Bullseye

Bullseye

“Who would’ve guessed that you’d be from the inner zone…” Kee says as he and Anna walk down the sidewalk, away from gates.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that. Don’t I come off as IZ?” she asked, in her best (worst) impression of poshness.

Kee rolled his eyes, but grinned. He loved Anna’s over-done impressions. So much in fact, he was planning his own as a surprise for the ceremony.

“Well for starters you were given up, so you can’t be IZ.”

“You don’t honestly believe that do you? If it were true, I wouldn’t be here right now. Never mind the fact that it’s illegal, and the IZ are supposed to be the utmost exemplary, law abiding, ethically correct, and most highly skilled of the population.”

“That abuse their status and break the law.”

“You and your prejudiced conspiracy theories. I’m sure my parents are just as they are supposed to be.”

“Sure…”

“What?”

“If that were true, then why do the IZ live so isolated? I mean, we just walked through their security gate didn’t we? After walking through at least a mile of pristine orchards and vineyards. The other zones don’t have that.”

“What I want to know,” she says, changing the subject, “Is why the blue dot is so far away still.”

“It’s probably just your father at work.”

“But according to the gps, he’s not at an official building. He’s at some other estate.”

“So he’s visiting friends?”

“But they have to know we’re coming.”

“We’re also still a pretty good distance away,” Kee says as a drone flies overhead. “It’s not like we have one of those at our disposal to just zip around in.”

“Sure would be nice though. Do you think they’ll have one? Oooh, maybe they’ll have an extra. Maybe they’ll give us one as a wedding present?”

“I doubt it. Those things cost an awful lot of excess. And besides, middle zoners don’t just have stuff like that, even as gifts.”

She waved away his negativity.

Hopefully she wasn’t putting too much stock into this fantasy. The Pilgrimage was hard enough. Six months enough...

Near the entryway, Anna withdraws a diamond encrusted heart shaped locket and brushes it off. As if she’d let anything hurt it. She raises it to the scanner. The gate opens and she takes a deep breath.

“It’s almost as if you’ve been waiting for this your whole life.”

“All twenty-seven years of it. Not everyone spends their first seven getting to know their parents. The most exemplary give us up at birth.”

Kee rolled his eyes. This was probably the only aspect of Anna that ever really bothered him. Of course, everyone who grows up in the city has doubts. That’s just the way it is when you’re forced to decide. Either keep your kid and live as an outcast, or live as a part of mainstream society, in relative luxury. You can’t have it both ways.

Some people never really get over it, though. They tell themselves that their parents must be IZ, and have to set an example. Those people are referred to as princes or princesses, a term that Kee refrains from using as it’s not considered polite.

...

The perfectly manicured lawn was the biggest he had ever seen. It was unsettling, compared to what was considered ‘normal’ these days.

“You know, I never really imagined this part. I mean, I know the locket doubles as a key, that’s how you know you’ve got the right place. But I never considered what I would do between there and the inside.”

“Well, we should probably knock on the door. Just because they’re your parents doesn’t mean we aren’t total strangers.”

“I suppose.”

Though she agreed, she was clearly uncomfortable with that thought. Kee wasn’t really sure how he should go about moderating her headspace in this situation, or even if he should try. He wanted her to be happy and for everything to go smoothly for her today, but everyone knows life just doesn’t work like that. Hearing that in her voice, that she seemed to have already made some kind of intimate claim, worried him. Even if it was just knocking.

He started to say something but was too late. The door opened to a woman. She was middle aged, and dressed comfortably, much like them. She was a bit shorter than Anna, but had a similar build and facial features.

“Hi, uhh…?..?..?” Anna blanked.

“Oh, you must be Anna. She said you would be arriving today. You must have come straight here from the wall. No detours.”

“Uh…”

“Oh sorry. I’m Christine, the maid.”

“Ohhhhh,” Anna and Kee said together.

“Oh?”

“Sorry, I uh.. Hi, yes, I’m Anna!”

She smiled, though it didn’t reach very far.

“And you guys are pre-wed?”

“Yup, this here is my Kee.”

“Anna and Kee?”

“Yes.”

“Very cool. You make a cute couple... If you follow me to the sitting room, you can wait there while I go get them.”

Anna’s parents’ home was much like everything else they had seen after crossing into the IZ. It was so ornate and polished that you could already feel the PTSD you’d get after someone found out you touched something. Her mother, unfortunately, was just the same.

When she rounded the corner, it took her no time at all to put on a smile that screamed of insincerity. Hell, she might’ve already had it on before she came into the cavernous room.

They both stood as she approached, her hand outstretched.

That struck Kee as odd, but then again, this is all uncharted territory. Who knows how meeting one’s parents is actually “supposed” to go down. Certainly not him.

Anna then shook Christine’s hand to thank her and the locket buzzed excitedly, announcing that the Pilgrimage had come to a successful end.

Her mother’s face split into a wide, glimmering grin, while Anna erupted into tears.

“Hello Anna, my name is Anastasia Grace. I’m your mother.”

