"Here it is." Luna spreads her arms out wide, pointing to the series of buildings in front of me. Unlike the other dorms I saw, this one is like an apartment complex. Its architecture is something that I would see in Switzerland, yet it has a modern touch to it.
From the outside, The Gate looks like a village that I would see in a ski resort or something, but instead of comfortable cottages, it's a series of tall apartments.
Each one has a terrace that overlooks the stone paths below where people are walking through, admiring each one of the shops in the street.
None of the apartments are on the ground floor; instead, there are restaurants and cafés, and a few other places that I didn't take the time to look into. It feels very homey.
"It's... amazing." I note. Along the stone buildings lie vines that run up the walls and stop at the first level balcony. There are at least five floors above the first level of stores, which make this place like some kind of maze.
"Right here is the center of the complex, but your room is going to be in the fifth building. I can't show it to you yet, but you'll see it soon." Luna explains.
Once we turn the corner, there's an intersection with three different routes; the one to the right leads to more shops, the left path is a narrow hallway where I assume people go to get into their rooms. We head straight, towards a set of stairs.
"We can't tour the garden today, but you'll get a glimpse of it as we walk to the tour tram." She tells me, "I'll point it out to you, it's unbelievable." Luna turns to me and smiles.
"The tour tram?" I question, looking around as I notice that there are less and less people around us.
"Yes, it's a small train specifically for touring the general stage two area since it's too big to walk in one day." She answers. The stairs that we escalate lead to a closed hallway like a cave, but the light at the end of the tunnel allows it to be bright in here. It smells like nature, like freshly cut grass or flowers.
I couldn't see past the tunnel before, but I can now. I hesitate but I step onto the glass floor, looking down at the busy village below me. The entire room is glass, but the floor is tinted white.
"Hello Ms. Green." A man greets Luna and she smiles in response. She seems to smile a whole lot.
"Hello, Frank. Are we the last one's here?" She questions while I stand awkwardly behind her.
"I'm afraid so, but not by much. The last pair arrived a few minutes ago. We're still on time."
Luna waves at me to follow her. "Perfect. You know how big The Gate is, it's like a maze down there."
The tram is fairly big, but short. It has about seven enclosed carts with large glass windows and two red benches on either side. Luna and I are in our own little enclosed gondola.
"How are you feeling so far?" She looks at me as we take a seat and the doors close.
"A little overwhelmed." I respond, looking at my surroundings. Everything is so... clean.
"That's understandable, I know I was when I first came here. It's going to take you a while to get used to, but you have plenty of time to do that." She assures me, which doesn't really help.
"Which dorm did you get?" I ask.
"I live in the Palace of Versailles. It's a beauty but I am not fond of the long walks. It takes twenty minutes to go anywhere."
The train jerks forward and begins moving much slower than I had anticipated.
"Alright I am going to talk pretty quickly, so pay attention. There's a lot of information to grasp on this tour." She warns me, then adjusts her seating position to face the window.
"Do you see that circular building with all of the glass windows?" She asks, pointing down at what looks like a modern version of the Colosseum in Rome.
"Yes."
"That's the main cafeteria. Eating in the stage one area was a privilege, but here you can eat whatever you want because there's no harm in it. It doesn't do anything to your body because, well, you're dead. So people only eat for the pleasure of it. That's a popular thing here, but it's also dangerous." She clarifies.
"What is?"
"Pleasure. Eating is no big deal, but people often take advantage of the freedoms offered in the Afterworld which can get them what we call excommunicated.
Her eyes widen as we pass the really tall building I saw on the way here. "Oh! That's the Sapphire, the most luxurious place I have ever seen. You should see the elevators in that place, they're amazing."
I don't know why she just suddenly changed the subject, but I was still stuck on what she was saying about pleasure.
I look over at what she's pointing at. It looks even better up close. I can see through one of the windows a large swimming pool. I put my hand up to the glass, yearning to feel what it's like to swim again. I can't believe that I missed feeling alive.
Luna brushes a piece of her hair aside and leans in close to the window. "The building down there with the pillars," Luna points, "That's where you'll go pretty much every day in order to decide what your future here will be. Once you decide, you begin training for it. While you're doing that, every person is required to mentor three stage ones."
"How long will that take?" I inquire.
"A long time. Once you're here for a while, time seems to blend together a little. I can hardly remember being a stage one. But maybe that's just me. I'd say it has been about a year that I've been here."
I raise my eyebrows at her comment. A whole year before I am able to become an actual guardian angel Nick would be fourteen by then, going into high school. I can't stand the thought of him growing up, I want him to stay the sweet little boy he is.
"Any questions so far?"
I shake my head.
