2313

I look down at my gleaming white sneakers as they kick at the desert sand. It’s hot, but nothing that I’m not used to. The Arizona sun is quickly receding, letting the dark blue night sky take its place. Of course my town is shimmering white, providing enough light to completely suffocate the effects of the night. That’s how it always is; our town is so bright that it illuminates the desert for hundreds of miles.

                I keep walking south towards the fence that separates what used to be America from a place called Mexico. It’s a rickety old wall of intertwined metal with spikes on top that could easily be destroyed, but none of us are brave enough to do so. Nothing has ever crossed that fence, and hopefully nothing ever will. As far as we know, there’s nothing beyond that wall. No humans, animals, or vegetation, just plain old desert stretching for miles and miles. I’ve always been curious as to what lies beyond the fence, but that’s because I’ve never truly been content with what I’ve been given. I live in a perfect society contained within a perfect town, yet I’m completely and utterly unhappy. Sure, I have a best friend and yeah, my mom is great but I’ve read too many books about what life was like before the revolution to be happy with how bland things are.

                In the year 2058 there was a complete crash of all technology. Society had become so wired up that when a meteor came too close to the earth, everything shut down and the earth basically shattered. There were great fires and mobs that nobody knew how to control, until eventually there was just one place left: Columbus, Arizona. Obviously they didn’t know that yet, but once the fires had ceased and the world looked somewhat normal again, the people of Columbus sent out search parties across America to try to find resources and figure out what was going to happen. A few months after they had been sent, they came back only to report that everything was gone and deserted. They had traveled all forty nine connected states, and there wasn’t a single human being to be found.

         Now, as I stand looking at the Mexican border, I wonder if they had missed something. Maybe there were people still in China, or France or some other country. Maybe the whole shutdown had only affected America, but nobody had cared enough to let them know. Or maybe because Columbus was a tiny town on the border of Mexico, nobody had known that they were alive. The whole world might have thought that America was completely gone.

         Of course nobody would listen to a silly seventeen year old. Everyone else was perfectly happy with their little lives, and honestly the town was perfect. Columbus is the perfect town, with everything perfectly clean, white and bright. My mother is one of the Cleaners; her job is to get up every day, put on her white coveralls and white trainers and go scrub Blair Street, which is where we live. I’m supposed to take over for her when I turn 30 and she dies. I wish I had been born to a Musician, or maybe a Cook. Anything is better than a lowly Cleaner.

         I look up, and my thoughts are broken when I see a figure in the distance. I can’t tell if it’s a person or an animal, but it’s coming towards me from the south, not from town. As far as I know, I’m the only one crazy and restless enough to come walking out here. My heart begins to race, but my curiosity cancels out most of my fear. I need to know what it is.

         As it gets closer, I can tell that it’s a human, but I can’t see if it’s a boy or a girl. If it’s a boy I won’t know what to do, I’ve never seen one in real life. It seems to have a limp; its gait puts more weight on the right foot than on the left. I begin to walk towards it, hoping to find out what it is sooner. Once I begin walking, I can see that it’s a boy, a manly boy, probably around my age. When he sees me, his dark eyes light up and his mouth forms into something resembling a smile, and he opens his cracked lips as if to say something. The only sound he makes is a croak. It’s obvious that he needs water, so I give him my water bottle that my mother had given me early. He gulps it down gratefully, and when it’s empty he hands it back and thanks me.

         “Why would you be walking around the desert without any water?” I ask him. “That’s just asking for trouble.”

         “I ran out after two days. I’m sorry.” He looks down at his feet, cracked and dirty from wearing no shoes. I’ve never been this close to a man before, and I don’t think any women of the town have either. What do I do? I can’t bring him back to town because the laws say that there are no men allowed unless they are genetically perfect and locked up in the lab. Yet here is a boy in desperate need of food, water and a bath, and nowhere to get these things. He doesn’t know it, but there are no other towns in this country. I could let him just keep walking, but he would eventually die from the heat or starvation or dehydration. I can’t just leave him here.

