Chapter one: The Future
Tap; tap tapping away at my laptop. This is my life. Every moment I have, I write. It's my escape from reality, my lifeline. I weave tapestries of worlds I've never seen and never will; lands of heroes and villains. I put them on the internet, and become a hero hidden behind a mask, a hero of the web. If other people knew I did this, they would laugh, make fun of me. They don't understand what the past was like; what we're missing out on.
Our country, Facultas is run by The Government. They control every part of lives. There are rules in place over what jobs we can have, who we can have relationships with, be friends with. It doesn't matter what grades I get, I can only get jobs in cleaning, transport etc. because I live in the Fringes. I can never have relationship with someone from Society or Central, and I can never marry. Life often sucks in the Fringes. No one dares only defy The Government, because if you do, you're publically executed.
Our city, Orianna, which is the capital, is split into 3 parts, Central, Society and the Fringes. Central is where the rich, the famous and the popular live. They want for nothing, and have power over what happens. The government buildings are also located there, where the 'scum' can't affect what happens to our country. Society is where most people live, the middle class cereal box families who get straight A's and are content with their lives. Then you have the Fringes. This is where the criminals, the exiled and the poor live. It's also where I live. My father was exiled around 10 years back and because he was, the family was. Before we lived in Society and were all happy there; well, almost all. The stress of being exiled was too much for my mother; she killed herself about a year after, and killed the unborn son she was carrying. My father was left to raise me; he did a pretty good job actually. In Society he'd been a computer engineer, and after getting hold of a laptop somehow, he taught me all he knew.
People don't want thing to do with me because I live on the Fringes. At school, they either make fun of me, or completely ignore me. I might as well not exist, even though I get better grades them. I'm one of the best in my class at Science and Computing, no surprise there. I do pretty well in English as well, probably because of the amount I write. I can't wait till I can leave school because then, I can disappear. There are rumours of people who left Facultas escaped The Government. They were never heard of again.
To earn some extra money, I code for the Black Market. The Black Market is an online community who break the law, but a blind eye is turned to it. Quite often, we end up doing work for officials who don't want their superiors to know what they're working on. This is how I found out about the Marvel Games.
I was doing some work for a private dealer when I got a message, asking me to do some "special work". I took a quick look at it, and ignored it. If people want me to work for them, they have to state the type of work and the pay in their first message for me to even consider it. It also mentioned travel, which is out of the question. I kept on coding, but every day, at the same time I got the same message again and again, until I replied. I asked what the work involved and what the pay would be. The vendor replied, saying that I would be testing some new stimulation software, and then they told me the payment. My family's exile reversed. I was shocked. Did they have the power to do that? I went downstairs, and saw my dad sat in the kitchen.
"Dad, can I ask you a question?" I called out. He looked up and smiled at me.
"Course you can Alexis, you know you can ask me anything." I sat down opposite him.
"A vendor messaged me on the Market this morning offering me some testing work. The payment is the reversal of our exile." My dad drew in a deep breath.
"Have you accepted it yet?" He asked.
"I wanted to talk to you first. It involves traveling, and what if it's a hoax? I don't know Dad."
He didn't reply for a moment, and was deep in thought. "It's your choice Alexis. It's you who has to do the job, and is it really that bad here?"
I was split in two. I don't mind it here, but what if The Government gets a whiff?
"I'm going to go mull it over. Thanks Dad." I hugged him, and then ran upstairs. I reread the message multiple times, and checked the forums to see if anything like this was being offered to anyone else. There was. There was an advertisement for 15 people, 5 from the Fringes, 5 from Society and 5 from Central. I smirked at the advertisement for people from Central. Good luck with that.
I decided to take it, with 2 conditions. I got a deposit of 15,000 Libra, and my father was left alone until the job was finished. The vendor agreed and wired me the money straight away. I had to be at the South Fringe station tomorrow at 6.30 and if I was late, the agreement was over. I went downstairs and told my dad. He gave me a hug and told me no matter what happened I shouldn't regret my decision. I was already starting to. I went upstairs to pack. I was digging through one of my draws when I found a locket which belonged to my mother. It was a black oval, the kind that usually holds a picture. I'd never opened it, and wasn't planning to. I placed it round my neck and looked in the mirror to see what it looked like. It hung in the centre of my chest, pitch black against my pale skin. My long black hair hung round my face, only a shade darker than my eyes. I'd put some red and blue highlights in a couple of weeks back, and they were beginning to fade out. My lips were full, slightly too full for my face. Most people would call me striking, but I didn't think I was. I looked like my mother. I spun away from the mirror. I would never be her, never be that weak. I shoved all my stuff in my bag and looked round my room. The only thing that made it look like anyone lived in it was that there were comics everywhere. I found a stash of comics from before the 'The Fall' which were in good condition, and I couldn't bear to sell them. Along with my writing, they were my most precious thing, but I had to leave them.
I climbed out my window and sat on the roof, looking up at the stars. This is the last time I'm going to see these stars for a while, I thought. I lie back and close my eyes. Hopefully I'll be home soon. How little did I know?