The Last Red

Chapter 31: The Offer

I observe the G-quarter in wonder as Amanda escorts me to my apartment. Everything in B-quarter was yellow - buildings, flowers, fruits... it houses blond Caucasians with blue eyes, Amanda had explained.

Here, in the G-quarter everything is pink and red - it looks like a neighborhood straight out of a children's fairy-tale.

She moves aside as we reach a beautiful pink building with a short red staircase.

"We'll continue the orientation tomorrow," she says.

"Just scan your wrist to enter. Your apartment is here on the right," she gestures. "Groundfloor. You'll find you have a very nice terrace, I'm sure."

I nod. "Goodbye, Amanda." 

"If there's anything you need, just tell your AI device to contact me and I'll be sure to send someone to you from our R-quarter."

"I won't be needing anything besides that meeting you said you'll set with the Mayor," I say coldly. I know she didn't deserve my rage, but I can't help being angry at the whole world right now.

"Sure," she wrinkles her nose, already tired of my behavior. "Your AI's will inform you once it is set."

I turn and scan my wrist to enter the building.

Why am I being given this amazing living space when all of my friends and colleagues are being suffocated in KTL?

I haven't deserved this. 

I was born purebred. That's my only claim to this.

I enter my apartment.

It's huge.

There are plants in each corner of a vast room.

A couch that could easily fit three people all for myself.

A screen bigger than a life-size human across from it.

I walk across it to open another door.

Bedroom.

I never could've dreamed of this.

I run toward another door. A bathroom only for me.

No need to schedule a shower.

No need to look for water in the Wild.

Greenery through the windows grabs my attention.

A terrace.

My terrace.

I crumble against the wall and drop to the floor, crying.

How's this fair?

I can't live like this.

Maybe, if I didn't know all that I know now.

If I hadn't been through all that I have.

If I didn't see other blocks. Hear about Salvatore's life.

My mother was not crazy at all.

My Dad only treated her like she was. I finally realize...

I was lying in a valley where we built our sand dune, next to the water.

I was sick.

My mother was treating me while Dad went to get some food.

"Oh, my sweet poor girl. I never should've taken you here. I should've let them take you to Earth. What kind of life is this for a child, anyway?" She shook her head.

"I need to go back. I need to talk to Michael. He'll let me return. I'll tell him I accept his proposal. I'll leave to the earth with him. 

We both will."

"Viv!" stay down. "There's rogues passing!" My dad ran towards us. 

"Shh," she shushed my lips. "This has to stay between us, baby girl," she nodded. "Okay?"

I nodded back, thinking she was trying to kill us both. Send us to the earth.

"Our little secret," she laid a kiss onto my forehead.

I frown, looking at my wrist.

"Om," I whisper.

"At your service," she says.

"What's the Mayor's full name?"

"Mr Michael Oppenheimer," she states.

That's what I thought.

See, Bradley thought I kept Omnia for nostalgic reasons only. But I knew about this old lady. 

I knew how she looked because my mother used to talk about Omnia all the time. 

Grey hair, elegant posture, a grandmother figure... Only I used to think Mom escaped KTL.

I remember thinking she must've been real crazy, because I never saw how Omnia looked, so she couldn't have seen her either.

But she did, indeed. And now I know how.

My mother had her. O.C.'s Omnia.

And now, so do I.

"Om, tell me all there is to know about Genevieve. My mother," I say.

* *

I wake up in the morning by myself.

No inner alarm, no noise, no discomfort.

Only silence. 

Sweet, pleasant silence.

I get up and shoot a hologram up.

Meeting with Mayor at 9AM is displayed.

Good job, Amanda.

I open the closet I've found yesterday and it is filled with clothes, shoes, jewelry and a few long red wigs with different hairstyles.

I don't even want to think about why they're there.

Then something pops on my mind... If the Mayor really liked my mother, why shouldn't I use that to my advantage - make him be reminded of her? 

Suddenly, I have a good feeling about this.

"Om," I say. "What's Mayor's favorite color?"

"That would be red," she replies.

I scoff. "Of course it is."

I put on a red dress and pair them with red sandals that have a short heel.

