A Day in the Walls

I woke up to the smell of pancakes and my mother yelling my name.

“Emmett! Pancakes are ready!”

I opened my eyes and slowly my senses started to come to me. Like somebody was flipping a switch. The smell of pancakes filled my nose, and my stomach began to growl. I glanced over at my clock. It read 10:03AM.

“Emmett! Come on, wake up!”, my mom yelled from downstairs again “The pancakes are getting cold!”

I laid my head back on my pillow and grumbled. I had planned to sleep in since it was Saturday, and I didn’t have school. Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen to see my mom at the stove making pancakes. Our house wasn’t big. Nobody’s houses were big nowadays. Everything felt too cramped and close together like it was two boxes stacked on top of each other. Our old house was way nicer.

“I got a fresh batch coming in hot.” My mom said as she saw me walk in.

“Smells good.” I said with a smile.

“They might smell good but try them and tell me how they taste.”

I sat down at the table where a plate of pancakes and syrup were set up for me. Taking my fork and knife I cut off a piece and ate it. The taste spread throughout my tongue, and it was delicious. I couldn’t help but smile. My mom noticed and smiled as she turned her attention back to the pancakes on the stove.

“Thankfs Mohm!” I said with a now pancake stuffed mouth.

“You are very welcome. What are your plans for today?” My mom asked.

“I don’t know I was thinking I might hangout with Isabel today.”

“That sounds like fun. What are you going to do?”

Suddenly there was a knock on our door. Both my mother and I turned our heads. I knew exactly what it was.

“That’s for me!” I said as I jumped from my chair to the door.

As I threw open the door, I saw the mail man hurriedly climbing back into his truck. “Thank you!” I yelled to him. I then bent down and picked up what he had left on our doorstep.

“What’s that?” My mother said as I placed the brown paper box on the kitchen table. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be, but I opened the box slightly and sure enough it was in there.

“This is what I’ve been saving up for.” I turned the box toward her so she could see.

“Oh yes, I remember now.” My mother said with a smile, “Remember to take some pictures.”

We both laughed.

Eventually I finished eating breakfast and got ready for the day. I said goodbye to my mom and opened the door. Stepping outside I was greeted by the wall, just like every day, which stood as a massive barrier between the city and the outside world. Life in the inner city wasn’t all that bad but I will say, that wall is super annoying. We didn’t see much sun because of how tall the walls were. When the sun goes beneath the wall the lights turn on immediately. It’s never dark here.

As I walked down the street, I enjoyed the warmth of the sun. It felt great and natural. At “night” when the lights turned on it just felt weird. There was just no warmth. The lights which sat up on the walls of the city were designed to not generate heat so that everyone inside wouldn’t get cooked. I hated them.

After basking in the sun for what only seemed like a few seconds I felt a tap on my arm. I quickly turned around to see Isabel standing behind me. She had a white shirt on with blue overalls, wore glasses, and had a huge grin on her face.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Enjoying the sun.”

“Okay well you almost ran into like five people while you were walking with your eyes closed.”

“Did not!”

“You totally almost did. If I hadn’t been here next to you motioning to people to move out of the way you would have ran right into them, you dweeb.”

I had nothing to say so I just smiled. She was the only thing that didn’t change since moving here. We used to be neighbors at our old homes. I was afraid I was going to lose her when my mom told me we had to move. Luckily our parents had been in contact with each other and both family’s managed to snag a spot in the inner city. Neither of us got really nice homes but they were all that was left. We were only a couple blocks away from each other now but still… it felt too far.

“Are you going to the party tonight?”

“What party?” I asked.

“Matthews party.” She said rolling her eyes. “You know the one where they’re gonna have…” She brought her hand to the side of her mouth, “Water”

“Water?” I said raising my eyebrows. “Like, fun water?”

“Yeah, Matthew managed to get some.”

“Really? Where?”

“I don’t know but he knows a guy.”

” Water”, wasn’t actually water. It was alcohol and something I hadn’t had in a long time. We were both in our senior year of high school and underage, but it was just something we got into around the time things started going down in the world.

“I thought the inner city banned that stuff.” I whispered to her.

“Like I said, Matt knows a guy.”

“But how did he get it in here?”

“I don’t know maybe his guy had a stash.”

I shook my head, “Not possible, they do a huge search of your stuff before they let you in, remember?”

“Then maybe he knows a guy from outside.”

