I looked through the window and it was like any other day, not much sun, a thick fog blocking my sight of anything farther than the end of the staircase, and the mountains of rubble around us. Crystal was awake; I heard her footsteps down the hall. It meant it was time to get dressed, I debated showering today, seeing as it’s been about a week, I think should wait. We met at the dining table like we had been for who knows how long, breakfast looked amazing, Crystal went to the store in the Upper City yesterday after work to get what she could. We could only afford fresh food once every few months. Everything’s so expensive for us, and pretty much anyone else living in the Lower City but I tried not to think about that as I devoured the food on my plate.
Crystal looked at me and said, "Hey Lights, I’ll be late getting home tonight, Mr. and Mrs. Poxleitner offered to pay me a little extra if I stayed back."
I don't think she minds having to clean Mr. and Mrs. Poxleitner’s house, she says that it could be worse and that we got lucky finding them, I'd never argue with that. I’m not old enough to work yet so Crystal's been taking care of me for as long as I can remember, she even picked our names. I don't know who my parents were and neither does Crystal, we've grown up in the Lower City so I can't imagine life would've been much easier with them around. Sometimes I wonder if that’s how we ended up way down here, these thoughts don't last long. I have school in a couple hours, but that all depends on if it’s safe to go outside today.
"I’m leaving Lights, lock the door behind me." Crystal said hugging me like she did every day, and with that she put on her fume mask and took the tunnel to the elevators. I hated when Crystal left, she was the only family, or friends I had left.
I turned on the TV as soon as she was gone, I was checking the local pollutant level for the Lower City, Valence Wreck is the local weather man, or what I liked to call "Pollutant Man".
"Don't go outside today, there’s a toxin level of about 70 percent. Nothing’s going to survive this wave of pollutants. My guess is that the rich stiffs in the Upper City are up to some big construction again." Mr. Wreck wasn't incredibly professional in his broadcasts but he did his job. Ever since the higher class people decided it was time to move anyone who couldn't afford it to live down on the surface. It’s almost impossible to live here, you can’t breathe the air just the way it is. In history class we talk about the world before this, but I’m not allowed to tell anybody about it, Ms. Decker says we could get in a lot of trouble for that. Anyways, we talk about how there used to be trees here, on the surface, and life could freely walk around, at times we even see pictures. Ms. Decker says that the worlds perfect once you get to the Upper City, they still have trees, and don’t need to walk around with fume masks. I’ve always wanted to go up there, get out of here, but I’ll get my chance, all of the Lower City people don’t have many choices for a job, most of us just go to the Upper City as maids, cooks, and to work in factories. I’ve never heard anybody complain about it though; it’s supposed to be beautiful. 12:30 am, I can’t go outside today, and there’s no point anyways I’m late for school now. I cleaned as best I could, and then put on my fume mask to take a walk in the tunnels, and with that I locked my door and left. The tunnels were thoroughly ventilated, we didn’t really need our masks but it wasn’t worth the risk. It wasn’t uncommon to see somebody passed out or even dead cause of the fumes and pollution. I checked my watch, it was 5:30, Id passed the day by playing with some of the other kids playing down here; we kicked a can around, and played tag, before we knew it the day was over. I knew I should be getting home soon, Crystal said she’d be late but I wanted to make sure the house was nice for her when she came back, she’d had a long day after all.
I got home, 6:30pm, I hadn’t much time to make dinner I rushed to make whatever I could, some food leftover from lunch and limp vegetables from the cooler. The table was set I took pride in fine job I’d done. I turned the TV on again; the screen flashed and it was an Upper City broadcast, I don’t care for these shows but the local station isn’t allowed to broadcast after curfew, the only people allowed outside are those working for upper class people. I watched the show, mindlessly, not like I could help it with this dribble. 7:10pm its gotten quite late and Crystal still hasn’t gotten back, I would call her but she isn’t allowed to have a cellphone in the Upper City without a license, being from the Lower City certainly had lots of disadvantages. For example, we had extremely strict curfews, despite having our own government all the final decisions were made by the Upper Council. When you arrived at the elevator to take you to the Upper City you had to be marked and not by a pen, they would probe your skin via syringe, and if that wasn’t bad enough all Lower City citizens must pay more for all goods, they say it’s to keep life sustainable. I personally feel it’s all just a bunch of crap, this coming from the people who ruined our planet in the first place. I ranted to myself like that for what seemed to be a year but turned out be an hour.
