There was something special about Mia. There always had been. Angelica had seen that from the moment they met.
Angelica just reached her Anniversary of Employment. Only comes around once a year, you know. She’d saved up just enough credit to go to a nice cafe in 06.They were too expensive for people like her normally, but she’d been looking forward to it so much that she had to spring for an upper sector. If nothing else, she was convinced the trip up alone would be a nice treat. When she’d ordered from the kiosk and sat down, she’d been anticipating she’d do it alone.
The stranger had waltzed up to her, all glitz and glamor, and smiled. And Angelica thought it was sweeter than the coffee she’d saved up all month for.
“New around here? I know everybody that comes to this shop. Haven’t seen you.” Mia’s voice was clear as crystal, it lacked the huskiness that she’d been familiar with her whole life, the huskiness that was present in her own voice. The privilege of living in one of the higher sectors, she supposed. She didn’t even have to clear her throat before she started talking.
“Er… not new. Just visiting.”
“I love visitors.” Without a second thought, Mia sat across from her. She held her hand out towards Angelica – an antiquated gesture. If the roles were reversed, it would’ve been considered an offense. However, with the situation as it was, it felt magical.
“My name’s Mia. It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you, miss…?”
“Angelica.” She replied, shaking her hand. She hadn’t had to do so – maybe ever. It was a clumsy thing, nothing like Mia’s deft greeting.
“Your parents must’ve paid a pretty penny for that one. An old name.”
“It’s… they were very proud of it.”
“What are you up here for, anyway?”
“Just… Anniversary of Employment.”
“Really? Well that’s something worth more than a little coffee!”
“All I could afford.” Angelica mumbled.
“Oh, none of that. Come on, let me show you something-”
That was when Mia had taken her hand and dragged her out of the cafe. She’d shown her some of the parks in the sector. Angelica didn’t realize any of them were left. She felt rather stupid, and ignorant, as she had stumbled through the setting that was clearly so familiar to Mia, but she was nothing but patient and kind to her.
Angelica had offered her employee number when the day grew late – the most popular method of contacting was through the company’s servers – only to be informed Mia didn’t have one.
“What? You’re not – you can’t be unemployed…”
“No, but I can be the Baron’s niece. Comes with certain perks.”
Angelica had suffered from a sudden shock. The Baron’s niece? The niece of the most influential person in this whole colony? She’d hastily stumbled to compose herself, to offer some formal greeting, some salute (she couldn’t remember which one would be proper procedure), but Mia had swatted her shoulder before she even formulated a proper reply.
“Don’t. Don’t do that. It’s not – it’s a thing I am, it’s not all I am, okay? Figured I should tell you though. Don’t exactly get as much coverage as his sons or daughters, but I still got all the same benefits.” She’d laughed. Angelica wished she could have taken a picture of her laughter. The sound of it. The way it felt. The colors. But she couldn’t.
They’d kept talking for a bit, Mia promised to keep in touch, and eventually they parted ways. Angelica had shuffled off to the elevators once more and reflected on the experience as she descended. The elevators were transparent. Big glass tubes. It was so people could be easily rescued, according to the Baron. They didn’t malfunction often, thankfully.
Still, she was able to look out across the whole of Sector 05 as she passed through the floor of 06, this giant, expansive city. Before today, she’d mostly been trapped in her usual routine of work. Mia almost made her feel like there might be more. Maybe there were things like the parks on her layer – 04. She doubted it. Still, areas with less smoke would be nice, as well. It was so clean in 06.
They were very pretty, the elevators. Like stairs – no, portals. Portals into another world, completely different from the last. They were liberating, really. A tool for people like her to experience the places above. She dreamt about living a different life as the elevator carried her down, down, down.
That had been months ago, of course. They found time to meet each other quite often after that. It wasn’t long before Mia started volunteering to pay Angelica’s Break Fee so she could take days off, and they could spend it exploring one of the upper sectors. Angelica was exposed to so much she didn’t even know existed. It was marvelous, really. Restaurants with food made by people, legal shopping centers, clothes that weren’t secondhand. Passion. Art. The art was, of course, in Sector 07. Even there, in the heights of society, art was in short supply. But Mia promised that at some point she would show her up to Sector 08.
Angelica had looked up into the sky, on one of their trips up in 07. For once, there was no floor above her. 07 was the last proper layer, with 08 and 09 suspended in the air as individual buildings or islands. The elevators even lead directly up into those structures. Singular elevators, just for special buildings. It was magical. Looking at those magnificent structures dangling above her, she thought that perhaps she really would get to explore them someday. Maybe they’d be willing to let her work there.
Tonight, though, it was clear to her. None of that would happen.
They were at a club in 08. Angelica’s arms were crossed. She was against the wall of the elevator. Her eyes were on the floor.
“Come on, Angie!” Mia called, barely audible over the roaring crowd behind her. “Don’t just stand there! We’ve got songs to dance to! Food to eat!”
Angelica wasn’t sure how much she liked these new songs. They were loud. At least, she thought they were loud. Maybe that was the echo of her own thoughts, or of the people shouting in the pits. It was a club, of some kind. Angelica had plenty of experience with bars, grungy little run-down places that were usually filled to burst with tired, somber folks, and the occasionally shouting angry man. Mia promised her it was similar to that, but it wasn’t. It was nothing like that.
She forced her eyes up. Beyond Mia, there was so much going on. People pushing and shoving each other. Bodies intertwined in ways that she hardly understood. She could’ve sworn that there were rules about professional conduct – maybe that didn’t apply in Sector 08. There was so much food. Scattered about on tables. People lazily threw away half a plate when they got dragged back onto the floor for another dance. They were having so much… fun. It was obvious. But Angelica didn’t see how this was fun.