The two embraced, properly, or so Kee thought for a mother-daughter reunion anyway. When they were done, a man rounded the corner, Anna’s father. He was every bit of the pomp and circumstance as his wife, their estate, and the entire IZ.

The next few hours was spent on a tour of the estate including the hall of pedigree, the lounge (which was for entertaining less formal parties, as opposed to the sitting and dining rooms), the family vault (filled with precious gems, liquors, property deeds, etc.), and through the vault was a door that led to an even more underground bunker.

“Yessiree, this baby protected our family and our valuables throughout the entire war. She’s a true mark of preservation craftsmanship.”

“How big is it?” Kee asked.

“Oh it’s quite comfortable in there, no worries. If the world ever ends again, we would be more than fine.”

“So like the size of the vault, I take it?”

“Oh heavens no, the vault would be much too small to bunker down in. I honestly don’t know. I haven’t explored the entire thing myself.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Well, it’s communal, and everyone likes to keep their own space.”

Kee’s jaw dropped. Anna remained silent, she was in full sponge mode as she tried to soak up as much as possible.

“So what other families stayed in the bunker with you then?”

“I’m not sure, it was a long time ago,” he responded jovially.

“So is it as big as this house?”

“Bigger, actually.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Hm?”

“This house alone is the size of a small Settlement… So I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t remember all of those family names... Do you recall how many there were?”

“Hm… Dear, do you remember how many families make up the IZ?” he asked his wife.

...

“Excuse me?”

“Yes?”

“Are you saying that only the families that make up the IZ were in there?”

“Yes! You are quick, aren’t you?”

“Why didn’t you let others in?”

“People are supposed to take care of their own. It’s not proper to rely on others. Now I’m progressive, but there’s got to be a line drawn somewhere.”

Kee was starting to become animatedly upset when he seemed to freeze, take a deep breath and let it out.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. It wasn’t you that made that decision and even if it was, you’re not my family, you’re Anna’s. The only thing I’m concerned with is making sure that you care about her... And it’s obvious you do. You even have her portrait in the hall of pedigree and that means alot. Especially considering that you’re not supposed to know anything about each other... I was touched to see that.”

“Oh that’s not Anna.”

...

“What?”

“That’s her twin sister, Tiana.”

“Oh, so you guys add the portraits after they make the Pilgrimage?”

“Oh no, Tiana didn’t make the Pilgrimage. We kept her.”

...

“So it’s true?”

“Is what true?”

“The rumors that the ‘elite’ live outside of the law?”

“Be realistic. What would be the point of having all of this if you can’t even influence that small of a decision?”

...

“You reduce it that much!? It’s the entire basis of this ‘new normal’! To create a world that doesn’t live in the past! To let new generations give rise to themselves, without the risk of skewed influence forced upon us! It’s the principles that we’ve had drilled into us”!

“I understand your frustration. For what it’s worth, it’s a very small number of families that do it.”

“And let me guess they are all IZ’ers!?”

Anna reached out and placed a hand on Kee’s forearm. He looked at her face and the pressure faded.

...

“Sorry about that. Kee’s parents took the full amount of time to decide. He gets a little upset at the current system... I can’t imagine the government being so cruel as to make you give up both children at once. There must be some clause that allows special exceptions for twins and whatnot. And you still had to make an impossible choice.”

To her surprise, he smiled. “You two are both very bright and well reasoned. You will make a great partnership.”

“Thank you,” Kee replied. “We should probably change the subject, though. What do you guys do for work?”

“Well,” Anastasia replied, “I’m a homemaker, and William here, is a property owner. You remember the deeds in the vault?”

...

“...But we met Christine? Your maid?”

“Yeah…”

“So to be a homemaker, you’d have to be the person that takes care of the home.”

“So I’m a homemaker that knows how to delegate,” she shrugged.

“What about you guys? What’s the IZ in your city like?”

“We don’t live in the IZ. We live in the MZ.”

“I’m an architect and Anna’s an engineer,” Key states with an edge of defiance.

“Oh, you’re MZ’ers…” Anastasia replied, disapproval making it’s inevitable appearance.

Kee held up a finger. “No. I’m not even going to. I just have one more question. What made you choose to give up Anna over Tiana?”

“Oh we liked Tiana more,” Anastasia answered immediately.

…

...

“Ok. Ok. OK. We’ve done our Pilgrimage. We’ve seen the Settlements, both big and small. We know that they aren’t as good as the cities, and of course, nowhere near as comfortable as all of this. But, they are doing just fine. Do YOU have ANY idea what it’s like to be given up?”

“No. We already covered this.”

Kee’s face froze as something clicked in his mind and he abruptly fainted.

...

“So it’s true,” Anna echoed Kee’s words from earlier. “The IZ’er’s, the people who made the laws what they are today…”

“‘Don’t look at it that way. Our families financed--”

“Financed? The world had basically ended and had to be rebuilt from scratch, and you financed?”

“And owned…”

“Owned what? In a world that lost everything, what could you have that held that much value?”