Kanchi

Sometimes Maia wondered what it was like to be invisible. To fade into the background so quickly that people questioned if you were ever really there in the first place. She thought about it all the time.

And she didn’t mean invisibillity in a magical sort of way. Magic had been disproved hundreds of years ago. When Maia thought invisibility, the first thing that came to mind was silence.

Of course, no one was truly invisible. Not unless they made themselves that way. But there was something about the idea that rang true to Maia. It wasn’t as if Maia was so quiet that everyone forgot all about her. Quite the opposite, actually. Monica was always going on about how Maia could never sit still or go a minute without saying something. Silence killed her.

Saying something didn’t guarantee that her voice was heard, though.

Maia sighed. There was no point in monologuing when there were more important things to do. And by that, she meant fixing her holo-projector.

She slammed it against the ground a couple times, muttering to herself under her breath. “Stupid piece of metal. Should’a tossed you into a composter the moment I found you.”

Finally, after violently jabbing at some buttons, the device shuddered to life and a blue light beamed out of her holo-projector. The light flickered weakly. Holo-projectors were old technology—no one really owned one since MagTech had created better ways of communicating. It didn’t really matter, though, because Maia was more focused on the announcement that had popped up in the middle of the screen.

(1) Call From “Monica”. Accept?

Maia sighed. A message from Monica could only mean one thing. She was in trouble. Reluctantly, she pressed a button on the holo-projector.

Maia’s older sister had always been many things, but patient was not one of them. The blue light wavered. For a moment, Maia thought the holo-projector was going to shut down, but instead, Monica’s displeased face filled the screen.

Maia gulped. “Um. Hey.”

Monica scowled. “Don’t ‘hey’ me. Took you long enough to respond. You do realize you’ve been ignoring me for the better part of an hour?”

Maia coughed. “Yeah, well, the holo-projector broke again. I’ve been fixing it. Trying to, at least.” It had only been broken for the last twenty minutes, really, but if Maia admitted to snubbing her sister, it would only make matters worse. “Are you sure you can’t find a better brand? Like…literally anything else? This thing is ancient.” Monica rolled her eyes, ignoring her. “I didn’t ask for an excuse, Maia. I need you to come home immediately. It’s important.” Then her brow furrowed. “Hold on, are you in a junkyard again?”

Maia groaned. Quickly, she kicked a broken bicycle out of the way, and shuffled into the shadow of an old jumbotron. “No.”

“Yes, you are! I thought I told you to stay away from those. You could get diseases from touching all that dirt and rust. Besides, there are easier ways to fix tech. If you’d have asked—”

“I did. You told me we couldn’t afford it then. Don’t blame me for finding more creative ways to get it done.” Maia sighed. Then she frowned. “Wait, why do you need me home in the first place? Aren’t you working on that application for the Council of Associates internship?” Monica tensed up at that. “This is more important. Maia…Mom and Dad are home. And there’s a visitor here for you. I can’t explain it all right now, but you have to come home.”

Her sister’s attitude suddenly made sense. Mom and Dad hadn’t been home in days. Something really had to be wrong if they had come back to the apartment. Maia cleared her throat. “Okay. I’ll be back in ten minutes, maybe later. The streets look busy today.” She hit a button on the holo-projector, and the call ended.

It felt like the junkyard had lost some of it’s appeal. No longer was Maia eager to sort through the piles for parts. There wasn’t really any point. Not when her parents were home.

The though alone made her stomach turn. It wasn’t as if she was afraid of Mom and Dad. Not really. They just…weren’t the most pleasant people to be around. Her parents had gotten married too young. So young that they never had any time to go out and have fun in the city. Instead, they had spent their young adult years caring for Maia and Monica.

When the time finally came that the sisters could look after each other, their parents bolted straight back into the city, without looking back. They frequented casinos and fancy bars, constantly blowing money without thinking. It was fairly common for them to come home for a day or two, before disappearing again for a week or a month or sometimes even multiple months. Mom would constantly borrow money from Maia and Monica’s bank accounts, claiming that she would pay them back later.

She didn’t, in case you were wondeirng.

Maia was used to it, anyways, so she had learned long ago to just ignore her parents and keep on living life. She was curious what her parents could want. If it was something as simple as wanting money, they wouldn’t have come home at all. Maybe Dad had forgotten something in the house months ago and hadn’t bothered to bring it with him to whatever expensive destination that was next on his list.

Sighing, she shoved the holo-projector into the pocket of her overalls and strapped on her tool belt, making sure to put the pointy ends down. The last time she had forgotten to, she’d nearly impaled her arm on a screwdriver.

Maia crouched over, flipping a switch on her magboard. Magboards were another invention of MagTech—you’d think they would come up with a more creative name, but nooooo—and mostly powered with magnetics. Maia wasn’t one hundred percent sure how all of it worked, but she knew enough to be able to fix her own decrepit magboard.

She made sure the latches on her boots were fixed down, before stepping onto the board. It hovered gently over the ground. Though the junkyard had a thick layer of dirt on the ground, there was a metal shell underneath. It was the same throughout all of Caligratas.

Maia leaned forward, and the magboard began to move, quickly. She zipped out of the junkyard, passing the chain link fence that surrounded it, and joined part of the traffic that flooded the streets.

The city was beautiful, but probably not in the way you’d expect something beautiful to look. Buildings were covered in massive jumbotron screens, displaying advertisements for games and makeup products. The light radiating from them was strong enough to reflect onto it’s surroundings. The only people that were really out and about were either on magboards, exiting the subway, or milling around the entrances to different stores and bars.

The wind on her face felt nice. She was going fast enough that if she lost her balance, she definitely would break a bone or two, but she had practically mastered magboards.

The ride back home was fairly uneventful. Maia was surprised that she had gotten back so quickly. She might have disregarded several traffic laws, but those were more of a guideline than actual rules, weren’t they? She walked up two flights of stairs to get to her apartment complex. Maia strapped the Magboard to her back, wiped her hands at her sides, and quietly creaked open the door to the apartment.

It turned out that there was no need for secrecy, because the moment that Maia opened the door, Monica barreled forward and pushed her back into the hall, closing the door behind her.

“We have about two minutes tops before they start getting suspicious and come out to check on you, so I’ll make this quick.” Said Monica.

Maia opened her mouth as if to interrupt, but then thought better of it when she took in the look on her sister’s face. Monica was usually put together, but today her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was down, long and staticky.

“Listen. Inside, Mom and Dad are talking to two government agents. They’ve come looking for you. I don’t know what they want with you, or what they think you’ve done, but I want you to keep your mouth shut unless you’re spoken to directly, okay? Let me handle everything. Also, leave your magboard out here.” Maia finally lost her patience. “Seriously? If I leave it out here, it’ll get stolen.” Monica raised an eyebrow. “And? Maybe that would be for the better. Have you seen the state of that thing?” She shook her head. “We’re out of time. Get moving.” Maia quickly slipped the magboard off of her back and propped it up against the wall, then followed Monica into the apartment.