The Markets

The Markets. The most dangerous place for anyone, especially if you're an orphaned girl under the age of eighteen.

    They're sold like livestock, and the worse part was they had close ties with the School. Celia was lucky to escape, finding solace with us down here. I'd tried my best to keep her away from me; I had to be responsible for myself, now a small kid was getting in the way of that.

    She'd been stubborn, seeking me out whenever she had the chance, showing off trinkets that were very impressive for someone her age. And after a while, I enjoyed her company. We were just two kids trying to survive against the odds that were given to us.

    And then she got homesick.

    Bad.

    She began to wander off to the Main City, always being brought back by one of the helper bots, or a concerned adult. Until one of the visitors noticed Celia's gloom, and decided to exploit it for his own benefit.

    His name had been Destry, a malnourished thirty-something year old. He'd been passing through to meet his brother up on Cyder Hill, a place that had no connection to Main City whatsoever.

    Destry was only suppose to stay in the bunkers for about three days. And then he took an interest in Celia, claiming to have known Celia's mother.

    I'd been doubtful at first (no one really knew each other besides on a basic level), but after some facts and memories Destry had given Celia that proved to be true, she'd decided to trust him.

    And in turn, I had decided to trust him.

    Now when I went out to steal supplies from the Main City, or the city next to it Sunville, I at least had someone to look after Celia and keep her out of trouble.

    Then I came home, and most of Celia's items had been split to the other children of the group.

    I was panicked, thinking she had died, but in truth, after speaking with one of the Watchers, I'd discovered that Celia had been home sick. Badly. To the point where she begged Destry to take her back home to her mother. And he had agreed, saying that he had wanted her to be sure because he knew what the School was like.

    She had still said yes, and after packing light, plus with food and water, they'd disappeared.

    Something in my gut didn't feel right about the story, like there was more to it, but at the time I'd just been happy Celia had wanted to be reunited with her mother.

    And then the distressed signal had pinged to my watch.

    Celia was a genius; she had managed to re-wire my watch to only send and receive approved messages, such as emergency ones.

      In this voice message, she had been sobbing, saying that Destry had lied to her, and was selling her to the Market. I could hear her struggling, and a fleshy sound as she suddenly went quiet, the call ending shortly.

    Her device had given out the last coordinates, and I had little success in tracking her down.

    "Just give up." one of the children rooming next to me said. I think her named had been Lu, her greasy blonde hair made in tight braids away from her face. She had thick glasses, skin pale, but with a tint of gray from the amount of times she had refused to take showers or baths.

      She snatched a biscuit from my plate, taking a bite out of it. "Once you're in the Market, there's no way you can just get out." she said, mouth full of the chewed up bread.

      I scowled at her. "You escaped."

      She swallowed loudly, rolling her eyes at me. "Duh. I was a better genius than she was. And I had help." she replied, licking her fingers from the crumbs.

      "Now that I think about it, how did you manage to escape?" I asked, sliding my plate of untouched food to her. A small trace of drool formed at the corner of her mouth, and she picked at her dirty nails.

    Yeesh, I was going to make one of the Caretakers force her into a bath.

    "It was quite simple." she said, as she took a slice of hard bacon from the plate, and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing it quickly, and going for another piece. "My mama told me all the secrets."

    "Secrets? Such as?" I asked, crossing my arms.

      She then proceeded to yank a booklet from the inner of her boot, unfolding it. The cover was faded and falling apart, and she tried to smooth it out. "I don't need this much anymore. So here, this will help you and Celia." she replied, handing it over, as she snatched my plate, and stuffed her mouth.

    Before I could thank her, she was already turning on her heel, waving good-bye. "I really hope you find her before she has to partake in her first bath with them."

    I decided against telling the Caretaker about Lu's hygiene. Besides, who was I, a random eighteen year old dude to tell her what to do? She looked like she had been through enough already anyway.

    Settling back into my bed, I tried to open the Sealed notebook, and begin to uncover the dirty secrets that was Main City.

      After all, what else could there be? My own father had believed in this system, and they had lied, throwing me away like the garbage they believed me to be despite scoring well on all their tests.

      A little too well. The system was created by paranoids. And so many had suffered because of it. My thoughts began to wander, and I shook my head. One problem at a time to focus on.