The Journey to Ekur - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: https://foundation.app/@ahmedb.eth
Chapter 8: https://foundation.app/@ahmedb.eth

“What?” Talia shouted. Some guy had landed on the couch next to her and was trying to say something, but the pulsing music obliterated his words. He tried again, and Talia still couldn’t make out his words. She shook her head and shrugged at him, and he jumped up, annoyed, then headed back into the crowd of people.

Talia settled back into the couch. It was a nice couch, she thought. Just the right amount of giving, and she was properly nestled now. There had been a lot of dancing earlier, but six drinks and some pills later, she was perfectly happy to stay where she was. She had called her parents, once, when she told them she was going to hang out with some friends. They had sounded pleased, though their messages since had been increasingly concerning. It stressed her out. She didn’t like that feeling, not now, when things were so breezy. Elliot and his friends had been happy enough to help keep her feeling good.

It was kind of embarrassing, at first. She had so little knowledge of this world, and they’d had to explain quite a few things — what pills were, what they did, how you took them. It had been so nerve-wracking at first, she thought, with a giggle. But with her first tab, suddenly, she was free. At least, that’s how she thought of it. And Elliot’s…girlfriend? Talia wasn’t sure, but her name was Lacey, and she had really helped Talia out at the start. Helped her relax and go with the flow. Showed her that it wasn’t all the doom and gloom and fear-mongering adults had been feeding Talia her whole life. It was a way to relax like she hadn’t let herself since she was a little kid.

And she was funny, Talia had learned with surprise. Everyone laughed at her jokes here, and they were more than ready to rage against the nonsensical path system with her, to keep the mood up.

She would head back soon, Talia told herself. Once she was done letting go a bit more. Then back home, and back to work. The thought made her frown. She would be tending to plants, thinking of this. Of fun. Maybe she would still be able to come back here on the weekends. They had bounced between houses in their revelry, but the main one was Trevor’s.

Talia lurched up and bobbed her way to the window, holding on to the sleek furniture scattered around the pad to steady herself. It was an incredible house with a grand view. Trevor’s parents had left it to him, apparently, and with enough money that he was set up for life. Somewhere below this high-rise apartment was a barely-functioning hydroponic farm that Trevor had failed to pay much attention to since he took over. Talia had briefly met the skeleton crew that kept it somewhat operational on her first day among these people. She was just about to dive into a particularly interesting conversation with one of the staff about running farms like this on low power and resources when Elliot had gotten bored and dragged her off.

“Coming down?” Lacey asked, appearing at Talia’s side. Talia tried to focus on her, the slender, bottle-blonde woman shifting strangely in her vision. She realized that the music had paused behind her, surprised when she glanced back and saw people gathering their things.

Talia shook her head. “Where is everyone going?”

“Lot of them have to go to work,” Lacey said, leaning against the false glass of the window, accidentally hitting the pad that cycled the view outside. All at once, Talia was looking at a bright beach scene, the water lapping far below. “Not everyone here is as committed to the lifestyle as you or I.”

“Ah,” Talia replied. She was trying to focus, but the waves kept distracting her. She knew they were just a recording of some far-off place, but they looked so real, her eyes couldn’t stop staring at them. Lacey waved a hand in front of her face.

“Hey, you,” Lacey said. “You need some water or something?”

Talia nodded mutely.

“Come on.” Lacey led her back to the couch, a servo-bot appearing a few moments later with a bottle of water. Talia hadn’t even heard her call for it. Or had she? She gulped down the water, trying to collect herself.

“You’re really pretty, you know that?” Lacey said. “Elliot’s noticed it. Some of the other guys have, too. I mean, how could they not? I wish I had olive skin like you. I burn at the slightest beam of sun, I swear.”

“Thank you,” Talia said. “You’re too hard on yourself. I can tell Elliot really likes you.”

“For now.” Lacey shrugged. “Until some new girl catches his eye. Like you did.” Her glance was sharp, and Talia felt a chill. What was this? Did Lacey think she was after Elliot? He was friendly enough, sure, but Talia got on better with some of the other partiers she had met.

