When people are asked, “Why do you think the world is like this?” they usually have an answer. They’ll blame aliens, ghosts, demons, the shadow government, and something called giraffes. The most common and constant stories that I’ve heard are from the old folks. They’re the only reliable source for the before times. They probably got their stories from their old folks and so on. The way they describe the old world is more myth than history. They speak of the beautiful blue oceans that covered the majority of the world. The large forests that covered coast to coast and the plains of food that fed civilization. The animals were both family and food. They speak of the beauty of the old world, but they never forget to scare you with the monsters hidden in its shadow. Weaponry that could turn beautiful cities into a glass plain. Diseases that ravaged populations to the point that bodies lined every street corner. The worst stories are the natural disasters that ravaged the continents: The floods that swept away cities, volcanoes that blocked out the sky, and tornadoes with winds so strong that they turned plains into valleys. The largest disaster was when the world stopped spinning. It happened slowly, over the course of many years. That was the last nail in the coffin that was this world. The reason this happened was because the balance was destroyed.

This is where my stories come in. The stories my father told me when he was explaining what we were, filled in some of the gaps. He told me that people like us were the leftovers. The rest of our people had left this world long ago and they left us to pick up the pieces. Our mission was simple, hide what we are and stay alive. Apparently, our very existence is all that is needed to maintain the fragile balance that we have now. So, when a Sand Scorcher tells me that they’re from a society that escaped my world, I was reasonably stunned.

I sit on the ground of my kitchen in stunned silence. The only thing that breaks me out of it is the shuffling of Maple next to me. She’s starting to come to. “What’s your name?” I nod my head over to the slowly standing women.

She looks me over and offers me a hand. “My name is Jane, Jane Amber. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

I take her hand and pull myself back up to my feet. “Ash Brooks. I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell my sister what we are.” I shake off the dirt from my clothes as I carefully check on Maple.

She sounds more confused than surprised as she processes the request. “Does she not know what she is or better yet what you are? She looks old enough to have had her awakening.”

I give her a quick glance in frustration before I pick Maple up. “We’ll talk about it later.” A curt answer that she accepts for now.

Maple finally comes back to the world of the living. I was worried that Jane had hit her a little too hard. “Great, the first thing I see after dying is your ugly face. What, did she get you too? Must’ve been your clumsy nature. I bet she didn’t even get you. You probably slipped and hit your head on the counter. That sounds about right.” My worries disappear as fast as they came. Should’ve known that thick skull of hers would’ve protected her from any blow to the head.

A toothy smile spreads across my face. “That’s a lot of talk from someone who managed to get done in by a tied-up person that you were watching. What? Did you forget that you were on guard duty?” I give her a hand as she pulls herself up onto her own two feet. She shares the same toothy smile, but then it drops when she sees Jane standing in the corner of the kitchen.

She immediately grabs the frying pan and gets me behind her. “What’s she still doing here? I thought you got rid of her.” Jane remains completely serene in the face of my sister's mighty weapon, the frying pan. I think for a second and ponder on what would convince or at least placate Maple that Jane isn’t our enemy. At least I don’t think she is. I have to talk to her more, but that has to wait until I deal with Maple.

I very gently grab Maple's hands and lower the frying pan. “There’s been a small misunderstanding. Our friend Jane here was just suffering from heat-induced delirium. Once she cooled herself off a bit she apologized for the inconvenience. Isn’t that right Jane?” I give her a knowing look. Whether or not she’s going to be a friend is still to be decided, but right now I’ll find out if she’s socially inept.

She grabs at her neck and a sickly pop can be heard. “I do apologize for the mess that I made and for hitting you on the head. It seems that I was out of my wits and may have been a bit paranoid. I mistook Ash as an old acquaintance of mine that stole something of mine.” Maple gives her a long stare and I think she's going to charge her any minute now. When she loosens her grip I find myself letting out a deep breath. I take the frying pan from her hands and place it down on the stove.

I look over at Jane and then over to Maple. I need to be alone with her, we need to get on the same page. “I’m going to take Jane outside and talk to her a bit. I’ll be right back.” Maple gives me a hard glare. She’s still a bit suspicious and probably didn’t buy our barely put-together excuse, but she relents. She walks over to the other room and gives a gesture that basically means that she's done with this conversation. I take a breath and then lead Jane outside and up onto the roof of the house. I look for a place where the heat has started to subside and take a quick seat. Jane doesn’t sit but instead looks out at the city skyline.

