Seth must’ve sensed her uneasiness. He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, a soothing kindness she much appreciated as she tried to make sense out of Esther’s one sided conversation.
It was mostly grunts and one word answers. “Yes.” “No.” “Okay.” In-between, she’d ask an occasional question of clarification, “What time?” “What did he say?” “Are they going to do that?” The conversation dragged on, Esther not even looking Rain in the face as she stared at her free arm, draped between her ample bosom and the table.
After what seemed like a half hour, though it was likely more like ten minutes, Esther thanked Mayor Abraham, whoever that was, and disconnected the call. “The delegate has completed his meeting with the Mothers,” she said, letting out a sigh as she spoke. She shook her head. “They refuse to stand down.”
Judea was much different from Gretchintown. In Rain’s hometown, all of the streets were perfectly straight. Blocks were square. Buildings were constructed in even rows so that everywhere one looked, they’d see order and structure. As she walked from Esther’s home to the armory building where the bi-weekly dances were held, she couldn’t help but notice how chaotic the layout of the little town was. Houses were sprinkled haphazardly beneath the faux sky, tinges of pink and orange catching their nonuniform roofs as the fake sun went down behind a row of fluffy white virtual clouds. None of the houses looked the same. None of the roads were straight; they all curved and arched and wound around the structures. It was a beautiful mess, one that made Rain’s eyes dart from one place to another, a smile on her face.Even the road itself made little sense to her. It wasn’t asphalt or even concrete. Rather, it seemed all of the r
Rain expected someone to meet her at the door to the dance, to take her name or something of that sort, but no one was stationed there. A darkened, narrow hallway led off to another section of the building. On either side, glass cases held old photographs and plaques. She would’ve loved to take her time to peruse them, to learn more about the history of Judea, but she didn’t head that way. Instead, she moved forward, toward the music, and the light pouring from the largest room, one she imagined was constructed for the purpose of holding dances and other public get-togethers.The song playing now had a faster tempo than the one she’d caught drifting on the air earlier. This one featured a brass instrument she thought might be a trumpet, but she’d never heard it played this way before. It wasn’t trilling out the power of the military. Rather, whomever was playing on the recording seemed to be having fun, teasing the listener,
The sound of Seth's voice to her left caught her off guard, and she jumped a little. Her cup wasn’t full enough to slosh on her hand or dress, thank goodness. “Rain, how long have you been here?” Seth asked, stepping between a group of younger individuals congregated between herself and the dancers.She met his jade eyes, her eyes widening as she realized her plan had been foiled. “Seth! Hi. Not long,” she stammered. “I just, uh… got here a few minutes ago.”“I’m sorry I didn’t see you before.”“No, it’s fine. I’m just enjoying my… smack.” That didn’t seem right. What was this stuff?Seth’s forehead crinkled. “What?” he asked, tipping his head to the side.“My… this. This pink stuff.”He turned away from her, dragging his
One thin beam of light lit the winding path in front of him, if one could even call it a path. The only thing that distinguished the narrow trail in front of Adam from the rest of the surrounding countryside was the slightly smaller size of the obstacles that stood in his path. Dodging larger rocks that had come to find their way in his immediate course was even more difficult now that the sun had gone down. The moon wasn’t full out here in the real world, as it had been in the mountain dome. Instead, it was a sliver that didn’t lend itself to much illumination. While the stars would’ve commanded his attention if he’d had the luxury of pulling his eyes away from the ground long enough to admire them, the bright pinpricks of white were more of a distraction than a source of light, the urge to take his eyes off of the road, to gaze up at them and admire their beauty overpowering,He was shocked that he had made it this far. Night ha
“Well, if it isn’t one of them rapists from down south.”Daniel Redd’s voice grated on Rain’s ears like the screech of a long, pointed fingernail on a glass window. She stopped walking just a few feet away from him, her plan to simply walk by whomever was standing in the shadows on the far side of the alley given up now that she knew for sure it was him. She still couldn’t see his face, the dark patches of night obscuring his features, but that voice had been ingrained in her mind the first time she heard it, and she felt confident, should they both live another hundred years, she would recognize it then, too.“Leave me alone,” she said, turning her head in his direction as he slowly began to emerge from the darkness. “You don’t want to mess with me.”He scoffed, stepping into a thin beam of light cast from a lamp so far down the alleyway, it barely reac
Hannah’s voice reached her ear like the squawk of a bird, crying out in protection of its nest. Rain and Seth both turned to look at the petite girl at the end of the alley at the same time. She had her hands on her hips, her head tipped down, her forehead scrunched in wrinkles so deep, they were even visible at this distance.“Shit,” Seth murmured. “I told her I’d walk her home.”Rain took a step back, Hannah’s hurt falling between them like a door dropping to cut her off from an escape route. Or perhaps the girl had actually provided Rain with the exit she needed. “Go ahead,” she said, slipping an easy smile into place. “I’ll be fine.”“Are you kidding?” he asked, a hand raising to his hair. “Rain, Daniel just tried to attack you.”“And… now he’s limping away. Seth, I’ll be fine.
Bolting the door seemed silly, but she’d promised Seth she’d lock it, so as soon as Rain was safely back inside the Green residents, she did so. She paused to take a deep breath and take in the ambience of the house, which seemed empty, before she turned to walk to the kitchen to lock the back door, as he’d instructed. No sound came from Mist and Walt’s room. Imagining that meant they were asleep, she didn’t go in to check on her friend. If there was a problem, Walt would let her know. Of that, she was certain.The back of the house was mostly dark, save for one dim light on over the stove. Rain assumed she was alone in the kitchen until a small movement amongst the shadows at the round table they’d eaten at earlier caught her attention. She froze, her hand flying to her heart.“Did I startle you?” Esther’s voice spoke into the darkness as she shifted in her chair, causing a thin bea
The phone sat on the nightstand near the bed while Rain went about taking off her borrowed outfit. She sat on the edge of the mattress to slip off the heels, glad she didn’t have to wear those often. Her feet were sore, and she had only danced the one time. She rubbed her aching feet, thinking it was odd that she could run for so many miles without as much pain as a few hours in a pair of high heels that weren’t even that high.Slipping the pink dress off, she lay it on the bed and stood to retrieve her jeans. She slid them on as the silky fabric of the gown pulled it off of the bed and onto the floor. Frustrated, and not wanting it to get wrinkled, Rain paused in just her bra and jeans to pick up the dress and put it on a hanger. She took it over to the closet door and hung it back on the hook on the outside where Esther had placed it earlier. Then, crossing back to her own pile of clothes, she picked up a long sleeved black T-shirt and star