I look through the window, I see the sun.

But the sky is dark that I hardly notice it. I button my cardigan, and I tuck in my shirt. My younger sister, Emerald advances towards me. She tugs on my shirt to catch my attention, I quickly turn to her. I see that her expression is gloomy, like the rest of what lives in this place.

“Jasper, I’m scared.” She says. From her expression, I could clearly tell that her fear is indeed genuine. I try not to act fretful.

“Why? What’s bothering you?” I ask.

“My friend, Massie and her family was arrested by the Metropolitan Police. I’m scared. What if they arrest us next?” She hollers.

“They won’t arrest us. We’re good people, Emerald. Remember that. We might not be rich, but we have good hearts.” I say. I hug her tight, wanting her to know that I’d always be here for her.

I walk outside our front door, the ambience of the outside world is dark and dreary. I notice the abandoned
buildings right away. What used to be the commercial place where people from fifteen years ago trade their imports from the Southern State when the Astron was still undivided. I mark every step I take, the cracks on the side walk, still seen. Not many actions had been done to renovate the facilities of the Northern Republic, so what more would I expect if ever I journey to the other nations. But that would be impossible. The Astron Union had prohibited crossing the borders. Exceptional if you are on a government approved trip. It is one of the laws made along with the announcement of Martial law, five years ago. Since then, people from the Northern Republic has not seen their families from the Southern State, or the Western colony and the Eastern Territory.

Besides the illegalization of crossing borders, com-munication is also prohibited. You may not contact any person from the other nations. My mother used to tell me stories about how people used to have devices that lets you contact a person from another place. But that was a long time ago, that was when the world still had seven continents. Now, I feel like this is the aftermath of an apocalypse.


I walk a bit more, and I pass by the house of my sister’s friend, Massie. I see that the Metropolitan Police has disseminated along their house. Their house was like any other house in the Northern Republic. Dark, dirty and cracked up. The paint has faded, but I could tell it was once picturesque. The Metropolitan Police had set police lasers that would electrify anyone daring enough to cross it. I am among people, staring at the cracked house, speculating on possible reasons why Massie’s family was arrested. I couldn’t ponder for a reason. They were very religious to the point that religion had taken over their lives. How could somebody religious get arrested? Is being religious, illegal now? For sure, Massie’s parents and her older brother, Jett would be taken to the isolation booths, while Massie, being only twelve years old, would be taken to the juvenile isolation booth, where she would live until she becomes eighteen years old and finally transfer to the Isolation booth with her family. Each family are provided a separate cell, being isolated from the rest of the world. But that is not actually a bad thing, they are provided with mediocre meals, three times a day. Practically, once you’re in isolation booths, they would feed you until you die. As horrid as it sounds, it might be a good place after all. Your medication would also be covered by the Astron Union. But that may be the only good thing around here. That where the good ends, the rest are all dire.

It’s actually infuriating to see that every people in the crowd and beyond the crowd, wearing the same army-green outfit, what only makes it unique is that people here just wear different shades of army-green, most of it are faded, but that’s it. The residents of the Northern Republic are required to wear the color army-green at all times to differentiate themselves from possible border crossers, but it’s really exasperating for me. Why don’t we have the freedom to wear any color we want? Life’s unfair, but this place is much more. All of a sudden, I see a very familiar face. It’s Mr. Garnet in his usual army-green blazer, I see that he still hasn’t shaved his silver beared. I call to him, he seems a little pumped. I press on in a northern direction and without saying anything, he greets me.

“Mr. Jasper Pyrite, it is a surprise seeing you here. I figured you’d be in the boot camp by now.” He says.

“I stopped school. My family just couldn’t afford the financial demand. How are you, Mr. Garnet?” I probe.

“Same old thing. Nothing has changed, but you have changed masses.”

I look behind his shoulders, I see that the Metro-politan police are securing the whole place. I couldn’t help but ask, “What happened over there? Why’s the house being secured?” I say.

“Hmm. . . Haven’t you heard?” He says.

“Heard what?”

“Mr. Malachite stole three loaves of bread from the bakery near Lazuli St. It is said that he had stolen the bread for his wife and two children.” He says.

“But Mr. Malachite has a regular job? Why would he steal bread?” I ask.

“He lost it three months ago. He even came to me to seek a job, but every job was taken.” He utters.

I don’t respond, I’m still trying to have the things he said registered in my mind.

He continues, “But it would be better if he and his family was taken to the isolation booths, there he would have no problem feeding his family.” Then he walks away.

He seems to be a very busy person, he’s the princi-pal of my old school before I transferred to a public school. But even after I transferred to a public school, I still couldn’t afford it. He is widely known in the Metropolitan Hall and I could tell from the looks he gave me, he had an
an idea what the Metropolitan Authorities are going to do with Mr. Malachite’s family. I don’t feel sorry for them, It would be for the better, as Mr. Garnet had said.

I continue walking, I past the bakery which Mr. Malachite had stolen from. But I have no clue where I am going, it was like I was walking with no destination. I couldn’t stop now, I had walked far enough that I’d wish to continue walking, even if I’m unsure where I would take myself. The stroll I take becomes more boring every time I see these people in the same army-green attire. Finally, I see another familiar face. A very familiar face.

“Arreon!” I called out.

He quickly turns to his side to see me. He has dark purple hair and silver-grey eyes. He and I share a great


camaraderie that has formed back then when we were chil-dren. I remember that when we were only twelve, I used to have this crush on his sister, Aries.

“Hey, I thought you were staying at home tonight?” He says.

“I felt like going somewhere. What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Mama asked me to get the clothes she bought from Mr. Agate.” He says, looking back at the house he had just been to.

