by Tina Chan
Someone was breathing heavily into Kristi’s left ear. She slowly peeled opened her eyes and turned her head towards the source of the sound. Amber eyes locked onto her gaze. Before she could make a sound of alarm though, someone shoved a hand into her mouth. She bit down hard and drew blood. A girl’s voice swore in the darkness.
“I’ll really appreciate it if you would stop chomping my hand off my arm,” the girl’s voice whispered. “Just don’t scream or else we’re both done for.”
The hand extracted itself from Kristi’s mouth and she spat out blood. The metallic, salty taste lingered in the back of her mouth.
A solar lamp flickered on and shed some light in the darkness. Kristi squinted to make out the person in front of her. A girl about Kristi’s age held the lamp above her head and the droid-leopard Kristi saw earlier stood beside her.
“Who are you?” Kristi whispered.
“Chelsa. Chelsa Bright. We can talk more once I get you out of here.”
Chelsa removed a knife from her boots and swiftly cut the ropes Wilson used to secure Kristi with. Kristi let out a small gasp of pain as the blood rushed back to her fingertips.
Chelsa grasped one of Kristi’s swollen hands and silently led her out of the warehouse, relocking the latch on the door after they passed through. Kristi ran behind Chelsa, not knowing where they were headed. The droid-leopard loped gracefully besides them.
The once-familiar streets became an alien landscape at night; Kristi had never ventured outside after curfew. The whole experience was rather dreamlike. Acquainted statues of the city’s founder turned into unrecognizable figures, waiting for the right moment to spring into action.
Chelsa threaded her way through the maze of streets with confidence, often doubling back as if to shake off any pursuers. She slowed to a walk and Kristi recognized where they were: the alley where all the trouble started.
Chelsa placed her hand over the indented brick. As soon as the gap appeared, she stepped through the opening, motioning for Kristi to follow. Chelsa unlocked the padlocked door at the back of the room with an old fashioned key. It was the same door Kristi had tried to open earlier.
“After you.” Chelsa gestured for Kristi to pass through the door before her.
So she did, with Chelsa and her droid-pet trailing behind her. Chelsa flicked on a switch and five muted bulbs lit up the room they were in.
It was a modest, little room, with few pieces of furniture scattered about. In one corner was a bed with a quilt neatly folded on it; in another corner were a desk and chair. An old—but clean—rug rested in the center of the wooden floored room. Last but not least, a wardrobe squatted beside the bed.
“Welcome to my humble home,” Chelsa said, dropping onto the bed. She waved for Kristi to sit on the wheelie chair tucked beneath the battered desk.
“Thanks for rescuing me. My name’s Kristi Shea.”
“Any time. After all, how could I let someone like you get hurt? You’re too much like me.”
“Too much like you?” Kristi asked.
Chelsa explained, “We’re both not Perfects.”
Kristi momentarily lost the ability to speak. She had lived her whole life believing she was the only living Accident in the world. Her brain tried to process what Chelsa said, but couldn’t seem to quite grasp the words.
“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Chelsa said, petting the leopard. “I was beyond shocked when I saw you leaving the hidden room. To get into the room, you have to place your hand on the sensor I installed outside. The sensor checks your DNA for any artificial changes and only allows people with no DNA alterations to pass through the wall. I thought only I could get past the sensor. Apparently I’m wrong.”
“This is crazy,” Kristi said.
Yet she believed Chelsa at the same time. Looking at her closely, Kristi could tell that she didn’t have DNA alterations. Yes, Chelsa was pretty, but not pretty the way Perfects were. Her facial features weren’t exactly symmetrical. Chelsa’s eyelashes weren’t as long and exaggerated like the eyes of perfected females. (Lavish lashes and eccentrically colored irises were the “in thing.”)
“How did I not know you?” Kristi wondered.
She felt like her world was being turned upside down and twisted inside out. First she’d been stalked by a droid-leopard, next she’d watched an illegal movie, then she’d barely escaped some electro-slate thieve abductors and now she just found out she wasn’t the only Accident alive.
“I didn’t know there were others like me until today,” Chelsa pointed out. “I just moved into North Region a few weeks ago and have been trying to keep a low profile.”
“Where were you originally from?” Kristi asked.
“East Region. You?”
“Born and raised in the North Region. Do you have an electro-slate I could borrow? I need to give my parents an instafication to let them know I’m all right.”
