Forgotten

Forgotten

By: Julieanna Theng

I lower myself to a crouched position behind a fallen piece of a building, hiding from a Bot. It begins to scan the chunk of concrete that I am hiding behind, but does not find me and marches away. I cannot be found, for I am almost to my destination. If I am found, I will be killed.

The Bot Security is an army of robots meant to “protect” our city. But for the past few months, they destroy anything that comes their way.

I look around, making sure it is safe for me to keep moving. I am one of the few left surviving in this ruined city of New York. As I look around, I am reminded of once beautiful and bustling city that has now fallen apart. In the distance I can see Security Bots march back and forth, scanning for things out of place and destroying them. Buildings are crumbling, some burning. There is debris and burnt trees everywhere. It looks much like a nuclear bomb hit, with some of the smaller buildings still intact. I have seen a few dead animals and even people. The air is hard to breathe, and smoke covers the light of the sun. Everything is grey. There is no other sign of life, and I have not seen another person since my mother passed away just a month before.

I keep walking, being careful and aware of my surroundings. I clutch a little black notebook with a lock on it, or holds the reason why this city was destroyed. This notebook was given to me by my mother who was killed by one of the Bots. When I sat weeping and cradling her head, she gave me the notebook and breathed her last words, telling me not to open the notebook until I reached a place called The Haven, and that I will find the reason why this city was destroyed.. When she handed the book, she also gave me an envelope of $20,000 worth of paper money and a compass. I remember learning about paper in school, how used used to be worth something. Now, if someone is found with any form of paper, especially money, they will be sentenced to death. Paper has been forbidden for almost a decade, and I was almost too scared to take it from her. Before I could reject the paper money, my mother laid there, lifeless. I remember warm tears rolling down my face and onto the envelope. The back of the envelope has coordinates and the words “The Haven” scribbled, and it is what I am using to get to my destination.

Using my compass and referring to the coordinates, I head towards a line of small shops. I duck under some fallen walls of concrete of the first building and walk into what looks like an abandoned cafe. The coordinates are bringing me close to The Haven, so it should be in one of these buildings. There are chairs and tables, broken or toppled over. I walk through and open the door to get to the next building, trying to remain hidden from the bots outside. I have learned that they are less likely to check out the smaller buildings. As I reach for the doorknob, I hear glasses clinking together. I turn sharply towards the sound, which is coming from behind the counter. I take out my pocket knife.

“Hello?” I say. “I know you’re back there.”

“Don’t kill me, and I won’t hurt you,” I hear a deeper voice say.

My heart races, unsure to trust what sounds like a man. I step forward, my knife out and ready to defend myself, when I see the man stand up slowly with his hands up. He looks at me with his hazel eyes. He has brown hair and has a strong, medium built body. He looks about my age too. Shocked by his attractive looks, I stand stunned.

He interrupts my thoughts. “I thought I would never see another person again.”

Careful not to let my guard down, I say “I am just as surprised, but is this The Haven?”

“Nope, but I was led here too, but I have stayed here for three days without any sign of another person, or The Haven for that matter.” He nods towards the door. “You think it is in there?”

A little unsure of this man, I debate whether or not to tell him that according to my coordinates, this is not the place. Close, but not The Haven.

“Well if this is not it, I guess I must keep looking.”

“You have exact coordinates” he states.

“How did you know?”

“I can see it written on your envelope,” he points to the paper clutched in my hand.

“Well yes-”

“Can I come?” he interrupts.

I stand there, unsure what to say. I just met him. He saw that I have a forbidden piece of paper. What if he turns me in? What if-

“I am not going to turn you in,” he interrupts my racing thoughts. “I just want to get to the safe place. I can protect you too, and help keep watch.”

I continue to think, but what do I have to lose? All I want to know is how the city came to ruins. But if he turns me in, I will die without knowing how my city was destroyed.

“Okay, sure. But keep in mind that I still don’t really trust you, so if I decide to just kill you I hope you understand.”

“Understandable” he says without hesitation.