“It must feel good that you’re getting new clothes. I’m still wedged in this outgrown cardigan.” I say.

“Why don’t you come with me tomorrow to Mr. Agates’s office and see if he still has some used clothes you can buy.” Says Arreon, fixing his collars.

“How much would that be?” I ask, biting my lips as I wait for the answer.

“A few silver axtron would be fine,” He clutched his hands. “All these costs five axtron, so I think two axtron would be perfect.” He says.

“Perfect.” I say. I turn to leave, but he stops me.

“Wait for me, I’ll just get bottles of goat’s milk and I’d be on my way home.” He says, grasping the back of my shoulder.

I turn to him, “I’m not yet going home. I’m going to take a walk around the city. You’re welcome to join me if you want.”

“Sure, that sounds fun.” He says.


I waited for about fifteen minutes until he was finally done with his errands. I help him carry his goat’s milk and we make our way out of the market.

As we walk down the narrow pavements of the city, I couldn’t help but notice the sceneries. I see the Astron Tower ahead, and the Plaza Miranda beside it. I decide for us to go in Plaza Miranda to buy some bread for my mother and sister. It won’t be much, but it’s dinner. As we make our way to Plaza Miranda, we have to go through the narrow pathway that houses most of the rats in the city. It is partly wet and its smell was horrid. I couldn’t imagine how the traders here stand this environment. But I guess if you had no choice, then you have to settle for this.

“This place is enough to kill a person.” Arreon says as he covers his nose in disgust.

“Quiet down, you don’t want the traders to hear that. What you said is enough to get you killed.” I say.

“It’s not my fault that this place smells.” He says.

“Let’s just keep our comments to ourselves. You don’t want to get in trouble here. Not here.” I let out a sigh. I try to hold my breath, but the smell still works its way into my nose. Before we reach the end, I slip on something. Something wet and slimy. A dead rat. I hold onto the wall
that encloses the pathway. But I think I regret holding onto the wall because I have grasped onto the wall that had fish guts stuck onto it.
“Dammit.” I say.
I see Arreon smirk. “It’s not funny, Arreon.” I protest. I am a little irritated by the unlucky chain of events. But I manage to pick myself up. I put my hand to my nose, I sniffed my hand, and unsurprisingly, it stung my senses. I feel ill. You could see by my reaction that I wasn’t pleased at all. Arreon bursts out into laughter, As if it wasn’t enough that I’m in the middle of the foulest pathway with my hand smelling like fish guts. He had to laugh.
“Laugh all you want now, but you won’t be laugh-ing later.” I say.
“And why is that?” He asks.
Without second thoughts, I wipe my hand on his face. His face is partly covered with solid pieces of fish blood.
“Not funny.” Arreon complains.
“Exactly.” I tease.
I give him some expanding face towel from my pocket. “Pinch this thrice and it’ll expand” I say as I hand him a small pellet.
“You must be kidding? How’s that piece of gum a towel?” He groans.
“Just pinch it.” I demand.
Hesitating for a few seconds, thinking it was another one of my pranks, he sees that my eyes were dead serious. He pinches the pellet and it expands into a towel big enough to wipe your face with.

“How did that. . . How was that. . . Where did you?” He baffles out.

I interrupt, “Cool right? Don’t tell anyone, but I got this from an illegal border crosser. This thing came from the Western Colony.”

He looks at me with his bewildered eyes, “How much?” He asks.

“Nothing. I told the guy that if he’d make me pay, I’d report him to the Metropolitan Police. I got a whole box of this in my room.” I smirk.

“Give me some, sometime, would you?” He says, leaning closer to me.

“Sure.” I say.

We continue walking and we finally reach the end of the pathway. The experience was dreadful, I’m very much relieved that we have finally got out of the most abysmal
pathway I have ever been in. Reaching the end, Arreon and I looked at each other and breaks into laughter. It wasn’t loud, but it was a laughter that connected us.

“What a relief!” He exclaims.

“You could say that again.” I say. I see from afar the bakery stall that my mother always buys in. We walk closer towards the stall and I register the environment in my mind. I see most of the men, carrying the heavy loads, while the women sells them. The elderly either sells or lies on the cold floor with only cardboard from the packaging to keep them warm.

Upon reaching the stall, I greet the old lady that is tending the orders. She isn’t the usual lady that sells the bread. I’ve been here multiple times and it is the first time I have seen her. If I’ve seen her before, I would remember. Her features are very hard to forget. Her hair is silver, al-most close to white. She has a long nose and some of her teeth had fallen out due to old age. Some of her remaining teeth are already rotten, and I could smell from her breath that she smokes.

“Good morning,” I say. I give her a warm smile, trying to be nice.

“Good morning, dearie. What might I do for you?” She asks me with this big and uncanny smile that would later haunt me in my dreams. I back away a little after I smell her horrid breath that smells like rotten stomach and cigars.

“Five pieces of pandesal, please.” I say as I hand her the bronze coin I pulled from my pocket.

I reach to her, I expected for her to reach for the coin, but instead, she grasps my hand tightly. I feel the wrinkles in her hand as I try to remove her hand from mine. Despite how thin and malnourished she looked, her grip is strong that even I couldn’t remove it.

“You’re strong young lad. . . Not might be physically, but I mentally, you’re capabilities are limitless.” She leans closer, the smell of her breath is morbid.

“What are you saying?” I baffle.

“Be cautious. There are people who would and will try to use you for the bad. Do not be blinded.” She backs away.

I eyed Arreon, we both feel uncomfortable, I could tell. The old lady takes a deep breath, “Thank you, very much. Please do come again.”

I give her a smile, but one thing is for sure: I’m never coming back.