The Dark Cloud

Chapter Two

Mister Felix's hut was positioned at the very top of the village. As Annie mounted the stone steps carved out of the mountainside, her stomach felt like it had a thousand magnets inside it, all trying to elbow their way out of her belly button. This was most unexpected. Few got to have an audience with the director. Even fewer in his actual home.

Having climbed the steps, Annie could see right across the mountain range. It was probably the highest point she had ever been. Below her, the lower cabins looked like toy houses. She felt that if she reached out with her hand, she could pluck one out from the earth and crush it in her fist.

Her destination was a cabin much like the other single person cabins and yet also very different. It was the same size and shape; the same design. But as Annie moved closer, she spied strange etchings along the outer walls. They were words but not in Spanish or English. They weren't even letters; not by any common definition at least. They were the symbolic musings of The Void. The spirals and tangles; the zigzags and waves, all of which she recognised from the pages Monitor had taken from her.

The sickly feeling in her belly was momentarily dispatched by the familiar excitement she felt when she saw the pages the night before. She now knew that she was connected to the voice of The Dark Cloud. She was connected to whatever happened at night in the Prophecy Hut. She was connected to Mister Felix.

Without warning, the door to the cabin opened and there he was. Tall, strong and dark of skin, Mister Felix had a way about him that made all his movements appear effortless. When he opened the door, it almost seemed as if the door opened for him. He smiled down at his visitor, his eyes hidden behind his ever-present sunglasses.

"Welcome Annie. I've been expecting this moment from the very day you were born."

***

It was dark and cool inside the cabin. Like most of the other single cabins, it was a two-room affair, a curtain separating the sleeping area from the kitchen. There was no 'living' area the likes of which the systemites spoke of. Here in Serenidad, the concept of a place to sit and do nothing made no sense. Of course, systemites would say they were relaxing; watching television or reading a book. But couldn't they see that these were just distractions created by other systemites to cause drifting? Drifting was the concept that, in order to control a population, you had to take away its desire to improve itself. You had to distract everyone and keep them distracted. Now, they were told in class by Miss Sidle, systemites even spent their free time watching others on television as they lived their lives. Before long, Nova said, they'd be watching other systemites lazing in their living spaces while they watched other people's lives on their televisions. And don't get me started on the so-called smart phone, she would expound as she was hitting her stride. Annie had seen almost all of the visitors carrying them. She had witnessed the struggle of their addiction as the use of them was banned in the community. Mobile phones were, according to Miss Sidle, the ultimate tool in causing drifting. Systemites created content to prevent other systemites from developing and accomplishing. It was a method of meta-control, the populace distracting each other, keeping everyone locked into the system. Never self-actualising. Never seeking the secrets of The Void. Just drifting.

They do it to themselves.

But up here on top of the mountain, they were safe from such diversions. Each member of the community optimised his or her time so that not a minute was wasted in living.

And writing.

Mister Felix made lemon tea using a small kettle and stove. He poured the boiling water into a tiny china teapot. Then he turned to face her.