“Well, let’s go then.” I quietly sigh, not sure if I regret agreeing to take him. “I am Alexandra, by the way. You can call me Alex.”

“My name is Alex too, actually, but nice to meet you, Alex.”

I give an accepting nod, trying to hide my slight shock, I begin to head for the door with Alex following. We walk into the next building, which is just as destroyed as the bakery. It looks to have once been a small clothing store, with broken mannequins and torn clothes everywhere. The store windows are large, and I motion for Alex to walk towards the back to avoid being seen. I look at my coordinates and my compass, and I know that it must be the building next over.

Right before I open the door, I hesitate.

"Is something the matter?" kindly asks Alex.

"No, but it is weird to finally reach the destination. I have traveled for some time to find this place, and I can't believe I am here."

"Well I don't think-"

I don't let Alex finish and I open the door that leads to the next building, only to find the entire place is… empty?

Strange. No debris and no trash. There aren’t even any windows.

“Yeah I already checked here” says Alex. “I looked everywhere for a hidden door, but I did not find anything.”

“This makes no sense,” I say, extremely puzzled. “The Haven is meant to be a safe place for people, not be just an empty building.”

I look around, trying to find something. Alex begins to look too, and after a few minutes of searching in silence, we find nothing.

Almost giving up, I look up on the corner of the ceiling and find a small paper with writing.

“Alex, come here and lift me up,” I say to him.

Alex sees the writing and lifts me onto his shoulders. The exact coordinates that I was given are written on the note. I take the note. Right under it was a small circle indented into the wall. On instinct, I press it, and a wall begins to lift up. Startled, Alex loses his balance and I land on top of him. Gaining consciousness, I look to the lifting wall, which seems to lead to a staircase. Alex and I look at each other, and it was as if we read each other's minds. We begin to walk down the stairs with Alex in front. After a short descent, about twenty steps, we come to another door. As he reaches for the knob, I hear a mechanical noise from the top of the stairs. I sound I am too familiar with. We both turn around and a Bot is looking straight down at us, getting ready to kill us with its flamethrower. Too stunned to move, something tackles it down before it shoots and the wall begins to lower.

“Did something just… tackle the Bot?” I ask.

“It looked like it, but at least it didn’t have time to shoot” he says with some sort of relief.

I was so shocked I could not process what just happened. Alex turns back around and reaches for the door again. He swings the door open. We walk into a large area, about half the size of New York City itself. There are makeshift homes of cardboard and cloth in neat rows. People are bustling about, not seeing us walk in. We were suddenly welcomed by an older man with a clean face and short, grey hair.

“Welcome to The Haven! My name is Markis, the leader here. You are some of the lucky few that happen to have the coordinates to this place, and you have made it! Here, you are safe and will have a place to stay-”

“What does this book mean?” I interrupt as I hold up the black notebook.

Markis, in complete shock, looks at me and says, “Alexandra?”

“Yes?” I say confused, not sure who this man is and how he knows my name. I look to Alex, and he looks at me with confusion.

“You know him?” Alex asks, looking for some sort of explanation.

“I believe you also have $20,000 worth of paper money as well?” Markis asks.

“Who are you and how do you know my name? What is this notebook and how do you know of the money I have?”

“I believe you would like to know what is in this notebook, and why you had to wait until now to see what is in it?”

“Yes, but-”

“Let me open it,” he says gently.

Still confused, I give him the notebook, desperate to know what is in this book. He takes out a key from his pocket, and opens the lock.

I can’t believe it is now the time. It seemed fast. I feel like there was something dramatic supposed to happen. He opened it and the first page brought my heart to a complete stop.

Alexandra is written on the page.

I am sure I looked confused, and Markis began to speak.

“If this is it, this is it,” he says.

“What is ‘it’? I came all this way just to find my name?” I take the book and quickly flip through the pages. All of the pages were blank.

“You, Alexandra, are the reason for all of this. You are the reason the city came to ruin. Don’t you remember?”

“I… No, I have no idea what you are talking about. How would I have done it and not remember?” I begin to panic, not sure what to think.

“It seems I may need to remind you, for you have forgotten,” he says.