CHAPTER EIGHT
Coraset waited for Rudy to steady himself. He wiped his dirty face with the back of his hands and straightened to his full height. He slid his fingers through his brown hair, suddenly realizing it was dusty and messy.
“I need a bath,” he stated as he brushed at his clothes.
“Where do you live?” Coraset asked as she searched her surroundings from where she stood. She was trying to see if anyone was paying attention to them more so than normal.
“Building twelve,” Rudy answered.
“Alright, Rudy, go home.”
“What if the police come looking for me? They’d find me.”
“Honestly, I think we’re in the clear. We could have easily been caught in Baker. There was no bulletin on the Federation computer in Getty’s truck. I didn’t see anyone following us. Getty’s truck wasn’t searched when we got to the gate or at the gas station in Victorville.”
Rudy wasn’t so confident about her conclusions, and he began to get real nervous about standing on the sidewalk without reasoning. He didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention.
“Go home, Rudy. If you think there’s a problem, call me.”
“If there’s no problem, then what?”
“You go back to what you used to do before you were arrested. You get up every morning, and you go to work.”
“What if they won’t allow me to work at the hangar anymore?”
Coraset answered impatiently, “I don’t know, Rudy. You’re asking me questions I don’t have answers for.”
He put his hands on his waist and looked away. He nervously pulled at his bottom lip with his teeth. Rudy cleared his throat and said, “My number is 83176.”
“7772,” Coraset reminded him. “You’ll be fine. Go on.”
Rudy nodded. He was unwilling to leave Coraset, but he knew he had to.
“Go see your sister tonight, have dinner with her, and if you get into trouble, call me. It doesn’t matter the time of day. I’ll get back to you.”
Rudy glanced at Coraset and then started down the road. He walked slowly. Each step to him was leading to an uncertain future. Coraset decided not to watch him. She needed to move on with her life. Rudy turned around one last time only to see that she was gone. He sighed hoping one day to see her again.
The buildings rose high above the city streets. Banners hung over every entrance with the wording ‘Celebrate Barat! Chancellor Dominic Erato.’ Small national flags hung from short poles jutting out from wrought iron light fixtures that were evenly spaced on each side of the road. Trash cans and triangular sidewalk announcement boards had images of a man Coraset never seen before. She didn’t understand what in the world there was to celebrate. She put it out of her mind and decided to get off the streets. It never looked good to Federation Constabularies for people to be just standing around outside. She’d be apprehended and questioned. Coraset decided to go home and quickly.
When she returned back to her apartment door, she stopped. There was a new numbered key board at chest level on the left side of the door. Coraset wondered if the apartment was given to someone else. She knocked on the door. When no one answered, she pressed 7772 in the keypad. She figured it made sense because that’s the only number she could think of, and the Federation assigned it to her. The number buttons turned bright blue, and the small screen above the keypad flashed:
She wondered what else had changed since she left. She was expecting to see her apartment empty, but instead, she found everything as she left it. The computer was still on the coffee table. The black leather furniture was in the same spot. The window curtains were still open showing a panoramic view of the afternoon day. There was a light film of dust, which normally bothered Coraset.
She went directly to her bedroom, and placed her bag near the foot of the bed. Coraset pulled out her cell phone and placed it on a black solar plate near the window. She waited to see if it would respond. With one single beep, the Federation crest appeared in the center.
Satisfied that it would charge, Coraset went over to her dresser and pulled out her lacy white underwear and matching bra from the top chest of drawers and found a long tank top that stopped around her calves. Coraset went to the shower, and she immersed herself in the sprays of the hot water from the tiled walls.
Coraset noted for the first time in a year and a half she could take a shower without being watched. The water wasn’t cold. She could use her favorite peach smelling soap instead of the hard unscented prison brand. She scrubbed her body, wanting to get every part of her past down the drain. By the time she was finished, Coraset was exhausted beyond words. She quickly changed out the sheets and comforter on her bed and with a sigh of relief, she crawled under the clean linens, and she let the sleep takeover.
CHAPTER NINE
The next morning arrived with the rain hitting Coraset’s bedroom window. She sat up in bed, still exhausted, but she was glad to see and hear the rain. The desert didn’t give such a gift, and she took a moment to take it in. The rain drenched the window, distorting the view. Coraset smiled and settled back down into bed. For the first time in a long she was relaxed and not worried about a thing.
Her room was like an abyss, devoid of any semblance of human attachment. There were no pictures depicting the family she once knew, not of her biological father Michael Prescott or her mother Rhea Jefferson. Not even her two sisters Salina and Penny Prescott.
When Coraset first left home, she ventured off to college, excited for a brand new start. She hardly came home during school breaks. Living with her parents were always difficult, the arguing, the fighting, and she didn’t want to go back to that turmoil. Coraset worked all she could when she wasn’t in school, and she barely called home. When her dad left her mom, she kept going with her life, never stopping to take sides or to hear her parents’ explanations. Coraset already knew the reasoning for the dissolving of the marriage. Rhea was overbearing, strict, and a workaholic. Michael loved spontaneity, travelling, and enjoying life to the fullest. He believed in working hard, but he believed in playing hard, too. Michael Prescott worked in advertising, and Rhea was a chemist. It was better they ended their marriage. When her mother found Brecco, she found her equal. He was older, more settled, a chemist, and Rhea was more compatible with Brecco. Coraset’s sisters were not happy with their mother getting married, but Coraset understood. She gladly accepted Brecco into the family as long as her mother was happy.
Coraset got out of bed once the rain stopped. She slid the tank top off and put on jogging pants and a tight fitting t-shirt. Coraset brushed her hair back, allowing it to hang down her back. Coraset went into the living room to check the points on her card. She pressed the on button for the computer. Once it was finished loading, Coraset scanned her point card. To her surprise, all 400,000 points were there. She walked out of the apartment, feeling rejuvenated but a little reserved.
The streets were still empty. The smells from the damp sidewalks and asphalt consumed Coraset’s nostrils. The once windswept flags hung from the heavy soak of the rain. Coraset looked up at the building in front of her. It was completed. The last time she left her apartment, it was an empty shell reaching up into the sky. Nothing about it was different. The same steel building like the one she lived in. No individuality, just a show of the power Erato had over everyone.
Coraset exhaled and went back inside of her building. She took the elevator down to the first basement level where the entire floor was a store. Anything a person could ever want was found in that store.
Coraset picked up a basket and looped the handles on her forearm. She went to the produce section and stared at the perfectly displayed fruits. Something as simple as picking out fruit became difficult. She was hungry,
