teenage girl stepped into the market, carrying a small black bag. She looked behind herself and then continued to the back of the store.

  Bersti wasn’t one to pay much attention to his surroundings, but as this girl passed him he noticed her eyes. He didn’t recognize the expression in her face and they were a very strange color. Now not many people differentiated from the norm in these zones, grey clothing, grey paint, and grey eyes. Bersti hadn’t a clue what color these eyes were; he’d never seen any color like that.

  He watched the girl walk down the aisle and then he continued to check out his groceries. Paying for his food he noticed those same two guards who were on the street. A thought crossed his mind, what happened to the vagrant they took care of that morning.

  Why did he think about that? He’d seen those things happen a million times since he’d been alive and never thought about it. What happened to him, the people that the guards took were never seen again, where did the guards take them? And as the automatic doors closed Bersti noticed that same cat staring into the store at him, how peculiar, did he see its little mouth grin?

  Suddenly the girl came back to his mind; those guards must be here for her. He felt something he’d never felt before, it was concern for the girl with the eyes like the sky.

  “Excuse me.” Bersti heard a man’s voice call to him. A guard walked next up to him, His metallic colored mask showed nothing but his eyes. “Did you see a girl walk in here?” The robotic like guard asked softly. Bersti thought for a moment, would he tell this man about the girl with sky eyes.

  What could she have done that the guards were after her? What would happen to her if they found her? Again the thought crossed his mind, what happened to anyone when they were taken by the guards? I don’t know what he told the guards about the girl with sky colored eyes, but they left him and disappeared into the store. Bersti left store holding his purchases and made his way home.

  The room

  A studio apartment, it’s all that was available to anyone in the sector. There were one hundred apartments per block and Bersti lived in apartment seven. He disliked being on the first floor, he’d hear everyone walking through the hall to their own apartments and to the elevators two doors down from his door. The soft hum of the elevator engines relaxed him though.

  He sat playing music, something that was allowed in this sector, but not exactly encouraged; there were only a few different genres of musi
c to listen to, orchestral classic, opera, and soft instrumental. Bersti enjoyed Orchestral the most. He’d decided to read a book; I couldn’t say which book he’d decided on but it kept him occupied for a few hours.

  At about 9pm he heard footsteps coming down the hall, it was most likely his neighbor but after a few moments the footsteps persisted for a rather long time and they didn’t seem as though they were getting closer or farther away. He decided to investigate the troublesome noise and walked to his front door.

  As Bersti reached for the doorknob the footsteps ceased and it made his hand stop mid –reach. Relieved he turned to walk away but as he did so there was a knock, again stopping Bersti in place. He turned quickly and opened the door; the annoyance wasn’t going to get away from him! He thought to himself.

  There was no one there, not in front of his door not down either direction of the hallway, and the door to the apartment was closed and it was rather dark outside. Bersti decided he’d go to the front desk to ask if Maar, the desk lady, had seen anyone come in or out of the building.

  “No one strange came through.” She said softly through her grey tinted lips. Bersti got the names of people whom he’d never really interacted with, but didn’t think those people would pull such a childish prank. He sighed and walked back