         “Why don’t you come with me and I’ll take care of you.” I turn around and start back towards town, and after a second I hear his feet digging into the sand after me. I slow down so he can catch up, and together we head towards paradise.



***



         I turn on the tap, testing the water temperature with the ends of my fingers. Once it’s warm enough, I turn towards the boy only to find him wearing nothing. “Cover yourself up!” I yell at him. He quickly grabs a towel and covers his nether regions, eyes wide at my sudden outburst.

         “I’m sorry; I’m just so used to my mother and sisters!” He explains.

         “Well that’s fine, I just…I’ve never…well, anyways, go ahead and take a bath. I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything.” I turn towards the door, but before I can open it he stops me.

         “And what should I call you if I need something?”

         “Oh, right, uh, Juliana.” I blush. “What’s your name?”

         “Emiliano. But you may call me Emil. Thank you, Juliana.” He smiles, and I duck out before I embarrass myself any further. As I walk down the stark white hallway, I wonder what the hell is wrong with me. Columbus has been built on a foundation of strong-willed, hardworking women. We got rid of men because they thought they knew everything and believed that women were only put on this earth to serve them. Yet here I am, letting a man use my bathroom. If the Police found out, they would kill me and probably my mother, too. I couldn’t do that to her, but what kind of a person would I be if I let an innocent man die? Besides, he’s from Mexico. The Government has only searched America for fear of the unknown that lies beyond the fence, but what if I told them and showed them proof that there are people beyond the fence? Emil could tell me all about life in Mexico, and how many people there are, and maybe the Government could go and talk to the people in charge there.          

         This could be huge. I could go down in the history books as the girl who reunited Mexico and the last town in America! I smile to myself and start dancing around the kitchen when my mother walks in the door. “What are you so happy about?” mom asks me, smiling.

         My face falls and I stop dancing as I realize that my mother is home, and she absolutely cannot know about Emil. “Um, nothing really, I just have a really catchy song stuck in my head!” I start to hum and shuffle my feet, but I can tell she doesn’t really care enough to see that I’m lying.

         “Alright, that’s great, honey. I’m going to go take a shower.” She sets down her white purse and heads towards the bathroom that Emil is in, but I jump and grab her arm before she can get too far.

         “No! I mean, wouldn’t you like to sit down on the couch for a little bit and tell me about your day? I can make you some tea if you’d like.” I try to smile, but it probably ends up just looking like a twisted line.

         “Oh no dear, that’s fine. I’ve really been looking forward to a long, warm shower all day.” She starts walking again, but I pull her arm back again.

         “No, mommy, I really want to talk to you about…uh…girl stuff.”

         She looks a little concerned for a second before she finally sighs and turns towards me. “Fine, I’ll sit and talk with you if you really want me to.” She rubs her forehead and sighs again. “Let me go put my jacket away and I’ll be right out.” The second she walks into her room, I dart into the bathroom, much to Emil’s surprise.

         “Do not say a single word,” I whisper.  “My mother is home. She can’t know that you’re here, so when I leave, get out, empty the tub, and try to put everything in order. Leave no evidence that you were in here. My room is the door on the left when you walk out. Go in there and shut the door and stay there. I’ll come as soon as I can, but please, please, please be quiet,” I say. He seems to understand, so I leave him and meet mom in the living room.

         “I expect that tea to be pretty darn good!” mom says. She smiles at me from the couch, and I sigh overdramatically as I shuffle loudly out of the room. As the water is heating up, I see Emil going into my room from the bathroom. His eyes dart to mine, and I give him a thumbs-up. He smiles before disappearing behind my door. Crisis one: averted. I lean back against the counter. These next few days are going to be rough.



***



         “Hey,” I say as I walk into my room. I close and lock the door behind me, kicking off my sneakers onto the white carpet.

         “Hello. Is your mother mad?” he asks.

