No Such Thing as Love | Short Story (Random Updates)

3.Cora

I can't wait to find out what that paper card is all about. So once I get to Control's building, I leave One's side and head to the restroom.

Not just any restroom. The one at the first floor, right beside the large entry into the Warden gathering hall.

There's a spot there in the last stall where the Eye can't see. Everyone knows about it, nobody ever admits to using it.

My footsteps echo inside the white tiled restroom and when I stop by the stall, I listen and stare at the closed door. A sigh resonates close by, most likely from inside that stall. I want to make sure, plus I don't want my behavior to register as anomalous, so I enter the stall next to it and sit on the toilet. This is also sort of a blind spot because the Eye can only see my back if I lean forward just so.

Yet I'm hesitant to take out the card. After all, it only takes the Eye one split second to notice something and it can always rewind, over and over again to check for every bit of information inside an image. I, on the other hand, can't trust my shaky hands.

The blind spot in the other stall is much more secure. Safer. Safer to do something that Control might not like.

I pretend I've dropped the toilet paper and slip down on my knees to catch a glimpse inside the neighboring stall. Two plain shoes, black and worn out over time, as are all of our shoes. City-issued and only different in sizes. These appear quite big, so the person hogging the blind spot is a man, tall, and as still as a statue. He's waiting for me to leave. I'm not surprised.

I take note of the long scratch across the left shoe and know that the next time I'll see it, I'll recognize the shoe. Then I get out of there.

Still curious about the card, I decide to be smart about it and wait.

"Good night, Three," One says plainly but lingers by the locker room door, like she'd like to add something.

"Good night, One," I reply in a dry tone.

So she says no more and leaves the locker room.

I'm in my underwear, changing out of my blood-stained overalls. Maybe One pities me, maybe she thinks that I went inside the notorious restrooms to use the blind spot so I can bowl out my eyes. But she doesn't know that I've seen worse. Worse than a suicide victim splattered all over a walkway.

***

Every job has three shifts and they start and end at the same time so the pod station is packed as always. With my AUGi turned off and no badge near my lapel, I can blend in and pretend I'm just another factory worker eager to get home. People are less stiff around me when I'm not a Warden. They even slip weird paper cards inside my pocket. That man with the dark almond eyes certainly felt safe enough to do just that.

My apartment has no blind spots. Eyes at every angle and Cora listening in to every sound I make.

So I get off the pod at my usual station and take the usual route by foot with one minor detour - an alley between a sandy building and a residential block. It's a murky place, but most importantly, it's a blind spot.

I walk inside the alley and pause leaning against the sandy wall while I reach inside my pocket to take out the card, but don't look at it yet.

Metal clattering and drones buzzing fill out the silence of the area. The sandy building is a food center and my stomach turns as a waft of boiled cabbage floods the alley.

There's some movement a few feet away, in the darker shadows of the residue dumpster. There's a man there. But I'm not too worried about him.

Finally, I stare at the card and strive to consign to memory everything on it.