The Shark

The shark was nothing to fear.

But the woman sitting next to it was absolutely terrifying.

The Governor of The Citadel, Natasha Thompson, was at least eighty years old — no one seemed quite certain of her age — and the harsh ruler of this small city.

What I wanted to know was why she had invited us here.

Yumi and I were dressed up and had just entered the Governor’s Manor, presenting our gold embossed invitation when we did so. Thanks to some friends, who had scared up a dress for Yumi and a suit for me, we looked decent.

“Is that a shark?” Yumi whispered.

I liked having her arm entwined with mine and how she bent her head toward mine when she whispered.

“I’ve heard she has twenty different species.”

“But we’re nowhere near the ocean. And no one ever goes anywhere. How can she have a tank full of sharks?”

“No idea,” I answered. “It’s one of the greatest mysteries of The Citadel, second only to who the hell are we and how the hell did we end up here?”

“Shhhh. We’re at the Governor’s Manor, for goodness sake. No swearing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I responded. “Should I go get us some drinks?”

“Sure,” she said, her eyes still on the shark tank. “I’m going to get a close up look at that shark.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling indulgently at her. “It’s cute that you want to go look at the sharks.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and I remembered belatedly that she could throw knives.

“Just kidding,” I said, holding up my hands in a gesture of surrender. “You’re not cute.”

She frowned.

“I mean,” I tripped over my tongue. “You are cute. Well, not cute but more beautiful really. I mean, not that I was looking at you like that. We’re just partners, right. But if I was looking at you like that… well… I do think you’re beautiful.”

I stopped before the hole I was digging for myself got any bigger.

Yumi stared at me and I hoped she hadn’t noticed the dinner knives at each place setting along the enormously long table where we would soon be eating. Those kind of knives probably wouldn’t actually pierce my skin but I feel like they would leave a serious bruise.

Yumi was still glaring at me and I waited for the knives to fly. Instead, she stopped glaring and gave me a little half smile.

“Thanks,” she said and turned toward the shark tank.

I blinked and watched her go, confused. Somehow I had expected her to be angry. I supposed I should be thanking my lucky stars that all the knives were still on the table.

When I had our drinks, I wended my way through the guests, heading for the aquarium. I spotted Yumi, admiring her silhouette against the blue of the tank, which was lit from inside.

As I got closer, though, I could see her clearly and I had to admit that I liked what I saw. I had been in The Citadel for months and no woman had caught my eye.

Until I saw her.

She was wearing the borrowed dress which was blue and off the shoulder. It flared out at her narrow waist into a long skirt that fell all the way to her toes. She had pulled her long black hair into a bun. And those dark eyes snared me when she pivoted on her heel, as if sensing my arrival.

I could see us both in the reflection of the glass, me with me curly red hair and blue eyes, Yumi with her black hair and eyes. I kind of liked the contrast between us. It felt right somehow.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said, taking her drink.

“What doesn’t?”

“The sharks.”

“Yeah,” I said, in agreement. “It doesn’t. We already covered this.”

“But don’t you see, Chad? It’s just like you said. Things aren’t as they seem. If the story they’ve been telling us is true, those sharks don’t belong here.”

“Good point,” I said, watching the sinuous twisting of a pale grey shark. It’s beady black eyes glowered at me and a shiver went down my spine. “The questions keep piling up. And the one at the top of my list tonight is… Why did Governor Natasha Thompson invite us to her dinner?”

“I don’t know. Just be on your best behaviour,” Yumi cautioned me. “And don’t swear.”

“Me?” I asked, innocently. She rolled her eyes.

It was hard to believe that we had only just met, I felt so comfortable with her. But something told me that we hadn’t just met. That we had known each other a long, long time.

This whole set up at The Citadel was artifice, smoke and mirrors, a play. And tonight I hoped we might get a glimpse behind the curtain and start piecing together what was really going on.

A clear silver bell sounded and a man called us to the table. The dinner was a solemn affair with people talking quietly and the Governor presiding at the head of the table. She occasionally said something to those who sat beside her but mostly she ate and watched everyone else.

It was a little creepy.

And something in her eyes made me uneasy.

When dinner was finished, the table was removed and a band entered. Yumi and I danced remarkably well together.

“Feels like we might have done this before.”

“I’ve been getting that feeling all night,” I said and then had to stifle a yawn. It was getting late and I wondered when things would start winding down. I was tired and confused about why we were here. I wanted to go up to the Governor and demand an explanation but I doubted that would get me very far.

We couldn’t do anything but dance, and drink, and nibble at the appetizers they were bringing around, and make small talk with the other guests.

At eleven o’clock on the dot, the man who announced dinner thanked us on the Governor’s behalf and wished us a pleasant evening. The Governor smiled benignly, waved, and was pushed away in her wheel chair.

