Retrospect

Twenty-nine

   The five of us had made our way back to the aquarium alley after the theater visit. The bass of a song could be heard from outside, rattling my heart and people were already lining up at the entrance, laughing and calling to one another.

I stood in front of Ana in the alleyway, the glow-in-the-dark kit in my left hand and a smudge of orange makeup on a finger of my right. "Hold still," I told her, narrowing my eyes at my artwork. The workers' glow makeup had to be put on in a certain way and I was the only one familiar with this information (I could thank Mom and Dad for this). That being said, I was the designated person for applying it to Ana while everyone else watched. Once they saw how it was done, they'd be able to try it themselves.

Three orange dots of the makeup sat underneath each of Ana's eyes, a shimmery line of purple highlighted her face, and lastly, a light blue was used at her hairline. All of the colors blended together, lighting up her cheeks while the glow reflected in her dark gaze.

The same look was already applied to my face, so Ana was making sure I did the exact same steps for her. She wanted to guarantee I wasn't messing her makeup up on purpose.

I stepped back. "That's it," I said, "shouldn't be too hard." I spun around, handing the kit to Reeves.

"All of the workers wear it like that?" Murl asked, leaning closer to get a better look at Ana's face.

I nodded and Reeves sighed. "Okay then... purple first, blue second, orange last," he mumbled to himself, opening up the kit slowly.

It was strange watching Reeves try to put the glow makeup on. It was usually used by the younger city-goers, and I'd never even see my parents wearing the stuff either.

Miles stood a little farther away in the shadow of the alley, arms crossed as he watched us. I pushed the thought of him from my mind and paid attention to Reeves. The gray-eyed man kept questioning whether he was applying it the right way, which I responded to with a nod. The process was extremely simple, so Reeves was almost finished in just a minute.

Murl was next, taking the kit from Reeves' hand, but he struggled when he brought his finger with the purple highlighter to his face. His injury wasn't treating him very well, but he was managing which was progress.

"Do you need help?" I asked him. He shook his head. "You sure?"

"Yeah," he assured, "if I want to get better, I need to do things myself." He continued putting the makeup on, giving me a forced smile. Either it didn't hurt much anymore, or he was just really good at acting.

Once Murl added the glowing, orange spots under his eyes (the last step), he handed the kit back to me. I just stood there with it, knowing I had to go to Miles next.

Taking a deep breath, I turned my head. My feet started carrying me over in his direction, as if I wasn't in control of them. They halted in front of him then and I found myself shoving the kit at him without a word.

"Thanks," he said simply, taking the kit. This has nothing to do with you, the memory of him accused me.

I dipped my head, spun around, and walked right past the others, ready to leave the alley as soon as possible. "I'm going to go ahead and get to the door, just in case there's a line," I told everyone, then slipped away.

Walking along the street at the front of the aquarium, I gazed up at the building to my left, now lit up with cerulean lights. Projections of sharks and dolphins shimmered across the tinted windows, just as a drop of rain splattered on the tip of my nose.

I looked back down to the ground again, avoiding all of the people who were pushing each other around jokingly. Thunder boomed off in the distance, distracting me and making me step on someone's foot. "Sorry!" I peeped, then sped up to where I turned to the left into the corridor. That was where the door for the workers was.

Entering the corridor, I saw that there wasn't a line like at the front of the aquarium. Either I was really late or really early and the workers hadn't arrived yet. Once I reached the scanner, I examined it, took out the device from my bag, then held it up in the air. The scanner blinked once with a green light and the door slid open. The music from inside was still muffled, but the bass pushed its way out the door, finding my ears.

It was strange that there was no one guarding the door since the workers and officers knew I had a device and that I was in the area. This just meant I had to be prepared for anything that was planned. This whole aquarium was just a death trap with my name on it.

Warm air spilled out from the doorway and it smelled of something sweet and poisonous. My legs went all wobbly already and my heart thumped in my chest. It was pitch black inside and I would admit, I was nervous to go in. The officers were waiting.

"Hey, you aren't going without us, are you?" Murl called from the end of the corridor. Ana and Reeves rushed up to me and Miles wandered behind them. It felt as if I'd just emerged from a dream when I faced the others.

Everyone reached the door and peered in. It shut suddenly, causing us all to flinch in unison and the scanner beeped and began talking. "You may only bring one guest with you," it instructed.

I looked back at Murl in concern, but he waved dismissively. "Don't worry about that," he said, "Miles and I have devices, remember? From the worker building?"

"Oh, right," I answered, recalling when I'd gone up in the elevator by myself into the unknown. I shook the oncoming thought away.

"Who's going first?" Ana asked, looking to each of us. "I mean, I'll go, I'm just not sure if there's a specific order or—"

Without a word, Miles pushed past Reeves. The citrine glow of the makeup on his face brought out the stubborn, impatient look in his eyes. He pulled out his device, letting the scanner read it and the door whooshed back open. The scanner read the price of his jacket (to make sure he was qualified enough to enter I'm sure) and without a single look back, he disappeared into the aquarium."Okay, then," Ana mumbled, following Miles and as expected, the door closed.

"Cory," Reeves started, "Murl will go with me. You go on ahead." He gestured to the entrance and I nodded.

Turning to the scanner, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, raised the device up, hearing the beep and the confirmation that my dress belonged to the Sera Section. Then I looked at the metal door sliding to the side. "Here we go..." I whispered, taking my first step into the darkness. Wish I was going with you, I thought, as memories of Mom flooded my mind.

And with that, I heard the swoosh and was instantly enveloped in nothingness.