"Hello again sir." I am quite scared.
"Hi Doran," he sighs; his voice was like sandpaper on wood.
"If you don't mind me asking why am I here?"
"You are here because we have security camera's everywhere, including the generator room. Where you were supposed to be creating blueprints, not shutting off the generator."
"What are you implying?"
"I'm saying that I shouldn't have told a 19 year-old the top secret information and sent him to the generator."
"So..."
" You're fired and you will leave this city and never return. If you do, you will be terminated. If you slip up and reveal the information to any one we will find you and I will do more than just terminate you." He was straight to the point and as unforgiving as concrete.
" Yes sir." I am terrified. That might be an understatement. My dreams are becoming reality.
I hop on my hover cycle and go back to my apartment to grab my things. The buildings surrounding me blur until there are just blotches of color rushing past. The wind catches in my blond hair and I whip behind my head. I rev the engine and I speed down the road, the closest I can get to flying. I pull up in front of the building and park my bike in my designated parking space. I walk up the tile steps into the lobby. I walk straight through the throng of people to the glass elevator, I press the button for floor 62 and wait until the lift comes. I step into the box and get lifted to my floor. I walk down the hallway until I reach my door; I put in my password and walk through the door.
When I see the dark red bedspread I release my disguise of happiness and replace it with what I am actually feeling, exhausted and slight regret. I have a headache behind my temples and at this point I don't think I could do anything for it. I head up to my apartment and try not to think of the consequences if anybody found out what I did. I open my door and put down my bag. I go straight to my bed and flop down on it. I don't know how long I stay like that but when I finally sit up I am so tired. I walk to the bathroom and stand against the sink. I wave my hand over the cold-water sensor and the stream flows out of the nozzle and the water fans out in the basin. The drops run over my hands and I let the water cool down my body temperature. I cup my hands and the water collects there.
I splash the liquid onto my face and the excess water sprays onto my shirt and the floor. The water runs off my face and into the sink. I wipe off my face and look at my reflection in the mirror. I don't have time to worry about what I will do tomorrow, all I know is that I must get a good nights rest before I get banished. I eat the leftovers from the night before and slip into bed.
The sun streams through the window wall and the natural light wakes me up, my eyelids heavy with sleep. I look over at the clock and see that it is 9:32 AM, good enough time as any to get my day started. I open my eyes and lift my arms, stretching with a yawn. I swing my legs off the side of the bed and push myself into a standing position. I walk into the bathroom and look into the mirror. For the first time in what feels like forever, I don't have dark circles under my eyes and my skin has a natural glow. I take a nice shower and I don't even bother doing my hair after because, who is going to see it?
I pull on the most comfortable clothes that I own which are, a white t-shirt and dark jeans. I slip on socks and tennis shoes. My backpack is in the closet and I stuff my toiletries and clothes in my bag and sling it over my shoulders. I shut the closet and fling open the front door, daring myself to make this situation real. I step outside the door, one foot at a time. I start running down the hallway, because why not? I take the stairs two at a time instead of the elevator. I hop on my bike and speed out of the city. I pass pristine buildings and thriving parks all while under a nearly cloudless sky. The air streaming past my head and I feel like I am flying. Deep down I know its all fake.
I drive down the road leading to the gates of the city, the road is perfect even this close to the outside world. The city gates are tall and made of an impregnable metal. It is reinforced with diamonds and titanium. I hop of the bike and walk it up to the security checkpoint; the hut is like a metal box. Inside they ask my name and they slap an irremovable cuff on my wrist. They take my hover cycle and lead me back to the road. The gates open and I step out into the real world. The first thing I notice is the dying grass, the roads with potholes, and the trees have no leaves, and the buildings are run down and the sky is yellow with pollution. This world is the opposite of the city I have been living. I look back to gates and from this side the gates are stained with rust and dirt. In this world nothing is perfect, I think I prefer it this way.
The gate slams shut behind me. I turn around and look up at the hulking metal behind me. The gate on this side of the city does not look like it did on the other; it is covered in dirt and has scratches in the side. I do not know what could have done that to the strongest metal on earth. I back away from the gate and look above it; I can see where the real sky meets the perfect one, like a dome of blue against the yellow clouds. The air around me is tinted with the yellow haze of pollution; this sky is real unlike the one in the city.
I turn my back on my old life, knowing that I can never go back. But before I can take another step I come face to face with reality. The road in front of me is the dark color of asphalt but deep potholes and cracks mar it. The road turns into a light gray gravel path, the rough rocks replacing the road. Beyond the gravel the road turns to a dirt path, the dirt is clumped together like there is glue-holding pieces together. The grass along side the road is an army green and it is over grown, it sticks up and stands as tall as my knee. The grass gets more yellow the farther from the road. There are leafless trees scattered across the landscape, the bark is a brown-gray color that blends with the grass. The branches are reaching towards the sky in need of water; the trunks are twisted and bent.
My gaze lifts to the sky, and what I see is yellow. The clouds are tinged yellow; the bottoms are heavy with water, which makes them purple. The sky beyond the dense clouds is a yellow orange color and it gets lighter as it moves farther into the atmosphere. The sun is an angry red. It is so bright that I have to use both hands to shield my eyes. It seems like the clouds spread out over the entire world.
I brought my focus back on the road ahead of me, and I started to walk, I had nowhere to go so I walked aimlessly towards the nearest tree. The grass crunches under my feet and the blades caught in my pants. I reached the tree and the bark was rough against my palm. It leaves scratches on the soft flesh. I have sweat through my shirt and it clings to the curves of my middle. I pull it off and slip it through one of my belt loops, letting it hang down my leg. I continue walking until my feet are bruised and blistered. I take off my shoes near the closest tree and I just sit down.
