The Fall of Hightower

Anya, a small, blonde 11 year old girl, looked through the bars of the sewer grate that was set in the side of Hightower Hill. Hightower Hill, who shared its name with the town it resided in, was on the easternmost edge of town and was scarcely visited on account of The Facility. Anya looked through the bars of the sewer grate, past the field, at the slowly growing fire that was destroying The Facility. As she watched the violent swirls of red and orange, she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Why am I crying? She thought to herself. She's gonna be okay. She promised.

Anya wiped the tear from her face. She reached into her shirt and pulled out the heart-shaped locket that Margot slipped into her hand before she closed the manhole cover to the sewer.

---

"I'll find you. And when I do, I'll explain everything; why I did it. Until then, just keep this safe. Stay hidden. I'll find you. Time to get moving." Margot said as she began to pull the manhole cover closed.

"But what if you don't make it out? Will you be okay? Anya cried, stopping Margot from closing it yet.

"Hey, I promise I will be alright." Margot said warmly.

"Right." Anya replied, pulling her hand back. "See you--" but before she could answer, the manhole cover was closed and all she could see was a harsh blue light through the holes on the manhole cover. "Time to get moving."

---

Anya was nervous to open the locket. What was in it and what did it mean? Before everything went down at The Facility Margot told her that she was sorry and that she would make it right. What was she talking about? What did she do? And were the answers in the locket? The excitement of the past few hours was starting to get to her. She found a blanket that was mostly dry and made a bed in one of the sewer tunnels near the grate. She held the locket in her hand as she drifted to sleep; replaying the events that led up to this day in her mind.

---

"Welcome to The Facility at Hightower!" Said an overly cheery voice on the overhead speakers. A crowd of 25-30 students and their moms listened intently while they looked around the massive atrium. With a flash of light, a hologram of The Facility's founder, Dr. Rowan. She was tall and beautiful with severe bone structure; cheekbones that could cut glass. Her raven black hair was pulled back into a tight bun on the top of her head that only added to her severe look. Anya had seen this hologram many times, distorted through vent covers, when she would sneak out of The Rec Room. She had Dr. Rowan's welcome speech memorized. She talked in a manner that was meant to be inviting but came across as scary because of how it juxtaposed her looks.

"Today, I'll guide you through history of The Facility, starting with the Reproduction Crisis of the early 22nd Century."

Yuck, Anya thought. She hated that word, reproduction.

"At the turn of the century, humans were no longer able to reproduce through natural means. Scientists the world over searched for a cure, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful." As the Doctor spoke, images flashed in front of her to illustrate her story. "To ensure the continuation of humanity, I turned toward a relatively forgotten alternative; using stem cells extracted from the bone marrow of men and women to create sperm cells. My team and I spent years perfecting this process and now, thanks to our incredible team of scientists and Volunteers, The Facility uses the Rowan Method to help couples make children with a near 100% success rate! Isn't that great?!"

The children in the crowd cheered after she said this before they were ushered onto the next location. Dr. Rowan continued, "Now follow me as we look more in depth into the process and how we are looking at expanding what we do here at The Facility." And off they went. Anya looked on at the children. She'd never met any kids from outside of The Facility. They all looked so happy to be there, hand in hand with their mothers. She would often imagine that she was walking in the tour group with her mom, whoever she was. Maybe she could slip in with them. She started to reach her hand forward to push open the vent cover, but then a figure stood in front of it facing the crowd, Margot.

"Anya, don't even think about it." Margot said in a hushed tone. "You need to get back to the Rec Room now before they notice you're gone."

Anya sighed and shuffled back into the vent. Margot continued, "I'll find you at dinnertime." Anya looked at Margot's legs outside the vent as she continued back in and turned around. Maybe someday she could leave.

--

Anya was startled awake by the sound of yelling outside. She got up from her makeshift bed and looked out from the shadows at a group of men and women.

"Find them or Dr. Rowan will have our heads." Barked a large man with a scraggly, orange beard.

"Do we know how the fire started? Or who let out the Volunteers" Asked a lady wearing a doctor's coat.

"They say it was Margot and the Mothers." Orange Beard responded. Walking closer toward Hightower Hill now. "The security system was shut off when it happened, so we don't know for sure, but I'd bet it was her!"

"Why? What they did saved us all! What changed?" Asked the doctor.

"I don't know, but we need to find the Volunteers now! Dead or Alive." Orange Beard ordered. This made Anya gasp. The group stopped and looked toward the sound of her gasp and crept toward the sewer.

Orange Beard pointed their flashlight slowly at the grate and called quietly, "Hello? Someone there?"

