City of the Falling Sky

by Joseph Evans

  Seckry was dreaming that he was in a field. The air was lazy and warm and filled with the scent of ellonberries. Somebody was picking them nearby. As he approached, the man turned his head towards Seckry.

  “Dad . . .” Seckry said.

  “How many berries have you got now, Seckry?”

  “Dad . . . Where have you been?”

  “What do you mean, Seck? I’ve been here with you.”

  “Dad, I haven’t seen you for nine years.”

  His dad turned to look the other way. There was a sound coming from the distance. It was the sound of somebody singing.

  Seckry’s eyes flickered open. It took him a moment to remember that he wasn’t in Marne anymore. He was in the new flat. He was in Skyfall City.

  As he came to consciousness he realised that the singing was real and it was coming from outside of his window. It was a surreal sound; high pitched and melodic, and it seemed to be reverberating through the metallic framework of his building. He fumbled for his watch and checked the time. 3:15am. He got up and peeked through the curtains.

  Down in the square, sitting on the rim of the rusty, dry fountain, was a woman, rocking herself from side to side and singing a lullaby. She was dressed in a nightgown and she looked in her fifties. Seckry sat on his windowsill and watched her for a while, trying to think why she’d be out there so late, but his head began to drop after half an hour and he slumped back onto his bed, drifting into oblivion.

  As Seckry brushed his teeth that morning he almost spat a mouthful of toothpaste at the mirror. Today was his birthday! With all the stress and upheaval of moving, it had gone right to the back of his mind. A flood of excitement shot through him and he pelted into the living area.

  “Happy birthday, my love,” his mum said, smiling. She was in her yellow kitchen apron and was wiping her hands in a cloth. “I’ve been up since six making something special for you. You can’t have any until later, though. You’ll be sick eating cake in the morning.”

  “Thanks, mum,” Seckry said, his mouth watering at the thought of one of his mum’s birthday cakes.

  “Have a bit of cereal while your sister’s getting up. She’s got something for you. I don’t know what it is this time, though.”

  Seckry hoped Leena wasn’t going to give him another ‘grow your own organic carrot kit,’ as grateful as he made himself out to be last year.

  “Here’s a present from me,” his mum said, and handed Seckry an envelope with his name and a couple of squiggly balloon drawings on it. “I hear that this is the big thing for teens in Skyfall. I thought I’d give you a little starter.”

  Seckry ripped open the paper and a voucher slipped out of the card that read:

  FRICTION

  50 CREDITS

  AVATAR GIFT CARD

  “Wow, this is fifty notes worth,” Seckry said, astonished.

  “Well, I had a little bit of money left from our government compensation so I wanted to treat you this year.”

  “Thanks so much, mum.” He gave her a big hug.

  “Have you heard about this Friction thing?” she asked.

  Seckry laughed.

  “Have I ever? It’s all people talk about here. It sounds pretty fun. This guy I met who lives just over in block seventeen, called Tenk, he’ll be really jealous. He’s into it in a big way. He said he’s the best player in this district.”

  “Did he now? Well I’m sure my boy will give him a run for his money.”

  Seckry smiled. “Maybe. I better learn the rules first, though.”

  Seckry finished his breakfast and Leena appeared, looking flustered.

  “I’ve lost a contact lens. Happy birthday, by the way.”

  “Thanks, sis.”

  Leena threw him a present and began searching the units.

  As Seckry unwrapped it he began to guess what the present was.

  “A travel water purifier, how did you know?” Seckry said.

  Coralle rolled her eyes.

  Seckry looked at his watch. He still had ten minutes before he was going to meet Tenk. He stifled a big yawn.

  “Get much sleep?” his mum asked, noticing his contorting face.

  “Not really. There was a woman singing out in the square last night. It woke me up.”

  “Ah, that must have been Mrs Plum,” his mum sighed. “It’s really sad what happened to her. They say she’s out there singing all the time. Singing the same song.”

  “What happened to her?” Seckry asked. “I thought she was a ghost at first, sitting there in that nightgown.”

  “There is no such thing as ghosts,” Leena said sharply, now throwing cushions everywhere and trembling with frustration.

  “Well, I was told that her five year old boy, Danney, was abducted from her home about twenty years ago. She woke up one night thinking she could hear him screaming but she searched the house and he was gone. She searched the streets and there was no sign of him. Just completely taken away from her in an instant. It’s awful.”

  “Wow,” Seckry said. “Poor woman.”

  “Yeah. They say she sings at the fountain because when Danney was a toddler he used to love playing in that fountain so much, splashing his little feet in the water. She sings his favourite song thinking he’ll recognise it and come running back. They shut that fountain off years ago though. The thing’s dried out and rusted over. Of course, if the boy was still alive he’d be a grown man by now. It’s just harrowing what losing a child can do to you. It’s a mother’s worst nightmare.”

