Cup of Sleep

The Misspelled Name

Company policy three-hundred eighty: All production buildings with a rank higher than three must be equipped with a breath lock for the monitoring of coffee intake.

Gun in hand Danni walked down the metal walkway, Elizabeth following behind her keeping her head down as gas mask wearing employees walked over the walkway on the opposite side of the room, separated by large vats containing what smelled and looked like powdered cinnamon. Danni had one of those uniforms but Elizabeth was still wearing the clothes she was before, though more ripped and ash covered that before.
“Step one,” Danni said, “We need to get you a uniform, not only will the mask hide your face but it will also protect you from the fumes deeper in the factory.” They walked, cutting through factory floors watching as people took coffee spoons full of power and poured it into small silver pouches decorated with the logo of the Benny beans corporation cinnamon branch, which looked exactly the same as the regular mascot but a shade of brown everyone called her Cydneymon. Elizabeth reached around one of the workers, picked up one of these pouches and placed it in her pocket, she reached again, but this time her wrist was grabbed by the worker who looked at her and said
“If you want cinnamon powder you must pay for it, like everyone else.” He spoke with a strong yet unplaceable accent.
“No way, do you even know how much that costs?” She struggled, trying, and failing to push past him and grab one of the packets. Danni joined him in grabbing her wrist, but pulled back, freeing Elizabeth’s arm from the employee’s grasp.
“Sorry about Claire,” Danni said, addressing the employee “It’s her first day.” The employee mumbled to themselves, before turning back around and resuming work.
“Who’s Claire?” Elizabeth whispered as Danni dragged her away from the employee
“You’re claire.” Danni replied, “Now try to avoid drawing attention to yourself.” Their footsteps got quicker, louder as they walked through the workers keeping their heads down ending at a door, to the right of which was a machine that looked like a horn. Danni produced from her pocket a device, a small, silver cylinder with a button on top, he held the divide above her head, tilting it into her mouth and pressing the button, a deep brown liquid poured from the device into her mouth, her eyes widened and pupils dilated. “Your turn.” She said, giving me the device her face quickly changed to one of disgust “Never liked the stuff.” She said as Elizabeth took the device and did the same thing. Coffee Elizabeth thought Is that actually what it tastes like?''
“Is this coffee?” Elizabeth asked, holding the device as far away from herself as possible, the bitter taste she didn’t notice before than sticking to her nose. Ignoring her Danni simply instructed. Immediately Elizabeth felt the effects, her hands shook, head ached and something else, a voice in her head whispered to her
“You need more,” It said, “You will die if you don’t have more.” She closed her eyes, breathing in and out, silence.  
“Breath into that.” She said, pointing at the machine. “It will detect the coffee on your breath and unlock, I’ll be a few seconds behind.” So she did, blowing into the lock and waiting for a metallic snap to mark the sudden shifting of pins, the door opened loudly, yet none of the employees shifted, continuing their work as if nothing had happened. Elizabeth walked slowly into a blue-tiled room and stood facing two doors, one on the left labelled female and one on the right labelled male, in the centre, about the same size as the other doors was a poster, in the large text it read

Fear
The
            other           

Elizabeth pushed open the female door and entered, running her hand along the lockers that covered the walls, the room was empty.
“Over here.” She hadn’t seen Danni entre the room but she was standing at the opposite side, next to an open locker, Cydneymon in the back of the locker drawn with glow in the dark paint, Danni held the uniform in one hand and a gas mask in the other, on the light blue denim dungarees was a name tag that read Claire Black. “I’ll wait outside,” Danni said, “get dressed and meet me there, we're heading to the roof.”  Without shutting the locker, under the gaze of Cydneymon, she got dressed removing the ripped and muddy shirt and jeans, replacing them with dungarees that were too big in some places, mostly arms and legs and too small in others, most waist and shoulders. She left the changing room, carrying the gas mask under her arm, stopping at the door to tuck the bottom of the uniform into itself so she wouldn't trip. She put her mask on
“Why are we going to the roof?” Elizabeth asked, approaching the door and pushing, the door opened with a snap as the lock unlocked itself without the use of breath.
“This,” She said raising the gun “Is a one-way communicator. Point it in the sky and shoot, if my math is correct it will bounce off an orbital receiver and hopefully, the resistance, matulog, will receive the message and know I have the last pod.” Danni followed Elizabeth through the door, stopping only a step past and gesturing for Elizabeth to do the same. “From now on,” She explained “My name is Alice Cross and your name is Claire Black. I am your welcome buddy.” She took a Portable Coffee Dispenser and gave it to Elizabeth “Drink only when I tell you to.” Elizabeth followed Danni through the room, stopping occasionally as Danni felt the need to introduce her to the other employees, Joseph, Milliard, Sarah and Hannah on the left and Neil, Jack, Martha and Annabeth on the right.
“Is Alice giving you a tour of the place?” one of them asked, “hope you enjoy your first day,” she looked down yes on my tag “Claire,” she finished
“My names…” Elizabeth started, catching herself mid-sentence “my name is Claire.” she walked away quickly.
The path to the roof was a spiral staircase found in the centre of the factory that was barely wide enough for one person at a time so Elizabeth let Danni go first, watching as she ascended the stairs, cautious as the steps creaked under her feet. Elizabeth followed, walking up slowly, yet they still creaked.
“Take a drink,” Danni said, removing the device from her pocket and removing her mask. Elizabeth did the same, pouring the bitter-tasting liquid she had once developed a liking for into her mouth without milk, sugar or other such additives that change the flavour. Elizabeth felt her hands shake, she wanted more, she lifted the machine and held it above her mouth, almost pressing the button again but a Danni stopped her, a hand wrapped around her thumb preventing her from pressing no matter how hard she tried
“I need coffee.” She said, her hands shaking more and more “Let go of me.” Danni’s hand covered her mouth, her fingers close to blocking her nose
“When we get back I am putting you in the pod.” She said, “Now give me the PCD.” She held her hand out, taking the posture of a mother who wasn't mad but disappointed in their child. Yet Elizabeth resisted. She pulled her arm back, slamming her elbow on the thin metal wall of the stairway, a numb feeling radiating up her arm loosening her grip on the PCD.
“I need it.” Elizabeth cried “I’ll die without it.” She lashed out, but in her haste, she dropped the device which rolled to a stop at the bottom of the step in front of Danni who, before Elizabeth could react, picked it up and put it in her deepest pocket,
“Now keep quiet,” She demanded “If we keep quiet we can make it to the top without being interrupted,” Elizabeth stood there, foot-tapping out of her control and waited to focus not on the sudden boost of energy but instead on the taste, the bitter dirt like taste that hung in her nostril and made her eyes water, with clenched fists and sweat dripping from her forehead Elizabeth continued walking, always step behind Danni, yet resisting the urge to reach out and take her PCD back. With each deep breath she felt it pass, yet the feeling never truly passed, Her hands shaking progressing to what felt like a headache as she ascended the stairs.