I don't know how much time passes but after a while I stand up and decide to make this tree my home. I walk to the nearest patch of tall grass, remove my backpack and rummage through it for my army knife. I start cutting the blades at the roots once I have a significant amount of stalks I start to weave. I tie two blades together at the ends and then start adding to the lines. My world now consists of; under, over, under, over, under, over, tie.
When I am done weaving my roof I walk back over to the tree and drape it over the overhanging branches. It provides enough shade and in case it rains I will be shielded. I gather moss of the side of rocks and lay it down in a rectangle, now I have a bed, now I have a home.
My skin is coated in sweat and the arid wind is doing nothing except making me cold. The tree I am sitting against is rough on the bare skin of my back. The bark is thick and dry; it is good for making fires. My mouth is dry and I need to find water. I take out my army knife and pull myself to my feet; the grass rustles beneath my footsteps and the crude breeze messes up my hair. I need to find water and food if I'm going to survive. I walk in one direction so I don't get lost on the way back to my tree. I slash the trees with my knife so that I don't get lost. The ground is hard against my feet and every step hurts my bruised heels. The tree is my home now; I made a roof out of branches and tall grass by an old run down gas station. My foot splashes in some mud and my feet are immediately caked in dirt. But more importantly, it means we are near water. I hear rushing water and ignoring the protest in my legs, I run towards it. The noise gets louder and I look up to see the stream is right in front on me. My cologne container is almost empty and so I dump the remaining dregs in the stream, rinse it out and fill it with water that I will boil. I start heading back to my tree.
I go foraging for berries and nuts. I gather them in the depths of my pockets and by the time my pockets are full I am exhausted. I walk over sticks and rocks and my bare feet are covered in bruises and scrapes and my muscles ache. I walk back to my tree and prepare the fire. I scrape the bark off the tree and then peel the inside from underneath; my lighter makes the kindling catch fire almost instantly. I pile on branches so that the fire will grow bigger. I lay the bottle of stream water in the fire and watch it boil. Once that is done I take a drink and eat the collected berries and nuts.
I wait until the fire dies down to fall asleep, the ground is hard and my hip juts into the rough grass. My breathing slows and exhaustion takes over and I close my eyes. The darkness of sleep blankets me. I wake up often and I am restless when I sleep, but at least it is something.
I wake up in the morning with an ache gnawing at my stomach. The meal of berries and nuts was not enough to satisfy my hunger. I walk back to the stream and refill the cologne bottle canteen. I go the old abandoned gas station and rummage through the non-perishable foods. I find a can of peas and can of French union soup. That will have to be my breakfast. I walk back to camp and open the can of peas and pour some in my mouth, with out a spoon I have no other way of eating. I finish off the can of tasteless green peas and start a fire. I boil the water and drink only a little to save me the trip to the stream.
I remember that my holo-notebook is still in my backpack so I snatch it out and get to work. The city's tower doesn't reach all the way out here so I walk back to the gate and sit up against the metal. I can get a fraction of a signal but that is all that I need. I start to decrypt The Clandestine's mainframe but I cannot get past the firewall, the solar power feature is the only thing that is keeping the device on. I get nowhere with that, it is one failure since I got banished. I walk back to my tree with a heavy heart filled with regret. Regret for getting caught, regret for getting too carried away with the generator. If I had just done what I was told I could be working in the city now, happy and content, without regret.
That didn't happen though, I did all of those things and now I am out in the wilderness by myself. I don't regret showing people the truth, even though most people didn't see it. I hope whoever saw it, maybe the girl from the window, would carry on my work. They are trapped in a perfect world and they don't realize that they need to find out the truth.
I focus on my tree and once I reach it I sit down and contemplate the situation at hand. I sip my water and draw in the dirt. I start eating the French onion soup and it is possibly the best soup I have ever had. My brain goes into overdrive and I space out.
The sound of crunching brings me out of my thought bubble. In the distance I hear rustling and I assume that it is just some squirrel. I wait it out but it doesn't stop. The noise is getting louder though so I go and check it out. I stand up wincing when my weight falls on my blistered feet. I try to be quiet as I move towards the sound. I slide in and out of shadows, hiding behind trees. My footsteps crunch on the dead grass and I stop behind a tree, the noise has stopped and I walk just a little farther and I see a person.
Her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail and her bright green eyes stare right into mine. She is clothed in black and her feet are bare. There is a line of raw skin on her wrist like she was handcuffed. There is something familiar about the way she holds herself, and I can't quite place where I have seen her before. Then it clicks, she is the girl who was standing by the window on the day I turned off the generator.
She stares at me as if in shock, her body stands unmoving. I can barely see the rise and fall of her chest as she shuts her jaw. To be honest I am not sure if my jaw is hanging open or not. I have only been out here for what I think to be a day and there is this beautiful girl standing right in front of me. Her hair is the color of dark chocolate, warm and sweet. Her eyes are a startling green, almost out of this world. They make all of the features in her face pale in comparison. Her skin is a pale ivory; it offsets her dark hair just enough so that the combination is more than perfect. My gaze drifts to her lips; they are light pink and slightly chapped.
My heart speeds up and the thump in my ears grow louder. She takes a step forward her feet light against the crisp grass. My voice comes out rough and scratchy when I break the silence, "Hi my name is Doran."