Chelsa handed her an old electro-slate, giving Kristi the impression times were hard on her. Chelsa’s belongings supported this assumption; everything looked either second-hand or timeworn.
Kristi dialed Maria’s ID number. A notice popped up:
This is not a registered number. Please try again with a valid ID number or contact the Communication Headquarter for help.
Frowning slightly, she entered Don’s number. The message popped up again:
This is not a registered number. Please try again with a valid ID number or contact the Communication Headquarter for help.
Now she felt disturbed and uneasy. Kristi nervously punched in Jaiden’s ID number, praying he would pick up even though she was sending him an instafication at one-thirty in the morning. To her relief, Jaiden’s ID number was valid. However, he must’ve muted or turned off his electro-slate because she had to leave him a message.
“Hi, Jaiden, it’s me, Kristi. I’m borrowing someone else’s electro-slate to send you this instafication because I kinda lost mine. I’ll explain more about that later. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow…or rather, later today. Bye.”
The urge to yawn overcame Kristi; she couldn’t suppress it and the yawn escaped. The leopard mimicked Kristi and let out a yawn as well. Its maw stretched, fangs glinting when they caught the light.
“You must be exhausted. Why don’t you sleep in my bed for tonight? We can talk more after breakfast when you’re not feeling half dead,” Chelsa said. With a firm grip on her arm, the older girl led her to the single mattress in the room.
Kristi weakly protested, “Let me sleep on the floor. I’ve caused you enough trouble for the night.”
“Nonsense,” Chelsa said in a don’t-argue-with-me tone.
Kristi opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it when she realized she was too tired to argue back. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve considered this whole situation absurd, but today hadn’t been a normal day, so she let it slide. Before she knew it, she was sound asleep.
It didn’t surprise Kristi that Chelsa was already up and about before her in the morning. As usual, Kristi was the last one to wake; what else was new?
Chelsa was making instant oatmeal with a portable bio-fuel stove, stirring the pot with a wooden spatula. She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, but looked up when she noticed Kristi moving.
“There’s a change of clothes for you in the bathroom if you’re up for a shower.” Chelsa nodded her head towards yet another door in the room Kristi failed to observe last night.
The bathroom, like the rest of Chelsa’s living quarter, was small but tidy. Kristi twisted the doorknob to the bathroom; it refused to turn.
“You have to press the knob to the right a bit,” Chelsa said, watching Kristi struggle with the bathroom door. With a reluctant creak, the door swung inwards, permitting her to pass through.
The shower Kristi took refreshed and drained all the sleepiness out of her, probably because the hot water wasn’t working. And there is no faster way to wake oneself up than stepping unde
rneath a jet of ice-cold water first thing in the morning.
Next, she slipped on the clothes Chelsa had left for her on the counter. The V-neck shirt and jeans hugged her body comfortably; not too tight nor too loose. Satisfied with her new outfit, Kristi did her best to untangle and braid her hair. It was quite a challenge since her hair seemed to rebel against all attempts of being tamed. At last, she restored the bathroom to its original condition and stepped back out into the main room.
Chelsa had finished cooking breakfast and it smelled divine. Kristi nodded thanks and appreciatively accepted the bowl of cinnamon sugar oatmeal Chelsa offered. Then she started to sit on the wheelie chair, but halted when she realized the droid-leopard perching there. It takes skill not to notice a large cat sitting in the chair you were planning on sitting in, Kristi thought to herself sheepishly.
The leopard hissed at her, not pleased for having almost been sat upon.
“Geez, no need to get all catty on me,” Kristi said. She backed away from the chair in case the feline decided to pounce on her.
Chelsa cracked up. “That was hilarious! You should have seen your face when you saw Ghost!”
“I’m pretty sure the saying is, ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost’,” Kristi said. For some reason, her response made Chelsa laugh again. “Now what?” Kristi didn’t see anything funny about the situation.
“My leopard’s name is Ghost. I wasn’t talking about the idiom,” said Chelsa.
Kristi looked over to Ghost who stared evenly back.
“Ghost won’t bite you unless I command him to,” reassured Chelsa.
“Okay. I think I’ll eat breakfast standing though.” Kristi scooted away from the one-hundred-pounds-plus leopard and lifted a spoonful of oatmeal to her lips.
“Pet him. He likes being stroked.”
“I think I’m fine.”
“You aren’t scared, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Pet him.”