Looking at myself in a mirror attached to the inside wall of the closet, I think I might be dreaming. This can't be my life.

I slap myself lightly, just to check.

It hurts. I almost laugh at my stupidity.

The wigs catch my eye again.

Should I?

To hell with it - I'm on a mission here. My mother has long soft curls, and so will I - today. Truth is, I've no idea what my hair would look like - I've never grown it in my life.

I wrap my fingers around a long wig with big red curls and place it over my head.

Then tears fill my eyes.

My mother had hair just like this.

I only saw it so rarely, because she would either wrap it under a big scarf or wear a black one over it, but I still remember. 

I even remember the smell of it after she would wash with aloe vera and other plants Dad would bring to her.

I shake my head to bring me out of the trance.

If I remind myself of my mother, then the Mayor must be reminded, too.

And that's all that matters right now.

I leave my apartment and step onto the porch.

"Hello, neighbor!" A nice Ginger couple greets me as they climb the stairs.

"You're new!" the girl with red curls says as if it was a question.

I nod.

"Came in yesterday."

"Oh, finally someone took that place. It was crying empty for so long," the other girl crosses her pale slender arms.

The curly-haired girl laughs. "Gigi here has been dying to get a new neighbor so she can spread all the gossip. I'm Georgina, by the way," she reaches her hand out to me.

I accept it reluctantly - I've never shaken hands with someone before. "Gina."

"You've absolutely gotta stop by today," Gigi demands. "Ooh, we need to get her a welcome gift!" she turns to Georgina. "I know just the right gift shop!"

I shrug.

"Sure, I'll stop by..."

They frown a little to my reaction. I guess my lack of enthusiasm is not common in the City.

Screw it - I have a mission to go to anyway.

"See you later, then. Bye!"

I hurry down the steps and almost twist my ankle.

Walking in these shoes is tricky at first, but as I pass my street, I'm already feeling confident.

"Om, navigate me to the Mayor's office," I say and she shoots up a hologram up with a map of the city.

"Turn left on the next crossing."

I listen to her and walk past an amazing garden full of trees I can't even name.

There are people on the street eating ice-cream and laughing.

"Now walk straight ahead," Omnia speaks.

There's a sign that says f*******n streaming now on top of a building where a lot of people are entering.

A movie?

I've never seen a movie in my life.

This is too good to be true. Too good for only some people to have.

We should all have it.

And I am going to change some things in the world, or die trying.

Because I can't enjoy any of this knowing others have to fight for their lives every single moment of the day.

"You have arrived at your destination," Omnia announces.

I enter the glass building and scan my wrist at the receptionist's desk.

"Hello, Gina," Arina greets me. "How are we feeling today?"

I nod. "I'm good. Don't know about you..."

She laughs, then escorts me to the elevator.

"Funny... Enjoy your meeting!"

I look in the mirror and cling to the bar under it.

This has got to work.

I know I shouldn't feel this confident, but there's something in me telling me this is the right thing to do.

The elevator beeps open and Leonardo greets me on my way out.

"Looking good, Gina."

"Thank you," I look to the floor, feeling awkward.

He walks me to the Mayor's office then knocks twice.

"Come in," the voice from the inside says.

Leonardo opens the door. "Please," he gestures for me to enter.

"Gina," the Mayor lifts his head, immediately leaving everything he was working on aside. 

"Good morning," I nod, not moving an inch.

I never imagined myself standing here. With a mission.

But I'm not the fearful little girl I once was.

I'm changed.

"I see you've found the wigs," he says, pleased. "They sure suit you well."

I move closer to the desk, not even looking at him. 

I start walking up and down, too nervous to sit.

"I know about my mother," I say. "I-I know about the offer you've made her."

He frowns looking at me.

"And I know she turned you down. Because of my dad," I nod.

"But I don't have anyone I care about here."

I have his full attention now.

"I'm all ears," he crosses his arms on the table.

I stand in one place, hands on my hips. "I'm willing to take the offer you made her," I nod once. "If you would extend the same one to me."

He looks at me without words.

"I want to join you," I say. "I want to go to Earth."