Walk in the light: Legend novella

Day (3)

Day

Tonight was different. My spirits were high, with the interview for Eden and I know they will higher him (he's the best and youngest engineer the Republic has seen in ages). I got away from Antarctica, though the technology there is much better than in the Republic but if I was not even comfortable in non slum clothes, then of course I felt much more out of place in a techno safe fifth- floor apartment. With a balcony that looked out at a neon city with clear, starlit skies. Except everything there was fake, computerized. If I was born there I could imagine it all real, maybe. But whenever I found myself enjoying the breaks of dawn or prosthetic sunsets a voice in the back of my head brought back memories of my years in the slums and I would miss the Republic- where they lied to us about everything but at least they let us see what the real world looks like.

Most of all my spirits were so high because I was finally home. It felt familiar and also not when I stepped off the jet, back on to Republic soil. We landed in Los Angeles just a few hours before Eden's interview and got checked in to our hotel. I was filled with energy, despite the setting sun, due to the time change. I had walked my brother to the interview room and shook hands with the employer guy. I made sure to look him in the eyes and make it clear that he better treat my brother well, Eden has had experienced so much unjust, got so many chances taken away from him and I didn't want to find another man like the old government.

After the interview, when Eden and I finally got back to our apartment I found that Tess had left a message on our answer machine. How she got our number I don't know, but I listened to her voice mail.

"Day, sorry....Daniel," I smiled at her playful mocking tone when she used the name I go by now, but to me only the name Day sounded right coming out of her mouth. "I know you are probably very busy, but I was wondering if you could come to my place this evening around 7:15. I mean it has been almost two years since I last contacted you and I just wanted to see how you're doing now. Please make the time, it's very important to me." I frowned, Tess knows I will come to see her no matter what, so I honestly don't understand why she would add the last sentence. For some reason I caught a slight undertone in Tess's message- excitement- like she had a plan and was anxious to see what it would turn out to be.

***********

Eden and I set out toward Tess's place at about 5:30, early because we both wanted to take a walk around lake sector before having to greet Tess again. Besides I needed to get her a present. She's like my sister, and you can't just go to your sisters place without a gift. After ten minutes of fumbling around in a shop close to our apartment, I settled on buying Tess a necklace that had a glimmering T charm on a thin silver chain. Simple yet elegant just like Tess.

Lake sector brought back many memories, we didn't go through the slums- I wasn't quite in the mood for the memories they would bring back yet- Eden knew that so we just walked. Up and down the changed streets. Passerby's were no longer hurrying and frantic, lone soldiers lined each corner, but they no longer watched the citizens like they were prey, they watched them like they were people. With interest not hostility. How different is this place than I remember. People greeted each other openly without fear that their conversation would be broken up. It was wonderful.

We turned at a corner and I looked out at a street so different that I didn't realize we were on the street we used to live in until Eden stopped walking.

We stood in front of a house. Our house.

It was unchanged, surprisingly and was taped off like a crime scene. All the other neighboring houses looked new and bright with color and flavor. Our house stood and looked like a ghost, a dirt skeleton among live souls. Almost as if it was ripped from a past world and in a sense, I guess it was.

"Why is it taped off?" I asked Eden, not expecting him to actually have an answer but I was not exactly shocked when he did.

"They are waiting for us to make a decision on what to do with it." He replied. I was surprised that the government actually would let us choose, I'm used to the Republic just taking what they want.

"How did you know?" I asked, wondering if I had missed a conversation.

"I looked it up in Antarctica." I felt stupid for asking. Of course Eden would look up our home when he felt like he missed mom and John. He didn't even get to see them after he got taken away. He would search up our house to help strengthen his memories of our
lost loved ones, so that he would never forget them. But I didn't search up the house for exactly that reason. It was impossible for me to forget them. Nightmares had haunted me for half a year and maybe more in the year that I couldn't remember, Eden could only imagine what it was like when our mother and brother died. I wish I had the freedom to. So no, I never looked up this house, even now I saw my memory of being here last, standing on the rooftop and being useless as the captain gunned my mother. This place was a murder scene to me. But I knew, to Eden it would always be home.

************

My hair was still damp from the spray that came off the water. We had walked through the whole Lake sector, letting the mist surround us, feeling like kids before I left and took the trial, when Eden and I got a few moments to play. We checked the time and decided we should start toward Ruby.

A few blocks down from the subway station Eden started to inform me about his interview. I listened intently, trying to figure out if I should let him take the job. He was on the most exciting part, his words sped up as he described a simulation he was put in to see how fast and well he could design a part to solve a particular problem.

"They gave me this jet and the engine was failing and wanted me to find and solve the glitch. It was a newer model jet to them but came out three years ago in Antarctica. I had no problem with it, it was just of matter of over heating and I quickly designed a type of fan known as the-" He abruptly cut off and I looked up, followed his line of sight and focused on the silhouette of a young woman who was quickly coming into view. Eden narrowed his eyes when he caught sight of her face, and in the same moment she glanced at us. Her expression was guarded yet somehow I could sense that she was trying to control herself, like she was daring not to hope. But I could see the excitement in her eyes. Suddenly she sped up, not to a run but the type of speed people use to avoid others. In any other circumstance I would think that she felt uncomfortable alone seeing two men in her path, but for some reason it didn't feel like that. It was as if she was loosing control, and if she didn't leave as soon a possible she would do something outrageous.

The moment she walked right past me something deep within me clicked. It was like my entire world had been slightly tilted this whole time and now it was suddenly right side up again. I never got a chance to get a good look at her face, the sunlight was almost nonexistent, but I caught sight of her dark, flowy hair at the edge of my vision. I felt like I knew her- no like I should know her- like she was a being that was familiar to me. When she had passed I couldn't help but feel like I was letting something slip right through my fingers.

Eden was watching me from the corner of his eyes. When he saw my quizzical expression he chuckled, knowing what I was about to do before I knew it myself.

"Go" he whispered to me, as soft as the breeze.

And I did.

I turned and jogged to catch up to this girl, this person that I had once lost. I stopped in front of her to retrieve a piece- a part of me that I had once had.