Above Us

Chapter 1

Wake up. It's just a dream. Wake up. Wake up, wake up! A cold, white hand reached for her throat.

Thalia awoke sweating like their neighbour's pig. She gasped at the reasonably clean air of her room and sighed. This was the third time this week this had happened. The dreams were getting worse.
She reached for her face mask on her bedside table. Her mum had always said it was sad to cover her pretty dark skin with such a contraption. Shame that she wouldn't say such a thing for a long time again.
Her mask was completely white, not a single screw had been left unpainted. Crude tubes poked out the sides and an odd vent was at the front. It cleaned the air she breathed. If she breathed the dirty air available, she wouldn't last long. She surveyed her room, just to check if everything was intact. Her deep purple walls, her dark, wooden wardrobe and matching set of drawers, her white bookcase (a risky colour to own) and her bed that had been fashioned out so a old missile the downlings had sent at one another but ended on Euna. All seemed to be in check, and that was something. Usually a cat would break in and destroy a vase. But she had learnt her lesson. Nothing breakable would be placed in this bedroom.

Thalia changed her damp nightgown (wetted by sweat) for a black dress dotted with golden stars and a tight bronze corset. It was uncommon for people to wear light or bright clothes. Within a minute they would be coated with an inch of soot. Unfortunately, for the lack of a better word, she was curvy, with a bust and hips. It was uncommon among the Luna folk, most being stick thin and as tall as a horse. She was also uncommonly strange, wearing extravagant top hats with unseen before feathers and spending time in her own world, imagining elephants in teacups and things of such matters.

"Thali, breakfast!" Called her father from downstairs.
"Coming, Papi!" She responded as lightheartedly as she could manage.
Her father struggled with a disease of the mind; the people of Euna called it wilting. When a man sees a smile as tears waiting to happen or sees a laughing child as oblivious, he is wilting. His bright petals rotting brown to the core. And when his beacon of light wasn't shining, when his lighthouse wasn't bright, her Papi's boat would crash.

Thalia skipped down the stairs, two at a time. She felt the soft brown carpet between her toes and was great full for her quick thinking. If she hadn't carpeted the stairs last Tuesday she would've had a nail in her foot by now. A smell of burnt broth tingled underneath her nose. Papi wasn't a brilliant cook, but it occupied his time. Anything that could stop him wilting for any period of time would have to do. It wasn't many times one would see a governor cooking, but Papi was different. He liked doing little things that proved he wasn't above his people. Proved more to himself than to his people, Thalia thought. She trailed her fingers along the faded banister lining the stairs. It was a little luxury many people didn't have in their lives. She walked to the kitchen stiffly. Most days she would slide along the oily floor, but today she simply felt it would be miss fitting. A large metal bowl sat in the middle of the table, standing out in great contrast to the soft colour of the grain in the table. Plastic baskets stood in place of cabinets around the room and an old warm chamber stood out in the middle of the room. They would cook foods over a fire there, and on some cold nights they would just sit their, being warmed by the licking, orange flames heat. Once again, it was one of those luxuries that people like you and me wouldn't bat an eyelid at but Thalia was deeply grateful for. She cautiously slipped into a chair opposite her father.

The broth didn't look that bad in the end, just not great. Soggy remains of what looked like cabbage floated around, swirling in intricate purple patterns. Thalia tapped the table thoughtlessly, a nervous habit of hers. Today would be the day that she would be given a taste of what being governor would be like. She hadn't cared or quite frankly thought much of the part, but a wilting governor was no use to their people. He would be forced to retire soon, and no one else from their bloodline wanted the job of governor. The last five governors had all wilted, and so the job was thought of as taboo. When one would see the empty shell of what was left of her Papi, one would not be tempted with the power the position held. But Thalia wanted a hand at fixing the now broken Euna desperately, like she had wanted nothing ever before.
"Your broth's cold." Murmured her father cooly. He was a smallish man, shrunken by age. And like the walls of there house he had ghostly white skin. A real contrast to Thalia. His hair was black with white strands and a balding patch at the back, but otherwise he did a good job at looking a few years younger than he really was. He was talking more to himself, wondering if the temperature of her broth was somehow his fault. But still, that soft murmur was enough to snap Thalia out of her trance.
"Hmm? Oh, yes it is." It was odd how time always passed, quickly when she was sad, stressed or bored. It always felt like when she was having fun she had an extra hour. It was moderately pleasurable.
"Is something bothering you?" Asked her father in a concerned voice, then donned a knowing smile, "I may be old and 'wilting'," he sniffed distastefully at the word, "But I know you like the back of my two hands here."
"Umm, not really, but..." Thalia bit her lip under her mask. She had done this so many times today that she had bitten it raw. "I'm just really, really nervous." She said it so quickly that normal downlings like us would not have understood.
Papi smiled sadly, "I know I know, Thali, but you'll do fine." These simple words set Thalia's face a light.
"Oh! Thank you! Thank you! That was just what I needed to hear! Oh look at the time! I must be going." Thalia pecked her father on the cheek, "Oh! It isn't as smoggy today! The induction day will be great!" She opened their front door, peeling with paint, "Sorry Papi, I'm rambling. But that means I'm exited!" She closed the door behind her.
Her Papi just sat there and smiled politely at his chaos of a daughter.
***
The induction day started with a buzz in her ear from her implanted ChattingChip.