8:20pm, I could feel it, there was a problem, maybe I was just paranoid, but I couldn’t ignore this feeling. I threw on my fume mask and made out for the door, I didn’t lock it this time, I moved towards the elevator as fast as I could. The entire way there I was trying to figure out how I was going to get past the guards but when I got there nobody was there. All doubt in my mind was gone, something had happened. I approached the elevator and pressed the single button on the panel, my heart raced, this is it; I’m going to the Upper City, I couldn’t wait to see how beautiful it was in person. The doors opened, I stepped in, and they shut behind me. I was filled with excitement, it’s supposed to be incredible in the Upper City, but I was worried about Crystal. It was a long ride to the top, about 25 minutes. The entire time my head was filled with vivid illustrations of beauty, the beauty I’d learned about in school of course, I’d never seen it for myself. There was lush trees, which you could almost smell the fresh breeze cascading off of, fields of flowers with houses all around, not houses like the Lower City, long lines of beautiful houses, white fences, huge backyards, and full of life with families sharing their happiness. Believe it or not, I didn't resent them, I’ve always wished for a life like that though, but that was impossible for us, we were practically just salves, no future, no hope, the Upper Council made sure of that a long time ago.
The elevator was about to arrive at the top of the world, out the window I could see the Lower City, rubble, a destroyed world, and that was it, there wasn't much else to see, except for the clouds of toxic air. "Arrival in 1 minute", the elevator had a robotic tone to it, not very inviting but I didn’t let that bother me, it was finally happening; I was going to see the Upper City for myself. What about Crystal though? Maybe she didn't want me to come up, but it was too late, besides, a loud ring interrupted my thought. The elevator doors opened. It felt as if a whole new world was opening up to me. I closed my eyes, and with bated breath I stepped out of the elevator.
I'd promised myself the first thing I would do once I got here was take a breath. I kept my promise and took a deep breath in, and with that I opened my eyes. Horror, horror filled my mind, my eyes, and my heart, there wasn’t another word for it. Faces I recognized were enslaved, forced to work to feed their families, they were being forced to build massive pillars directly over the ones that connected the Lower City to the Upper City. Panic ensued, I didn't know what to say, what to do, I could feel it in my gut, and all hope was gone. All around, nothing but towering buildings, massive lots filled vandalized walls. There was long lanes of bright lights, selling their goods, I felt sick at the sight of this. I couldn’t see the any stars because there was towering lights that made it impossible. The smell of the busy streets sickened me with the dense fog however above, nothing like the one in the Lower City but it was still there. The worst part was that in all this corruption there wasn’t a single tree, not one sign of life only the mass of people living in their own conformity, not understanding what they were doing. Somebody grabbed my shoulder, and I erupted into a loud scream. I turned around to see a figure standing before me, in a mask. The figure removed its mask and I saw Crystal’s face. I didn’t know what to say, not a thought crossed my mind, I was frozen. Crystal pulled me into the elevator, "I guess there's no point in lying to you anymore. There is no Mr. or Mrs. Poxleitner, I don't know a single person up here we’ve been banned from speaking to them or even looking at them for years. The only work available to us is this, the construction for the new Upper City. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, you were the only person I could see with a sliver of hope left. I couldn’t take that away."
I looked at Crystal and said nothing, I felt like the world was coming to an end, maybe not today but it was inevitable, they were all contaminated by their own negligence. The human race was already divided, and it just kept dividing farther. It was happening again, they'd polluted this world, their world, just like they'd polluted ours, they were going to move up again, and I had no reason to believe this was the last time either.
