We Are Ashes

Chapter II

Robins ashes? I tried to wrap what she'd said around my head. Robins ashes? I thought she thought Robin was alive. That's what everyone thought. That she was a psychotic murderer with uncontrolled rage episodes. That's why she was at the clinic. They'd been trying to cure her brain. Had they succeeded? But then why would they schedule her death?

Mental patients are given two years from their admission to evaluate whether they can become members of society again. If they don't, they are sent to the outskirts of town or are killed. My mom would not have been scheduled if she'd gotten better.

And besides, what did she want with my brother's ashes?

I fumbled towards the exit, distraught. The doorman greeted me again, with the same voice as always as I left the building. The sun was already gone, along with most of the people that had been crowding up the city earlier. Even though I had no reason to walk quickly, I found myself hurrying. It would have been a nice night to wander.

My apartment was in the 12th floor of one of the hundreds of identical buildings in the city. All of them 100 floors high, all of them covered in granite and a copper like metal. Only the rich got to live in buildings of their own design, the rest of us settled for the building chosen 150 years ago as the most safe and efficient. I didn't mind, It was a nice place. Cozy, around 600 squared feet in total.

I didn't have a view, but I didn't mind. The city wasn't much to look at anyways. I put my stuff down on the sofa and went to fetch my brother, who was in the night table of my room. He was in a metal box tinted blue, his favorite color. I sat down on my desk in the office. The metal felt cool in my clammy hands.

"Rob," I whispered. My throat closed up as I tried to breathe in. "Hey."

The phone caught me crying 10 minutes later later. I let it ring three times as I washed my face with freezing water.

"Hello?" My voice sounded strained. "Who is it?"

"This is Panacea Clinic, we've called to inform you of your mothers timely demise. Would you like to keep any remainders?"

I gasped.

"Ma'am, we're sure you were informed of the criminal and mental status of your mother. Her two years expired yesterday. Would you like to keep the remainders?

"Yes, excuse me, I wasn't told the date of the procedure."

"A message should have arrived a week ago detailing everything. You can come fetch everything tomorrow, have a good day."

I hung up the phone. I had no family left. I'd never had a dad or grandparents. They had "left this planet" according to my mother. Which I guess was another way of saying they were dead to a little kid. No one left Sawi anymore, not since years before I was born.

I got my computer out and opened up my Official Messages Software (OMS for short). I had 23 unread messages from the government and government-approved organizations. I never opened this thing. And there it was, 7 days ago, "Andy Kosmo death approved by council". 

I picked up the phone again and dialed: CHAR-12

"Chargaff Life Laboratories, please state your name and the purpose of your call"
"Khithea Ernst. I would like to report my absence tomorrow due to the death of a relative"

"Thank you for calling Kirthea. We'll get back to you soon. And don't forget: know to experiment, seek to discover"

I hung up in the middle of the little theme melody.