Cup of Sleep

Fatal Frappuccino

Company policy three-hundred and eighty-two: any mention of the hot beverage previously referred to as "tea" will result in immediate and irreversible termination.

She had been staring at the poster for five minutes when she heard the beeping, a low and repetitive high-pitched sound that made everyone around her stop and look. She waited, hand on heart for what she knew was gonna happen, yet another ten minutes passed and there she stood, hand still on her heart which beat at the same rate as before, she looked at the poster. A woman in formal wear with wings sprouting from her back, in one she carried a sign with the number four-hundred and eighty on and in the other was a pill, the top half of the plastic case was red and the bottom was yellow. In bold, at the top of the poster were seven words taught to us from a very very young age.

“A productive citizen has already beaten Somnus.”

It has been their motto since the end of the war, Always be productive. She leaned against the wall and slid down, reaching into her pocket and finding a mirror, and for the first time she could remember bags did not mark her eyes, she didn’t need to fight to keep her eyes open and the world seemed still, no longer spinning on its axis.
“Where have you been?” An unseen voice asked, taking a seat next to me. “You’ve been missing for eight hours. If I didn’t know any better I would say you were asleep, but of course, you would never do that.” Jane placed her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder and rested “Wanna talk about it?”
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Elizabeth asked, taking Jane’s arm and removing it.
“This is work” she explained “You were missing for a long time. Harold was worried and told me to try and find you. I bet people are already saying you’re dead.” Jane stood up and faced the wall, ripping the poster off the wall.
“Do you know who Somnus is?” Jane asked, folding it up and placing it in her pocket.
“The devil,” Elizabeth said, raising her hands and using her fingers to imitate horns.
“Not quite.” She explained “Somnus is the Roman god of the unproductives. Of course, they weren’t called unproductives when she was worshipped but that was before the war.” She held her hand out and grabbed mine, pulling Elizabeth up with all her strength. “How did you survive anyway,” She asked, “You only had enough coffee for six hours and it has been over eight.” she leaned closer and, with two fingers, touched the area beneath my eye. In the next moment, her expression changed from fear to anger to disgust all in a few seconds before resting on fear.
"I know what this looks like." Elizabeth said "but I can explain. Jane stumbled back and raised up an accuracy finger.
"you have become an unproductive." she looked at her watch and said
"ok, you have till I drink my next coffee to explain what happened." Elizabeth began
"so Alen is dead. And I was told to tell his wife.  I arrived at her house when she opened the door." Elizabeth reminded Danni's children. If she remembered correctly their names were Charlie and Sarah. "before I continue, what happens to the children of unproductives?" she asked "are they taken to a new home." with no change in her expression she said
"They are killed." she said, her face still unchanging "we cannot let their corrupted minds age. Why? Do you have children?" Elizabeth looked around and for the first time she truly saw the buildings she visited and passed every day, they stood tall and whole, only two of them in disrepair and those were a demonstration of the war.
"no," she continued, "never mind, let's just say I was kidnapped. Because I was so we don't need to pretend because it actually happened." she felt the sudden and irresistible desire to touch her face and look away from Jane. Without speaking, Jane took out her phone and turned around
"I've found an unproductive," she said before going silent and lightly nodding to herself. "yes," again there was silence "no," yet more silence "she's fine. Someone forced her to become an unproductive." she put her phone away and turned back around "it's okay," she said, "the voluntary unproductives have been dealt with." Jane hugged her placing one hand on the back of her head the other on her shoulder
"but she has children." Jane’s hand began moving up and down rubbing in a repetitive and comforting pattern
"I know," she said "it's tragic but necessary. We don't want them to grow up even more unproductive. We're recovering from the war, we don't have time to be unproductive." she began whispering in Elizabeth's ear though no words could be heard.
"later today they will be eliminated. Probably starting with the children and ending with any adults." they separated, Jame keeping her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders. "but there's a plus side to this."
"how?" she said, louder than she intended "two children are going to die."
"But," Jane said, "this means Alen was able to resist becoming an unproductive. We can beat them." A smile of pride spread across her face. She reached into her pocket and held out a plastic bag, the bitter smell of coffee clung to it.
"Chocolate coated coffee bean?" she asked, taking one of the sweet beans out of the bag and eating it.
“I can’t believe you?” Elizabeth said,
“What?” Jane replied “For when you want the taste of coffee but you don’t want anything hot.
“Two children are about to die and all you can focus on is sweets.” With one hand Elizabeth knocked the sweets out of Jane's hand, watching as they scattered on the floor, her nose became overwhelmed by the smell.
“To be fair they’re the children of an unproductive so the world won’t miss them too much,” she said, reaching into the bottom of the bag hoping to find that survived the fall.
“I shouldn't have to tell you about the unproductives. How uncivilised they are.” As she said this she leaned down and picked up a handful of the fallen sweets and with her other hand used her mini machine to produce another cup of coffee, mixing the sweets into it, some of the water from when it rained previously mixing with the liquid.   

