The System

“Cass?” She called and her voice echoed. Behind her she heard the wall slide back into place and she was in total darkness, alone. “Cass?” Her voice rose with worry.

Still on all fours, Lucy scrambled forward, hoping to find her friend. But before she could get very far, the tu

“Stand up, silly girl. You have room,” Cass instructed and then she hit the elevator button and the door swung open for them immediately.

With a sigh, Lucy stood up and brushed off her hands and then climbed onto the lift. Cass pushed a single button. Up and up and up the elevator rose. And Lucy couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps her father was ignorant of the geography of the System. They were exceeding the time it took to get to the Sky Room. By the time it started to worry her, the elevator clunked to a stop. The doors opened. But they opened to a wall. A brown wall pushed up against the open doors, blocking them from exiting and Lucy looked at Cass for an explanation.

“Push it,” Cass said. “Don’t worry, it’s no trap. You’re so serious, Lucy. Come on, push it.”

Worried about appearing like a spoilsport, Lucy obliged Cass’s instructions and pushed against the wall. With one simple shove, the wall sprung open, revealing an attic-sized room—sparkling clean with a red couch and yellow armchair. A book overturned on an ottoman; a throw-blanket folded neatly to the side. Craning her neck, Lucy realized that the elevator had deposited them close to the surface. Instead of a ceiling, there were thick panes of glass, nearly four inches thick, and they exposed a blue sky, spotted with clouds. The landscape of Nebraska was obscured; the windows just gave those in the room a taste of the earth outside.

“Well, go on, silly,” Cass prodded and gave Lucy a little push.

Lucy walked out into the middle of the room. Then Cass followed behind and pushed the faux wall back into place, obscuring the elevator—just like in the library on the day she had arrived—and spun around in a full circle, admiring the tidiness and the beauty of this little hideout. More than anything, she felt buoyed by the sunlight. Real sunlight poured in through the window and bathed Lucy in warmth. The fake Sky Room had nothing on Cass’s real sky room and Lucy smiled.

“What is this place?” Lucy said and then she blushed, aware of the awe in her voice.

“Welcome,” Cass said. “To my little place of escape. My den of refuge.”

“This is amazing. It’s so close to the surface…does Huck know?”

“Oh, goodness no,” Cass replied quickly and she moved her way to a makeshift kitchen; with miniature cupboards brimming with snacks. She stood on her tiptoes and opened one, reaching into the back and pulling out a box of graham crackers. “When my father was overseeing construction? He built this place for me…it’s a secret. The day he told me about the plans for our family, I cried and cried. Because for me…the most important thing is the sky. The clouds. I can’t imagine living without seeing the clouds.”

“So, he gave you a place to watch the clouds.”

“Or the stars.”

“Wow,” Lucy breathed. She pulled a pillow off the small couch and placed it on the ground, and then she lay her head down, her arms above her, and stared out the glass. The window was so large, that she could almost forget she was inside, hidden away.

“So, you lived here? In Brixton? Among the dead?” Lucy asked and she looked at Cass sidelong as she made her way back to where Lucy was laying.

“So many dark days,” Cass admitted. “For you, your nightmare began a month ago. Bam. A big reveal. But not for me…my apocalypse started years before yours.” She handed a cracker to Lucy.

Lucy took a bite and wiped her mouth. “Why did you bring me here? Why are you sharing this with me? Couldn’t we get in trouble?”

“Of course,” she replied. “A hidden elevator to a refuge that provides a hope he did not provide? Ha, no. Huck would not be pleased to discover this…I’m not sure if it’s tank worthy, but isn’t that part of the way this place works? Confusion over consequences. Loyalties run thin…or so he makes you feel…perhaps my father would suffer the greatest.”

Never a rule-breaker, Lucy began to feel nervous. Her heart pounded and she thought she heard the elevator clunk downward; she wondered where they were looking, where the landscape above them would be on a map—if she could pop her head up and look out, would she be able to see her car?

After a long pause, Lucy rolled her head over and looked at Cass, facing her. Cass continued to face upward, looking at the sky with longing. She couldn’t help but stare at Cass’s strange eyes; looking from one to the other and feeling uneasy—as if there were something about this new friend that was not quite human.

“Why are you showing me this?” Lucy asked.

“A perfect question,” Cass replied and she stretched herself out next to Lucy. She seemed confident and at ease—without any of the worry that Lucy felt. Either Cassandra was braver than Lucy or she lacked sense. Perhaps the former seemed more likely, but Lucy worried that it was the latter. “The walls, you see. I heard it all. And so I realized that we are not so different, you and I. Each of our fathers sold his soul for a future. And while they sit and cry and pray that we will understand the ramifications for failing to fall in line…we see that this doesn’t have to be our future. Our parents have fallen prey to a rule by terror. A pity really.” As her monologue went on, Cass’s accent grew heavier. Lucy still didn’t know anything about this girl. “Yet…they keep doing things to save us. Perhaps to ask for forgiveness? This sky,” she swept her hand out over the window, “is an apology in a way.”

“You put all that together from eavesdropping?” Lucy questioned with a small smile.

Something about that struck Cass as fu

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Lucy said flippantly.

“Your friend Grant is alive.”

Lucy sat up and looked down at Cass, who didn’t look at Lucy right away. “How do you know that?” she asked and instinctually she felt her pants to make sure his letter was still secure against her body. “My father told me—”

“What he needed to tell you. Yes. But he is not dead.”

“How do you know?” Lucy asked again, pressing closer, and staring at Cass.

Cass shifted her eyes to Lucy and she winked. “The kaleidoscope eye sees all.”

Lucy exhaled loudly and felt like crying, but she held it back. Grant was alive. It didn’t matter how Cass knew; knowing was only a piece. Now the hard part would start. How could Lucy get to him before her father’s hand was forced and something bad did happen? She felt silly. Grant had been dead and undead so many times, she had lost count.

“He’s my best friend,” Lucy said to Cass. “I feel like he’s the only one who would understand how strange this is—”

A shadow passed over them, a quick and fast-moving darkness, a blur, and Lucy’s heart began to quicken. She raised her head to the window and saw the flash of movement above them; Lucy screamed and scampered back to the wall, convinced that they had somehow been caught. But Cass’s giggle gave her pause. Lucy peered up to the window and then let out a long breath.

Relaxing against the cooling glass was Frank, Blair’s black lab. Panting heavily and then pausing to lick the window—seemingly unaware of the bodies below.