Circuit City

Chapter 1

"I can't believe I fell asleep on a patient's leg on my first day as an intern," I groaned while looking up at the seemingly never-ending wall of navy steel and oval windows that I was passing by. Yellow beads sparkled occasionally on the glass as the solitary car drove by on the narrow street beside me, a reminder of what the sky promised later in the evening.

The sound of my dad snickering in the background made my attention turn back to the phone call. " I wouldn't have expected it to go any other way."

"Hey," my mum chastised him quietly before addressing me again. "I hope the patient was sleeping as well?"

"No, he was wide awake," I confessed with burning cheeks and shook my head with irritation at the memory of waking up to him trying to pry my arms off his limbs. The head movement only resulted in my wet bangs tangling themselves with my eyelashes, making me blink uncontrollably.

With a deep sigh, I stopped in my tracks and turned towards the reflective window. Not caring if the workers inside could stare me right in the face, I raised my hand towards the honey brown bush that was supposed to be my hair.

"Good news are, I'm free tomorrow so I won't have to deal with any more teasing from the supervising nurses," I muttered while I desperately tried to flatten the bouncy curls that were flowing rebelliously out from my scarf. "I'm finally free to exile myself from society in my room- oh!"

"What?" my mums apprehensive voice was heard through the line.

"It's my turn to do the grocery shopping," I grumbled, scanning the street crossing in front of me for a convenience store. Tall corporate buildings of steel and glass stretched over the main street in front as far as my eyes could see. Turning my heel, I began walking down the road to the left instead.

"Why couldn't your roommate buy it in the morning if she knew you would be finishing at this hour?" Worry laced my mothers voice. "It's not good for a young lady like you to be wandering around the streets at night."

"Mom, Dawnett is interning too. Besides, I'm almost 20 years old, I can handle myself." I sighed, knowing well that we'd be having the exact same conversation again in a few days.

However, I couldn't stop the wave of childish giddiness that swept over me as I noticed a Girder quietly glide above me on it's metal track and disappear between the buildings.

I was finally in Domerion, the Altapolis where so many revolutions had taken place in order to make home for the dreamers and creators of this world. The City of Levels where your imagination only managed to make up a fragment of reality, where the roads blended together like the strands of a bird's nest and the buildings had more style than a fashion designer's wardrobe. The tower of organized chaos.

"Remember, you can never be too careful," she lectured me and I rolled my eyes but refrained from sighing again.

Thank God I had been accepted into a university far away from my hometown.

"Right, because someone could actually kidnap me and kill me, "I chuckled quietly, while picking up my pace as I noticed bright neon green letters that seemed to float around in the dark abyss in front of me.

As I got closer, I realized that the neon sign belonged to a small store situated in a small park. Unlike the other artificial green oases that decorated Humports' level, this one lacked working streetlights. If that wasn't enough to make it completely disappear in the concrete jungle, a large part of the green platform stretched under a concrete bridge.

"Don't joke about that," my mom snapped on the line. "Killings hasn't occurred in 30 years, let's pray it remains like that."

I grimaced. She had actually belonged to the generation that had to read about murders in the newspapers. Maybe she had even witnessed it herself, being a cop and all.