Seeking Utopia

Chapter 2

Gia’s Point Of View:

            I woke up with a deep longing pounding through my veins. I saw him again in my dreams last night, his eyes still plague me. There were full of a pain that I’ve never seen before, no one in Dove looks like that. . . The deep circles under his eyes are alien to my world, but it gave him an air of mystery I can’t for the life of me shake.

            “Gia darling, breakfast is ready!” my dads voiced boomed through the intercom and I raced downstairs, my stomach grumbling at me in protest.

            My dad was at the head of our elegant mahogany table reading a newspaper. His face was plastered on the front, he had made headlines again. It read: “Governor Lowe captivates audience with yet another heartwarming speech.

            “Headlines again daddy?” I asked him with a good morning hug. He just shrugged with a sly smile as if it was inevitable anyway.

            I sat down to the smorgasbord of food spread out all over the table. Sunny side up eggs, bacon crisped to perfection, golden pancakes drizzled with butter and just the right amount of syrup. You would think we were celebrating something but in reality this was just a normal occurrence, I don’t even know what happens to all the food we don’t eat. It was all so mouth watering but the smells just turned my stomach, I just couldn’t get him out of my head.

            My dad glanced over at me nervously as I pushed the food around my plate. I gave him a sad smile and a shrug as if I wasn’t really hungry.

                        “Anything wrong my little dove?” he asked me, digging into his own food and eating ravenously. You would think the mans never had a decent meal in his whole life the way he eats.

            “Well. . . I was thinking about how we have so much and the people of Raven Valley have so little. Why don’t we ever help them out?” I casted my eyes downward so I wouldn’t have to see his reaction.

            “Ha, honey. That’s just not the way it works! We are magnificent people born into wealth. It’s not our fault that they have nothing. We got rid of welfare for a reason you know! It was dragging this whole nation down, but now that we’re back to the way it used to be nothing could be better! You can’t possibly tell me you’d rather live like a lowly peasant like them? Now no more talk about this, run along now Gia.”

            With a sigh I pushed away from the table and ran upstairs to quickly get dressed before rushing outside.

            As I ran down the sidewalk heading for the edge of the cliff everyone just moved out of my way, laughing at my normal antics.

            “Got ants in your pants, Gia?” A passerby asked as I rushed by. I just laughed and kept going. They all knew how I am.

            I finally reached the edge of the city I could almost hear my dad in my head. “You can’t possibly tell me you’d rather live like a lowly peasant like them?” Well maybe I would! Especially if it meant I could make his eyes light up with happiness just once.

            I hate when my dad tells me that they’re below us. They’re people too, they feel love, hate, pain, and happiness just like us and wealth doesn’t change that. Money can’t buy you happiness or love anyway.

            As I reached the edge of the cliff I searched for any trace of him. I know that he saw me and I hope that he’s going to come back to look for me like I search for him. Its been a week since I saw him and everyday since then I’ve been going back looking for him with no luck. Get a grip Gia, the people of Raven are always busy working, maybe he doesn’t have the time!

            I must look so out to the passerby down there, we live so differently from them. Here I am in my brand new designer clothes made special for me while they wear tattered hand-me-downs that have probably never even been washed!

            I remember he wore tattered clothing too, he was so ragged looking with his wild sandy blond hair and brown eyes with that intense look. That look makes me think he’s seen things that he shouldn’t have seen and it’s intriguing. . . He was wearing a holy shirt that was probably at some point white but was not the same dull brown that everyone in Raven had. His pants were no better, with holes in the knees and the rest barely hanging on by a thread.

            Above all he was very average looking, but at the same time he just wasn’t. I just don’t understand! I’ve never seen someone like that, I’ve seen boys with his coloring but they didn’t look so. . . hardened to the world.

            I heard some rustling from below and started to search frantically for any sight of him. God it was so hard to see! I bent down and peered over the edge trying to get a closer look. That’s when I felt someone push me over the edge.