ZZZ

It was colder than both Elizabeth and Danni remembered, their breath visible as they reached the roof and pushed open the near-frozen shut door and stood atop the stone littered roof surrounded by chimneys spewing the brown powder into the air. Danni took a watch out of her pocket and looked at the time, aiming her good into the air. At first, the sound was low and deep, Elizabeth felt her body shake with the waves, the pitch increased, before silence. There was a word on the side of the gun now, flashing in neon light, it read “mutooloog”.
“What does that mean?” Elizabeth asked, pointing at the side of the gun at the word which was now glowed duller.
“It’s the name of the resistance movement.” Elizabeth almost laughed
“You spelled it wrong,” she said, searching her pockets for any paper.
“No,” Danni countered, “I spelled it right, m u t o o l o o g.” Elizabeth walked away, approaching the door which led back down to the factory floor.
“I have a feeling you used to be a barista,” she stated, stopping at the door.
“I fail to see how that’s relevant,” Danni said, checking the spelling on the side of the gun.
“M a t u l o g.” Elizabeth corrected leaving a significant pause between each letter spoken, it’s the Tagalog word for Sleep.” she lowered her arms, her grip on the gun loosening to the point where she almost dropped it but at the last second caught it and sighed to herself saying, spelling was never my strong point.” before placing the gun on the ground and sitting, flinching as she sat on sharp stones,
“Do you think they got it?” She asked, watching the door,
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said, “They might have but I don’t know how that thing works.” She stepped away from the door and approached Danni, clearing the floor of stones with her feet before sitting down. “I didn’t invent this, you know.” Danni said “It was…” she paused, a lump developing in her throat “Alen.” for the first time since they had met, she broke, her head tucked between her legs, tears streaming down her red marked face wiped away by shaking hands. “I’m sorry.” She said, attempting to stop “I didn’t want to… in front of Charlie.” silently Elizabeth put one shaking hand around Danni’s slender arm, her mouth uncomfortably dry. Without speaking they sat, Danni cried and Elizabeth held her, ending with the sound of footsteps echoing on the stairs and the creaking of the weak metal. “Put your mask on,” Danni instructed in a barely audible whisper, Elizabeth listened placing the uncomfortable silicone mask on her face.
“Hello.” The voice from the doorway yelled the colour rushed from Elizabeth’s face.
“It’s Jane,” Elizabeth whispered, watching her co-worker pass through the door and slowly approach
“Who?” Danni asked, looking up at the approaching woman
“The person who reported you as an Unproductive.” Elizabeth saw Danni’s fist clench, yet her facial expression was hidden behind a mask through which only her eyes were barely visible, even her voice was distorted by the filter.
“I’m looking for someone.” Jane said as she approached the pair “She’s about this tall,” she said, using her hand to show Elizabeth's height “Blue eyes, black hair, dark skin and a bit of an American accent.” Elizabeth looked down, doing what she could to avoid eye contact
“No madam.” She said, hoping the mask distorted her voice enough. Jane’s look drifted, swapping for Elizabeth to Danni
“What about you?” She asked “earth to Alice,” She said, reading the hunched over woman’s name tag “Have you seen Elizabeth.” Danni replied, the sound of her teeth grating audible through the mask
“I have not.” She said, attempting to regain her appearance of professionalism.
“A Worker saw someone matching her description attempting to steal some cinnamon from the production line.” She explained, “I was sent to collect her, Harold thought she was dead but when the report was sent out I was sent.” She turned her back, causing Elizabeth to breathe a sigh of relief, but in no way lessening Danni’s anger. “Did you hear what I did earlier?” She asked, still facing away from them.
“What did you do?” Danni asked under hear breath,
“I caught two unproductives today,” Jane replied. Before Danni could do anything Elizabeth grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the unaware Jane who continued speaking “And one of them was shot right in the head like. Bang!” she said, using her hands to mimic the gun that shot Sarah. Once they were on the stairs Danni took her mask off, her Shortly cut ginger hair ruffled by the strap.
“I’m gonna kill her,” Danni said, her jaw clenched and hands shaking.