Crumbling Earth

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Thunder growled threateningly above the rooftops of the apartment. It barked out its displeasure and whipped the sodden brick walls of the building, before receding back into the dismal storm's eye. Kailen Port tapped her finger against the window before her as a raindrop formed a path down the glass. It shuddered for a moment then wormed its way out of her sight to pool on the windowsill. She gazed up at the murky blue sky; it stared back at her with a dangerous vigour. Shivering, she stood, shuffled back on the matted carpet, which had developed more than a few holes over time, and her eyes fell on her father's sleeping form. His lids were fluttering up and down, with his beer can held loosely in one hand. The TV he'd been watching loyally was now static, the storm having disrupted the already fragile connection in their area of the city. The lights flickered around them and returned in eerie yellow. Moments later, they blinked out again.

"Damn," Kailen hissed. She reached over and gave her father's shoulder a rough shake. He jumped awake, immediately noticing her figure looming over him.

"What?" he grunted. Despite the cacophony of noises outside of the thin walls, he'd been peacefully resting. To him it was all rest: morning, afternoon, evening and night. That's why they lived here. The least attractive place in Miroria.

"Lights have gone out," she told him. An incoherent grumble escaped his lips.

"For pity's sake, Kailen, you're 15. You can take care of yourself. That storm's been coming in all day. Would think you'd expect it, living in The Bin," he said, barely twitching as he berated her. The Bin was the street name for their little corner of the city, named so for its uncanny likeness to that of a dustbin. Even the adults and the more fortunate residents (the upper class) used the foul nickname. Kailen couldn't think of one person she'd met that didn't.

"What am I supposed to do, sort it out myself?" When she looked to him for a reply, his eyes were once again sealed shut. "DIY it is, then."

The Bin was linked to the city-wide power supply, the government hadn't forgotten them completely, however that link was weak. Too weak. Eventually, the neighbourhood's manual labourers had gotten together and fixed up their own power source. Without the proper materials, storms wrecked havoc with both sources of electricity and left those who could brave the weather to tend to it.

As it rattled in place, Kailen pushed it open and braced herself for the rain. She could see it bouncing off of the pavement in odd patterns. The walk to the power source was one through water-logged streets and darkened little alleys and it didn't normally phase her. But, today, something was wrong.

"Penny for your thoughts?" a voice hummed behind her. She jumped and her eyes darted up to the tall boy (even though he was only an inch or two taller than her) beside her. Shifting, she turned to look at him.

"Grey, stop sneaking up on me like that. It's freaky," she said. Grey Foster took up position against the brickwork of the passageway so their bodies weren't mere inches apart. His hands slid into the pockets of his maroon hoodie.

"Fine, fine. You're off to fix the power, I'm guessing?"

"You guessed right. Dad's getting lazier every day..." Kailen grumbled, before setting off at a decent pace again.

"Maybe you should cut him some slack. The guy's got nothing to do. Nothing to live for, really."

"Grey..." she gave him an exasperated look "...I tried. He has no job, no girlfriend, he doesn't pay the bills and he's not even trying to find any work. Mum disappeared years ago."

"If my wife disappeared randomly, and I didn't have a clue what happened, I think my life would pretty much stop too," he admitted sheepishly.

"You have a wife?" she questioned him in an attempt to steer the conversation away from her rapidly deteriorating home life after her mother's disappearance. They finally arrived at the remote, back-alley building that housed the makeshift power core. Grey produced a set of keys and let them into the confined space.