ZZZ

When Elizabeth arrived at Danni’s house the raid was already in progress, with at least five cars parked outside, behind each car stood two police officers, bulletproof barista themed aprons wrapped tightly around their waists. One of them had a megaphone.
    "We know you're in there." The police officer in the middle said "come out with your hands up and your sleep pod available for dismantling and your death will be relatively painless. They each had guns drawn when he continued" if you do not come out we will be forced to come in and at that point, we cannot be held accountable for what we do." a crowd began to form as the door opened, slowly the five-year-old Sarah walked out, holding a cup so big one hand was not enough.
    "My mommy is trying to-" before she could finish speaking, the bullet pierced her skull, the fragment of metal breaking bone and brain before coming to a halt in the wall on the other side of her. A thunderous applause erupted from the crowd with screams of unproductive and how she deserved it. Yet Elizabeth just stood there, watching as a single drop of blood rolled down the wall and onto the floor. She made no attempt to get closer until the police did, she followed them into the house and down the stairs into the basement, where the pod stood earlier was now empty, the only proof of its existence being a patch on the ground a lighter shade than the rest due to a lack of dust. From the shadows she approached, Danni, grabbed Elizabeth by the collar and pushed, forcing Elizabeth against the wall.
    "This is your fault." She looked like she was gonna do more, but with three guns to her back all she could do was kneel down, hands on the back of her head, eyes closed tightly. Yet she was not shot, instead, a new officer grabbed her by the arms and pulled, forcing her to her feet.
    "what will happen to her?" Elizabeth asked the guard who was leading her out of the room.
    "you must be Elizabeth," he said
    "yes, I am," she answered
    "it's a shame what they did to you, just thinking of how much work you lost sickens me. Don't worry. An example will be made of her." She was led out of the house and forced into a car, Elizabeth followed in a taxi.

ZZZ

When both cars stopped it was in front of a cafe. Elizabeth waited, watching as, by herself, Danni left the car and walked into the cafe, showing no sign of being forced or restrained. Elizabeth paid for the taxi and left, approaching the door and pushing it open. She was immediately greeted by hot, coffee-scented air. An over-eager member of staff approached
    "How may I help you madam?" he asked, a smile that revealed all of his coffee-stained teeth.
    "I'm meeting a friend here," she said, attempting to look over his shoulder, and failing
    "shouldn't you be at work?" he asked
    "Unfortunately there was a code two twenty-six," he said nothing, just let her pass. Danni was at a table at the very centre of the room.
    "Is this seat taken?" Elizabeth asked as she approached and leaned against it.
    "you shouldn't be here," Danni whispered. A drink rested in the middle of the table, a frappuccino. Elizabeth looked at the menu and saw the price of added Cinnamon powder, three spunod per drink
    "That makes two of us" Elizabeth countered, taking a seat opposite Danni. "I'm sorry about Sarah," she said, filling the silence. "I didn't know they would kill her."
    "I don't blame you." that was all she said before taking a long sip of her drink.
    "you seemed angry at me when we met back at your house. You pushed me against the wall." then she saw it, something small and metal floating to the surface of the drink.
    "I wanted them to think I hate you." she explained "it would make talking to you without looking suspicious easier." yet Elizabeth was focused not on what Danni had just said but instead on the small metal sphere which was now beeping.
    "is that-" Elizabeth began asking, but was cut off
    "bomb? Yes, yes it is." she said "but don't worry, I have a plan." she winked
    "Could you please explain the plan to me?" Elizabeth asked, she picked up the cup and looked inside, the explosive was about the size of the tip of her thumb
    "the bomb will go off," she explained "when the drink is empty. How fast can you run?" with one fluid motion she took the drink from Elizabeth and stood up "there's a bomb in this drink, everyone out!" she yelled, throwing the drink across the room. Yet no one reacted. Danni grabbed Elizabeth's arm, running towards the door was the liquid poured out of a hole in the side of the plastic cup. They only stopped running when they were on the other side of the road, bracing themselves for the force of the blast. Nothing happened.
    "Are you sure it was a bomb?" Elizabeth asked, lowering her arms. "it could have been something less sinister?"
    "yes, I'm sure it was a bomb. Just taking a while to go off. So they waited, watching the people in the cafe go about their business like there was nothing.
    "can't you help them?" Elizabeth asked.
    "I could, in theory, but they would just report us. Which would be bad news for everyone involved. I did what I could to warn-"
Boom!