I made my way sluggishly through the halls of the Learning Center, the chitter chatter of people walking past me rang in my ears, these halls were like caves, every sound echoed. It was time for all the teens and caregivers to wash and then rest, recharge for another boring day tomorrow. Once a week, though, all the teens and kids from every learning center take part in watching the weekly fights at the arena at the very heart of the bustling port city. Luckily for us, that's on Saturdays, which just so happens to also be tomorrow. It gives me a cover to sneak away and check out the market shops. Learning Center kids aren't given any money of their own to spend, not until you go through job evaluation and actually get a job, so we are never taken to the markets. We are provided all our clothes and soaps and food until we are 20, then we must find our own way to make money to pay for the things we need. But I love the marketplaces, there are so many things to see and touch and feel, it makes my heart pound just thinking about it.
I enter my sleek grey room, a neatly made bed with grey sheets and grey pillows in each corner, which I share with this girl named Hart, we seldom speak to one another, since every year our roommates change. I also don't like talking to randoms that much so I keep to myself and so does she, I'm glad we have this understanding. I grab my shower bag and head out of our shared room, throwing my pack over my shoulder as I trace the grey walls strolling along.
The shower area is fairly divided into multiple stalls, each floor consisting of the same amount of showers as people on that particular floor. The obvious rules are no nudity and no other acts of preference toward another person, kissing or any other form of sexual favors, for anyone. Everyone goes into the stall fully clothed, shuts the door, undresses, showers, and then fully clothes themselves once more to walk back to their designated dorms.
The showed affection for another person is very rare in the learning centers, since mostly everyone follows the rules they have been told since they were kids, and also we aren't taught anything about these sexual acts and misdeeds, but it's obvious to everyone that we know what it is. In this day and age though, it's hardly even in anyone's thoughts, since means of reproduction are obsolete, and everyone is to overcome with the need to grow up and become a worker to make money to live a happy life, no one is bothered to remember the old ways of the world, and maybe that's a good thing.
I call bull on that shit about being happy by working, though. Never in all my years have I seen anyone actually smiling at their job, even the caregivers keep blank faces 24/7, and in the streets it's just as bad. I pass by hooded figures everyday trying to hide themselves from the streets, mean mugging anyone who glances their way. It's just not fathomable to smile in HavenPort, I've concluded. I bet they smile all the time in CaliPort, probably in GulfPort, too, all the rich elites live there anyway.
No one smiles because they are too busy working all day to feed the rich and coming home to no one to share stories with, in my opinion, but what do I know, I'm just 19.
It's a cruel world, undoubtedly so, but it's all we have, at least I try to make the most of it. I'm working on smiling more, too.
I leave the showers, fully clothed and whatnot, fall onto my hard, rough, grey sheets I've had since I was 12, and fall fast asleep, anxious for tomorrow.
_______
If you like my story, please leave a vote on it :)
It would be greatly appreciated
أنت تقرأ
The Greens Among Us (Ongoing)
الخيال العلميIt's been 200 years since the fall of humanity, and for Mara, her life is just starting, living in the new cities that have been built up from the crumbs and ruins of the lost ones. As time goes on, things change for Mara and she starts to realize h...
