They say we can't leave

Chapter two

I start ascending the stair to the fishing deck, I have to pass through the farm to get there. I spot Emma in one of the rows of plants on her knees harvesting. I walk up to her and she stands pulling me in for a big hug and kiss. "Hey Ace" she says through a smile. There is a group of us that were the same age when we came here, Emma and I being part of that group so we have grown up together and have always been friends but last year we grew closer and more intimate. Emma is stunning, she is tall and fit, she has long golden locks that reach just into the middle of her back with bright blue eyes. "Get a room love birds!" Ronny yells from across the room. Ronny is my best friend he is also part of the same age group as Emma and I. Stacey, the teacher here at Aukai teaches all the youth. Emma, Ronny, Kourtney, and I were all in the same class because we came here together. Ronny and I were inseparable until our teenage years. Once we had to work, and got involved with our girlfriends we grew apart some but have remained good friends. I roll my eyes at him and turn back to Emma. "Do you want to meet back at my place later? I'll sneak us up onto the fishing deck?" Emma flashes me a big wide grin. "That sounds nice can't wait." I kiss Emma goodbye and head to the fishing deck.

I open the big metal port door the sun is blinding me, a gust of wind hits me sending the smell of ocean into my nostrils. My eyes take time to adjust and I take in my surroundings, the day shift crew is here, it's a group of 10 of us, and then we switch off in the evening. I go to my station it's one of the ocean floor scanners, and get to work. John and Sam are my partners, while I scan and they send their fishing lines out to where I tell them too. There are 3 other teams that do the same and then one of the Elders watches over us, Suzy is on duty today.

"Looks like there is a school of fish just about 10 feet that way" I point, John and Sam reel in and recast to where I point. The fish seem big on the screen but I can never tell exactly how big they are or what kind until they pull in a catch. If we don't catch fish the colony doesn't eat. We do have a fishing net that pulls in shrimp so we do always have shrimp if the fishing does not go great for that day. One time we pulled a shark in with our net and we got the next 3 days off but that's the only time that ever happened. John and Sam are twin brothers. They are my parents age. They have been here since the beginning as well. Neither of them are married or have girlfriends that I am aware of. They both share the same personality. They are both gruff and a little on the grumpier side. They tend to keep to themselves. They seem a little antisocial so they tend to do things together. They have now caught 3 fish each which means it is going to be a good day, I search the scanner and the school of fish hasn't gotten spooked yet, they are still there which is a good sign. Suzy the elder on duty today, also Ronny's mom, heads over this way. "Hey Ace how are you?" She says with a smile. "Good Suzy how are you? How is Scott?" I ask returning her smile. "We are good everything is good." I give her a quick head nod hoping she will go away. She hesitates and speaks "Hey have you seen Ronny? He never came home last night, we got into a fight." Ronny looks just like Suzy, they are both short with firey red hair. "Yeah I actually seen him this morning when I stopped to see Emma at the farm on my way here." She sighs with relief "that's good we got into a fight last night but I'm glad to know he is okay." She pats my arm going about her way to check on everyone else.

We break for lunch at noon, just like all the other jobs, we head down to the cafeteria dragging our days catch along with us to give to the head cook to take care of. I pick up my plate of shrimp and fried veggies and spot Emma across the room. The cafeteria always smells of food. It's a comforting smell. I sit next to her, she is reading a book but gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before returning to it. Ronny and his girlfriend Kourtney join us I say Hello to Kourtney, "Hey dude your mom's look for you, she said you never showed up this morning." He rolls his dark blue eyes. "Yeah we got into another argument last night about me moving out, I crashed at Kourtney's" he says nodding his head towards her. "she just can't accept that I am growing up and getting my own place. It's so not cool." He spits out in a gruff tone. Emma's mouth turns into a frown where only I can see, she hates when Ronny talks bad about his parents because she lost her parents when we were really young. She has lived with an older elderly couple until she was old enough to get her own apartment. They are still alive but they don't talk to Emma. Emma says they never really got along. It doesn't seem to bother her. She is a lot like me, we tend to keep to each other. She has lived on her own since she was old enough too. I rub her back feeling her relax. We finish our lunch mostly in silence. Kourtney and Ronny talked to each other about their plans for this evening. The bell rings and we head back to work.