Elite || Marhinki

•Chapter One: Ration's Day•

I've never seen the sun.

The giant star was covered by a screen of smoke, which stretched as far as the eye could see. The constant grey shield was created by the factories where we all worked, which was why the Yellow Districts were the farthest away from all the Jewel Districts; they didn't want to see the smoke.

We didn't get that luxury.

I stared at the sky as I waited. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you could see little cracks of sunlight peeking through the grey. It was considered an omen that your day would go well if you did. But I'd never been a lucky guy.

I was almost at Town Hall. Guards covered Town Square toting their large guns, and quartz bracelets. Ration's Day was the only day there were ever guards in Town Square; usually, they just stayed in the factories making sure we didn't try to break the machines, or whatever it was they were scared we would do. They didn't care if we robbed or killed each other on the streets.

Not today, though.

Ration's Day came once a month. It's the day when the government gave us supplies. Clothes, painkillers, and most importantly, food. It wasn't enough to survive on, nor did it keep us from starving, but it was sufficient enough to keep us working. It was enough to help us get through tough situations, which we were all always in.

The line moved forwards, and I finally entered Town Hall. It was a small, old building. The paint was peeling off the walls while the lights flickered, and the entire building smelled like mold. There was a running joke among us, which we whispered to each other while we worked, that Town Hall was older than Escana itself. That it was built long ago, in the Dark Ages.

There were guards inside too, making sure we didn't attempt to budge or steal from each other, though we'd be crazy to try to. They stuck out like sore thumbs, them in their white uniforms among our sea of yellow.

I absentmindedly rubbed my bracelet. Everyone had one, the colour of their rank, so everyone would know where they belonged. They were impossible to take off unless you cut off your hand. Rumour has it that when someone moves up a rank, the colour of their bracelet moves with them. Mine was yellow of course. I doubted that it would ever change.

The line moved slowly. I drummed my fingers on my leg, pulled at my baggy clothes, counted the cracks on the ceiling, anything to pass the time.

After what felt like hours, I finally got to the front of the line. The woman sitting at the desk had dark bags under her eyes, and kept yawning. She had a blue bracelet on her wrist, which wasn't surprising. Blues were waiters, retail workers, all the jobs that involved serving people that weren't glamorous. They got to travel the world, doing jobs for jewels. I wondered if they had Ration's Days, and if they did, who served it to them.

"Matthew Sohinki," I told the woman. I've done this enough times to know the drill. "Apartment 7-4:4729."

She started flipping through the pages of the check-in book. After a few minutes, she found my apartment. I held out my index finger, and she pricked it before pressing it down on the printed box next to my apartment number on the page. When she reached down to get our bag, I wiped the little blood left on my finger on my shirt.

"Long live the Queen," I told her as she handed me our bag. It was the formal way of saying goodbye.

"Long live the Queen," She replied before yawning.

I nodded and left.

I walked towards the North Exit. Town Hall was in the middle of Town Square, which was surrounded by buildings. Well, surrounded by buildings that used to be shops, or were built for the intention of having shops inside them, but besides for the grocery store and pharmacy, they were all deserted. The two shops we did have were government-owned, as no businessman would be stupid enough to open a store here. We had no money to buy anything else but food. It was surprising that we even had the pharmacy, as most people would just deal with the pain instead of buying pricey medicine to help them.