Colliding Skies

Chapter 1: Raya

I grab her hand and hold tight to it. I won't let her go, but they're pulling us apart. The green jackets of the government agents match the color of her eyes. And there's tears; streaming down her rosy cheeks.
She is me.
Hair the same dark brown, that falls on her shoulders. The green men have their hands around her arms. Pulling, and pulling...until my hands slip, and she is gone. I wake up, heart pulsating, sweat beading down my face and back. And I am met with the vacant darkness of my room.

•••••

They told us the disease hit everywhere. Worldwide epidemic.

There was no cure.

The disease affected the young first; infants whose immune systems weren't strong enough. When in the host the disease became even more deadly, able to infect those around it by touch or bodily fluids. The disease was spreading too fast.
...So then came the bombs.
Hospitals, cities, towns. Men, women, children.
...All gone.
The world was plagued with death, the atmosphere turned toxic with disease, and life as we knew it ceased to exist.
But we were the lucky ones.
Eight domed cities were built. Eight domes to protect from the plague; but even domes can't always protect us, and every few years the disease gets in, takes the lives of those it wants, and then disappears.
We live a pretty ordinary life. Go to work or school; have houses, families, and friends; electricity, food, government.
A world inside a snow globe.
That's all we needed...or all we had. For what was left from beyond the dome was a rubbled earth and an empty planet where disease raged through the air, deadly to any soul that met it.
So we never go outside...or that's what they said.

•••••

"Dallas slow down!" I yell through an audience of vacant seats. The echo of my voice bounces through the ceremony chambers. And reaches Dal who is already across the room. His strides are long and boisterous, that gives to him a vibrant color. His back is arched and his head whips around to take in the decor. The walls of the ceremony hall are white to give the room an airy feeling. the He turns with a glide in his feet as he faces me.
"I can't I'm too excited!" He says vivaciously, "Tomorrow we graduate and start our lives. Tomorrow I get coronated into the apprentice seat. When my father calls me up to lay claim to my title I will be one step closer to presidency, one step closer to running Dome 6, one step closer to the position my dad takes as leader."
He stands there and places his hands on hips as if he is a superhero who just saved the day. He then hops up on the edge of the stage dangling his legs off and wearing a grandiose smile. I laugh at his cheerfulness. And he bends an eyebrow in return.
"What?" he asks sheepishly
"Nothing, I've just never seen you so excited." I say walking next to him and leaning my back against the stage.
"And your not excited, come on Raya tomorrow your graduating. What's not to be excited about?"

"So many things," I spit harshly at him and he gives me a silence for me to explain. I slip my fingers into my hair in nervousness and back off of the stage as so that I am facing him now. His eyes gleam with a concern to them as he knows something is up.
"I'm sorry," I say following it by placing a hand on his leg. He places his palm upon my hand and rubs his finger back and forth soothing me as I start to lay my point. "Yes I know I'm graduating but it's terrifying what if I don't get put into Dome 6, what if I get placed somewhere completely different."
"Raya, your smart, you got good grades and you have excelled tremendously. The system will place you in the spot that is needed and you will excel there too. Don't be scared where you end up because where ever it is you will succeed with flying colors. No doubt about it." His voice is light and calming as if it is that of a hummingbird's, at least I would imaging it is if I ever would meet one. I divert my eyes to the ground as my thoughts coil in my mind.
"Hey," he lets out. I raise my head to find Dal's eyes. Those sparkling blue jewels he has, that clash so perfectly with his gelled up blond hair. "What you thinking about?" He asks
I move my fingers between themselves, locking and unlocking them. "I'm just so nervous about graduating, about getting placed. You already know where your life is heading, mine is just a blurry picture."
He lets out a soft sigh and moves from atop the stage. He takes me into his arms pulling me against his chest. His chin presses gently on my head and his his hand rubs back and forth along my back in a sense of comfort. And it is comforting, being in his grasp I feel light and warm. I close my eyes in a way to further emerge myself in those feelings.
I want this to stay forever...but that's a blurry picture as well.
"Hey Dal?" I give query. He takes a moment before responding, "Yeah Ry?"
I pull myself away from his chest keeping our arms together. "What's going to happen to us?" The concern broadens on my face and he mimics the same expression. "Like I said, tomorrow we graduate, we could find ourselves taking different paths. But that's tomorrow, and we'll deal with it when it come...together."
The weight in my chest settles out a little bit as I return into his hug.
"I love you Dal"
"I love you too, Ry"

•••••

We leave the building at dusk. As we walk down lamp lighted walkways people pass every which way. The last few rays of the artificial sun sets and stars clutter the dome. There aren't any roads in the dome just narrow sidewalks that weave in between the buildings and apartment complexes. Transportation in the domes are carried out by metallic pods that float to the tops of buildings. Every building's roof has a pod station that is run by different systems and codes from the computers and workers at the transport department of the E.S.S. (Electrical System and Security). The E.S.S. building sits at the center of dome 6, and is run by my dad who is the C.E.O. of the entire place. The E.S.S. runs all electrical and security systems for all 8 domes, as the other domes carry out other tasks for a united whole. The dome folk walk in synchronised pattern down the streets; those on the side with the even number apartment complexes walk one way and those on the odd sidewalk the other way. No one is in a hurry, no pushing or jabbing of people no rustling to get to where they are going. All a steady pace, all a fluent order. Somehow tonight my mind is different; my senses are heightened and my observations are keen. For one I am finding that little conversation happens within the streets of the dome they are mainly kept quiet with the exception of a few common folk waving a hello, as well as the pods moving above are much more noisy than they usually seem. These new feelings overcome me and pull my mind in many ways that I try to wave off but in someway I can't. Part of me plays it off as just my stress about tomorrow getting to me, but in another way it feels as if I've had these new senses all along and am just now coming to grasp them. It's as if my body has just woken up from a long sleep and I feel almost as if I'm someone else; someone....new. We get to apartment complex 108, the building I live in. Every complex is separated with escalators running up and down the sides of the structure to the top floor, where the pod station is. The top floor of all the buildings are connected with walkways going between them. I head up with Dal to where I say goodbye to him before he gets on his pod and goes back to his apartment which is closer to the center of the Dome. The escalator we head up makes the regular shifting noise it always makes but sounds louder than usual. I focus all my thoughts on the sounds and the surroundings that I don't hear the muffled tone of Dallas who has placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Raya, you okay?" He asks, snapping me out of my hypnosis like state.
"Y-yeah I'm fine, it's just....nothing, it's nothing."
"Raya." He questions knowing that something is different.
"It's fine really, I'm just stressed about tomorrow." I give back as my answer.
"Don't be your going to find your place no matter where you go."
I smile to him as the escalator comes to the top and our feet hit stable ground. A government agent stands waiting at the top. Dal and I give our goodbyes and I watch as he gets on his private pod and is whisked away. I drop my head to the ground and think back on the events of today and the fear of what is yet to come. But those fears turn into another as a Dome 6 emblem flag falls from the ceiling and lands on the tiles in front of my feet. The green color of the flag brings my mind to recollect on the dream from last night. My heart plummets in my chest as I remember those green eyes, and tears still streaming down.