“I’m surprised he’s let you party for free for so long,” Lacey continued, examining her nails. They glowed faintly in the dim light.

“Go for free?” The water bottle crinkled in Talia’s grip. Why was she squeezing it so hard? She tried to relax.

“Yeah. Normally he gives people a few nights of fun for free, but then they’ve got to contribute, you know? I don’t think he even let me skate on this long without helping out.”

Talia felt a hot blush rise in her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I owed anything,” she said, her buzz was fading fast.

“Oh, don’t think of it like that!” Lacey smiled, sickly-sweet. “We all pitch in, right? It takes a good amount of funds to keep parties as good as this going, and when you want the nice stuff — the stuff that will really get you there — well, that’s not exactly cheap, right? If everyone didn’t pitch in, the guys who have a little…” she paused, “less, wouldn’t be able to hang, you know.”

“How much do I owe?” Lacey gave her another sharp look, and Talia rushed to correct herself. “I mean, need to contribute? I’m happy to do it.” She tried to smile but got nothing in return.

“Three hundred credits should be plenty. Keep us going for a while,” Lacey answered.

Talia tried to keep a straight face, pulling her account upon her arm, careful to keep the screen from Lacey’s view as she transferred the money to her. That was nearly all she had. 118 credits left. How much longer would that keep her here? She felt stupid, not realizing that they would need her to pay for some of it. She had no frame of reference for how much this stuff even cost. But she could already feel the itch that accompanied every come-down.

“Will that help going forward, too?” she asked.

“Oh, you should be good.” Lacey smiled, and now it was cheerful. “Thank you so much for being cool about this, Talia. I knew you were alright. Some people become real assholes like they expect us to finance all of their fun!” she laughed, and it seemed genuine, but the sound grated Talia’s ears. “You are alright, for real. Elliot will be so relieved. I know he was just too scared to bring it up to you. I’m going to help clean up. You finish your water, take a rest, okay? Trevor said you can use one of the rooms if you need to sleep it off. And just hit up Elliot if you need anything else.”

Talia escaped to one of the bedrooms, grateful for the quiet and dark. God, how could she be such an idiot? Of course, they would ask her to cover things. And she hadn’t even ever asked if she could pitch in before. She curled up under the covers, hoping to sleep off the shame. At least Lacey had been nice about it, right? Or, at least, pretty nice? Talia’s brain was itching for something to help make it easier, but she tried to ignore it. She didn’t know how long the three hundred would cover her for. What would she do when she ran out of credits? She couldn’t ask her parents for more. They’d want to know where she’d been, what she needed it for. Or they might guess, which would be even worse. They must have already stopped buying the lame excuses she sent back to them by now. Talia stared at the faint green glow of her integration screen. She could call her mom…maybe just to hear her voice?

“Talia?”

It was Elliot. Talia jerked upright, pulling the covers up instinctively as if she hadn’t crawled into bed fully dressed.

“Hey, Lacey said she talked to you. Sorry about that. I should have been the one to do it.” He was framed in the doorway, the lights of the living room casting him in a stark silhouette. Talia remembered the first time she had met him, all those weeks ago.

“I thought you might be feeling bad. Last night was pretty wild,” he said. “I brought something to take the edge off.”

He stepped forward, setting a tab on the bedside table. Talia popped it in her mouth automatically, letting it dissolve on her tongue.

“It’s pretty strong,” he said. “So, you should probably just chill out here. But I think it will help.”

“Thanks,” Talia said, the edges of her mind already starting to go fuzzy.

“Tomorrow we can figure out how you can keep helping out, yeah? We’ve got a place we were going to stop by, see if we could get them to help us cover expenses.”

“What?” Talia asked. There was something weird about the way he was speaking like he wasn’t saying what he meant, but her mind was making it too hard to keep up with it.

“Yeah, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I think you could be a real asset. You’ve got that face people trust, right? They’ll never see you coming.”

Talia wanted to reply, explaining that she didn’t want to do anything like what she thought he might be implying, but the rising feeling in her head seemed to steal her words away. She saw the door open again as Elliot left, and in moments, she was off to some strange land in her head. She could figure things out tomorrow. Everything was all right, right here.

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