Repeat

Long before there were iPhones there was a world separated into three parts. There were people who lived at the top of the hills, people that lived at the edge of the sea, and the people who lived at the bottom of the ocean. The only thing keeping everyone connected was said to be hidden in a brown box.

The people at the top of the hill and the people at sea level have seen each other many times but they still keep separate and have their own separate issues and politics. They do, however, have one thing in common, they both speak of the people at the bottom of the ocean and the brown box holding all the world's power to connect them. Even though both sides know of the power and the people under the sea the people at the top of the hill have made it almost impossible to prove, or even talk about, considering they are the ones with most of their worldly resources they put a lot of those towards trying to cover it up. In fear that if it is ever brought to light their capital would crumble. At the top of the hill, people know of the abilities of the people at sea level but they don't have the same themselves. Some say that's why the separation started, because of their jealousy. The people at sea level however partake in a different practice. Instead of trying to cover up the ways of the brown box and of the people below the sea, they honor them. They harnest as much of the rituals and ways as they could without getting cought by the people at the top of the hill and practice religiously whenever they can.

This story starts with a little girl and her family at the top of the hill. Her parents were research scientists and their job is to find as much information out about the brown box as they possibly can and then report back to the people at the very top of the hill, and, to maybe one day retrieve it. Although the little girl knew that her parents were scientists, she didn't really know much more past that. The brown box was literally all ANYONE really talked about. The little girl though had no part in what her parents did for a living and wasn't too happy when her father came home and said "We are moving to sea level, we already bought a house down there so there is no going back" His wife was already packing up their stuff with a straight face but the little girl wasn't having it. "Why do we have to move down there? We know nothing about them". Her father looked at her with a cold gaze and said "That's why we are moving, we have to get closer to them to learn more about them. It's good to learn about new things" the little girl let out a huge sigh, she wished her mom and dad were more like her friends parents. She didn't know what made them so different, but she definitely knew they weren't normal.

When they were driving to their house the little girl started to stare out of her car window. She immediately noticed how happy everyone looked. Unlike at the top of the hill where they locked themselves up in their houses all day and stressed about coming up with new ways to find the box, these people were all outside. Backyards were just full of families playing, and visiting with each other. She started hearing sounds she never heard at the top of the hill. People were singing just because and the sounds of people laughing almost sounded like it held a song in it. "These people are everywhere, have they no decency? I almost ran one over!" Her mom starts yelling at some kids playing in the road. The little girl tried sliding down in her seat as far as it would go so that hopefully none of the other kids had seen her with them.

The next morning when all their stuff was unpacked the little girl wanted nothing more than to go play with the kids she had seen yesterday. She grabbed her jacket and yelled goodbye to her mom all in one motion, closing the door behind her. Her mom looked up just in time to see her running down the steps and trying to put her jacket on. "That little girl is going to be the death of us all," she thought to herself. The little girl noticed some kids playing with a blue ball and went up to them and asked if she could play too. They looked her up and down and without saying anything they threw the ball at her and started running back to get ready to catch it. She wasn't expecting the ball to hit her that fast or that hard it was almost like clockwork. Throwing it as hard as she could she threw it up into the air. The only thing was that she didn't aim at a certain person so everyone kind of just stood there and watched it hit the ground. "Man, forget this" said one of the kids to the group. "Let's just go to the water." Everyone got super excited and started to run in the opposit direction from were she was still holding the ball. The little girl tried keeping up but these kids were fast. She started thinking about all the times her friends came over and they were stuck playing in her room, not much running space in there. She could tell she was taking more breathes to run than anyone in the group and was still barely keeping up. But this was her new home and she really wanted friends so she wasn't complaining.

They reached the edge of the water and again like clockwork they all jumped in at the same time. The little girl had never seen ANYTHING like it. It was almost like a dance the way their bodies lifted into the water perfectly harmonized with the water. She had heard stories about how they danced and how they could bresthe with the water but all the stories at the top of the hill didn't do these kids any justice. She picked a spot on the shore and watched for a while. After an hour had passed and they hadn't come back up to check on her she started feeling like she was just in their way and left.

