The City Of Death

Before Skye Disappeared- Part One

Skye looked out the window, looking down at the streets that were barren of people. Even the Messengers were rarely out at this time in the morning. Almost everyone in the City was sleeping, so Skye really didn't see the point in having a night shift for the Messengers. Practically no one was sending messages. But she supposed that was where the problem was- the occasional message was sent out at this time in the morning, so there was a need for night shift Messengers. Not a huge need, but Skye couldn't judge. After all, she was guilty of using the night shift Messengers, wasn't she?

Sighing, she looked away from the window. She had a job to get to. She dusted some invisible dirt off of her grey street clothes, a strange tick that she had gotten from her mother. As she picked up a hair tie off of her vanity, she looked at one of the two pictures she had taped onto the glass. The one with her mother and father just a month before her little sister was born. Back before Skye had been living in this apartment.

No time to think about that now. A rather pleasant dream had caused her to oversleep, and after taking five precious minutes to stare at the street, she would have to rush to get to the news station on time. Maybe she should take the advice Remy, the other Newscaster, had given her and move to Jezebel's district so she wouldn't have to run all the way across the city to get to work on time. But this was the last apartment her parents had lived in, and the place that her sister had always known as home. Skye wasn't sure how the girl would fare in a new place.

Speaking of. Throwing her hair into a messy ponytail, she exited her room and went to wake up her sister. Skye wasn't too worried about her hair. Her wardrobe would be waiting for her at the news station where the City's one Cosmetologist would do her hair and makeup. With the thought of what her style would be that day, she walked into the room across from hers where Macy was sleeping peacefully.

Skye crossed the room and sat in the chair she sat in while reading to Macy. The toddler was fast asleep, her dark hair spread across her face, thumb in her mouth. Skye looked down at the little girl, sighing in contentment. She had a few minutes. She pushed Macy's hair out of her face, smiling when the child began to actively suck her thumb as Skye began to stroke her forehead. She knew that one day, the girl would grow out of it, but for now, she could cherish the three-year-old for exactly who she was.

Skye still remembered how it felt that day. How it felt when she, at only fifteen, had been handed her newborn sister and knew that she would be the only one to care for the baby. She had been both exhilarated and terrified. Exhilarated because she had spent fifteen years as an only child trying to find her place in the City, worried that when her parents completed their Death, she'd have nothing to remember them by. But Macy's birth assuaged that fear. No matter what, she would always have the baby, whom she had named, as a way to connect to her parents. And finally, she had a purpose. To care for Macy and show her the true way of the world.

But, at the same time, Skye was absolutely terrified. How was a fifteen-year-old supposed to take care of a baby? She didn't even have a job yet. She had only just started an apprenticeship two weeks prior, months after all the other fifteen-year-olds in the City had started theirs. Even then, it had been hard to find a master that would take her. She had missed all of her placement tests and had nothing to prove her skills. The only reason she had gotten the apprenticeship at the news station was because she was considered beautiful and well-spoken.

How was she to afford to take care of an infant and pay rent during her apprenticeship? It was only when Macy was two weeks old that Skye discovered that their parents had put away enough money to provide for their daughters until Skye could do it herself. And so they had eked out a living until the Newscaster before Skye had completed her Death and Skye took her place. And now, at eighteen, Skye had been a Newscaster for seven months. She was earning her own money and could afford to provide Macy with the kind of life she deserved.