Dark Dreams (COMPLETED)

They are watching

Beeeep!

I opened my eyes suddenly and stopped turning. A man with a glossy head like a bowling ball looked at me from the driving seat of a black Mercedes. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel. I realized I was in the middle of the driveway.

"Excuse me, Mayor Malory, I was... Well, I was daydreaming," I said, as I climbed onto the sidewalk.

He moved forward slowly with the car. He lowered the window with the speed of a sloth, looking me straight in the eye. I swallowed my saliva, making a strange noise. I prayed that he wouldn't ask me for the loan for the house.

"Miss Bloom," he said, spitting saliva from all sides, "someone like you can only dream in a city like Goldmist."

He closed the window, muttered something incomprehensible and darted away.

I looked around.

The neighborhood where I lived was in the southeast of the city; it was characterized by sumptuous European-style villas, mostly in light colors. They all had pools and gardens which weren't inhabited by crazy mole-seals: they were cared for down to the last detail. In just a few minutes you could see at least ten different types of pools and different styles of garden decorations. The winding avenues leading to the villas were immaculate and adorned with lovely trees inhabited by hundreds of lively birds.

Malory was right: the city was a dream, and I couldn't be part of it. I stopped looking around me like a tourist and continued on my way. 

Now beating my record was a lost cause, so I slowed down. I knew the way by heart and I could allow myself to read while skating.

The Golden-Haired Girl was absolutely the best manga I had ever read. It was about a simple schoolgirl who one beautiful day discovered she was the daughter of the Sun God. 

At night, her hair shone like the sun and gave her the powers needed to become the mysterious heroine known as "the Golden-Haired Girl".

More than once I imagined that I was that girl.

But dreams are useless if you don't have the money to buy them.

I was buried in its pages when my head slammed into something very hard and I fell to the ground, landing on my back.

"Ouch!" I groaned.

"Eres Descuidada, my little Sarah!" said a masculine voice.

"Fernando!" I yelled, leaping to my feet. "I hadn't realized that I'd already reached the gate."

Each district of Goldmist was surrounded by a tall and imposing wall equipped with the latest generation of security cameras. These districts could only be accessed through an electric gate controlled from a modest house where two guards lived. They worked shifts so that the perimeter was monitored continuously. Only residents, all of whom were registered, could come in and out. Visitors needed to be invited.

"I have something for you, chica," he said, disappearing inside the cabin.

Malory's policy was not to allow foreigners to be guards.

Fernando had got around this since his first and last names were Philip and Stuart respectively, having been adopted by an English family that lived a few miles from Goldmist.

He returned and the gate opened.

"Don't tell me that some fee has increased otherwise I'm turning around," I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"But no, princesa," he said, smiling. For a moment, his black mustache seemed to be smiling with him.

"Mmmmm, did you make the coconut cookies again?" I asked hopefully. My stomach grumbled signaling that I was eager for food.