"Unlike stage ones, stage twos share space with all of the other stages, they're just separated from each other. You can also visit stage threes and fours if you'd like by train." She looks at me and her expression softens. "Just think of it as a city or a town. Your job is to go to training four days a week and then you have somewhat of a weekend to do whatever. There are so many things to discover here, you'll love it. I promise."
We move further from the city and towards a hill that has a train station built within it. "I was told that during orientation you get to look at a mirror or a portal and you can choose one person to look down at from here. Is that true?" I ask.
She seems confused that I know that. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for knowing things I'm not supposed to. Maybe that's why Tanner was so serious about it. "Yes, that is true. Who were you planning on seeing?" She quizzes.
The bad memory of leaving him saddens my expression. "My younger brother."
She gives me a reassuring smile. "I'll bet he's doing fine, Juliet. Only a few more days until that happens, and you'll be fairly busy until then." Luna glances back at the window. "The building we're approaching is the Central Building, where all of the monorail stations are. There are also restaurants and movie theatres here. It's like a mall."
"Movie theatres? I assumed that I wouldn't be able to do the same things as when I was alive." I comment. In the stage one dorm, we didn't have any technology or anything, but here there's a whole train system.
She giggles. "You'd assume that most people would go to the theatres." Luna turns to me. "But there are other things that are far more interesting."
The monorail glides through a circular glass cage, the top of the Central Building. Inside looks just like a mall, but the top floor of this building doesn't have any stores, it's just other train tracks and stations. I expect us to come to a stop, but we move through the mall. I peer down at the ground and notice that our track went all the way across the platform and out of the building.
"Why does this go through the Central Building?" I inquire. It would make much more sense if it went around it or if it was built somewhere else.
"Usually the monorail stops here, but we're going to the communal bedrooms." She answers me without turning her head.
"The communal bedrooms?"
"I'm supposed to explain this to you while we get there, but I don't see the harm in telling you now. The first night here everyone sleeps in a communal bedroom until their dorm is ready. It's also because of the procedure."
"What's that?" I'm sure that I know most of what it consists of; the eyes, face, etc. but I ask just in case there are things I don't know. Besides, I don't know if I can get in trouble for knowing about it. Tanner sure makes it seem like it, and she didn't look happy when I said that thing about the viewing portal.
"Stage twos go through a lot of changes in a short period of time. Overnight in fact. You'll be in a lot of pain tomorrow morning, I hate to say it."
My eyes widen. Nobody said anything about pain. "What kind of changes?"
"I don't really know how to explain it, but it's just your body adapting to life in the Afterworld. As a stage one, you're technically not 'permanent' or guaranteed to stay here. That's why there's a month of stage one. The procedure makes you an official member of the Afterworld." She explains. Now everything makes sense.
"So before today, I wasn't a part of the Afterworld?" I ask.
She nods. "Precisely. Think about it like this, stage one is like a waiting room to get into the Afterworld. It's complicated and you'll understand more as you adapt. Basically, the longer you stay here, the more life gets sucked out of you. I promise it's not a bad thing even though it sounds like it is. It's all part of the dying process."
I'm probably more uncomfortable than I am horrified. I feel odd not being around people I know all day. I'd even hang with Jack over being alone like this with someone who is telling me things I don't want to hear.
We don't speak another word the rest of the ride to the communal bedrooms, but it isn't that long of a journey. We arrive at the stone station within a few minutes and come to an abrupt stop.
I'm about to stand up until I realize that Luna stays seated. She leans in close to me. "I know it isn't night time yet, but I'm just giving you a warning that the procedure is going to start soon." She whispers.
My stomach ties into a knot.
The monorail doors open and several groups of people exit, but it's just the mentees. I turn around to face Luna, who remains on the tram.
"It was nice meeting you, Juliet." She smiles and the doors close, then the monorail takes off with a low humming sound.
I'm left with several strangers on a concrete floor and concrete walls. It's dim and cold in here; the only light source comes from the opening where the monorail enters.
"What did we do to be sent to a prison like this?" A familiar voice asks. It's Jack.
"Why aren't we in our dorms? Is this supposed to happen?" I whisper.
"If you want your pretty eyes then yes." Jack replies, "But this looks no better than the New York subway. Pretty run down for a utopian society."
"This place seems nothing like a utopian society. More like a world outside of a world. A second life if you will."
"I guess that's the point." Jack shrugs as we all walk into the only door in the station. The walls are grey inside and there are at least twenty bunk beds lined up against the two long sides of the room, leaving space in the center. The beds are small and only have one blue blanket on them. This looks like a boot camp or something.
Jack nudges me and his lips lift up into a cunning smile, which heightens his cheekbones. "I call the top bunk."
Thank you guys for 150 views that's super cool! I promise this is going to get a little more exciting very soon :)
-SM