Rarity

She ran down the dirty street with her blonde curls flaring out behind her, and her thin fingers clutching a small silver heart shaped locket. Her blue eyes prominent on her flushed face.

Running felt good, there is this moment she would reach, that felt like peace and clarity. If she could just keep her head forward and push, all her fears and emotions would not be able to catch up to her. She glanced behind herself like she could see them there, chasing her not wanting to letting go: hunger, pain, loss, depression. She quickly whipped her head forward not wanting to stare at those ugly things.

She ran until the jumbo screen at the city square bloomed to life and caught her attention. The well dressed woman, taking up the screen, smiled and waved as an invisible audience cheered.

“Dr. Thana Baxter I’m so very pleased to have you on our evening show.” The gentleman host smiled charmingly and shook the doctor’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to be here Malcolm.” She smiled toward the audience once again.

“For sake of time let’s jump right in to the meat of our interview, if that’s fine with you?”

“Absolutely,” she brightened. “It’s what I’m good at talking about anyway.”

Malcolm laughed politely. “How has your business benefitted our society as a whole?”

“It’s not just our society. It’s the world. We have found true clean energy with no waste. There is no nuclear sludge to get rid of or coal and fossil pollution in the air. It’s just energy clean and renewable. It’s exactly what the scientific community 20–30 years ago was desperately searching for. My team and I have cracked the code so to speak. With this newly found process for clean energy and the worlds previous initiatives with electric cars and the like, we should start to see even more planet restoration. The oceans are cleaner, the animal population is growing, and our carbon emissions are at an all time low. We should be proud of ourselves for how far we have come.”

The girl stood glaring at the screen. Her mind wondering back to all that had been lost. This woman sat there congratulating the world for its accomplishment. The world had crumbled to pieces. It felt like it had all happened at once even though she knew it had started long before her time here. Money, society, and the average way of life all just fell. Somehow through it all the truly wealthy stayed that way, and the rest of the population was just glad to be alive. It was true the planet was bouncing back, and against all odds so was humanity. Humans were like that, always able to rise from the ashes. It conjured in her mind images of a Phoenix majestic and good, but from what she knew of people, cockroaches was a better representation. The planet was healing because people could not live the way they had been. Cars were a luxury, actual jobs were hard to find, and food was grown or caught at home, if you could. Life was nothing like what it used to be. Coming back to the present, the girl shook her head, to clear her thoughts or maybe out of frustration she was not quite sure.

“What is the process of this new energy, if you don’t mind me asking? How do we acquire it?” Malcolm’s most likely feigned excitement pulled in other random passersby. A small group now stood watching the screen.

“Oh Malcolm,” she gave him a coy smile, “Our process is not yet patented, but you knew that. I’m not able to talk about the science behind the energy. Hopefully soon, we will be able to discuss in detail everything, but today is not that day.”

“Did you see the new energy plant that her company built on the Southside? Brand new shiny buildin’ on the outskirts of that run down part of town. It looks so strange.” A gruff burly man asked nobody in particular.

“Everywhere is a run down part of town.”

“I don’t care what it is or how they do it, as long as we are able to get jobs.” A woman standing close to the girl said. A murmur of consent issued from the crowd.

“They say the Baxter lady is going to visit soon to start the whole operation.” The gruff man murmured. “So I’m guessin’ that means our lives will be gettin’ better. I, for one, won’t mind havin’ a home with electricity again.”

The girl shook her head. She had found that most people did not care where anything came from anymore. For the lower class morals were a luxury only the rich seemed to keep with “outreaches” and “help”, but it was those very same individuals fault for not listening. Scientists had been reporting this stuff for years, yet the people in power had ignored it as a hoax or unimportant until the last moment. It was their fault that we were in this mess. They had had the power to enact change but conveniently for them they twiddled their thumbs instead.

She listened as the group talked back and forth about potential jobs and food on the table. She slowly pulled away from the crowd not wanting to draw attention to herself.

Darting forward again, she pushed herself toward her destination, the little run down building at the edge of town. She made it as the light was fading from the sky. That was how he liked it, No one was to know about her.

She should be ashamed of their relationship, but the world was past all that now. It was all survival and finding the way to do it. She had found hers, even if was not pretty.

Watching from the shadows of the alley, she waited for the right moment to move across the street. Men and women strolled the sidewalk heading home from wherever their day had taken them. There was a lull in the crowd, and she used it to scurry across the street.

She gave four knocks on the back door as she had been instructed to do. The door opened quickly, and she was yanked inside. The man standing before her was her life line, and she wished she did not hate him.