“How would they even get in?”

“I don’t know but listen. All that matters is that he has the stuff. Now you and I deserve a little fun. Everyone does. So, you’re coming right?

I gave a huge smile. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

We spent pretty much the whole day together. Hanging out, catching up. We both went to different schools now, so it was hard for us to meet on a regular basis. Isabel and I had known each other since we were kids. It felt weird that now we could really only meet on the weekends.

We eventually parted ways so we could stop at our respective homes before the party. As I walked into the house, I made sure to keep quiet. My mom was asleep on the couch. I crept up to my room, grabbed my backpack and stuffed the brown paper box into it. I was going to need it tonight.

Creeping back down the stairs I heard mumbling coming from the living room. Not sure of what the situation was I made sure to be extra quiet. To my surprise it was my mom talking in her sleep.

“Plea…” she said. “Please find him…” At first I was confused but she continued. “Please… you have to find my husband… he said he would be here…”

She must have been relieving that day. The day we moved. We were all supposed to be together but my dads’ job didn’t believe the shadows were a real threat. This was before everyone started taking them seriously. When everyone was stupid. Life inside the walls may suck but it was better than what was out there.

Not wanting to hear anymore I went over to my mom and placed my hand on her shoulder to wake her up. Her eyes opened wide, and her face was full of distress, then it all vanished when she saw me.

“Oh, hey sweetie. How was your day?”

“Good… I just wanted to let you know I’m heading out again.”

She glanced over at the clock. “Isn’t it pretty late? Where are you going?”

“Isabel’s to hangout.”

“Weren’t you with her all day?”

“Yeah.” I said making my way toward the door.

My mom gave a sleepy smile. “Have fun.”

“I will.” And I closed the door behind me.

I met up with Isabel at the party and we both walked into loud music and the smell of alcohol. After a couple of drinks, we both started to get a little tipsy. After a few more we were gone. If you knew us, you would know we were a little shy but tonight we danced. We danced like nobody was watching and we probably looked like fools, but we didn’t care. Our favorite song started to play and that’s when we both just lost it. This was the first time in a while we could just forget about our problems.

At some point Matthew made his way over to us. “Hey! Isabel! Come with me for a sec!” He was very drunk, and I got a weird feeling in my stomach when I saw him talk to her. She gave me a look that said “It’s okay” They were gone for a few minutes. I stood there in the middle of the party and for some reason I felt… alone. Everything felt off, like I didn’t belong. I peeked through the blinds on the window at the artificially lit up world outside. None of this felt the same as the other parties. Nothing was okay.

Eventually Isabel returned with a wide grin on her face. She grabbed my hand and dragged me outside of the house.

“Woah! What’s going on?” I asked confused.

“Just be quiet and follow me. You’re gonna love this!”

I followed her until we go to the edge of the wall. “What are we doing here?” I asked. She then started moving over a large wooden board that was sitting up against the wall. There behind it was a hole.

“No way…” I said.

“Come on. Let’s go outside.”

As we both entered the hole there was a couple yards of tunnel before we reached outside the walls. There it was dark. Something we hadn’t seen a long time.

“How did you know about this?”

“Matthew told me at the party. I’ve been pestering him for months about this.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s why.” And she pointed up at the sky. There in the sky were stars, the moon, and the comet. “Happy Birthday, Emmett.” She said with a smile.

The sky was beautiful. I then remembered I had my own gift. I knelt down and placed my backpack on the ground so I could grab the brown paper box inside. I then handed it to her. She took it and opened it.

“No way… you’re joking…”

“I saved up for months so I could get you that.”

From within the box, she brought out a camera. It was the same one she used to have before she moved. Her moving day was much different from mine. She and her family were scheduled for one of the last buses. They were the only bus out of 7 to make it out that day.

“This must have cost you a lot…” She said through teary eyes.

“It did… but it was worth it.”

She got closer to me and held the camera out, snapping a picture of the two of us. She then turned to face me. “Emmett and Isabel survive another birthday together.” She whispered.

Our eyes met. I could smell the alcohol from her mouth. Then something happened. We both leaned in and kissed. I then took her hand and brought the camera up together with her. We pressed the button and took a photo. We then let go of our kiss. We held each other’s hands, and I felt her squeeze my hand as we looked at the photo we took. We had taken the photo with flash…

There in the photo behind us was a shadow…

and the reason the walls exist.