Alice

The bedsprings in my old mattress groaned when I sat up after my night's rest. As I looked out of the window, I sighed. It was just another day our City; gray skies, smoke rising out in the distance, and dead trees everywhere. "Alice? Are you awake yet?" asked my grandfather from, most likely, the kitchen.

"Yes. I'll be there in a minute," I replied back to him. I walked across my old, dust-ridden room, and over to a wood chest that rested on the floor. Dust had already accumulated on the top. I pulled up on the rusted metal handle, and stared down at my clothes. On the top, was one of my favorite purple dresses, and it shown the wear and tear from its use.

Not feeling up to digging around in the chest for something else to wear, I took the purple dress out and tossed it on my bed. The ends of it were tattered, and it desperately needed to be fixed by the local tailor before it fell apart. There wasn't anything fancy about it; it was just a basic purple linen dress. I slipped out of my nightclothes, and into the dress.

I then reached under my bed and pulled out my white flats, then put them on. This was everyday attire for me, and almost everyone else in the City. I skipped over to the other side of my room, and looked in the large shard of glass that was my mirror.

The jagged edges would easily cut me if I touched them, so I stayed a safe distance away from them. I straightened my orange hair to where it looked decent, then left my room. The walk from my room to the kitchen wasn't a long one at all. It was pretty much right there.

Sure enough, my grandfather was sitting at our small, round wood table. A warm cup of coffee sat next to him. I pulled out one of the wobbly chairs, and sat down across from him. He smiled and said, "I see you finally decided to get up." I rolled my eyes and said back to him, "I've been up for a while, Grandfather. I was just getting dressed."

He chuckled. "I know, Alice. Do you have any plans for today?" I blinked, and shook my head. "No. Why? Do you need something done?" My grandfather was getting up in his years, and it was difficult for him to get around town and run everyday errands. So, I did them for him.

It saved him a lot of trouble, and gave me a reason to get out of our house. It wasn't like I didn't like our house, since it was the place that I pretty much grew up in. It was just that it was so old and small. Then again, all the homes in the City were like this; old roofs practically caving in on themselves, breaks in the windows, and holes in the floors.

They certainly were designed for humans to live in, much less vermin. But what more could we ask for? Even the homes that belonged to the city's wealthiest weren't much better than the ones that belonged to us. My grandfather's shaky hands pulled out a stained piece of paper.

He handed it to me and said, "It's just a few things that I need picked up and done." I took the paper and scanned the list. There wasn't anything that was out of my way; mainly just grocery runs and a few stops along the way. "This isn't any trouble for me, Grandfather."

He smiled at me and said, "Thank you, dear." He pointed over to a small jar that was resting on our old countertops and said, "Take a few dollars out of there to pay for the items on the list." I stood up from my chair, and lifted the lid off the jar. A crumpled mess of dollars and change rested at the bottom.

This was probably several months worth of savings. It was like this for all of the families in the City. Some were worse than others. I took half of the money, because I knew that prices had gone up on certain items that were already pricey.

I skipped to the door and asked my grandfather, "Are you sure this is all you want?" He nodded his head and waved his hand. "I'm sure. Now, you get going before everything gets bought out." I giggled and ran from the house and down our short gravel walkway.

The grass was dead in our yard, and everyone else's around us. The trees were black and almost dust. The only thing holding them up was probably the last remaining fibers that had yet to rot away. I stepped onto the dirt road and began walking towards the center of the City to pick up my grandfather's list.

A few people on bikes road past me from both ways, but most people were walking like I was. "Alice!" I turned around and saw one of my friends running towards me. I smiled and said, "Hey, Julie." My silver haired friend skipped up to me, wearing a cheerful smile as always.

I didn't understand how she could always stay so chipper in the world, when I struggled to just face it every morning. "What are you up to, Alice?" she asked. I held up the list and said, "I'm running errands for my Grandfather. You?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Dunno. I got out of my house for the heck of it." She was in her usual attire; old and worn out jeans that were covered with dirt, and one of her brown shirts. Julie lived around in the same area as I did, so her parents made the same income as all of us did.

Which meant that nice and new clothes were out of the question. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Julie. But I need to get this stuff before my Grandfather starts to wonder what's taking me so long." She pouted for a second, then turned back onto her perky mode.

"Alrighty! Hey, meet me up at the Courtyard when you finish up. Everyone is meeting up around there tonight to hang out. It's going to be awesome. See you there?" I thought for a moment. The Courtyard was the social meeting area for the people in my area of the City, and it wasn't uncommon for there to be parties and gathering there on a nightly basis.

"Maybe. I'll have to see if my Grandfather will let me go." Julie rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he'll let you go. Well, I better let you do your errands. Bye!" She twitched off down the direction that I came from. I shook my head and went back to what I was doing.

When I arrived at the Markets, I was greeted with multiple 'hellos' from both shoppers and sellers. Since my grandfather was pretty well known in the City, that automatically meant I was as well. But it didn't mean that I got any special discounts. Nobody did.

Money was almost as scarce as food and supplies. There was just enough to get everybody by. I bought what was on my grandfather's list, and quickly made the stops that he requested. The dull sky was growing even duller as it became night.

Already, there were people around my age heading towards the Courtyard for tonight's gathering. Most nights I would stay at home and spend time with my grandfather, but I knew that there would be many people there that I hadn't spoken to or seen in a while.

It would do me some good to catch up with them. Finally when I got back home, I started to put the food items up in our cooler; a box that my grandfather had rigged up so it would keep items cold. There had been things like this in every home at one point, but not anymore.

Things from those old days were hard to come by. Occasionally, you would run across the empty shell of one that had been converted into a home for a wild animal or a fort that was built by children. My grandfather was stretched out on our ratty, dust-filled couch that was about to collapse on itself.

