The air is chill although it's still August. My heart is beating like an erratic drum, making the situation more stressful than it is.
In this old hospital room we sat down starring at each other, I can tell she doesn't want any human presence around her, but her wishes are none of my concern, its a job, one that must be done quickly.
"Have you decided to talk yet?" I asked as calm as I can be, doing my best to grab her attention as her eyes strayed away.
Silent, as if I was addressing a corpse. The smell of death spread across the room as a plague, and her eyes were a great source of discomfort to me. I held my recorder close to her as a way into pressuring her to speak, and as she blinked and finally looked at me, those old cracked lips finally spoke.
"What else do I need to say?" She sighed as her voice stuttered, that voice ripped my heart apart striking me with excitement and joy, but also worry and distress. I reached my hands out for her holding my recorder, "Tell me about it! Tell us what you saw!" I trembled as my sweaty hands almost dropped the recorder, she kept the same expression.
"It was where air smelled of grease and molten steel and where money dictated the lives of the ignorant. I saw a world where children were a street property, a world where faces were monochromatic masks made from the same mold." She said, and I listened as carefully as I could.
"I've seen a world of impossibilities, a world of oddities and iron magic, but it's all chained by something. Something you and I know, isn't it quite ridiculous?"
Seven years ago, City of Ilusia.
It was a busy day for the suit rats. Flooding across their tunnels oblivious to each other. Under thick clouds of steam, in the heart of the industrial city, there was nothing but endless work hours and dull faces, ticking clocks and a black sky. It was a life of repetitive work and routine. For some, it was the utopia, but for a dreamy youngster it was nothing but a prison they were cornered in. After all, these people never owned their lives, always masters and slaves but in fancy attires.
The streets smelled of dirt, smoke and classy perfumes jumbled up into one. all of them belonged to the different classes that walked this amusing city. The sky was no eye pleasure, towers were so huge your eyes can never catch their top. As for technology, the higher class was accompanied by their own prototype robots that fulfilled their pleasure and desires, whatever you could imagine. A thick wallet can do wonders.
Two tiny legs wandered across the workers' early morning race in great energy, busting the worker bees and going among them unnoticed. Her mind strayed far away, far over the grayish smoke veiling the blue sky. It was when she accidentally hit someone's shoulder her mind at last awakened, "Watch your steps, idiot." Muttered a man. she sighed and finally broke free of her daydreaming. "I'm sorry.." She whispered to herself, she's scared, or to be more precise she's uninterested in joining the league of pretenders.
The Race.
She portrayed them in her own mind as rats rushing through tunnels in the sewers, so down below they could hardly realize where they are. She looked at that woman shouting at her son for dropping his candy, or the man hitting his phone in anger while cursing, "Damn machine!" he screamed, all these people fueled her small legs to push through the crowds as she holds her bag tightly.
That worn out and old bag was her treasure. That child was a scavenger, living off her quick wit. On her shoulder, on board her short daily adventure, she had stolen a necklace from a passed-out woman's neck, and a camera from a lost photographer's bag. There was no money, no food and no spare clothes. Only a piece of cloth she had to cover up herself when the coldness kicks in at night.
The rush didn't slow down. Everyone is late to something, no one is ever on time. Perhaps the government's clock is otherworldly, that's why those poor souls never make it on time. That young child couldn't care less, what could she be late for other than an easy theft case or a stolen breakfast from a bakery in the city's center?
Slowly, she buried her golden eyes in her bag that she quietly opened as she retreated to a calm corner in the city, looking around her anxiously as if someone's eyes were on her. Thieves could get stolen from too, and that's what she feared.
She reached out her scarred hand into the dark bag, checking the only three items she had and then sighed in relief. As she pulled her hand out, a worker bee busted into her shoulder and ran leaving her belongings scattered across the ground where a thousand leg crossed paths, the child's heart fell with the bag.
"You blind asshole!" She muttered to herself, afraid to be heard. She hurried to the ground and started picking her items in fear. A tear or two fell as she saw the camera being stepped on, leaving it almost broken. She grabbed it and hugged it as if she had recovered a lost treasure.
The noise in her head was buzzing like a bee, isolating her from the outside world, however, that noise slowly subdued to the sudden sharp peep sound that echoed across the city like thunder. Horrified, she slowly lifts her head up as she realized that everything around her has stood still. The essence of the roaring cars and machines and the emphatic voices was what made the city is, all of it disappeared. The gentlemen stopped their precious time with eyes wide opened gazing upon something she couldn't see, the grand clock's ticking was all that could be heard.
The sky had gone black.
With the crowds above her blocking her vision, she had no way of telling where did that terrifying sound come from or why did everyone freeze suddenly. However, once her vision cleared up a bit, she had made a horrifying discovery.
She still couldn't see anything.
"It's the end of the world! Oh god, pray!" Cried a man who broke the silence.
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The scent of fear triggered the heartless' emotions, it was the fear of the unknown, the never seen sky was visited by the weary eyes of the street walkers who hardly could speak or let out a word. Hearts were captured all together and pulled by a chain of fright that soon drove them into madness, what was that frightened them so much?
In absolute bleak darkness, The child could feel the race begin once more. Horrified screams that could make ones ear cry blood resounded. The child hugged her belongings, closed her eyes and leaned on a corner. One hit after another made pain shoot up her tiny body, but she still wouldn't dare to open her eyes. It was like someone turned off the sun and the world went black.
As the screams grew louder and more violent, the child became aware that her eyes could no longer stay shut with her over-flooding tears. Bit by bit, she opened her eyes to see piles of men and women unconscious, stepped on violently like stairways. Although the blackness was strong, sudden flashing spread across the dark sky leaving them with a little bit of light to guide their way into..Nowhere.