“I don’t have time for you today, girl.” He rasped out. His vocal cords seemed to strain under his skin, as he said it.

“What do you mean?” Her soft voice barely making it to the man.

His features softened, “There are job openings being filled at the new power plant. I’m going down there to get one. I made it to the third round of interviews. It was not easy, but I am skilled. They were bound to notice.” His smug smile blooming over his features. “That being said, I don’t need your particular services today. Eat whatever is left and then leave the house. I will know if you took anything and you know the consequences of that.” He looked at her coldly.

“Yes I know. Thank you, Steven.” She rubbed the scars on her arm, remembering vividly those consequences. “Have you heard anything about my mom?”

He paused from leaving long enough to look over his shoulder at her. He stared into her face for a moment. His eyes hardening at the sight of her. He took a deep breath and shook his head before walking out the door.

Her heart sank. Her mother had been missing for weeks. It was either hire a man like Steven to help track her down or move on. She was not ready to just give up on her mother.

She sat at the little table finishing off the crumbs that he had left her. It was better than nothing and some days it was all she had to eat. Her body was gaunt with malnutrition, but she was alive and that was all anyone could ask for. She clutched her mother’s locket closer to her for comfort.

She was not strong or brave. She did not stand up or out in a crowd. She was quick and quiet. She slipped in and out like a ghost, even in people’s minds. It was lonely, cold, and tiring, and she was exhausted to the very core of her being.

Finishing her meager dinner, she blew out the candle on the table and crept to the door. Her eyes slowly swiveled up and down the street. It was dark and still. She slowly stepped out the door and took off into the night, but before she could make it to her alleyway, she was grabbed from behind, and a sickly, sweet smelling cloth placed over her nose and mouth. Her body grew too heavy, and her eyes shut of their own volition.

She slept.

Slowly, she regained her consciousness, feeling a soft surface under her. It was softer than anything she had lain on in ages. Her eyes opened to a ceiling fan whirring around above her. The air it pushed down on her felt heavenly. She closed her eyes feeling the soft sensation of wind against her skin. The building, whatever it was, had electricity. The tears that threatened to spill over angered her. It was stupid to get emotional over something so small, but there she was all the same, tearful over lights and fans.

The door to her small room opened, what she assumed was a doctor walked inside along with Thana Baxter. The girls eyes widened at the sight of her.

“Hello little one, I’m Dr. Thana Baxter. We are going to check your vitals and secure you onto the bed for transport.” She smiled widely at the girl. “You are going to do something amazing, and in the process help so many people. All clear, Doctor?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Excellent.” She clapped her hands together and motioned them out of the room. The doctor wheeled her bed down a long hallway.

“I’m sure you saw my show on tv this afternoon about our new form of energy. Well, you are standing in our newest facility that creates it, and you are going to be a integral part of that process. Isn’t that wonderful?” She said patting the girls head.

The girls confusion must have shown on her face, because Dr Baxter patted her head once again trying to be reassuring. The girl could not get over how bizarre this all was. How could she do anything with creating power?

“Let me explain. We round up the dregs of society drug addicts, rapists, murders, and prostitutes” she motioned to the girl. “and we give them the opportunity to be a contributing member of society.”

This woman had no idea what it was like for her. She had no choice in the matter. Sure, maybe if there was a different way, she might take it. That was a useless thought to even contemplate, she was what this world had made her, but maybe this was her break. Maybe things would get better. Maybe she would find her mom, and they would have enough money to live a comfortable life.

“Like a job?” She croaked.

Dr. Baxter smiled, “Absolutely a job.”

The locks on her legs and wrists opened. The doctor motioned her toward another room. A large door shut behind her, and air shot at her from all sides. She turned toward the doctor again for instructions. He motioned her forward. She walked through to a large empty room with metal walls. A heavy metal door shutting reverberated through the room.

The thick window above her head showed Dr. Baxter standing in front of a group of people. They all peered down at her.

An intercom system crackled to life inside the room with the onlookers. It brought the group to complete silence, bracing for what was about to happen.

“Alright specimen number 534 ready for nuclear reaction.”

The crowd watched the room ignite. Shocked gasps leaving their lips. The blast shook the walls. Some had to grab the person next to them for stability. The energy pods on the wall directly in front of them filled with energy for transport and storage. All the while Dr Baxter stood watching with a gleam in her eye.

“Now this is the job you will be doing, running this facility. This young girl, with no name, will power a whole city for months. Isn’t it wonderful?”

A man, who intimately knew the girl, looked through the glass at what little remained of her. His horror evident on his features. He was not a moral man, but watching that had shook him to his core.

“Her name was Rarity.” He whispered.