Shiny Golden Links

Every night, through the only window in our small apartment, I spend one or two hours looking at the stars and the oval-shaped shiny golden link that goes around our "country" all the way connecting to the next one. It's stunning. Looking from down here, it seems to measure 10 meters wide - but of course, it is much bigger than that. And the length is impossible to guess as part of it is hidden by the clouds. 

I pray to god,  hopefully, it still exists. I think about my writing career that never flourished as I expected (but I still have hope). And as of late, I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to take care of a 3-year-old toddler and a newborn in this messy place.

It's irresponsible (or "insane" is a better word?) that we decided to have our second child in the current situation. We always wished to have more kids, and what happened to the planet of Earth didn't stop us.

9 of August 2030 marks one of the greatest discoveries in human history. At 03:12 in the afternoon UTC, I still remember. Astronauts found and confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life.

They found only a very primitive microorganism, nothing to pose a danger to us. At least at the time.

Fast-forwarding 33 years, humans have been taken over, and our planet structure and organization transformed. No country or government had the slightest chance of fighting back. The ultra-intelligent and powerful life some people always thought existed is real indeed.

It's unbelievable how the world is shaped today. Forget about countries, states, cities, seas and all the continents as we used to know.

We are now divided into 34 links connected to each other, forming sort of a chain/necklace. At the end of it, there is the Heart Locket. People, including myself, call each link a "country", but it's not quite right. I live with my family in Link 4. All humans live somewhere from Link 1 to 10 and 23 to 33. 

The 4 links connected to the Heart Locket are called "The Guardians", and the remaining ones are inhabited. 

Everyone lives in the same poor conditions or similar. I mean everyone! Whoever was rich lost everything. And I guess that's a silver lining, no? I think it is. There are no social or financial gaps, everyone is equal (sort of), and therefore, there is less discrimination, racism or enviousness.

I for sure would get back to the previous structure if I could choose. But I'm not going to lie, like the effect it had on society. You can call me a leftist, communist ,  I don't mind.

Our government/the force that controls us resides in the Heart. Every year thousands of people try to reach there searching for answers or better living conditions, but thousands of them die on the way. Some come back, and I don't think anyone has ever made it.

In the last couple of weeks, many children have gone missing, and the rumour is that they were taken to the Heart Locket. It's my greatest fear that this could happen one day with my kids.

'Honey, you should go to sleep while our son is sleeping, he'll soon wake up, and you know how tired you will be in the next day '- said my wife.

'Do you think one day they'll take our children away, and we will be forced to try to rescue them in the Heart?'

'Aww, babe. It could happen, but let's not think about it, OK?! It will make us anxious and cause us unnecessary suffering.'

The next day I called my friend Joe to discuss the idea of initiating our training. Jake, my cousin, has tried and was able to come back alive. He got closer to the Guardians, and he has a few lessons to share with us. 

There are a few people like Jake, and they usually give courses/train others on how to reach the Heart. I'm almost certain my time will come, and I have to stay prepared.

'Joe, we gotta get on with our training. It's going to happen. Our children will go missing, and we will want to try to save them.'

'I don't know, man. I love my kids, but it's so hard to get there, you know?. I'm probably going to die by the second inhabited link. Or actually on the first one. It's tough for me to say that, but I figure I'll just leave them. Maybe they live a better life in the Heart, and if that's true, I'm happy for them.'

'Joe, Joe, listen. We don't know for sure they have a better life there. Maybe they suffer in there. Did you consider they may be doing experiments on them? I can't even think of such a possibility.'

'I know Vicent… I get you. But like you, I don't think about it. And I prefer to believe if they get missing, god forbid, they will be fine.'

'Ok. Let's do one thing. Regardless of what you or I believe, let's prepare for it. The intensive part of the training runs for 2 months with classes every day, including Weekends. And then afterwards, we only need to go once a week to maintain it.'

'But…'

'No, no need to give me an answer right now. Sleep on it, give it a thought for a couple of weeks and then let me know.'

Joe is a dear childhood friend of mine, and I considered him as part of the family. We went to school together. We've been through sad and happy moments and I love him.

I understand why he's so apprehensive about taking this challenge. His younger 18-year-old brother tried one month ago to reach the Heart and died at the third inhabited link. Others that were with him that managed to survived brought his body back. It was tough for Joe and the family to cope with the loss. 

Nevertheless, I'm trying to convince Joe to join me in training because, despite the self-talk in his head, he'll for sure want to try to rescue his children.

Tomorrow is my wife's induction day at the maternity. It's been 41 weeks, and no contractions yet. He or she is coming. We decided not to know the gender. It's going to be mad. We live in a 20 square meters apartment-slash-container, and everyone sleeps in the only room there is. We're a tight-knit family! And there is no other option. Imma tell you that. 

It was all good with the labour. It's a girl! Happy days. Our first also came late. The difference is that now was normal, no c-section. 

We've been alright at home. It's been messy, and I haven't been sleeping, but I'm happy. I'm always showing them the shiny golden link in the sky and explaining what happened , the part I understand, of course.

They seem to like the shiny golden link. It even helps us to distract the younger one like those mobiles used in cribs.

'Hey Joe, you guys are late for our camping trip! C'mon!'.

We're going on the first trip with our kids. My little boy and one-year-old girl, and Joe's family. There is this place nearby with an open field where it is even possible to see more than one link when the sky is clear. 

You see, despite all the world structural and society changes, paradoxically, not much has changed. I mean that I continue doing many of the things I used to, such as going out on trips, going to barbecues, and working on the same stuff as before. Even daycares continue to exist , thank god! My routine didn't get affected much. Not yet.

Hey kids! It's time for hammburgeeers! C'mon, get out of the water now. I'll call just one more time, alright?! C'mon!!

Hello, kids?!