It had happened again. The death and destruction that had haunted my dreams since I was 7 years old. Every single time I had slept, it was the end of the world, again and again, clearer and more grotesque every time. Mum had thought I was crazy, and I had multiple tests by psychiatrists and long waits in doctor’s surgeries. They dished out pills like tennis balls, but none of them made any difference to my horrific dreams.
So that’s how I ended up here, in a unused sewer in Paris. I had run away from home after a massive fall out with my parents, because I had spat the dummy about how they ignored and neglected me all the time, and just left my meals on the table like I was a dog, acting like I was a parasite that would eventually go away. I think that was their way of dealing with the fact that I was supposedly crazy. It was probably because they were scared out of their wits, but I needed them and they weren’t there, so I grabbed the stash of money dad kept in the false bottom of the dresser, packed my bags and left.
It had been about 20 years since the revolution, so I only knew this life, being 14. Paris had become a completely industrial city, red brick buildings and smoke always coming out of chimneys. In the early days, the government had to purify the air, because people were dying from the toxic chemicals used to make certain products. I had heard adults talk of rain, which was apparently water that fell out of the clouds, but now, we just suck the moisture directly out of them, so we don’t have to worry about floods, because nothing stops the factories from working. Holidays were a thing of the past aswell, just a myth your parents told you about when you were a kid. But anyway, life is life and I don’t care how it was once upon a time.
I was snapped out of my daze by echoing footsteps gradually getting closer to me. I thought it could be one of Aarek’s clan, but as the dim light reflected off Olivia’s bright, shiny orange hair, all my muscles relaxed. As her brilliant green eyes came into view, I smiled, and she returned it, more sheepishly than usual. There was probably something she wanted me to do. Olivia was like that. She always got her way, but I side-stepped that because she had helped me so much since I left home. I don’t think I can even call it home anymore, more like ‘past accomodation’.
“Guess what’s happening tonight?” she asked playfully. I didn’t respond, because I wasn’t in a talkative mood since my recap of the macabre past, and besides, I don’t need to talk very often, because there was no one to talk to down in the sewer. I decided to give her a slight shrug, just because she was Olivia. “There’s going to be an all night feast on the other side of town. Aarek’s organising it and everyone is going!” She exclaimed, a bit too excited about some homeless people feast for a girl who’s parents at least acknowledged her existence, no matter how much they grounded her and fed her.
“You know I don’t trust Aarek, and especially his little posse!” I complained, even though a feast sounded like some sort of miracle. “ Olivia, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Oh come on Alya! You know you want to, and to be honest, you look hungry...” she whined. Olivia was right. She hadn’t been able to smuggle me any food since her last boyfriend turned out to be involved with drugs, and so her parents hardly let her leave the house. I was lucky to be talking to her now, and I wasn’t going to get myself in more trouble with the law than I already was by stealing. Even so, it was a feast, I was hungry and, what the hell did I have to lose?
So that’s how I ended up here, in a unused sewer in Paris. I had run away from home after a massive fall out with my parents, because I had spat the dummy about how they ignored and neglected me all the time, and just left my meals on the table like I was a dog, acting like I was a parasite that would eventually go away. I think that was their way of dealing with the fact that I was supposedly crazy. It was probably because they were scared out of their wits, but I needed them and they weren’t there, so I grabbed the stash of money dad kept in the false bottom of the dresser, packed my bags and left.
It had been about 20 years since the revolution, so I only knew this life, being 14. Paris had become a completely industrial city, red brick buildings and smoke always coming out of chimneys. In the early days, the government had to purify the air, because people were dying from the toxic chemicals used to make certain products. I had heard adults talk of rain, which was apparently water that fell out of the clouds, but now, we just suck the moisture directly out of them, so we don’t have to worry about floods, because nothing stops the factories from working. Holidays were a thing of the past aswell, just a myth your parents told you about when you were a kid. But anyway, life is life and I don’t care how it was once upon a time.
I was snapped out of my daze by echoing footsteps gradually getting closer to me. I thought it could be one of Aarek’s clan, but as the dim light reflected off Olivia’s bright, shiny orange hair, all my muscles relaxed. As her brilliant green eyes came into view, I smiled, and she returned it, more sheepishly than usual. There was probably something she wanted me to do. Olivia was like that. She always got her way, but I side-stepped that because she had helped me so much since I left home. I don’t think I can even call it home anymore, more like ‘past accomodation’.
“Guess what’s happening tonight?” she asked playfully. I didn’t respond, because I wasn’t in a talkative mood since my recap of the macabre past, and besides, I don’t need to talk very often, because there was no one to talk to down in the sewer. I decided to give her a slight shrug, just because she was Olivia. “There’s going to be an all night feast on the other side of town. Aarek’s organising it and everyone is going!” She exclaimed, a bit too excited about some homeless people feast for a girl who’s parents at least acknowledged her existence, no matter how much they grounded her and fed her.
“You know I don’t trust Aarek, and especially his little posse!” I complained, even though a feast sounded like some sort of miracle. “ Olivia, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Oh come on Alya! You know you want to, and to be honest, you look hungry...” she whined. Olivia was right. She hadn’t been able to smuggle me any food since her last boyfriend turned out to be involved with drugs, and so her parents hardly let her leave the house. I was lucky to be talking to her now, and I wasn’t going to get myself in more trouble with the law than I already was by stealing. Even so, it was a feast, I was hungry and, what the hell did I have to lose?
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