Sugar Coated

by Shannen Crane Camp

  It took several minutes to finally make her way to the front of the train, and once she reached the last train car she found a crowd of people entering through an open door. Brynn watched silently as one elegant person after another filed in, all looking beautiful in an unnatural way, just like the people she often dreamed about.

  One of the women stepped out of the line of people entering the train and walked directly over to Brynn, aware of her searching gaze. She was tall and unnaturally thin, with skin whiter than the clouds that hung above Seaside. Her face was all angles, from her straight nose to her sharp cheekbones and her firm jaw. She looked a little different from the Angel Brynn always dreamed about. This woman’s hair was long and dark instead of short and white, but she had the same violet eyes.

  “What are you doing up here, little one?” the woman asked, her crimson lips parting to reveal a row of perfect teeth. The effect was much more unsettling than it was intended to be.

  “I wanted to know why the train stopped,” Brynn said firmly, not letting her voice quaver.

  “To let passengers on of course,” the woman answered in a sweet yet logical voice, gesturing to the line of people still entering the train. Brynn looked over at the people, all in possession of that indescribable quality that made them seem special. “What’s your name little girl?”

  “Lia,” Brynn lied, using her mother's name instead of her own.

  She wasn’t sure why she had lied to the woman; no one ever lied to adults. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that the less this woman knew about her, the better.

  “Look at those lips,” the pale woman said slowly, her purple eyes locked on Brynn’s face. “And those blue eyes. You must be very lucky to have two unique physical traits.”

  “Where did the passengers come from?” Brynn persisted. She wasn’t about to get distracted by the woman’s compliments. Knowledge was her goal and she wouldn’t let herself get sidetracked.

  “From outside, darling,” the woman replied in that same even and calming voice that she seemed to always maintain.

  “How many more are there from this city?” Brynn asked, pushing past the woman to glance out the open door. What she saw didn’t look like much of a city. None of the buildings were made of glass like they were in Seaside. In fact, they didn’t have any windows on them at all. Every building looked identical to the one next to it, but not aesthetically pleasing. Instead, each building resembled a squat, grey box and it almost looked as if they were all connected, with only one door leading into the building closest to her.

  There was writing on the door, though young Brynn couldn’t make out what it said.

  “Well, aren’t you inquisitive?” the woman said to Brynn, sounding as if this were a trait to be proud of. “Now, run along back to your seat.”

  “What city is that?” Brynn asked, still ignoring every command this woman gave.

  For a brief moment, Brynn could have sworn she saw look of alarm pass over this frightening Angel’s face, but her expression quickly dissolved back into one of perfect attention and control.

  “Aywon,” the woman said. “Now you should get back to your parent's compartment. With this door open you never know what could happen to a little angel like yourself.”

  Though the woman was smiling, her voice held no warmth and Brynn couldn’t help but notice the fact that she had called her an angel. It was as if she could read her mind and knew that Brynn thought these beautiful people were angels.

  “What are you?” Brynn asked, knowing that it was customary to ask who someone was, not what they were. But her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she was convinced these perfect people couldn’t be human.

  “I’m in charge here. Now go back to your seat Brynn.”

  Chapter 5: Dust

  “I want something really different,” Amber said as the group of friends walked through the city. “Maybe with lots of plants and light, so it’ll look like you’re outside when you’re in my house.”

  “How long ago did you get your house?” Ty asked in exasperation.

  “About two months ago. Why?” Amber responded, looking over at him suspiciously.

  “How can you already be remodeling the entire interior when you’ve only had it for two months?”

  “What else is there to do?” she asked matter-of-factly, giving a short laugh and turning to Bennett for confirmation that she was right.

  “Yeah, unless you want us to find some creepy voice again and have Brynn lose it for a whole month trying to figure out where it came from,” Bennett chimed in.

  Ty looked over at Brynn, who stared straight ahead as she walked. She wasn’t hearing any of the conversation.

  “You’re right,” he agreed in a hushed tone.

  None of them had revisited the film they’d made since the incident. They hadn’t even tried to make another movie, which had severely cut down on the activities they could participate in, but they were worried about their friend.

  Seeing Brynn obsess over the voice they had found was enough to keep them away from the movie-making screen. Ever since they’d found the eerie conversation she’d seemed distracted and distant.

  “Brynn, what theme do you think I should go with for my remodel?” Amber asked her, trying to bring her friend’s attention back to the here-and-now.

  Brynn jumped slightly at the interruption. She had been deep in thought, mulling over an idea that had been taking form in her mind for a few days. This outing was the perfect opportunity for her to test her theory. Of course, she wouldn’t tell her friends that or they’d just think she was still unhealthily interested in the mysterious voice they’d found.

  “I think you should go with something sunny,” Brynn finally said, looking over at Amber and her shoulder-length honey-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her hair looked sunny and natural, not like the white-blonde chin-length bob her Angel sported.

  “Care to elaborate?” Amber asked with a laugh.

  “I like your idea of something open with lots of plants,” Brynn answered, looking around at all of the plants in the city.