  Before leaving for school, Seckry noticed an envelope sitting on the doormat. There was no address, just the word Seckry, meaning it had been posted by hand. But who did he know around here? The only person he had really spoken to so far was Tenk, but he hadn’t even mentioned his birthday to him.

  Seckry ripped the envelope and opened the card.

  Happy Birthday, it read, and nothing more. There was no indication of who it was from. He showed it to his mum and Leena, but they were equally perplexed.

  He popped the card on his bedroom windowsill and headed down into the square. He gave the dried out fountain a glance as he waited for Tenk. He felt a deep pang of sadness for Mrs Plum. He just couldn’t imagine what it’d be like for a mother to lose their child like that.

  “Morning, Seckry,” Tenk croaked, dragging his feet, his long hair flopping over his eyes.

  “Where’s the gel today?” Seckry asked.

  “Didn’t have time. Got up too late. Couldn’t get a wink of sleep ‘causa the singing.”

  “I woke up in the night too,” Seckry told him.

  Tenk shook his head. “It’s bad what happened. But man, it was decades ago. She’s just gotta let go.”

  “Look what I’ve got,” Seckry said cheerfully, hoping to change the mood. He pulled out his Friction gift card and took pleasure in watching Tenk’s eyes widen in awe.

  “Who on earth gave you that?”

  “My mum. It’s my birthday today.”

  “Your birthday? Man, why didn’t you tell me yesterday? I would have got you a card.”

  “Sorry, I just forgot, I guess,” Seckry said. Well that ruled out Tenk as the one who had posted the mystery birthday card.

  “But seriously,” Tenk continued, “fifty notes worth. Do you realise the kind of avatar you can get with that? Damn.”

  “I haven’t got a clue, to be honest,” Seckry told him truthfully. “I think I’ll need you to come with me and help me out choosing something.”

  “It’ll be my pleasure, dude,” Tenk said slowly.

  “Where would I spend these vouchers anyway?” Seckry asked.

  “You ain’t seen the Friction stores yet? There’s one not far, just down Old Hobber’s lane. It’s only a small shop that one, though. The place you want to go is the official Friction emporium in the city centre. It’ll blow your mind. How about I take you there on the weekend?”

  “Sounds good,” Seckry said, looking forward to it.

  The streets
were warm again this morning. The summer was ending, but the heat seemed to be lingering around a lot longer than usual.

  As they stepped off the monorail, they saw Tippian waiting by the entrance and he joined them as they headed for their first lesson of the day; art with a teacher named Mrs Dooly.

  Seckry loved art; he was always drawing in his spare time and he liked doodling little pictures on his computer with a virtual paintbrush. He was excited about the lesson. This was one subject that he knew he could look forward to, and he was feeling a lot happier than yesterday until he noticed that the foul mouthed Snibble boy from his inverse mathematics class was also queuing up for this one.

  “I love art lessons,” Snibble said loudly as he stormed into the room and took a seat. “It’s a free lesson. Everyone knows we ain’t gonna do any work.”

  “Some of us are,” said a quiet looking girl.

  “Yeah, I know you will, you nerdy swot.”

  “Oi, calm down now,” said Mrs Dooly, entering the room with about five paintings under her left arm and a bowl full of dribbling oil paints in her hands. She plonked them down and tried to settle everyone so that she could begin. It didn’t seem to work though. Her voice was slightly airy and it almost seemed as if her mind was wandering elsewhere, outside of the classroom.

  Amidst the din, she managed to give the class instructions to each draw an object in the room but as soon as she stopped talking the class just began chattering even louder amongst themselves.

  “Look, it’s Conker again,” said Snibble. “What you drooling at now? My missus ain’t even here. You slobbering over Mrs Dooly? Sick piece of crap.”

  Conker was seated just in front of Snibble and he didn’t turn around. He just carried on drawing his pencil case, which was the only thing on his desk.

  “Don’t say much, do you?” Snibble carried on. He got up and stood right next to the large boy.

  “Snibble, stop it,” came the voice of a girl chewing gum.

  “Shut it, Tania,” Snibble dismissed, then he knocked his knuckles on Conker’s skull. “Empty fippin shell.”

  “Oi,” Seckry blurted out without thinking. He immediately regretted it. He usually kept quiet in situations like that. Why had he said something now?

  Snibble turned and glared.

  “What you say?”

  Seckry’s face exploded with miniature prickles, he was sure he’d gone bright red. “He wasn’t doing anything to you, just leave him alone.” His voice felt weak and trembled.

  The girl chewing gum clapped her hands.

  “I’m glad someone said something. You need a right good slap, you do, Snibble.”

  Snibble walked over to Seckry and put his face right up close to his. Then he made as if to head-butt him, and Seckry flinched.

  “Like this new guy, do you Tania?” Snibble said mockingly.

  The girl rolled her eyes.

  Seckry turned his eyes downwards and began drawing his key-ring, which was a little fat cat that he’d won in an arcade machine years ago. He hoped Snibble would just walk away.

