Jameka Brown - My Name Is Saved

I nod my head without thinking. “If I come across an island, I’ll come back for you.” She squeals, jumps up and down, and then wraps her arms around my neck hugging me tight. She’s so soft and beautifully designed that my arms automatically enfold her. This I can get used to. Kintin draws her head back and our eyes lock. Her lips part. What I could do next I’ve only seen by spying.

“Kintin?” A deep voice pulls us out of our thrall and saves me from showcasing my amateur skills. Kintin jerks away from me and smooth’s her clothes down.

“Roark?” She says to the massive boy with sandy brown hair. He peddles over to her side. “Saved wanted to see the drawings of the island.” She laces her fingers into his. “He’s going to find it Roark, and he promised to take us there.” My stomach sinks. No, I promised to take her there. I move away from the boy’s glare, and from her masculine wishes. For a moment I thought she accepted me, but of course in the end I have to be either or.

Roark glares at me. “Are you trying to take my fiancé from me?”

I hold my hands up to the sides of my face in a show of innocence. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” My foot hits the opening to the wall. “I should be getting back now.” Something pushes me hard in the joint behind my knee, it buckles, and I fall onto my face.

“Roark, leave him alone,” Kintin cries out just as oversized hands pull me to my feet by my shoulders.

“It’s your first day so I’ll go easy on you,” Roark says. Another boy around his size comes into view laughing and egging his friend on. “I’m the leader around here. This is my turf.” He points to Kintin. “She’s my turf.” Roark turns around to smile at his friend and then throws a sloppy punch that I easily block. I knock his hand down and sock him in the kidney. He yelps and falls to the floor clutching his back. His friend runs towards me throwing his arms in a wild cycle, I push them out and execute a double open handed punch into his chest. He flies off his feet and lands on his back.

Kintin is standing there ogling. I nod at her and then duck out of the opening. Mama made it mandatory for every living being in Garden Home to learn how to protect God’s world. Mama says the flesh wishes superiority and devious tendencies. She says we do not walk that path, but we must defend our home. According to Dr. Nu, my body is my home, so I must defend it. Too bad Roark and his friend didn’t take the time to get to know me.

As I walk down the stairs back to the village. Purity leans on the wall thumping his hands to some form of beat.

“Roark, bothering you?” He asks when I get near. His muscular shoulders and slim waist are tantalizing in his black see through nit top, and black fitted pants. “I saw him and his sidekick head up there.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” I say.

Purity grins. “Dad sent me to give you a quick tour before we call it a night,” he turns around. Brown eyes consume me. “That’s if you’re not too tired.”

“No.” I pause to look deeper. “After you.”

He descends the stairs. “Thanks for showing us where to find the food. That was cool of you.” We walk out into the opening. “No one will probably tell you this, but those pills suck.” He touches my hand and we stop. “When I say thanks, I really mean it. Thank you.”

“Sure.” I tremble. “I’m sorry you can’t use it.”

Purity shrugs. “Old people eventually die. Besides, Dad’s so sly that we’ll be eating real food every day.” We walk out of the stairway and back into the metal hallways that are lit with fire on sticks. I eagerly follow him hoping I finally found a friend.

We acknowledge the people walking down the hallways. There are sliding doors every twenty feet. Purity explains that families receive housing based on their number size; the bigger families live in the agriculture zone. The one’s throughout the complex are for newlyweds, or singles.

When we reach the end of the hall, Purity goes up a level. He holds the door open for me. “Thank you,” I say and walk into blackness. Not even my auditory senses can derive a vibration. Nothing seems to live on this level.

Purity comes in behind me with a torch. He nudges my lower back. “Don’t worry, it only looks scary.” He snickers and walks down the hall. “We’re actually not supposed to be up here.” He pauses and looks at me. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Not a word,” I say and move closer to him.

“Cool,” he says and begins walking again. I can’t help but feel we’re on an adventure. I laugh a little, and then squash its manic capabilities. “When they were building this place they had every intention of developing it with all the technologies of the times, but when the purge hit they only had enough time to finalize the air system and the door locks.” Purity opens a door and flips a switch. A large room stretches further than I can see. “They built a work room with electrical power so that they could continue their science.” Purity points into a corner where half of a large black boat rests. “Before the Seers took over, the scientist began building a boat that would take all of us to an envisioned island.”

We walk down the stairs. “Why did they stop?”

“There was some kind of explosion that ended the life of the scientists.” Purity walks over to the contraption that rises to the sky, at its base are drawings on white paper. “But we have all of the schematics and blueprints to go ahead with the project.”

“But the Seers don’t think it’s necessary?”

Purity leans against the boat. His black hair falls over one of his eyes. “They’re eyes are too fearful to see the island.”

I walk around the room and gaze at all of the half contraptions lying about on tables and the floor. There are power tools lying about, and plans to develop better medical facilities. There are things for something known as a car, clothing, and ideas to force the ground to grow food for them. Gadgets to clean the atmosphere were also in the works. Why would they halt all of this progress? Better yet, why do they listen to the ones that stop them? “What do the two of them possess that the lot of you need?”

“What do you mean?”

“All of this is outstanding, yet no one’s touched it because they ordered you not to. Why do you listen to them?”

Purity ambles over. “Fifty five people died in that explosion. Zero have died from unnatural causes since then.” Purity places his hand on my arm. “I may not agree with them all the time, but they have seen the will of the Universe, they know what it wishes of us.” Purity steps away. “So we wait for the Universe to direct our next step, and when the instructions come we will need as many live bodies as possible.”

Stones instead of feathers pollute my stomach. Somehow I am unable to wrap my head around this way of thinking. They believe in the Universe and that they are servants. Yet they follow the sight of two seers that tell them to sit still. No, no I don’t agree with this method. They should continue with their developments. I know in my gut it will save them.

The walk back to the light is silent. There is so much going on inside of me that I don’t realize Purity has stopped until I run into him. His muscled fingers lace around my arms and steady me. I stare into his brown eyes, and I see kindness. “You okay?” He asks.

I nod and move away from him. I thought this might be a place I could call home, but I can’t live among people who have the ability to better themselves and others, but choose to wait. What exactly are they waiting for?

Purity looks at me for a moment longer than opens a door. There are at least twenty people sitting with their legs crossed in front of them and their hands resting on their legs. They do not speak or see, but sit in total silence. Purity whispers, “This is the temple. We come here to spend time with the Universe, and seek guidance.” Purity backs away and slides the door shut. “What we see and hear, we tell the Seers and they decipher the meaning.”