The World of Tomorrow

Chapter Seven

I follow her walking as slowly as I can. My usually long strides becomes shuffling baby steps. She reaches the van and holds open the passenger side door for me. I continue to walk with my tiny steps, and she huffs in annoyance.
"I haven't got all day, you know."
I give a tight nod, keeping my eyes trained on the ground, but I don't speed up. She huffs again but makes no moves to force me to go faster. When I finally reach the van, I don't hesitate to step inside and get seated. I know if I do I won't start again.
She slams the metal door shut and walks around to the driver side. As she buckles the seat belt and finally starts the van, I allow myself a tiny peek at my house. I immediately regret it. My mind was blocking out my family, and for a minute they didn't even exist. But now it all comes rushing in. Anza is outside on the steps, bawling her eyes out, as my dad holds her and silently cries with her. I see my mom look down from her bedroom window, her eyes filled with hurt and fear, before squeezing them shut and turning away. So suddenly, too suddenly, the van pulls out of the driveway and my house quickly disappears from sight. I turn forward again, tears brimming in my eyes, but they don't fall. I don't know what just happened. I thought it would be so much more dramatic, like in the movies when someone gets taken away, but it just...happened. Like it was some kind of twisted everyday routine. I blink, trying to rid my eyes of the tears, and a single one rolls down my cheek and onto my hands, laying in my lap. I look down at the drop of water, and my vision blurs with more tears, these falling freely, as I tilt my head back and stare at the roof of the van.

* * *
We drive for two hours. It takes two full hours to get from one side of Future to the other. I'd never realized before how big Future was, since I'd always just stayed in my little corner with my family. There was one time Mickey travelled across for his great-grandmother's funeral, and he said the trip took three hours. I always thought he was exaggerating though. Time passed by slowly, and I didn't even realized any had passed at all until I saw the clock. 9:50. Almost ten am. Suddenly, anger boiled up beneath my skin. This shouldn't be happening to me! I haven't been an adult for one day, and I've already been forced away from my family, driven across a city large enough to be its own state, and in the next few minutes I'll be dumped outside of Future like trash! It isn't fair! It isn't fair!
"No, it's not." The woman next to me says.
I turn to her, surprised. She hasn't said anything the entire trip. Why...oh! Did I say that last part out loud?
"My daughter was bullied by some stupid kids, and she became bi-polar. It was fine, for a while. Doctors were giving her medication, she went to therapy three times a week. For three weeks, everything was fine. Even those kids got expelled. But one day, someone discovered her.  Someone else at her school began to bully her, and it started all over again. She fell back into depression, and almost tried to kill herself. She started going to therapy more often. Then a new therapist said...said something rude, and she just lost control. It was only for a minute. Just a lapse in judgement. S-she...she began to strangle the therapist, and the other had to pull her off him. She was cast out of Future two days later." The woman explained in a solemn voice.
I pause for a few seconds and ask: "What was her name?"
The woman smiles, her face wet with tears. "Happiness. Happiness Smith."

Ten minutes later we arrive at Heaven's Gate, which is what most civilians call the huge wall that surrounds Future. It's got special cloaking technology so that its invisible to anyone inside Future. I see a single, small, train station like building. It's a dusty brown, and looks old and abandoned.
Mrs. Smith pulls the van up to it and says: "This is your stop. Inside you'll go through some paperwork, and then they'll drive you to a small town a few miles from here."
"Thank you," I say, not really sure what I'm thanking her for.
She smiles again. "If you see Happiness, tell her I love her, okay?"
I smile too, for the first time since I got picked up. "Okay." It's not a real smile. Just a lie to make someone feel better. I don't know if I'll ever smile again. Tragic backstory or not, she still took me away from my family, and she still chose to work for Future's government after what happened to her daughter.

Though, maybe it's not her. Maybe it's Future I hate.