Three weeks earlier, Angelica had been pressured by Mia into showing her around 04, and what Angelica did for fun. It’d been a very reflective period for Angelica. She didn’t do things for fun, after all. That’s what it had revealed to her. Before Mia, there wasn’t any fun.
She recounted, hour after hour, experiences with her parents, with strangers, these instances of stilted, professional generosity. People with extra necessities at the end of a week would sell off anything they could. Usually this meant food, all at a “discounted price,” of course. The small graces they were thankful for. She remembered a day, before her parents were retired, when her mother had brought her a whole chicken. It had bones. It had been one of the best meals she ever had. When the memory surfaced, she excitedly recounted the event to Mia. Mia had scoffed.
“That’s barely a feast, Angie.”
It gave her pause.
“What… is a feast?”
“You’re kidding, right.”
Angelica shook her head.
“Well, it’s – it’s an event. You have a lot of food, and you invite a lot of people. You eat with people, right?”
“I don’t think we ever had many people to invite…”
“No kidding? Well… well, that’s just that, then! I’ll show you a feast soon. Lemme pester my uncle about it. I’ll come up with some tickets to some real exclusive joint. He wouldn’t want us at a political one… but maybe… maybe a club…”
“A… club?”
“Bar, it’s like a bar.”
“Oh, we have those.”
“You like em?”
Angelica had shrugged.
“Oh, you’ll love the club. There’s so much – you’ll love it. Look, most people – they’ll tell you it isn’t a feast, proper. They’re too stuffy. It’s the best place to go when you want a drink or a meal and just a good time. More like feasting… on life. You wanna go, don’t you?”
Mia had gone on chattering about her plans as Angelica’s thoughts had faded into something or other. She couldn’t remember much after that. She did remember she hadn’t answered the question.
She’d walked Mia back to the elevator. Portals to the upper place. They were like… portals that were also pillars. They held up the sectors. Without them, they’d all collapse. They’d all be living in 01. No one wanted that. There was something comforting about their perpetual, powerful presence. Angelica thought Mia fit nicely into the background of the elevator as she watched her ascend off into the ceiling.
She wasn’t sure how much of this she would remember either, given the headache that had started to surface. The lights that were flashing past Mia were hurting her eyes. Things were normally fairly dim where she was from. It reminded her of 07, but at least there the sky had been ashen in the way it always was – that’s what the textbooks said anyway. This light was bright, though. Rainbow colored, flashy. Meant to make people happy. It didn’t make Angelica happy.
“Angie! Come on! Seriously, just, here, look at me.”
Angelica shifted her eyes to Mia. She looked as stunning as ever. A dress that Angelica never would’ve had the confidence to wear. She was only wearing a tank top because Mia had told her it was the “closest thing to fashionable” in her wardrobe. Mia had all this confidence that Angelica could never muster. It showed in that smile on her face. A smile that was convinced Angelica would end up on the other side of this elevator. At least, that’s what she thought she was seeing. Mia was little more than a silhouette against a flashing, moving background. It almost seemed like the background was an extension of her. A little aura around her. Maybe around the back of her head.
She stuck her hand out.
“Come on. I’ll walk you in.”
Angelica hesitated.
“It’ll be fun.”
Angelica walked forward slightly.
“There you go, nice and slow… it’ll be-”
Angelica pushed the button. The elevator dinged. The doors started closing. Angelica stopped looking at Mia.
They’d been sitting in the park, some time after their initial meeting. What had it been? Days? Weeks? The time had become fuzzy, the more she was with Mia. Yet she still wasn’t used to the breaks in her schedule.
“It’s like a whole other life.” Angelica murmured, with awe in her voice looking out across their surroundings.
“Well, it is. It’s a better life. Something we should all strive for. I’m sure you’ll get out of there eventually,” Mia said, shrugging her shoulders. “You just gotta work harder.”
“… I am working hard,” she mumbled.
“Harder. Like, unpaid overtime type of harder. Promotions are everything, you know that.”
“… But why?”
“Why? So you can experience all of this!” Mia threw her arms out, gesturing at the surroundings. The trees, with their pale green leaves. The yellow grass. It was admittedly very pretty.
They sat in silence, taking in the scenery. Angelica was, at least. She’d realized something, then.
“I wish everyone could experience this.” She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her knees. “If only for a moment. It’s nice to be reminded that there is something we’re working towards.”
“Of course there is! There’s always something for you to work up to, Angie.”
“… but they don’t all have you, Mia.”
“Most of ‘em don’t deserve me, if it makes you feel any better. You’re only down there because of your parents. Wish they would’ve worked harder, right?”
Angelica felt a twinge of pain. She elected to ignore the feeling, and nodded at her friend’s question. They sat in silence for some time.
The elevator doors were closed, now. Beyond them, Mia stood. Angelica refused to look at her. The elevator started going downward. The gradual descent back to where Angelica belonged. It felt claustrophobic, now. More like a cage. A cage being lowered down again. All of its little noises like the clanking of chains. Angelica, thankfully, was soon greeted with a view instead of the inside of the club’s floor.
The view of 07. Gorgeous. A seemingly endless city. Homes filled her view of the sector, all in the latest styles. Shops, she could see them from here with their neon signs and bright advertisements. It was filled with light, and life.
And suddenly it looked just like the inside of the club.
She wished the elevator would go faster.