         “No! She has no idea that you’re here. And she hopefully never will, as long as everything goes to plan.”

         “What plan? Why can’t she know I’m here?” He looks confused. I sit down on the bed next to him, leaving only a little space between the two of us.

         “Look, I don’t know if you know this, but Columbus is the only town left in America. We haven’t had contact with any other place in about two hundred and fifty years. We have our own Government, and a great economy, but the rules are very different from what they used to be. For one, there are no men allowed. The only men we have are kept in a biology lab, and they have to be genetically perfect to be put there. We use them only for their sperm. The reason behind this is that after the meteor knocked everything out, men began to take things over. They thought that women were only good for cooking and cleaning, which is not true at all. So the women held a revolution, and now we have a perfectly functioning, all-woman society.” I take a breath and look at him, hoping to not see disgust or fear. Thankfully, I’m met with curiosity.

         “So what you’re saying is that you keep men locked up, only to use their sperm because they treated you badly?” I nod, hoping that he can understand. Instead, he’s incredulous. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! So what do you do with the boy babies that are born? Do you just throw them in the desert?”

         “No! Jesus Christ, what do you take us for, animals? We euthanize the boy babies that aren’t genetically perfect.” I lay back, expecting him to do the same. Instead, he jumps up and stares down at me.

         “What the fuck! That is beyond messed up, how can you be okay with this?”

         “I never said that I was okay with it.”

         “Well you sure as hell seem relaxed talking about it!” He’s pacing, throwing his arms around as he talks.

         “Emil, why do you think I go into the desert? I’m not happy here. I don’t understand how women can be happy without men. Unless you’re a lesbian, you can’t really have a romantic relationship with someone. I feel empty, like there’s something missing, and that just makes me feel like a freak because I see everyone else perfectly content with their lives, while I’m just dying to get out.”

         Emil walks over to the bed and sits back down. “I know what you mean,” he says. “Ever since my father died, I feel empty inside. I feel like something irreplaceable has been ripped out of me, and I don’t know how to get it back.” He lies back, and rolls his head towards mine. Our eyes lock. “Look, the reason I came here was to find work or some way to get money for my family. I have three sisters and a mother to support on my own. A year ago, my father was walking home from work when a drive-by shooting left him dead. My mother was the one to find his body when she went to his work to find him after he hadn’t shown up at home.” He’s looking away now, up at the ceiling. His left arm is draped over his forehead as he speaks. “After that, nothing was the same. My sisters now only have me to count on, and that was the day my childhood ended. Ever since, we’ve been struggling harder and harder to make ends meet. Most of the time I would go to bed hungry, because I would give my tiny share to the girls so that they wouldn’t starve. Finally I’d had enough, so I told my mother that I would go looking for work, any way to make ends meet for a few months. So here I am.” He turns towards me again. “Fucked-up, right?”

         I smile at him. “Not really.”

Emil’s eyes start to close, and he looks exhausted. I study his face, amazed at how strong his jaw is and how, well, manly he seems. He opens his eyes and looks at me. “Can I help you?” He smiles.

         “You look really tired. I’ll let you sleep on the bed; mother never comes into my room at night.”

         “No, I don’t want you sleeping on the floor. I have a strong back, I’ll be fine.” He gets up and I follow.

         “You’re not sleeping on the floor!” I grab a blanket and lie down on the white tiled floor. He’s had too long of a journey to sleep on a floor.

         He comes over and picks me up like I’m a feather and puts me on my feet. “A beautiful girl like you shouldn’t sleep on a floor. Now get in bed before I put you there.”

         His eyes are burning into me, and I can’t help but feel a little attracted to him. I challenge his eyes, not breaking contact. “You won’t,” I challenge him.

         He smiles and picks me up, but sets me back down as a surprised yell escapes my lips. “Sh! Your mom will hear!” His wide eyes find mine, and we’re much closer than before. I can feel his breath hot on me as his chest rises and contracts with each rushed breath. I don’t know what comes over me as I lean closer, almost as if to kiss him. Right before our lips meet a door slams and we jump apart, the trance broken. We stand perfectly still, barely breathing despite the hammering of our hearts.

