Afterchange, 2065.
A boy sat on the high pillars of the sea wall as he did every evening, no different from yesterday and no different from tomorrow. His features weathered so much so that it was hard to tell his age. He is perched above the gradual growth of ocean weed and salt, enjoying the nip of breeze. This was his spot, his quiet relief from his settlement, Surmise. Spending most of his evenings on the wall high above the world, not many things escape his sight. To his left, the chimneys and iron roofs drown in the endless spill of crests, the ocean taking more victims as it continues to rise. When Miles first showed Enzo this place you could see the houses which these roofs and chimneys belonged to and the rest of the village. These monuments of times which seem very distant now reside beneath the surface. As he sits up here the world continues to move beneath him, the transport line buzzes with activity, the water licks ever closer to his feet, the workers continue to build the backup wall for the inevitable collapse of his wall. This system of mitigation which he despites is so evident from up there. Years ago he fought to for change and despised acceptance of the climate problem yet now he despises his own acceptance. He spends his days mitigating the effects of the new environment rather than striving to change the ways of the world and save what is left. He imagines what Mama and Annie think of him, do they hate him for not fighting enough for them? Do they forgive him? Do they miss him? He ponders these dismal thoughts as the day turns to dusk, the light leaving the day as his hope follows suit. He is shaken back into his head by the micrometer’s call as beckons him back. He feels the pull of home yet he cannot follow. Back he goes to the Dorm not back to his home.
As his strides become uniform, the outpost comes into view ahead. All he can manage today is a slight tilt of the head to Juno. Juno is a reminder of home. A reminder of the place that he is bound in. A reminder of the fear. He can no longer look Juno’s way, let alone believe in him again. Being unable to trust a person who had been through all he had, tears away any hope Enzo had. That’s what they want. By doing what we always did, we will always get what we always got. A shake of the head and on Enzo continues, past the place where his hope runs so thin.
Eventually, he sees the dorm, shadowed by the multitude of towering buildings ever enclosing his own dorm. He skims through the door frame, the older boys don’t glance today, they don’t care enough to dedicate him such effort. Kicking aside some bottles of certified water, he lays on his bed looking up at the struts of the bed above. Annie’s smile gleams back at him as his eyes grow heavy. The day is not done, her happy face reinstalls the hope stripped from him at the outpost. Today is the day. He makes his way back down the stairs and assumes his normal seat in the dining room, a few benches across from the older boys. Today they are sitting closer, dozing like giants seemingly large and dull. Today he knows he has to try so he begins to talk to Miles. The others seem interested but do not join as they begin to talk about the wall. Miles has been moved further south, towards the other settlement down the coast and the other boys seem to have been moved in the same direction according to their dissatisfied grunts. Enzo has never strayed from this conversation but filled with a sudden boost of confidence he slips out a cryptic reply “Are you going home for the holidays”. This is followed by a startling from the extended members of his conversation. “If I can afford it”, Josh seems content with his reply and with that Enzo retreats off. He struggles to contain the hope, the excitement this simple reply brings him. In the days of BeforeChange, the times of panic and fear, he never thought he would end up here, in this situation. When the boys of his dorm were assigned, the ‘position’ was accompanied by an assurance of pay, holidays and communication. Since arriving, none of this has been seen and any questions have been met with questions in return and then we don’t see the boy who questioned again. No more questions are asked. Enzo’s question leaves him elevated with excitement, this small defiance gave him so much more than you could imagine. He now knows he is not alone. Satisfied, he heads back to his bed. He allows himself a smile, this simple act has taken him more days than the strains of wood in the struts of the bed above his sleepy eyes. He now smiles back at the snapshot of Annie. He will see her soon enough, he hopes.
Fast forward to the evening after. Enzo is once again posted in his seat on the wall, the excitement of the previous evening yet to fade. As he stands up to leave he sees trucks bumping along the transport line. The trucks come this way from time to time but this occurrence intrigues Enzo. The leading truck passes, a pained gasp or a desperate attempt pulses the airwaves around Enzo’s head. He sits as still as he can manage, ears pricked to the most minutiae sounds. The precession carries on and he hears nothing more. It must have been some new livestock, graded as sufficient from the town down the wall. Enzo does not believe that the trucks hold only animals yet nobody dares to speak of what is really hidden behind the shutters of those trucks. They all think it though, they know it is more of the Temporal’s secrets.
The light begins to fade again as the trucks fade from his thoughts. Disgruntled but determined not to let this evening ruin his mood he begins the walk home. At the bottom of the wall, he starts to run, jumping across the tracks of the transport line not daring to place a foot in the fire which lay in them. After years he still played this game, Annie used to insist and he could not face seeing her face drop as he resisted the urge to play with her. Careful not to take any wrong steps, he carries on towards the outpost. He passes he offers a smile towards Juno, only to receive a blank face in return. This is odd you see, Juno always acknowledges him, despite weather Enzo was much blunter than he was friendly some days. The passing by Juno left him shaken, it was as if a plane of glass had resurrected itself between them. He was bewildered but soon the thought slipped his mind much like the train of trucks had not so long ago.
He returned home, the ratchet smell of men and supper hit him. He now faces the bombardment of his smells and sits down at his usual place. The older boys sit at their table. The table seems barer than it had the night before though this was not uncommon, many times boys were kept later to finish a job. Yet sometimes these jobs never finished, they didn’t come back for supper, ever. Enzo sat at his table, he felt so alone. Despite being surrounded by people in every direction, loneliness lingered much like the smell of the boys after 12 hours of sweltering in the sun. On account of his bad mood, he headed to his bed, sleep always helped these feelings. He crawled into his sheets and it clicked, he had not seen Miles, Gabe or Eli at supper. As if in a floating display in front of his eyes, the day’s events arranged themselves in front of his eyes. The cry from the truck, Juno’s guilty refusal to acknowledge him as he passed, the table half full at supper. He scrambled out of bed, bouncing off walls and the other boys as he ran to Miles’ room. They must have worked late, sometimes they missed supper, maybe they were sick, maybe they were tired. He crashed into Eli as he rounded the last corner, “Eli, Eli, where is Miles”. For the second time today he only received a blank look, Eli’s refusal to lift his head installed further panic into Enzo. He charged on, determined to find Miles, he was here, he had to be. As he stumbled into the room, he fell into Gabe’s arms, at the foot of Miles’ empty bed. As tears flowed, the chalky voice of Gabe began its warning, “They came this morning, you had just left to go to that silly wall of yours, they took him but they wanted you, they will be back, save yourself.” Enzo stood and swayed on his unsteady legs, struggling to stand as his assurance of tomorrow was ripped from beneath him.