  None of them grew wild. Every plant was perfectly grown in its own little perfect circle plot of dirt, surrounded by the perfect concrete sidewalks. Each plant even had a perfect little ankle-high fence around it, making it seem even more cut off and contained.

  Perfect.

  That’s what everything was here. She knew she was crazy to complain about perfection, but perfection was starting to bore Brynn. She wondered fleetingly what would happen if the plants weren’t imprisoned within the cement confines of the city. How would they grow if left unchecked?

  The city itself seemed very well contained. Everywhere you looked there were tall glass housing buildings. Some recreational buildings dotted the area, but there was only need for a few of those when your house could just give you literally anything you wanted. The only reason they even had the recreational buildings with their stores and restaurants was for a day like this when a group of friends wanted to get out of the house and do the same things they could do at home, but in a different place.

  The grey sidewalks seemed too clean to Brynn as they walked through the city trying to help Amber with ideas for her remodel. She almost wished someone would throw some trash on the ground just so she could see something out of the ordinary.

  “I’m hungry,” Bennett announced just as Amber was finishing a long discussion with Ty over what paint color would make her walls look “sunny.”

  “I think there’s a café in Rec Building 3,” Ty offered, pointing to the glass building straight ahead.

  It didn’t take them long to find a seat in the crowded café.

  “This is what I want my house to look like,” Amber said excitedly, looking around at the high glass ceilings that let the sun stream in from every angle. It was just like being outside with how much natural light the walls of clear glass let in.

  “If you have this much glass in your house, you’re going to need a lot
of sunscreen,” Brynn said.

  “And a hardcore air conditioner,” Ty agreed.

  “Plus you’ll have to dress in your closet,” Bennett added with a giggle.

  “Okay, fine, I won’t do glass ceilings. But I’m still modifying my windows so they go from floor to ceiling,” Amber said in annoyance.

  “Is this whole remodel happening before or after the party?” Bennett asked suddenly, sounding very concerned about the answer.

  “It’s happening before. That’s why I need to hurry up. The party is because I’m remodeling. I want to show off my new house,” Amber explained, actually seeming excited about the party she was supposed to throw in a week.

  “You’d better get a move on,” Ty advised.

  “Yes, thank you for that.” Amber rolled her eyes and glanced conspiratorially at Bennett.

  After the group ordered their food on the touch screens and it was dispensed automatically, they fell into easy conversation about nothing in particular. As their conversation lulled because the food was too good to be interrupted by talk, Brynn took the opportunity to ask a question she’d been wanting to ask since the incident with the movie screen almost a month ago.

  “So Bennett, did you ever get your movie screen fixed?” Brynn asked innocently, not meeting her friend’s dark brown eyes, but instead pushing her food around on her plate and trying to look nonchalant.

  “Yeah,” Bennett answered warily, glancing at Amber to see if she should have lied.

  “Who fixed it?” Brynn questioned, now looking up at Bennett to see the careful contemplation on her face.

  Brynn knew she was deciding what to tell her. How much of the truth could she tell her ‘unstable’ friend without her flying off the deep end and going crazy again?

  “A repairman,” Bennett said as if this should be obvious.

  “What did he look like?”

  “What does it matter? He’s just a repairman,” Bennett snapped, getting slightly frustrated with Brynn’s behavior.

  “Is this because they won’t let you get a job?” Amber asked like a mother scolding her child. “You know it's not some conspiracy. You failed The Test. It’s not their fault, it’s yours,” she said, probably a bit more harshly than she had meant.

  “It’s not about that,” Brynn quickly assured her, not pointing out the fact that Amber had snapped at her. She had a mission and if she was going to get answers out of any of them, she needed to seem calm, like someone who wouldn’t start obsessing over whatever they told her. “I was just curious. Making conversation, you know?”

  Bennett looked at her for a moment longer, gauging whether or not she was telling the truth before sighing deeply in resignation.

  “He was pretty good looking, if that’s what you’re asking,” she finally divulged.

  “It is,” Brynn answered with a mischievous grin, deciding that the best way to find out what she wanted to know would be to act like a typical girl. “What did he look like? I’m currently in the market.”

  “Ouch,” Ty said sarcastically from beside her.

  He always liked to joke that they were together, but since he did the same thing to Bennett and Amber it was hard for Brynn to ever take him too seriously.

  “He had short blonde hair. He was really tall, but not lanky. He was pretty built,” Bennett said with a grin, obviously enjoying the topic.

  “What color were his eyes?” Brynn pressed, trying not to sound too anxious about that last question.

  “They were kind of weird, weren’t they Amber?” she asked. Amber nodded in silent agreement, still watching Brynn’s reactions to see if she was up to something. “They were kind of a purple color I think.”

  Brynn tried not to get too excited over Bennett’s answer. She needed to ask her next question in a way that wouldn’t set off any alarms. She wasn’t obsessing over anything—it was just a legitimate concern that she needed some insight on.