         After a few minutes of hearing no footsteps, we relax and I sit down on the bed. “You know what, why don’t you just sleep on the bed with me. We’d both be more comfortable.” I have never slept in the same bed as someone else, let alone a boy. It’s too late now though, and his gentle nod seals the deal.

         “Okay. You can have the blankets though; I’ll sleep on top of the covers so that you’re not uncomfortable.” He smiles, not meeting my eyes.

         “I’ll go change in the bathroom, here,” I say, tossing him an oversized pink t-shirt and a pair of my old basketball shorts.

         “Seriously?” he asks, looking incredulously at his pajamas. “Don’t you have a black shirt or something? I’m going to grow ovaries in this.”

         I laugh and throw him an old My Little Pony nightgown, which he artfully dodges. “Is that better, princess?” He chucks it back and sticks his tongue out at me.

         “Fine! I’ll wear it, whatever. Go change!” I grab a tank top and shorts and go to change. In the bathroom, I check myself out in the mirror. My brown eyes are bruised from a long day, and my black curls are running wild. I use my fingers to rake it back into a ponytail, trying to tame it into something presentable.

         When I open the door to my room, Emil is sitting on my bed in the pink shirt and shorts. “Well they fit you-“

         “Just get in bed.” He lies down on top of the covers, and I laugh as I catapult myself into bed. As I get under the covers, he turns towards me. “I can’t stop thinking about that lab with all of the men in it. Have you ever been in there?”

         “No, only the scientists are allowed in. It’s under lock and key, and honestly nobody really wants to go in there.”

         “Aren’t you the least bit curious? For all you know, they could be building bombs in there. Or you could, I don’t know, maybe see who your father is?”

         “No. Go to sleep.” I turn away from him, my back to his front. I know that he has no clue about how badly I want to know who my father is, but still, that was over the line. I close my eyes and am on the edge of sleep when I feel an arm encircle my waist. I stiffen up. “What are you doing?”

         “I’m cold. You’re warm. I’m just trying to get some body heat. Is this okay?” I nod. The weight of his arm isn’t…uncomfortable. I relax and fall asleep.



***



         I wake up to the sun glaring obnoxiously into my eyes. I’m uncomfortably hot, and then I realize that Emil’s arm and leg are over me, like I’m a body pillow. I gently lift his arm off of me, and that must upset his sleep because he jerks his leg off of me and flips onto his other side, so now his back is facing me. Thank God. I get out of bed, grab jeans and a t-shirt and head into the bathroom to shower.

         When I get back into the room, I’ve had enough time to formulate our plans for the day. Emil is finally awake, and reading…my diary. “WHERE THE HELL DID YOU FIND THAT!” I scream as I tackle the book out of his hands.

         “It was poking into my head from under the pillow! There’s nothing embarrassing in it, you know. So you can calm down.” He smiles and gets out of bed.

         “You’re going to want to take a shower and get dressed. I have quite the day planned for us.”

         “Oh really now? And what does that consist of?” He comes closer to me, placing his hands on my hips.

         I look up at him and stick my tongue out. “Take a shower and I’ll let you know,” I say as I twirl out from under his hands.

         He pouts before grabbing his clothes from the floor and heading into the bathroom. While he’s gone, I grab my burlap backpack and grab two bottles of water from the kitchen, sunscreen, a first aid kit, and two knives. Thankfully mom left for work hours ago.

         I hear the water shut off in the bathroom, so I go back to my room, sit on my bed and wait for Emil to come in so I can tell him my plan. I know that he is going to absolutely love it.

         When he comes in, he sees me sitting and stops. “What’s going on?”

         “What do you mean?”

         “You look like you’re up to something.” He comes closer and sees the backpack. “What’s that for?”