He had made a small fire in our fireplace. "Did you get everything on the list, Alice?" I sat on the armrest next to him and said, "Yes. Um, I was wondering if I could go down to the Courtyard tonight." He yawned and said, "Of course. I don't mind. You do so much around her already."

I smiled and hugged him gently, afraid that I'd hurt his fragile body that was aging. I didn't bother to change my clothes, seeing as it would be dark and most of the people there would be dressed almost like I was. It was already pitch dark outside as I walked past the rundown houses and their poor yards.

When I approached the Courtyard, I saw a number of faces that I knew, all of them gathered around a large fire that was built in the fire pit that was designed for this exact thing. Julie's eyes immediately found me. "Alice! Over here!" She was standing on her toes, and waving frantically.

Around her, I saw my other friends; Runo, Murucho, and Dan. They were trying to find me through the crowd of people that surrounded them. Julie made Dan move down so I could sit next to her. I mouthed an apology to Dan, who just shrugged it off as something that didn't bother him.

There was a lot of chatter around the fire, which I didn't participate in. Occasionally, Julie would drag me into a conversation, only to have me turn it around and place it on somebody else. I didn't go to this gathering to talk, but just to enjoy some company and get out.

But I really was having a good time being surrounded by people that I knew and could relate to. The hours felt like they crept by, and I started to grow hungry. I reached for my small purse, and pulled out a small piece of bread that I wrapped up. I nibbled on tiny bits to make it last.

I zoned out of a conversation again, and looked at the area across from the Courtyard. There, was a tall fence that had wooden boards wrapped up in barbed wire. On the other side, were the Wastelands. It was a vast area of land that had been destroyed, along with the rest of the world when war broke out so many years ago.

The only reason our little City existed was because of a large group of survivors gathered up what they could and began to rebuild what they once had. They then put up a fence to keep raiders from invaded the City and taking what they had started to create.

The survivors then started to built up a government, and that was when things began to change. People were going into poverty instead of prospering like they were intended to. And then they started to cast out people that did things that the Officials didn't approve of.

They became known as names such as Undesirables and Black Sheep. But the most common name was Outcasts. They were sent out into the Wastelands with no food or anything, and were expected to make it out there. Going out there, was pretty much a death sentence.

I had stopped before and peered out of the gaps in the fence, just to see what it looked like out there. I didn't get to see much before an Official pulled me away and told me to never look out there again. Since I was young, I didn't even get near that fence after that.

All I had seen was the gray ashes from the war that had leveled everything that had once been. And when I meant war, I meant nuclear of course. None of us had to worry about that anymore, since creating such weapons like that meant death.

There were almost no trees out there, except scattered clusters that were placed randomly along the landscape. Something through the fence caught my attention. It looked like an eye. I stood up and said to the others, "I'll be right back." I made my way through all of the people, and snuck past an Official that was on duty.

I peered through the loose boards in the fence, being careful not to get cut by the barbed wire. The twenty foot boards wobbled when I pressed a light hand on them; they needed to be repaired before they fell over and all heck broke loose.

I crept over to where I saw the eye, and then looked through the board. On the other side, a little girl fell back on the ground. I had startled her. She was about to get up and run off. I whispered softly, "Don't be scared." She stopped, and looked at me.

Her body was extremely thin from not eating. The clothes she wore looked homemade, but at least they matched and weren't like cheap rags. This was one of the Outcasts, but I never remembered her in the City. She had to be a child of one of the people who had been cast out.

Her eyes were locked onto the bread that I still held in my hand. I asked, "Do you want this?" She nodded her head slowly, not taking her eyes from the food. I handed the bread to her through the barbed wire. She took it with no hesitation, and began to eat away at it.

The bread was gone in no time, which there wasn't much from the start. Good thing I didn't eat all of it. The little girl looked up at me. I held out my hands to show they were empty. "I don't have anything else. I'm sorry." A voice way off in the distance yelled. "Sarah! Where are you?"

It sounded male, and carried just far enough to the fence, and not any further. The little girl turned towards where the voice came from, then she looked at me. I smiled and told her, "You better get going." She nodded and ran off through the Wastelands.

A hand latched on tightly to my shoulder and turned me around. An Official. His eyes were narrowed sharply at me. I asked shakily, "Is there a problem?" He looked at the fence behind me. "What were you doing at the fence." I gulped and said, "I was just taking a nightly walk."

He let go of me, and the fence shook behind me. His voice was cold and harsh when he said, "I suggest you find someplace else to walk at night, or else you'll end up out there if you keep it up. Now, get back to your home." I nodded my head and darted off to the Courtyard.

Runo saw that I must have looked scared to death. "Alice? What happened to you?" I snatched up a jacket that I brought with me as well, and put my arms through the sleeves. "I have to leave early. It was greet catching up with all of you." I ran out of there before they could protest my leaving.

I walked back into my house, only to find my grandfather asleep on the couch. I knew that he would complain about his back in the morning. I grabbed a blanket that I had knitted, and draped it over him. Then, I took the short distance back to my room and kicked my flats off of my feet.

The smooth wood was cold, so I hurried to my bed. I laid down, and stared up at the ancient looking ceiling. All that I could think about was the little Outcast girl that I gave the bread to, and how close to getting in trouble I had been.

The life that was on the other side of that rickety fence, wasn't meant to be seen by us. I couldn't help but wonder, what else is out there? I turned my oil lamp off that my grandfather had lit, and forced myself to sleep.

new story time :p lol. this one has been brewing in my mind for a while, and i'm happy that i'm starting on it. The story overall is based off of a song that we played for contest and soon, our concert. Dreams And Proclamations by Roland Barret. it's an awesome song for a band composition. :D well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~