  “Have you guys ever noticed that everyone with a job has these purple-ish eyes?” Brynn asked her friends, knowing that the change in conversation was too abrupt to seem natural, but not really caring at the moment.

  Amber looked over at her friend like she had completely lost it.

  “You’re joking right?” she asked, though Brynn wasn’t quite sure if she was mad about the question or really thought she was joking. “Didn’t you pay attention to your education screen when you were little?”

  Brynn stared blankly back at her friend, not quite sure where this conversation was going. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “When you get a job they do some surgery on your eyes to make your eyesight better so you can be more precise. But one of the side effects is that it changes your eye color,” Amber answered in a voice that said she couldn’t believe her friend didn’t know this.

  “I never learned that on my screen,” Brynn assured her. She would have remembered if her screen had told her anything about the violet-eyed Angels she dreamt about.

  “You must have not been paying attention that day, then,” Amber answered.

  “Yeah, even I remember that,” Bennett interjected. “They also give them some sort of special medicine that makes their reflexes better so they can be coordinated on the job. It makes them look a little unnatural if you ask me,” she said with a shudder.

  Brynn sat in silence, amazed that she could have possibly forgotten a lesson so important. She was almost positive she’d never heard any of this information before.

  “So they have normal-looking eyes before they get their jobs?” Brynn asked, just wanting to clarify.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Amber answered.

  “You guess? Haven’t you known anyone who’s gotten a job?” Brynn pressed.

  “I don’t like to associate myself with that level of crazy,” Amber said, looking very pointedly at Brynn. “Apparently you’re the exception.”

  Brynn ignored her last comment and stared down at her half-eaten sandwich in concern. How could she really trust that explanation if none of them had ever met someone who’d gotten a job? Maybe it was just an excuse.

  Okay, now I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, Brynn thought to herself.

  * * *

  After lunch, Ty, Amber, and Bennett wanted to continue their walk around the city looking for inspiration. Brynn made an excuse about needing to design some new clothes for Amber’s party and broke off from the group, headed toward one of the most vacant buildings in the city—the library.

  Most people who wanted to read a book would just pull it up on their tablet to read an electronic copy, but for those few people who wanted physical books, newspapers, or magazines, they’d go to the library. For some reason, books were one of the few things you couldn’t get your house to fabricate for you. Brynn had wanted to ask someone why something so simple couldn’t be instantly created like clothing or food, but she’d never known whom to ask. It seemed like just another one of her questions that would go unanswered.

  The large library building was one of the only ones in the city that wasn’t made entirely out of glass. Brynn suspected it had something to do with sun damage affecting the books. Instead, the building was made from large white bricks with small windows dotting its surface.

  Thinking back, Brynn couldn’t remember a time when she’d ever come to the library before. In her search to find out where Aywon was, she’d looked through every record on her tablet with absolutely no luck. She hadn’t even considered checking in the library until she had passed by it with her friends earlier in the day. She was sure they’d have the exact same resources as her tablet, if not fewer resources, but it was worth a shot.

  Walking through the large wooden doors, Brynn was met with a very distinct feeling of heaviness. Everything in this building seemed heavy.

  The sun streaming through the high windows revealed motes of dust swirling around in the air. All of the doors were made of heavy wood rather than the lightweight metal her house doors were made of. All of t
he books on heavy wooden bookshelves seemed substantial and important. There was something about this building that felt permanent, unlike everything else in the city.

  Brynn immediately loved it.

  She walked across the thick maroon carpet that muffled her footfalls. Even the walls seemed to absorb sound in this silent building. At a large wooden desk on her right-hand side, Brynn saw a Worker watching her very closely. She was the only person Brynn saw in the large atrium and she wondered fleetingly if anyone else was there.

  The Worker had the same violet eyes as her own Angel, with those sharp, angular features. Her skin was almost a translucent white, and Brynn silently wondered how her friends would explain that oddity. They would probably say they have to dye their skin to somehow help them improve their work performance.

  This Angel had short black hair that was bluntly cut so that it fell right below her eyes. She also had the same sharp line of bangs going across her forehead that Brynn’s Angel had.

  Sticking her chin out and mustering the same courage she’d found as a child confronted by these terrifying Angels, Brynn walked over to the Worker and looked her directly in her violet eyes.

  “I need to find a map,” she said confidently, hoping that by acting confident she wouldn’t seem scared of this woman.

  “A map,” the woman repeated slowly, her eyes locked on Brynn and a small sideways smile playing on her peach lips.

  Brynn couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something about her just wasn’t natural. She wasn’t sure if it was the cadence of her speech or the way her eyes stayed locked on Brynn’s without blinking.

  “Yep,” Brynn finally said when it became clear that this woman wasn’t going to volunteer information.

  “I’d say you belong in the basement. That’s where we keep all of our useless things,” the woman answered in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, her smile slowly creeping across the other side of her face so that it reached her prominent cheekbones.

  Though she tried to keep her cool, Brynn’s smile faltered as she registered what the woman had said to her.