Like A Fairytale

Chapter 14

Lena

"Come!" She hurried down the corridor, out of her father's house. "Come on!"

Her new babysitter hurried after her. Lena had suddenly started running. Without warning. And so she almost left the soldier behind. She did not intentionally make life difficult for her babysitter. No. Mina had briefly appeared in her room, as a hologram of course, to tell her that Burgstadt had arrived at the village. And if Lena liked something, it was to see the villages and towns that she had never visited herself.

"But! Miss!" It didn't take the soldier long to catch up. "Where are you running?"

"Upstairs!"

"Upstairs?"

"Yes!" Lena ran through the back door of the property into the garden. There was a private elevator that would take them to Level 6. In an area that was only intended for her father and her. No one else had access. Not even to the elevator.

In front of it stood a soldier from Base 1, whose job was to guard and operate the extremely private elevator. Nothing more.

"Miss!" The soldier smiled. "And who is that? Your new bodyguard?"

"Hello, Annabella!", Lena greeted her. "Yes, exactly." Actually, Lena wanted to say 'my new babysitter', but she refrained from commenting. Instead, she hugged the soldier stormily. Annabella was only a few years older than Lena and one of the soldiers who served as guards in and around the estate. And she was also Lena's best friend. "This is Samuel. Will you take us up? Pretty please?"

"Of course." The soldier teasingly tugged on one of Lena's light locks, something the other staff would never dare. Except maybe Mr. Wang. "That's my job. He has the authorization for the balcony, right?" She looked at the babysitter. "Hello, Samuel. Annabella Grieß. Military Base 1. However, I don't live there."

Samuel nodded. "Yes, Sir, Mam. Anyway... Yes." He looked at her with red cheeks.

Lena wanted to roll her eyes. Yes, her friend was pretty with a curvy body. But this body was not only curvy but also very muscular. All the soldiers who worked in the estate and lived there belonged to the elite. And all of them were high-level. The girl did not understand why her father did not claim any of them as a babysitter.

But her father had always been a bit peculiar in his decisions. And Lena was hardly allowed to leave the property. Maybe he didn't think it necessary to have her guarded by one of the elite? Maybe he saw the young man just as additional protection? Within the best-secured villas in the city?

"I heard we arrived at the village?" Annabella opened the gate of the elevator. Ornate iron grilles, glass, gold, and silver... This elevator was one of the most magnificent in Burgstadt. And also one of the smallest.

"We are! Mina told me that we have arrived!", Lena confirmed.

"And of course, you want to see it!" Annabella stepped aside so that Lena and the babysitter could get in. The soldier looked at the noble, sparkling furnishings in amazement. He barely managed to appear professional, so fascinated was he by the designer's artistic work. Lena grinned.

Annabella stepped up to them, closed the grating, and operated a golden lever. She placed it at a turntable on 'level 6', then the elevator slowly started moving. It was moving towards the wrong sky. Lena already knew the sight, but Samuel now stared with his mouth open as they glided through an open shaft to the next Level. Through the false sky. All the while, they could see the property and the garden. It was more of a magnificent courtyard. There was no meadow. The floor, on the other hand, was paved in a fine mosaic. Palm trees grew in a few big flowerpots. Artificial sunlight allowed them to thrive magnificently. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain.

The look on Samuel's face, on the other hand, suggested that this courtyard and the elevator that glided through the sky were like paradise for him. Lena and her friend exchanged amused looks.

"Soldier? What's this? You're on duty!" Annabella finally said in a stern tone.

"Oh! Yes..." Samuel blinked, regained his composure, and took a stance. "Sorry."

"Admiring the view?" Lena raised her eyebrows. "I'll show you a much more amazing view!"

On Level 6 they were greeted by real daylight.

"What?" Samuel staggered as the elevator stopped a little abruptly.

"Welcome to paradise!" Amused, Lena looked at him. "The glass dome protects us from harmful environmental influences. This is my father's second garden! Much better than our courtyard, which only masquerades as a garden."

Samuel just nodded while Annabella opened the elevator gate. "I'll wait here then," she said.

"Thank you! Come! We're going to the observation deck!" Lena hurriedly left the elevator and forced the soldier to hurry after her again.

"Miss!" he called.

"Lena is enough!" she answered. "No reason for these formalities. Now come on! Samuel!"

They walked along a paved path that led through a flowering meadow. There were rose bushes and also some lavender. Butterflies and honeybees whizzed around them. Lena hurried on until they came to a terrace. From there you could see the fields and gardens of the entire Level. And from there you could see best through the dome. The view was magnificent.

Lena leaned against the white-painted railing of the terrace and rested her head in her hands. "Have you ever been to Level 6?" she asked the soldier.

"No." Samuel shook his head. "Never. I don't have the appropriate authority."

"Hm." For Lena, this terrace was her only real freedom. A place where she could come and go freely. Just as she wanted. Even in the middle of the night. "Have you ever been out of town?"

"Yes. But not often."

"How was it?" Through the thick, sturdy glass of the dome, she could see to the sea, all the way to the still distant island where her uncle and Mina lived. And then she saw the smaller protective dome of the village. And behind it? Behind it lay the remains of a city that was reclaimed by nature. In addition, she saw an endless meadow, trees, and partly reddish sand.

"Well, if I do, then I'm only out of town for a short time." Samuel shrugged his shoulders. "I have no relatives in any of the villages, so I can't visit any. And I don't earn enough to buy the right to visit the villages. For shopping. When I leave the city, it is to pick up prisoners. Most of the time, however, I am deployed as a guard on Level 3."

"Buying one." Lena knew that some residents of Levels 4 and 5 paid a lot of money to get permission to leave the city. For people who had relatives in the villages, or who had to visit for work reasons, it was easier to get one. They also had to pay for them. But for far less, depending on the reason.

But no money in the world could buy Lena such a license. As the daughter of a clone, she was a prisoner. She sat in a dazzling, comfortable cage.

(c: sasi)