Anya pulled back further into the shadows as slowly as she could, arms reaching behind her searching for the turn back into the tunnel. "Just come out, we won't hurt you." He said, not too convincingly. Anya’s heart beat faster and faster, she threw one hand over her mouth to quiet her breathing, while the other continued searching behind her. Orange Beard reached the gate and pulled as hard as he could on the grate, but it wouldn't budge. "Help me with this, now!" He ordered. The others in the group came up to the grate and the whole team pulled on it. It creaked and groaned, but even together they were unable to open it. He shone his flashlight back into the tunnel, slowly raising it further and further. Anya's outstretched hand finally found the turn. As she started to creep around the corner, Orange Beards light hit where she had been; he missed her.

"No one here. Not like a Volunteer could have gotten in here if they wanted. We couldn't even open this." He said and they team retreated from the grate and continued their search elsewhere. Anya let out a sigh of relief and turned around. She looked forward in the darkness and saw a figure in all black.

Oh no. She thought, before she fainted.

---

Anya and Margot were sitting at a dinner table in the corner of the Rec Room. It had been a long day, filled with many tests and lab visits. Anya felt that Margot seemed on edge lately and she would know as they had been having dinner together every evening for some time now.

"Are you okay, Margot?" Anya asked.

"You trust me, right? Margot responded, not looking up from her plate.

"Yes, of course."

"We have to leave The Facility. Do you want to do that? Would you want to leave with me?" Margot looked up from her plate with tears in her eyes.

"More than anything, but what about the other kids here? Can they come with?" Anya asked, concerned.

"Not with us, but with their own -- er -- with other nurses." She replied. "You and I will go by ourselves. Tonight."

"Wow! Tonight?" Anya responded, excited at this idea.

"You have to keep it down. This is our secret." Margot said in a hushed voice.

"Okay!" Anya replied quietly.

"Okay, meet me by the Rec Room door after everyone goes to sleep tonight…and I’ll make everything right" Margot paused, looked intently into Anya's eyes and said something she had never heard before. "I love you, Anya."

---

Anya's eyes opened slightly, her head spinning, and she tried to look around. She felt her stomach turn from hunger and fright. She fainted once more.

---

"Come on, Anya!" Margot yelled as the blue lights of the security system flashed in the halls. Anya had tripped while they were running from the Rec Room. "I'm so sorry this isn't going the way I thought," She knelt by Anya, "but we need to keep going." Margot lifted Anya into her arms, and they continued down the hall to what looked like a maintenance closet. Margot opened the door, went inside, and quickly closed and locked the door behind her. She sat Anya down on the ground and uncovered a manhole in the middle of the Maintenance Closet. "I'm so sorry, but I need to finish something up here. You'll need to go on ahead without me." She opened the manhole cover and lowered Anya down into it.

"But you said we would leave together." Anya responded, frightened.

"I'll find you--"

---

"I found you." Anya heard a voice in the darkness. She opened her eyes, and it took a minute to adjust. There in the tunnel with her was Margot. "I'm so glad you're awake. I need to tell you something."

Anya jumped up, still a little dizzy, and wrapped her arms around Margot. "I was so scared." Anya cried with relief.

"Shh. It's going to be okay. Just listen." Margot replied. "Did you open the locket?" Anya shook her head in response. "Go ahead."

Anya opened the locket slowly and inside was a photo of Margot, holding a newborn baby with blonde hair. "That's you, but who is the baby?"

Margot looked at Anya with a look of fear and admiration in her eyes. "That's you." She said as her voice broke. Anya looked back at her, confused. "I'm your mother."

Anya wept.

"There are only a few women left in the world who had the gene that allowed reproduction through natural means. My mother was one and so am I. For some reason, it didn't disappear as it did for others. All the nurses that worked with the children at the Facility had the same gene. And all the children were theirs. Which means, you have that gene as well. Every boy and girl in the Facility were categorized as Volunteers to help in their experiments so that they could continue their research. We nurses were given to the Facility as kids ourselves, and then were forced to have kids of our own. They took away our rights as parents, but kept us around to raise you. I was young, so I didn't know better. None of us did, but I couldn't sit back and let them do to you what they did to me. I wasn't the only one who felt this way and so we planned an escape and a broadcast to everyone we could get it out to. The world knows now what they have been doing to us for years and what Dr. Rowan's plans were for the future. You're safe now. We're safe now." Margot looked at Anya with hope in her eyes. "Please say something."

Anya looked at Margot with tears rolling down her face and simply replied, "I have a mother."