  But he didn’t. As soon as Seckry began shading, Snibble flicked the pencil out of his hand and onto the floor.

  Seckry breathed out slowly. He paused a moment before leaning down and picking it up. But as he put his pencil back to the page, Snibble flicked it again and it went flying across the room.

  That was it. Seckry’s adrenaline fired through his limbs and he shot up involuntarily.

  “What’s your problem?” he said loudly, and pushed Snibble away.

  Something snapped then. Snibble’s eyes changed from smarmy malice to pure rage. He launched himself at Seckry but Conker grabbed his shirt and wrenched him backwards.

  “One more fight and you’re expelled, Mr Knotting,” said Mrs Dooly in her feeble voice. “The headmaster has warned me about you.”

  Snibble’s eyes stayed locked on Seckry’s for a moment, but then he turned to Mrs Dooly and he seemed to calm down.

  “I ain’t fighting, miss. We were messing.”

  In the moment, Snibble must not have realised that Conker had restrained him because he seemed shocked when he noticed that Conker’s brick of a hand was still clasped on his shirt. He smacked it away in disgust.

  “Get off me, you fippin freak,” he spat.

  After that, Seckry was left to carry on drawing and Snibble didn’t say a word. At the end of the lesson Snibble left before anyone else.

  Tenk showed Seckry his drawings. He hadn’t bothered doing any still life at all, he had spent the lesson coming up with logo ideas for his avatar, Basher.

  For the rest of the morning Snibble kept to himself and Seckry’s day went pretty smoothly. He had his first genetics lesson in which they had a teacher named Mr Gilb, who was pleasant enough, although stank of alcohol and had a noticeable sway in his step. Then they had religious education, in which they were dictated to about Gedin and the coming of Seckraman. Seckry kept his head down in that one, hoping no one was going to ask him why his mum had named him the same name as the son of the Almighty.

  When lunchtime came around, Seckry sat in the canteen with Tenk and Tippian and listened to their conversations on Friction. He couldn’t believe he had heard so much about this game and he hadn’t even played it yet. Tenk was itching to take Seckry to the Friction pods that very night, but his eldest brother was coming home for a couple of days from university to see his family. Tenk promised he would show Seckry how to play on the weekend.

  While the boys were chatting away, Seckry noticed that Snibble was sitting in the far right corner of the canteen, talking to the chewing gum girl, Tania. She looked angry and she was shaking her head at him. Seckry tried to read Snibble’s lips but they were too far away to see.

  “What Mrs Dooly did earlier, that’s the only way to get him,” Tenk explained, following Seckry’s line of sight. “The guy’s scared to death of being expelled. Scared of his parents, I guess. His dad sounds like a right nutter from what I’ve heard and his mum is in prison for life. No one knows what she did to get herself there.”

  After lunch, Seckry and the rest of his class had a period of animal care which was run by a woman who lived on campus named Ms Butterkins. If Seckry hadn’t known any better he might have mistaken Ms Butterkins for a homeless person who had wandered in off the streets, since her clothes were ravaged and tattered and her hair was like a giant, tangled bird’s nest. He felt slightly intimidated by her at first, since, aside from her striking appearance, she was also rather unpredictable, and unnaturally strong. Tenk assured him, however, that Butterkins was one of the nicest, and most harmless of teachers in the whole of the school.

  The lesson took place in a separate building known the sanctuary, which was located just outside of the headmaster’s office and which was home to about fifty different animals, some very young, which were being kept in incubation tanks for a period of time, and others older, who had free run of the place.

  During the lesson they learned how to feed baby mollycobbles, which were little plump things that looked to Seckry like oversized grubs, and which snapped at a person’s hands so quickly that you had to be careful not to lose a finger. The task was a relatively simple one, but was made overly difficult by the resident bubbit (a knee high bouncy species that Seckry recognised from the fields around Marne) who kept flying through the air and swiping the food from pupils’ hands, and, in one case, knocking over one of the smaller girls before sitting happily on her chest and licking her face.

  When the bell rang, Seckry felt bile rising up his throat. They only had one lesson left, and it was electronics with Cut Throat Cutson.

  Seckry and most of the rest of the class were already seated in room B12 when Snibble strolled in with a deliberate limp.

  “Who you lookin’ at, Conker? Give me one more look like that and you know what I’ll do?” Snibble leaned in and said vehemently, “I’ll send the Rabbit Man round.”

  “The Rabbit Man?” Seckry stifled a l
augh. “Who’s the Rabbit Man?” he said to Tenk. “Some kind of giant rabbit?”

  But before Tenk could answer, one of the girls over the other side of the class (Primmy Trotts, if he remembered her name correctly), stood up furiously and shouted, “Don’t even joke about that, Snibble, you disgusting pig!”

  “Who says I’m joking?” Snibble retorted and began strolling over to her, but at that moment Mrs Cutson opened the door and the class fell silent.

  Snibble’s expression turned to panic and he jumped into his seat.

  Chapter Five

  The White Chip