When she walked through the door her mom was waiting for her. "Where have you been? You know you are not supposed to be out this late, what were you doing?" She looked over her with her arms crossed she had her "I want answers" tone on, even in her eyes. Sometimes the little girl felt like they cared more about getting answers than how she was feeling. Must be the research scientist in them coming out. "I was just out with some kids but they left me so I left". She didn't want to say they had jumped in the water because she knew that would lead to more questions and she didn't feel like being interrogated right now. She was feeling alone enough as it is. She went up to her room quietly to lay down.

The next morning she had to go to school. Even though she really didn't want to and didn't want to knowing that her awkwardness wasn't cured over night. She knew for sure her parents wouldn't just let her skip. She didn't have the same feelings toward sea-level people that her parents did. They wanted answers, she wanted friends and a normal life. And they didn't get that. She walked right up to the school and saw the kids from yesterday playing outside. Based on how yesterday went at the water she thought it best not to face them yet. So she just started walking in the opposite direction, as far away from the school as she could get.

She found herself at the beach again, sitting on the edge of the water and just staring out. She watched for a while and thought about everything that's been going on. Her parents moving her without her concent or concern, The kids in her new town who don't seem to get her or who she doesn't fit in well with, and the undying feeling that everyone knows something important about her life that might bring her answers to why all this is happening. And still nobody wants to let her know. Frustrated by it all she stood up for a second and just yelled "I just want to go home". She sat back down in the sand and started making a moat with her hands, remembering that her 'home' doesn't even exist anymore.

She heard footsteps behind her. Thinking she was alone this startled her. She turned around to find an old man standing over her. His eyes were so blue, bluer than she had ever seen, almost the color of the ocean and it was almost like she could see the sea in them. "Whats got you so mad?" The little girl put her head down before answering. "They ruined my life, I would still be at the top of the hill if it wasn't for them, now I'm down here and I can't get any friends because everyone thinks I'm weird" The old man looked surprised. He had never seen a person from the top of the hill down in these parts and he had been at sea-level for a very long time. He took a seat next to the little girl and could see the hurt and pain in her eyes. He then picked up a piece of seaweed and started saying some kind of chant into it. The little girl couldn't help but watch as this man seemed to be putting a lot of effort into twisting this little piece of seaweed. He then looked at her with a smile and said, "Here." The little girl took it and looked at it confused. "Well, what am-" but the man was gone.

She did not know what to do with that seaweed so she put it in her pocket. "Who's to say that I can't swim too, we are all from this land, maybe if I give it a try" It was no sooner then she had said that she was raceing towards the water. The water was freezing cold, she didn't remember it looking like it was this cold when she watched the other kids in it the other day. After no more than 2 seconds of her being in the water, she wanted to get out and could tell this was hopeless. Then she remembered the seaweed. She felt like she wanted to eat it, almost like there was a voice telling her to. No sooner than she put it to her mouth she started to be able to swim and breathe underwater. She was so excited about finally being able to breathe that she didn't see the big wave towering over her. Now if she had real gills like the other sea-level kids this wouldn't be such a big deal. But she didn't adn that little bit of seaweed was no match the crashing wave towering her way... So she turned around and started swimming vigorously back to shore. The harder that she swam the bigger that the wave got then WOOSH....

She woke up on shore with a kid she had never seen before standing over her. "Are you okay? You could have died ?!" She looked up at the kid but she noticed something on him she hadn't before. Slits on the side of his neck. Almost like something you would see on a fish. She thinks back to yesterday and asks herslef "Did the other kids have that too?" She slowly starts to push herself up, grabing for her seaweed but she could tell it had gotten lost in the ocean, almost like the ocean had taken it back. She decided she didn't want to comment on them in the means of sounding unobservant, in a barely noticeable voice, she said "I'm okay.. just did something really stupid" The kid looked at her with an estranged look on their face. "well OKAY, just don't do it again." Then the kid took off running.

She returned home to her parents but couldn't shake the feelings of the waves. Even though she crashed it still felt right, Almost like it was somewhere she was meant to be. She opened the door and saw that they were both busy with their research. "How was your day?" her mom asked her. "Great," she responded barely lifting up her head. "That's great dear, there's leftover chicken in the fridge for dinner," her mother said not even looking up once from her work. The little girl didn't respond and just headed up to her room. Maybe she's starting to find a piece of home afterall.