To shelter her eyes from the horrifying sight, she looked up to the sky. It was all black, grey dots in certain areas. It was like stars exploding in the distance, perhaps an incoming meteor. The city's billboards started stuttering as well as phones and security bots. The girl's heart beated so fast in fright. She couldn't get up due to the insanity that broke out in the streets, instead, she held her belongings so tightly and leaned closer into the wall.
"It's not real" She whispered to herself, the grand city knew no such a thing as a sky, their boundaries where their offices' windows, the bots were programmed to compensate for human fears, but the sky didn't spare them for the moment.
"Maintenance in action, please take your positions"
A humanoid voice broke through every speaker hung on each building, that voice kept repeating the same sentence for few times. The chaos didn't slow down, but some hid in the alleys, feeling slight comfort after the voice became louder. They believed that the government would solve everything, the government they trusted must protect them at any cost, right?
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Screamed a man standing in the same corner she had taken a shelter in, she gave her back to him, but couldn't bear avoiding his voice as he seemed to be rather mocking them than being joining the mad parade, as she looked, it was a tall man with black circular glasses, he wore a black coat as well and had a bot by his side, his hat covered almost half of his face, but his wicked smile was all she could see in the distorted vision she had. The aroma of maliciousness reached her nose, his state of excitement was a noticeable one, it was wickedness and bravery, brave enough to face such terror. That man was no ordinary man. He had no fear, no annoyance or anything. He was somehow able to see the people tripping over each other as the loud sirens busted her ears; it was like the world has finally come to an end.
"ALL OF YOU ARE NOTHING BUT MACHINES! RUN, RUN YOU COWARDS!" Laughed the man again as he kept jumping and moving in excitement, she kept looking at him even more for that she somehow found comfort in his act of madness, he didn't notice her, her sharp eyes saw the brooch he had on his right shoulder, it was a silver eagle brooch.
Children's minds are simple. They are never complicated. Their actions are always driven by curiosity that abandons any notion of rationality. There was nothing else she could do, she picked her camera and as her hands trembled in fright she breathed heavily and took a photo of him, the flashing light of the camera captured his attention, he looked at her.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, his voice tone changed into anger as she took one more photo of the sky and put back her camera into her bag, "You piece of shit!" He screamed, "Give me this camera now!" He rushed towards her, she got up and ran somewhere into an alley, he kept talking but she couldn't hear or see him due to the absolute darkness and the piercing sound of the sirens, only her hands is what led her out of the dark alley but she heard his footsteps behind her, "GIVE IT BACK" he screamed, "I can't hear you" She screamed back, somehow, she did feel the thrill of this situation to be an enjoyable one rather than being a fearful chase, she knew she had nothing but these pictures, but at last the humanoid voice that kept repeating that sentence stopped.
"System back up in 10..9...8"
The chase went on across the street. Guided by the occasional flashing lights, she was given an advantage to slip through alleys and crowds. He screamed and cursed like the maniac he is, followed by his bot. This man was a part of the puzzle, and the girl was sure that his presence was not that of a humanly one, but, all she could do is run and run as the countdown begun.
Maybe when the countdown stops, she would die. She thought of that, yet, she stood her ground. Death wasn't as scary to her as living in the dark streets of Ilusia at night. She only hoped it would be painless, just like the elders told her.
She stopped at last as he was behind her already. She looked at his shimmering blue eyes in the absolute darkness while tightly holding her camera.
Confrontation.
"You think you can escape me? I'm superior, you're NOTHING! Give me the camera, your time..it's running out" He leaned down to her, whispered in her ears and reached out his hand for the camera, she stood still and took the camera out with a teary eyes, "But it's mine.." She cried, "I'll get you a better one, although you're a pathetic girl." He sighed angrily, still reaching his hand to get it.
"Why do you want it?!" She innocently cried, he became more annoyed with her persistance. "It's adult business, you little brat. Somethings, the young ones must turn a blind eye to what their elders do, do you understand?" He menacingly said with his dead ocean blue eyes looking straight into the young girl's soul, isolating the two of them from the surrounding madness. The girl's grip grew weaker.
In the climax of the panic, the runners and the screamers. He held her arm tightly and stared into her eyes as she shivered and almost gave him the camera, but in a matter of two seconds, she came to a conclusion,
it was a dream, nobody dies in a dream.
"NEVER!" She shouted and pushed him back, she joined the crowds and disappeared, the bot failed to track her for her short height, she ran holding the camera and the photos, and she felt excited and terrorized but at last thrilled.
"3 ..2..1 System is fully repaired"
The crowds stopped. Everyone returned into their previous state, the mum shouting at her son continued doing so, no one noticed anything, it's as if nothing ever happened, the man with the black hat was nowhere to be found and the billboards were back up. She found herself staring at the sky in the midst of the rush hour to work, the normal smoky sky. She was holding the camera and felt confused, "Why is it here?" She asked herself, she felt uneasy and troubled, but again, she continued to walk with no destination, daydreaming once again among the crowds in the world she hated the most, another day goes by, the cycle goes on.
No one remembers a thing. It was true, the system was fully repaired. The dolls are back to work. This have happened a thousand times now, do you remember? Probably not. The photos in the camera, the black sky and the man in the black hat, would they be of any use?
Eyes were deceived, hearts were coated by a thick layer of unawareness and ignorance, a world ruled by iron and steam, smoke and rust and abandoned dreams and desires was no playground for her, for Merit.