Ghost let out an annoyed huff and leapt down from the chair. He glanced back once at Kristi then stalked out, looking as peeved as a droid-leopard could look. Kristi seated herself in the now-empty chair and ate the cooled oatmeal. Chelsa came over and nursed a mug of black coffee.
Kristi couldn’t prevent herself from observing Chelsa. Before her eyes was another Accident that had survived into her teens, a feat Kristi had believed only she had accomplished. If Chelsa noticed her watching, she showed no signs of it.
“Who are you exactly? Why are you here? Where are your parents? When did you move into North Region?” Kristi’s questions spilled out from her.
“Where to start…” Chelsa said.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning? That’s usually a pretty good place to start.” She gulped down a sip of coffee so strong it could’ve passed for an extra-concentrated caffeine pill.
“As I said before, I come from the East Region. Things weren’t pretty back there. I was constantly framed for any crimes that happened simply because I’m an Accident. Eventually, I decided I’ve had enough and left.” Chelsa collected the empty bowl from Kristi then continued on. “I found this room by accident; I was searching for a place to sleep and somehow ended up in the room behind the wall. To make a long story short, I installed the scanner lock to keep out intruders. My security system worked pretty well until now because all intruders have one thing in common: altered genetics.”
“What about your parents? Aren’t they going to worry about you?”
“My parents don’t care about me. Enough said about me. What’s life like for you around here?”
“Most people here just ignore me or treat me like I’m a three-year old,” Kristi said. “It must’ve been pretty bad in the East if it caused you to move.”
Chelsa nodded her confirmation. “I’ve seen new-born Accidents left out for the street patrols to pick up. You risk your life by being an Accident in East Region. Tell me more about yourself.”
Normally, Kristi wouldn’t act so open around a stranger. On the other hand, Chelsa did just save her life and struck her to be trustworthy person. “I have lived here all my life and have a brother named Jaiden. My real parents left me when I was little and Maria and Don adopted me. There really is nothing much interesting to know about me.”
“How did you end up being captured by the electro-slate thieves? To my knowledge, they don’t take prisoners,” said Chelsa.
Kristi told Chelsa about narrowly escaping the gang by stumbling into the TV room by mishap and returning to the room later that day to further explore it. She described her awe while watching The Phantom of the Opera and how she ran into Wilson when exiting the room.
“Speaking of DVDs,” Kristi said, “How did you get a copy of The Phantom of the Opera? I thought the government had destroyed all fictional films.”
“Alex gave it to me,” she said. The corners of her eyes tightened. “He also taught me how to make the DNA scanner I placed outside on the brick wall. Alex was a good friend of mine,” she added when Kristi shot her a quizzical look.
“From the East Region?”
“Yeah.”
She watched Chelsa subconsciously play with her hands, almost dropping the mug precariously balanced at the edge of her knees.
“Do you want me to wash the dishes?” Kristi indicated the bowl and mug in Chelsa’s lap. She wanted to do something helpful for Chelsa; a small action of thanks in return for the help Chelsa gave her.
“That would be great. You can use the bathroom sink. I’m going to find Ghost and make sure he’s all right.”
After rinsing the utensils and leaving them besides the sink to dry, Kristi returned to the main room to find Chelsa typing something on her electro-slate.
“That was fast,” Chelsa said. She exited the message she was typing on her slate.
“Is Ghost still upset about me?”
“Nah. He’s fine.” Chelsa prodded Ghost, who was curled up at the foot of the cot, with her foot. “You’re not used to visitors, are you?” she asked the leopard.
“I should get going. My parents are probably having a heart attack right now since I’ve never been out after curfew. Do you want to come with me? I’m sure Don and Maria would be more than happy to meet you.”
“Thanks, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your offer.”
Kristi masked her disappointment. Perhaps Chelsa doesn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention to herself, she thought.
“You won’t tell anyone about me and my rooms, will you?” Chelsa asked right before Kristi stepped outside.
“Of course not.”
“Good. I knew I could trust you.”
With that, Kristi stepped back into the alley and ran home as fast as her legs allowed. The sky seemed to be just a little bit bluer than usual and the sun seemed to shine just a bit brighter.
I think I’ve found a potential friend. Aside from Jaiden, there was really no one in the city she trusted. Not even Don and Maria. As much as she appreciated her adoptive parents for taking her in, they never established a close relationship with her.
chapter seven
[ Kristi ]
