Keepers of the Moon

Nova 2020 C.E. (2)

By the time we reached the Safe World we were completely drenched and our eardrums had shattered by the incredibly loud thunder. The smell of ozone lingered in our noses and the streets had been washed clean by the rivers of rain. In the faint sunlight it almost looked like a good place to live, with lots of little shops and cosy living rooms. But there was nothing good about this city, it smelled, it was crowded, people hardly noticed each other and criminality soared. I hated it here and knowing that someone took us from our homes, denied us a life of peace, was something hard to swallow. All my misery, all the things that I’d done in order to survive, it was all their fault. I had blamed my parents for all these years, but they must’ve been just as broken as I was. Left with the question, ‘what happened to my child?’ Anger and hopelessness flared up inside of me. It was unfair.

But that was a lesson I’d already learned.

Life was unfair and you needed to deal with it to survive.

No matter where you came from, or what you left behind. Survival was the key.  

With dripping clothes and hearts beating fast we ducked into the seemingly deserted building near an industrial part of the city. All the windows were either broken or covered with wooden plates. The door was missing, and the floor had been broken up. Dust trailed in the heavy, warm air inside. The metal beams which still held the structure together were eaten away by rust and there was an awful smell of tar in the air. Part of the roof had collapsed just two months ago which rendered the uppermost two floors uninhabitable. Because of the failing structure all living quarters had now been relocated underground. Thanks to Lily and Daisy we now had access to a large part of the old sewage system underneath Nova. About 10 years ago the city rebuild its entire drainage system to cope with the ever growing population and new restrictions on building materials. The old, brick sewage system was mostly left abandoned and was now used by people from the street as a shelter. The smell was awful, but it was dry and cool in the summer and warmer than the streets during winter. About 300 of us lived down here and most of our shelters were located under the western part of the city. But the sewage system also granted us access to most of the city centre and the northern part of the city. The westernmost parts were too dangerous due to the open system toward the ocean. This part had the tendency to flood with bad weather and the corridors were much smaller. This made a timely escape from rising waters all the more difficult. The eastern parts were inhabited by criminals, rovers and others who did not dare to step into the light. They usually left us alone, a form of mutual understanding that the underground was our home. Occasionally some stuff went missing, but beyond that the real dangers were on the surface. Where the people with better luck tried to get rid of us, where the people lived who could use children and women to their advantage, where people only looked after themselves. I always liked to think that our community was our strength, that because of our strong bonds that we were able to survive for so long. We girls needed to stick together. It was always safer that way.

Until Nordlys started looking for us, that was.

We ducked underneath an old tarp between some boxes and climbed down into the sewers. The familiar smell of fungus, dew and old faeces enclosed me and only now some of the tension that had been building up in my body was waning. Mere however was still pale, with eyes showing too much whites. Abi let go of me and disappeared into the shadows. One of her pockets was bulging and I was certain that she had managed to snatch something edible from the plump, purple-faced man on the market. We had been very lucky that he hadn’t noticed Abi stealing from him. There was both a hint of amusement as well as a slight feeling of guilt. But this was our life, stealing to keep ourselves fed. The dumpsters hardly ever provided enough for all of us. I had done my fair share of stealing food, though I never took more than I needed. It had landed me in lots of troubles however, before I got good enough to not be caught. Abi was better at it, than me. That little rascal.

In utter and complete silence we walked towards the main room where we hoped to find Ilse. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness inside and I could see the light in the back growing stronger with each passing step. Now that we were so close to confronting Ilse with her secrets, my nerves were growing. Because I loved Ilse, I loved how she managed to hold us together, how she protected us. She was family. Having to accuse her of these kind of earth shattering revelations, was not something I looked forward too. But I also knew, that the truth needed to come out.

We deserved to know what had happened to us.

We needed to be prepared for what was coming for us.  

The walls were smooth and the floor was littered with glass, cardboard, paper and torn clothes. We had cleaned out most of the sewage residues, but the smell still lingered. We both nodded curtly to a young girl searching between the rubbish for something she could use. I’d forgotten her name, but I knew she had these very dark eyes in which you almost felt like drowning. She mostly resided down here but never spoke to any of us. Her past as broken as ours. I wondered what her parents had been like. If she was loved and missed at home, back in Caledonia. If they were still alive.

Would we be able to go home one day?

Or was it all too late and would we be stuck in Nova for the rest of our lives?

The girl noticed that we were tense and she decided to follow us into the common room, where Ilse was sitting on the floor, her hands cupped around a steaming cup of tea. It was crowded and a rush of voices filled my ears. The ghastly weather had all trapped us inside, which made it almost impossible to speak with Ilse alone. I could sense Mere almost exploding from anticipation and anger. She however managed to keep everything in and marched towards Ilse with long, but certain steps. Her dark skin shimmered in the flickering candle light and her clothes were sticking to her body. Her curls were relentless and even drenched retained their tight coils. For a moment I stood there, looking at her perfect body and the strong muscles in her shoulders. I thought back to a warm summer night, where we laid together in the grass, looking up toward the sky. My stomach clenched at that sweet little memory. It had been so long since I had felt so carefree. We shared a kiss that night, which we never ever spoke about after. It was almost like it was in another life. Or maybe just a dream.

I heard the tension in Mere’s voice when she asked Ilse if they could talk. People around her stopped talking too. You could almost touch the unease in the air. They all noticed that Mere was on edge and that there was something seriously wrong. It was unusual enough that Mere wanted to talk to Ilse in the first place. Ilse however pulled up her nose and looked very annoyed. Even when she saw Mere discomfort she didn’t stand up.

‘Do we have to do this now?’

Mere put her hand in her sides, taking on a defensive stand. She was very determined to speak her mind, though the consequences of telling it right here, right now were too big.

‘Yes, this is important. I need to speak with you,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Well, whatever you have to say to me, you can say to them too.’ Ilse now looked away from the fuming girl in front of her and turned back to her friends who were now listening with nervous curiosity. I decided to step forward and cleared my throat.

‘Ilse, this is important, please we have to talk to you. Privately.’ Ilse looked as if she hadn’t seen me standing here before. Her eyes a mixture of anger, annoyance and confusion. She stood up with a moan and then towered over Mere with her long legs and athletic figure. She was still shorter than I was though. The way she stood made me realise that she was only doing this because I asked her to, not because Mere wanted it. Whatever had happened between them, was enough for them to distrust each other. The secret Ilse had kept from all of us, didn’t make this any better.

‘Well, let’s get it over then. I hope this is worth my time, because it is not like I don’t have anything better to do.’ Her voice was cold and I could feel the rising anger in me. She acted like there was nothing wrong, nothing that needed to be told, like she didn’t even care that she carried a secret so big. But it was important, especially given the current circumstances. And with a heavy step I followed both of them into a deserted corridor.

Before we had even come to a stop, Mere could no longer hold it in.