         I stand up and shoulder the backpack. “Remember how last night you said you were curious about the lab? Well, I decided that I am too. So let’s break in.”

         Emil’s jaw drops, and then turns into a smile. “Fuck yeah!” He grabs me and twirls me around in an enthusiastic hug. “Let’s get going!”

         I grab his hand and lead him out of the house, into the hot Arizona sun. He’s wearing a pink hoodie with the hood up and sunglasses, nobody can know that he’s a boy. I drop his hand once we get into the street, girls around here don’t usually hold hands. “Okay, swing your hips a little when you walk. And push your chest out a little, just try to act like a girl.”

         He pushes his chest out, dramatically swinging his hips from left to right. “Is this good, girlfriend?” He twists his head in an attempt at a hair flip.

         I smack his arm and walk faster. “You’re ridiculous!” I yell back at him. He catches up to me and we continue walking.

         “You said that this lab is under lock and key, right?” He shoves his hands into his pockets, and I drag them out because that’s just too much of a guy move.

         “Try to act like a girl please. And yes, the lab is under lock and key, but I have a plan. Once in school I had to write a paper on the lab, and I know for a fact that there is nobody guarding the doors between noon and one because they eat lunch then. They trust that the people around here won’t try to get in. I have two knives, so we can hopefully cut off the padlock that holds the doors shut. From there, we can get in easily.”

         “And what do we do when we get in there? Just look?”

         “Basically, I just want to know what’s in there.” I can see the lab in the distance, and I grab Emil’s hand. I don’t care who sees, I’m nervous. As we get closer, we can see the guards. I look at my watch, 11:59 A.M. I slow down our pace, and watch as the guards look at each other and leave their posts for lunch. Emil and I keep walking closer, and my grip on his hand tightens.

         The gray stone walls look intimidating up close. It looks like a high-security prison like in the history books more than a lab. The barbed wire on the top of the wall look painful, but I can see the gold padlock on the black iron gates connecting the wall. I stop and grab the knives out of my backpack, handing one to Emil. “Alright, I’ll try cutting it off first, and while I do that, stand in front of me, and let me know if somebody is coming.”

         He nods and gets into position while I try to cut the padlock. To my surprise, it opens at the lightest touch of the knife and falls off, now just dust. I step back and push at the gate, praying that it opens, which is does.

         Emil turns around. “Holy crap! Good job!”

         “The lock literally disintegrated when I touched it with the knife!” I point at the ground to show him.

         “It was probably an old lock, and we’re most likely the only ones who have ever been crazy enough to want to get in.” He grabs my backpack and throws both of the knives back in, and shoulders it. “Well, let’s go in.” He takes my hand and we walk through the gates, making sure to shut them behind us. When we get to the actual lab building, we pull the handle on the door and it opens. This is almost too easy. Once inside, I look around. The floors and walls are all sparkly white, and all there is in there are ten stainless steel chambers at the back. The chambers have a window at about face level, but all I can see from where I’m standing is a greenish glow emanating from it.

         “Emil, should we look at the men’s faces or leave?”

         “I want to see them. I want to see everything. This is so messed up.” He strides over to the chambers and begins at the left one, looking in. He jumps back suddenly. “Jesus Christ they’re alive!” He screams.

         “Shut up! You’re being too loud!” I run over to him. “Of course they’re alive. What did you expect?”

         “I…I…I don’t know! I just, I can’t understand all this.”

         I put my hand on his arm. “Do you want to leave now?”

         “No. I want to keep looking.” He continues walking down the line of chambers, looking at each man’s face before moving on to the next. At the seventh chamber, he stops dead in his tracks and all of the color drains from his face. I run over to him and look in the window. The face staring back at me is familiar, way too familiar. It’s Emil.

         Yet I know it can’t be Emil because he’s standing right next to me. I look at him, and he’s still paralyzed. “Emil…” I grab his arm, shaking him lightly. “Emil baby, come on. Look at me.”

         When he turns to me, his eyes are blank. “Juliana, meet my dad.”