August 18, 4202-49

Emerson screamed and sat bolt upright in her small cot at St. Mary’s Orphanage for Girls . Several girls woke up with a start.

“It’s only Emerson,” one of the older girls said, rolling her eyes.

The girls groaned, rolling their eyes and went back to bed mumbling about how they had to get up early.

Emerson was younger than most of the girls at St. Mary’s. She was only 6 years old. Emerson tucked her legs into her chest and started to cry. Emerson had another nightmare, so far the nightmares ranged from very . She normally had one every night and was afraid of going asleep because of the nightmares. Tonight was one of the worser ones. She saw blinding light, and she was in a white, sterile room. And then she felt something cut into her right eye. The pain felt so real, that Emerson had thought that, that dream was reality. She then, heard a crash and a bang. Now, all of the girls were awake.

“Emerson!” one girl shouted.

“It wasn’t me,” Emerson whispered, clutching her legs tighter.

“Who was it then?” a girl hissed.

“I-I don’t know,” Emerson cried.

Then, there was a sickening creak and the orphanage broke from the foundation that it was on and it tilted a little bit. The girls all screamed as they tumbled to the East wing of the orphanage. Emerson felt a throbbing pain as she felt the back of her head slam into the wooden headboard. Several girls tumbled off their beds and on to the floor. Then, the orphanage straightened again. Then, Anne, the supervisor of the orphanage burst in through the doors of the orphanage dorm. She was tottering on her trademark red high heals. Anne was a tall and wiry woman with black hair streaked with gray, she had a very light and airy voice, and it always looked like her head was up in the clouds.

“Girls! I have some exciting news!”

The girls sat up. Many of the girls winced because of the small cuts and bruises from the sudden weird tilt.

“We have been sponsored, by a wealthy citizen to be…lifted!” she said, excitedly.

The older girls started to talk immediately. It was obvious that they were excited. Emerson, being six year old had no idea what being “lifted” was. Emerson saw that Anne was waiting for the buzz to die down. Finally, after some time the buzz died down and Anne continued talking, “As I was saying, we have been chosen to be lifted. And those who do not know what lifted means, it means that we are literally going to be lifted into the clouds to go to the city of Anaranidia, the city in the clouds. Most of the richer citizens bought there way onto Anaranidia, but sometimes rich citizens will sponsor a establishment that is not able to afford their way into Anaranidia.

“But, why is it so important that we get lifted into this city. I mean, why can’t we just live down here?” Amelia inquired.

Amelia still had parents that were alive, her parents had 8 children and they were very poor. So, the sent Amelia to an orphanage so that they had one last mouth to feed. Emerson had met Amelia’s family before, her mother and father were nice enough, but their backs were hunched and their hands were calloused from all of the back breaking work that the rich would not do. Most Amelia’s older brothers and sisters had already left her parents, only her brother, Aaron was left. He was just a year older than Amelia. The rest of her siblings had left her mother and father to try and leave the poverty that they were in for most of their lives. Amelia knew that her parents would be never able to get into Anaranidia. She would most likely never see them again.

“Well, I haven’t told you this yet, but this planet is getting very unstable. The poor and the needy will be staying on the planet, while the planet deteriorates.”

There was a silence. Some of the girls looked horrified, others looked relived that they weren’t kept on the dying planet, others faces were blank, not knowing what to think.

Finally, a younger girl, Kate spoke up, “When are we going to get there?”

“Right about...now!” she said gleefully.

The girls ran toward the window, Emerson didn’t get to the window fast enough, all of the taller girls had blocked the windows. Emerson sat back on her small cot and thought, just thought. About everything, the strange dreams, the knew cloud city, the dying city. Emerson felt her consciousness slipping. She faintly remembered screaming, “No!” as her head hit the wooden headboard.

She saw the bright lights, the same bright lights. She saw a woman, she had a kind expression on her face as she spoon fed Emerson something sweet. Her kind expression slipped as her eyes widen when she saw that Emerson was awake. She dropped the spoon and the substance and ran out of the room. Emerson saw her mouth move, but heard no sound. A few minutes later, a balding man with a white coat strode in the room with the woman on his heals. HIs mouth started to move, but Emerson couldn’t hear him.

“I can’t hear you!” Emerson screamed.

The man looked bewildered. He whispered something to the woman and she rushed out of the room.

He scribbled something on a pad of paper, she showed it to Emerson. She took it and studied it, it said…

Can you hear me?

Emerson shook her head.

Then, two people rushed into the room, the woman looked hysterical and she was sobbing into a napkin. A man was standing next to her and he was patting her back, but he looked close to tears.

Who are they?

She wrote.

Your parents.