The Blur of the City Lights

The boat

"BLEUGH!!" Adrianna winced as she hurled over the rickety, rusting side rail of the boat. Gritting her teeth, she wiped her mouth. "GET BACK IN YER SEAT!!" Shouted the red-faced patrol. He had a strange accent and slightly resembled a frightened chinchilla.

Rolling her eyes, she went back to the plastic seats in the middle, that were soaked and facing outwards to the sea, back to back with another row. There was only 5 others on the seats, all with the same miserable, far-away expression.

This led her to think. Back when the midland passage was popular, when everyone was moving to the big cities, these boats would have been teeming with desperate families, trying, often in vain to find a new home. Back then, you'd be lucky to get a seat. She shivered. Back when the ZOHN23 gas escaped into the overpopulated towns from the labs, everyone was panicking, hauling themselves onto the escape boats, at promises of safe, huge, government-erected cities, before they closed the Midland Passage. (the route the boat took to the cities) Her and her mum were some of the only ones who stayed. The rest of her family went. Until now, the towns had been liveable if you knew how to use a gas mask. Then the gas got her mother. Then she had no choice.

Adrianna gasped lightly as the boat jolted, and the sky rumbled as rain broke through the clouds. Hands shaking, she roughly stretched and pinned her hood over her eyes, as she had always been afraid of thunderstorms. "You okay?" A woman with kind eyes asked her, sitting behind her. Adrianna whipped around, nodding, and relaxing her grip, letting the hood fall back to its natural position. The woman's child hopped on her lap, babbling away and the woman offered Adrianna a sweet smile to which she did not return, mind troubled.

For the rest of the journey, Adrianna tried not to imagine the flimsy ferry capsizing, and just focus on the relaxing sound of the rain beating down on the flooring. She jogged her foot up and down, and cracked her knuckles. This made them bleed, as the skin around them was so dry and cracked. "Fuck..." she tried to wipe the blood on her hoodie but it didn't work. Rolling her eyes, she tried to suck on the wound, and eventually drifted off. They still had 1 hour left of the journey.

When she woke, the rain had subsided but the stars were now shining in the night, as if a dark blanket had been cast over the clouds. It was a clear night; she enjoyed stargazing, so this is what she did as she wiped her bleary eyes, and curled up in a ball, the bones in her back cracking whilst she did so.

Ping!! She glance at her phone, surprised the signal reached out here, and by the fact the money hadn't run out on her connection card. Her face lit up as did the screen as she saw the words: Messages Notification: Billy. Her cousin! The RSA (Resident Surveying Association) had finally processed and accepted his request for contact of someone outside the city borders, when Adrianna submitted her "relocation" form. This meant that they could find her a place (Billy gave consent for her to move in with him, after putting in the request himself) and she could be moved to the city as quick as possible. Swiping upwards, and entering her 14-digit she rubbed the rain-splattered screen with her lint-covered sleeve, and began to read the message.

Hey cuz!! Im so excited 2 c u, but change of plans ok?? I have a new address but u can still stay in old 1 k? I'll try visit soon as poss and this means i cant meet u @ docks, but here is location:

He then posted a link to a digital map site containing the apartment address.

Before she knew it, hot, wet tears were dripping down her cheeks and onto the screen. Her shaky fingers typed out:

K

And that was it. She shoved her phone in her pocket. Deep down she was terrified at the thought of having to navigate a new city, albeit a highly "observed" one, at night was terrifying. She hadn't seen Billy for 11 fucking years. She buried her face in her palms and rubbed her eyes in disgust. Why did she think he would get it? Why would he care about little old her, while he's living his best life?

Lost in thought, she barely noticed as the ferry bumped against the stony wall of the port, and RSA soldiers began storming on. As she finally jumped to her senses, she gasped in horror and clambered back over the seats as the child was wrenched apart from his mother, screaming, as she was dragged off by different soldiers. "Ah!" Adrianna exclaimed as a firm hand landed on her soldier. She looked up and was met by a stony glance of piercing blue eyes. "Come with us ma'am." He said in a brisk, husky tone. Shaking, she shook her head. This was all a bad, bad idea. "I don't want to have to do this the hard way." Her eyes widened as four more soldiers, male and female came and grabbed her arms, and began to roughly yank her away. "Okay! Okay, stop, I'll walk." She said with her hands raised, in a victim-like tone. They let go of her, but flanked her sides as she left the boat.

Terrified, she stumbled off, and was met with pouring rain and metal huts. There was a station where people were stamping arms, and signing names. Overwhelmed, she glanced at the hundreds of market stall-like sign-in spots in a perfectly straight line, blocking off an array of trams & mini buses. After pausing for a moment, she was shoved towards a line where many other people were piling off boats towards. This was it.

It was time to get registered.

Authors note:
Hii!! This is my first story on here, and I'm really excited! I hope you enjoyed it, more chapters here soon. There is romance soon for y'all, might be a bit of a slower burner 😅 please leave a vote or comment if u can! (Idk if there's settings or smth for that-)