A Memory of souls

3060

I take the water boiler from the stove and pour the boiling good in my cup.
Adding two spoons full of tee powder and one of spoon of sugar.
The tee favor is meant to be lemon but it tastes like dishwasher liquid, at least this is what my grantfahrer robert used to say.

A wave of sadness washes over me as I remember the grumpy old man whit his passion for classic music and a soft spot for animals.
Grandfather Edgar always smelled fo cigarettes and some cheap soap from the corner store next door.
I remember the storys I would eagerly listen to, when he spoke about his youth, abou the time before the contamination.

In spite of his rather unsocial charakter I can't help but miss the man who used to raise me and my brother as his own after our parents death.
One day, it seems like yesterday to me, I asked him why he never smiled. Why he rather dispose of his cloth than of old photos. And why he stared out of the window, sometimes for hours, whit a longing look in his eyes.
He said I wouldnt know becaus I had no idear how much the human kind had lost.

The smell which I know as lemon brought me back from my thoughts.
I grabed the mug and sat down at our dirty kitchen window, the chair creeked as I sat down.

At day you could see the capital wall from, you could even see the souldiers paroling day and night on top of it. But at night you could rarely see a direnence between the 30 meters high wall and the always dark sky pouring toxic wather from its dark clouds.
Only in summer, if you are lucky enough the sky would clear for a fev hours an present itself in the brightest blue our dull world has to offer.

If only the street lights would still work I coul maybe get a glips of the soldiers to know if my big brother is whitunder, but our environment decidet to save the electricity for the synthetic plantations underneath the city.
I was seven at that time and couldnt understnd whe the lights went of so suddenly. One day it was here and the next day we it left us in the dark all alone and hit no sense of direction, just like our parents.

I shake my head casting away my dark thougts.
I get worried as I glance at our old wooden clock, it is 10 past 6 in the morning my brother should have already been home from his night shoft by now.
The job as a capital soldier, which is the name of those patrouling the wall and protecting the city fo the outer world and the creatures it holds, is one of the most dangerous job there is nowadays.
So are almost all jobs for males there are, only the high class royals who live in the center can affort to have their children atent a good school and make something out of their lfes.

But for people like us, the lowest of the low, who live near the wall, it will always remain a dream.
After our basic education the boys usually become soldiers and the girls atart working in one of the factories or the plantations.

Finaly the door burst open and reveals my tired big brother. His light blue eyes which are so similar to mine, are even in the dull candle light reddened from the infrared lenses the capital soldiers have to wear at night, one of the fev relics from the past.

His eyes brighten as he sees me sitting on the smal kitchen table.
"Hey Juniper why up so early, Dosen't work start at 10 for you?"
"Not today" I reply "I've got a new assignment from some business man in the capital, I need to finish it by tomorrow and since I'm no where near close to finish jet I decided to do some exta hours. Plus" I added "I already made you breakfast. It's in the fridge if you want."

My brother gives me a kiss on my forehead "thanks sis you're the best" he says. "So whats for breakfast" he asks fully aware of the fact that we cant affort real food whit our salaries. The instant powder the stores in the wall district sell, has to replace actual fruits, vegetables and meat since I can remenber.
Every day we have tasteless soups whit rice or mush for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But sometimes we play this game, we pretent to be rich whit no needs and worrys  in the world, it helps to forget and ignor the sad reality we're living in.
"Today we are having the caviar on hummus whit a side of sweet potato chips." I list diffrent dishes my grandfather told de about when I was younger. According to my friend Amy who works on the plantations those sweet potatoes things exist, but of course only the high class citicen in the capital can affort some.
I wonder how they taste.

"What a pitty I'd rather not have caviar again. It's getting boring, eating every day. But oh well, what can you do?" My brother Sawyer replies with a serious face before we bothe burst out in laugter.
"I'll take a nap June see you later. And have fun at work" whit a last kiss on my forehead he walks to his room.
"Always" I huff, making him grin.

I put my empty mug in the kitchen sink and grab my bag and keys.
Quietly I close the door behind me attempting not to wake our neighbors.
However as I step onto our creakin staircase my good intentions soon turn into a orchestra of creakes in diffrent variations. I hurry up to leave the old building and stem in to the unwelcoming cold.

Wrapping my thin jaket closer around my body I turn in the direction of my workplace.
A I look up the sky, the horizon turns in a shade of gray as a new day approaches the city of Meric.
A memory from the continent it was built onto. The continent that was once known as America. Today all that is left is Merit, a 3 million city that holds all the remaining humans which once lived in America before the grand takeover. All that is left are us. Totay in the year 3060.