“The Governor will see you now,” one of the workers said as she approached us. “Please follow me.”

“Good evening,” the Governor said as we came in. “Please sit down.”

Yumi and I sat on the couch.

“Thank you for the invitation, Governor,” I said, my manners asserting themselves immediately. “The dinner was delicious.”

“I’m glad that you enjoyed it, young man,” the Governor said, studying me closely. “Tell me, Chad. Do you remember anything about your life before coming to The Citadel?”

I shook my head.

“Almost nothing, Governor,” I told her. “And what I do remember seems completely nonsensical.”

“Ah,” the Governor said. “Nonsensical. What about you, Miss Tanaka?”

Yumi started. We hadn’t remembered our last names but somehow the Governor knew them?

The entry system into The Citadel was simple, brutal, and efficient. People seeking to become citizens were required to have their memories of their past life wiped. They were given a new name to symbolize their new life in The Citadel.

It was supposed to be like what ancient spiritual teachers did, taking on a new name to symbolize their new level of consciousness, but without all the trouble of any actual spirituality.

“How do you know my last name?” Yumi demanded. “Did we meet before? Outside The Citadel?”

The question was ridiculous of course. Because according to the story, no one ever left The Citadel. So how could we have met her outside of it? And everyone got a new name when they became a citizen, their old names lost along with their memories, yet somehow the Governor knew Yumi’s last name.

So many mysteries.

“What do you remember, Yumi?” The Governor asked again, ignoring her question.

“Nothing,” Yumi said, meeting her eyes. “I remember my name and nothing else.”

“Hm, hm,” the Governor said, folding her hands in her lap. “If only I could believe that.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded. “We’re telling the truth.”

“Right,” the Governor said, squinting at me. “How did you get back here? How do you still look so young? And what do you think you’ll accomplish by getting rid of me?”

Yumi and I exchanged a bewildered glance.

“We came to The Citadel like everyone else,” Yumi told her.

“We don’t want to get rid of you,” I assured her.

Neither of us addressed the odd question of us looking young.

“Look,” she said, her voice quivering with suppressed rage. “I don’t know what you two want or why you’ve come back but I’ve turned New Winnipeg into what it was supposed to be. A utopia. You coming here will do nothing except destroy everything I’ve created.”

“New Winnipeg?” Yumi said, and the name rang yet another bell. I felt the flutter of another memory almost breaking free.

“A utopia?” I snorted. How could she call it that?

“Still the same smart mouth,” she said, furious. Then she muttered something that made me think she really was crazy. “I never should have kissed you.”

I stood up abruptly.

“We have to be going now, Governor,” I said, reaching for Yumi’s hand. She took it and stood up, too. “Thank you for a lovely dinner.”

“Oh no,” the Governor said, her eyes glinting dangerously. “I can’t have you two running around the city. I need to find out what you’re up to.”

“What do you mean?” Yumi asked, her voice soft but not in a weak way, rather in the way a tiger leaps softly before it tears its prey apart.

“Guards,” she called in a loud voice. “Arrest these two and throw them in jail.”

“You can’t do this,” I said, feeling suddenly desperate. Jail was a another place in the Citadel that people went into and didn’t come out of.

“Oh, Chad,” she said, smiling in a way that made me uneasy. “I’m the Governor. I can do anything I want.”

Yumi lunged for a guard but before she could start to fight, he stabbed a needle into her arm and she slumped on the floor, unconscious.

“What the fuck?” I said, moving toward Yumi. But two guards grabbed my arms, holding me back. At the same time, two more picked up Yumi and began carrying her out of the room.

“She’s a little too dangerous,” the Governor said. “Can’t have her fighting. She would defeat them all.” She waved a contemptuous hand at her guards.

“Governor,” I said, giving her my most charming smile and trying another tack. “Can’t we talk about this?”

“We can talk,” she said. “And we will. Until you tell me what your plan is and why you’re back. And also what fountain of youth you’ve been drinking from.”

The Governor cackled after this comment in a way that made me doubt her sanity. Of course, along with the crazy laugh there were all the strange comments about Yumi and me. And the fact that she seemed to think we had come back on purpose to depose her. Back from where, I didn’t know.

“Governor. Please. You know we’re not going anywhere. There’s no need to lock us up. We’ll stay out of your way and out of trouble. Promise.”

“Oh right and you haven’t been stirring up a rebellion right under my nose either, Mr. Dvorski.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it.

She had me there.

“You will both be locked up. And you will stay locked up. Until you tell me the truth about what you’re doing here,” the Governor said, her tone was icy.

Despair filled me as the guards marched me away.

Because Yumi and I didn’t know what we were doing here.

And if the Governor wouldn’t tell us, I was afraid we would rot in jail before we ever got a chance to find out.