Venture

Chapter 4

Its been a week since the red holograph showed up on every street, on every city in Fallenus. I havent been able to concentrate. I dont think anyone has.

My brother has lost his mind. I dont blame him, I think I would have lost myself too, if I hadn't been forced into working more hours, in different companies. If Cope was going to stop working that meant I would have to suffer more. Before it seemed easy, to pay for our rent. Not anymore, not now that I've lost my partner. 

I can't afford becoming the laughing stock of our neighbors. They're rich, millionaires, some, but not all. They know it was our mother that made it possible for us to be rich like them, that if she hadn't met my father we would have forever lived on the streets. After she died, dad has already disappeared and me and Copeland had already made our way through the ranks, reaching the top five out of four hundred. We were already making loads of money, so we were fine. We were fine for three years. Apperantly now, we would have to suffer. 

~ ~

At five in the morning I make my way up the stairwell on the side of the building. I'm wearing a black rain jacket, with leggings, and combat boots. My hair is bellowing in the wind, the same shining red. 

The clouds are dark today, with giant clouds. Rain hasn't fallen on us yet. But i'm well prepared. 

When I reach the roof, the cart is already there, with Sonnet waiting for me to get in.

The first three days that I started waiting for the train instead of jumping on the roof, he made fun of me. On the fourth day he simply smiled. The next he didn't smile at all. There were fewer people everywhere. Less energy, more gloom. 

I sigh and cross my legs underneath me. I'm sitting on the cold floor, waiting, watching as the train zooms past all the windows on the top floor. We pass my bedroom's windows and I feel a feeling of sadness pass through me. It feels like so long since i've slept on my own bed, in my own room. Theres no time to sleep anymore. There's no time to rest. And when I do get the chance to return to the peaceful headquerters, I have to prepare food for Cope and take care of him. I hate what he's become. I hate that the government thought it was a good idea to bring the Sinjin back, to make everyone fear for their lives. The government is responsible for the way everyone is acting, lost feelings and all. They're responsible for our safety, but they still manage to throw us to the ground like china dolls. 

They're killers, that what they are. They're worst than the monsters themselves, worse than the forests. 

They used to say the forests were alive back then, used as playgrounds for children. A famous attraction for the world. In the Book of Før it says that the forests used to be the Amazon Forest in South America. That there were shows displaying different types of animals and that the caretakers were able to live among the trees, in huts. But the Book of Før was full of lies. I never trust its words. 

Now, the forests have different names, depending on its location. Some people have divided it into four, the Nord, Syd, Øst, and Vest. The closest to us is the Syd or the Sang Trempé, Blood Soaked. It was barricaded off, not with a concrete wall or other but with an invincible forcefield, invincible but dangerous. It could shock you, if you dared to even approuch it. No one has. 

I shake myself out of my reverie and stand up, not stopping to thank Sonnet or greet anyone. I step off the train and onto the crowded streets of Ybil. Street signs and arrows point at every direction. I step towards the orange one, the pointing arrow that shows the way to the Mechanics Warehouse. It hangs above the heads of the Lifters, twenty seven feet above. Its attached to a bridge, the Tonnerre Bridge which is only used for incoming Helpers and other points of transportation.