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The city itself isn’t that impressive. It consists of barely standing stone buildings and a barely held-together outer wall. Further into the city, you can see the large standing factory buildings that cut off the outer residential sector from the inner core. Then there's the rail system that cuts straight through the city. Of course, the most impressive part of this city, and any city on The Edge is the Well. It’s a shimmering pure white machine that could be mistaken for a mountain and on the side of the machine is the number “10” in faded black paint. During the night it pulsates with a powerful white energy that creates a consistent hum throughout the city. The Well pumps the residual energy throughout the city like a heart pumps blood, the majority of it goes into the rail line and the Well itself.

Jane studies the horizon, first she looks at the city itself, then towards the Sands. The last thing she fixes her eyes on is the Well. She stands there for a while in complete silence except for the slight buzz in the background. I would rather we start talking, but it feels like I shouldn’t interrupt her. “What is the machine used for?” She finally speaks but doesn’t take her eyes off the Well.

“It used to make the world go round, or at least it’s supposed to. There is only enough power to give us a couple hours of night, but they're still trying to make it work non-stop.” I give a quick glance over the factory stations and the solar panel fields out in the sands. “At least we’re trying, but I think most have given up. Every day we boot up the well is just barely extending our time in this world. Eventually, the price to live will be more than we are able to pay.”

She pulls her focus away from the cityscape and looks down at me. Her face shows a mix of curiosity and fear. “Why is it like this? How long has it been like this? How did you survive the plague?” A flurry of questions is directed at me as she races through her mind trying to decide what is important enough to bring up at this moment.

“My father told me that the balance of this world had been shattered and the few of us that knew why must maintain the balance in secrecy. I sadly can’t tell you how long it's been like this, all I know is that this started long before my father's time. If you're asking about the Red Plague, I don’t know much about it considering how long ago it was. All I know is that eventually, we got over it.” I grow tired as this is usually when everyone tries to get some sleep. I give out a long yawn as my eyes water. We need to get to the more important stuff. I can see that she is still thinking about the information that I gave her, but we need to move on.

I slowly get up from the ground and join her on the edge of the roof. “How did you get here and can you go back?” The question we’ve been dancing around finally echoes in the empty night.

She grabs at her neck and a pop can be heard. “I’m not entirely sure. I was chasing down a suspect when all of a sudden I lost them. Then I saw you talking to Charlie before his head popped. All of a sudden the rain stopped and that’s when I saw you looting Charlie's body. I tried to follow you, but then I was back in Thales. I lost my lunch not long after. It wasn’t until later that I found you again walking home in the dark and you know the rest.”

I look at the mesmerizing pattern of light that passes through the railway and my mind starts to wander. Why is this happening to me? I close my eyes and let myself focus on the buzzing. They’ll find her quickly. “You can stay here for a week. That’s all we can afford. If you can’t find your way back before then… Just find your way back before then.” I curse at my luck. Lucky enough to find extra rations, lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a better world, and lucky enough to meet her. Lucky, I hate that word.

She gives me a look of both amusement and understanding. “Alright. I’ll figure out some way to jump back to Thales before then. I wouldn’t want to find out what would happen if I didn’t. More importantly, your sister, why hasn’t she had her awakening yet?”

Her amusement shifts into worry. It’s a topic I’d rather not have with her, but she doesn’t seem like the type to drop it. I take a deep breath and make sure there isn’t any eavesdropping Maple’s nearby. “She didn’t have one. I was lucky enough to have mine when I turned twelve. I just about fried the stove when it happened. Dad said that it was rare enough for the both of us to have an awakening at all. So, we’re the weird ones, not her. It’s better that she’s not like us. This world is hard enough as it is. She doesn’t need to know, it will die with me.”

She doesn’t say anything for quite some time. I keep my eyes glued to the Well. I know what I’m risking by not telling Maple. I also know that when I’m caught she’ll have nothing to do with it. A Heart Render will find that she knew nothing. She will be fine when I’m gone. She won’t have to worry about a clumsy brother like me. Her voice pulls me out of deep thought with but a whisper. “Ok. Your family, your rules.”

The words sting. She doesn’t agree I can tell that much, but she has no leg to fight me on. “Well, let's go tell Maple we have a new house guest.”

As I walk past her she quietly says “Thank You.” I stop for a second and then keep on moving. Don’t thank me yet. The week hasn’t even started.