Hummingbird

One - Juno

The dawn's light pierced through my window. A single ray of light hit me in the face, waking me. I got up and checked my bedside clock. It was 6:00. I got up from bed and put on a black plain shirt to cover up. I got my whole outfit ready: a bright orange and black jacket, black shirt, and my favorite Canvas shoes. I got the bags I had packed next to my bed and flung them over my shoulders. Before I left the house, I made a little note and walked over to my dad's room. Silently leaving it behind I took one last look st my dad's face. Even asleep he looked tired and worked. His grey in hair hung above his eyes, a sign thay he'd probably never listen to me and get that haircut. The lines and years were visible on his face, some of them caused by me. I gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and left the note on his dresser before leaving through the front door.

I left my family's farm at the break of dawn. The sky was purple and the stark orange contrast of the sunrise made the clouds shine in an explosion of color. I had gotten up early to start the drones for their morning routine of dusting the crops. The small drones' rotors hummed and buzzed to life, their small bottle-shaped bodies shook as the pesticide was being made inside. Then the group of 6 drones went to do their work.

Making my way to the barn I opened it to see the motorcycle that took my dad and I eighty-two Saturdays to fix from its decrepit state. It was one of the last models from 2008 that still used wheels. I never liked the look of Hover Bikes, they just looked...odd without the wheels. I wheeled the bike out of the barn and set it facing the road that split the crops in half like the Red Sea.

I strapped my gloves on, slipped my backpack on, strapped my duffel bag to the bike, and slid the helmet over my face. Before I started the motorcycle, I looked back one last time. I didn't hate the place, I grew up here, I had my first date here (Which my dad forced himself and his shotgun into.) I looked back and took in one last look of the last 24 years of my life, then I turned around and sped off, kicking pebbles behind me.

Don't think I hadn't thought of anywhere to go. I took a few days thinking where the best place to go would be, and I finally settled on one place. Juno: The Platinum City. Juno is the most technologically advanced city in all of America, anything that gets presented at a conference by some tool in a suit gets made here. Juno was the land of opportunity, but only if you knew people. My dad has made a lot of friends and he has one in Juno that said he'd get me a job, so that's a start.

On the outskirts of the city, I pulled to the side of the road and took off my helmet to gaze at the sheer size of it. I was easily over 30 miles from even he suburbs, but I still saw skyscrapers reaching to touch the orange painted clouds. And a lone tower rose above the buildings and stabbed the clouds, disappearing into the sky. I looked to the other side of the road and saw the welcome sign of the city.

Welcome to Juno! City of Innovation!

I smirked at the sign and continued into the silicon city. The suburbs looked like the ones from old commercials. Like where the wife always stayed home and the dad looked like his hair was bathed in grease. Every house was different, yet the same, same kind of structure, but different families. Then I got to the edge of the city, where the old-style of the suburbs and the technological advances of the city clashed and merged into a hybrid of both. The cars and vehicles were a combination of old style models and recently released omni-directional cars that moved in any direction the driver wanted, but you needed a special license to drive one of those. Stores advertised the selling of automated house-maids, restaurants boasted about having a pizza that wouldn't fatten you, and I even heard a really shady businessman selling a young couple a pair of "love modifications", whatever that means.

The HUD in my helmet notified me to turn right, stopping my progression deeper into the city. The map had set my destination to where my dad's old friend was, or rather, his business. A couple left turns and a right later, I was in front of a restaurant named Jackie's Pizza. Only, a few of the brightly lit letters on the sign above had died out and now read as Jack's Pizz. I gave the place a quizzical look then checked my helmet to make sure this was the right place, sure enough, it was.

I parked my motorcycle and went inside with my things. Upon opening the door, a chime went off, announcing my entry. A raspy, old voice came from the back of the restaurant, where the kitchen was.

"Be with ya in a minute!" The voice yelled.

I looked around the restaurant and saw that it wasn't exactly much. It was clean but it looked ancient, like a relic from decades ago. Chairs were wooden and stained with who knows what, and one or two of the booths still had advertisements for the first Terminator. At first I was put off by this, but something in the air made me come around to it. It was probably the smell of the pizza, a bad looking restaurant can always make up for decent food. I heard a small crash from the kitchen, then cursing, then another crash. After which I saw a large, beast of a man walk out of the kitchen with one of the most genuine smiles I've ever seen. He was a bigger guy, and to any kid he would've looked like a monster, but his smile was so friendly, I couldn't help but smile back. He wiped his face, which was clearly just shaved this morning and adjusted his cap that had the restaurant's logo on it.

"Jules?" He asked, almost gasping. "Julia Carmine?"

"Hi," I replied. "Have we met?"

"You don't member' me," he explained. "But I knew yous since you was a baby. Little tiny thing with that bright orange hair."

"Oh," I chuckled. "I'm sorry I don't remember."

"Ah, fuggetaboutit." He assured me. To which I couldn't help but giggle to his almost fake Brooklyn accent. It sounded forced, but there were some giveaways that I knew had to be real.

He waddled over to the counter and pulled out a pen and a notepad.

"So, what can Jackie do for yous?"

"Oh, no," I said. "I'm here for the job."

"That was you?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could start today?"

"O'course you can," he said. "First you're gonna want to get settled in, room's upstairs." He gestured to the right, where a stairway was right next to the kitchen door.

I walked up the steps and was met with a small hallway with four doors, two on the right side and one on the left, the last door being directly in front. The second one on the right was open and I guessed that it was mine. I walked through and stepped into a 9x10 room. The bed took up most of the space, with the closet barley fitting into a corner of the room. The one window just above the bed gave me a great view of an advertisement of a nightclub on the adjacent building. And the best part, it had bright, buzzing, flashing neon lights.

I sighed and set my belongings near the bed, and looking through the closet only to find coat-hangers and a lone left boot. I looked around the room and simply accepted that this is where I lived, for now. I set my jacket on the bed and proceeded downstairs, where Jackie had set my uniform on the counter. I picked up a faded Jackie's Pizza cap and shirt and smiled as I stared at the start of my new life.