Up to The Spire

A guttural whimper caught in my throat. A unit in the spire was falling today. I stared up at in abhorrence. My family was in there. Or my supposed family. I never knew them. I grimly wondered if their unit had fallen yet – there was no way for me to tell. Not in the spire, or the tower, at any rate.

From the age of 5, Trainers, Head Trainers and the Crown would take children away from their parents and throw 5 of them together. Creating a unit. A lifelong of learning and training, cocooned in the bunkers at the foot of the towering spire. But that all changed when you reached 18, sent to the Spire. Your life depends on what you learnt because every so often a unit would drop; it was a simple concept. Units were dropped based on performance – if a unit did a terrible job, they dropped to the bottom, underneath the spire. Hard physical labour awaited them in the pipes. Those jobs don’t require much skill, but the conditions are bad, and the work is physically exerting. Deaths weren’t uncommon there.

A booming thump echoed throughout the land; air whooshed back each blade of grass. Only one unit. One unit that did something bad. I mused at how high up the fall was. Would it be worth it, to climb up to the top. What if something happened along the way? It’s an even further way to fall.

I rolled my neck, sore from staring at the tiny golden crown plastered on the top of The Spire. The greats were just silhouettes on the glass from here, making me feel small and insignificant. I wondered what it would take to get there, climbing The Spire, doing brutal work, all in preparation to finally rest, enjoy luxuries and be free. Would that freedom, that luxury, would it be worth the sweat, tears, pain and risk?

I wandered aimlessly around, thoughts replaying in my head, as I soaked up the fresh air. The sun was already sinking, bleeding out from behind the hill. Dragging myself into reality, shaking away the thoughts in my head, I hurried back. I didn’t know how long my unit could cover for me.

…

I crept through the window into the dark bathroom.

“She’s just in the bathroom,” I heard a voice echo through the wall. I relaxed at my luck.

“Why is the light not on?” came a haughty voice through the cracks of the door.

I froze, then quickly come to my senses and dropped down onto the bathroom floor, pretending to be the snivelling child they thought I was. A sharp smack and squeal of the hinges pierced the silence, making me wince. Remembering myself, I dropped my face to floor and slumped my shoulders, trying to appear somewhat gloomy.

“Oh, so you were here. Sulking away, were you?” sneered the caretaker.

I saw a pair of glasses peek out behind the door. Zara. Relief glimmered in her eyes. I gave her a dull grin from the corner of my mouth.

“What are you smiling at?!” a protruding voice smacked me into reality.

I stared at my toes.

“Yes, that’s right. Remember who you are!”

Laughing his head off in glee, he stalked out of the room, dust billowing in his tracks.

Silence.

“Well, you can tell us what happened you know, instead of looking like you were sulking in the bathroom,” Issy broke the silence, a grounded voice that cuts through the chaos. But don’t let that fool you, sometimes she’s the silliest of us all. Slowly standing up, I recounted the past events.

…

I rolled out of bed, soaking up the last warmth of heat the thin fabric allowed. I surveyed my surroundings. It was the usual; Carly was up, back against the wall reading in our little nook. Almira was sprawled in her bed. Zara and Issy were peacefully sleeping. Jolting upright, I fell into my morning routine. I did it every morning and it never ceased to fail. I jumped into the shower and washed myself clean, shivering at the cold sting of water. The water here is never heated, but I had become accustomed to the freezing cold temperatures.

And who knows? I thought, Maybe I’ll live longer… not that any of us would want to.

As I stepped out of the cold water, I cleaned myself up. Inside our unit, Zara was up and ready, busying herself.

“How are you going this morning, sleepyhead?” I called to her.

“Good, although clearly not better than you,” she retorted back, a smile on her face.

I heard a groan in the background. Almira.

“Almira, I think you’re the sleepyhead,” I smirked to her.

“Oh, ok then, that’s great. I’m so glad u noticed,” she murmured sarcastically.

“It’s not that great,” Issy muttered in the background.

Suddenly, Almira jumped awake, all drowsiness gone in the face of her annoyance.

“Oh yeah? Well, look at you, all asleep there, Issy!” she fumes.

Issy sat up and mumbled vaguely, “You know that I can get up in 1 minute. Well... theoretically, anyways,”

“Yeah, well so can I, Issy.” Almira retorts.

“Wait, Ava… you thought I was a sleepyhead,” Zara’s eyes widened at me as she pretended to be offended.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but that’s beside the point.” I replied.

“Bad Ava, bad, bad Ava,” Zara grinned.

My eyes fell to Carly.

“Nuh uh, Carly, can’t stay out of this one,” I cheekily smiled at her. She started spluttering at me.

“Since when did I come into this?” she finally said.

“Since you started listening to our conversation and ghosting us,” I shot back with a knowing smile.

And we all laughed, a sound of pure joy that resonated around the room. But all too soon it was cut short by a loud bang on our door.

A caretaker stormed into the room and stared with hatred and disgust at us.

“You will meet a new unit today,” she tilted her head up, considering us not worth her attention or time. I stared at her.

“Besides… ours, then…?” I managed to get the words out.

A loud thump echoed across the room, followed by a screech as a heavy book landed on Issy’s toe. Zara was hovering in her bed, her hands open, no book in sight. And when this action happened, her face was so intently fixed on the trainer, she didn’t even look down.

My thoughts raced.

We’re meeting another unit? We never get to talk to other units, otherwise we will be punished.

Her face screwed up in annoyance.

“Think, idiot,” She snarled at me

And with that, she was gone.

“But… that’s my line,” I quietly stuttered to myself, not that anyone would pay notice. My unit may or may not have heard me, but right now we’re all so shocked that it doesn’t matter.

We’re meeting a new unit.

…

I got unceremoniously shoved into a food booth, looking in wonder at the increased size from the usual booth. Then it struck me.

Right. We’re meeting another unit. I hope they’re nice.

Determined to keep the day rolling, I selected my usual order, mac and cheese. It's okay, not like the other goopy glops of mush in the porridge. Zara (who was next in line) tapped the mac and cheese too and adds on tea. That’s really the only thing that keeps Zara going. She never questions what it is, she just drinks it.

“What?” She asks whenever we bring up the subject, “It’s good and flavourful.”

Silently, we all passed her our sugar packs so she could add a ‘generous’ amount of it to her tea. She smiled at us happily.

Bang.

The door opened, revealing the other unit. It is all we can do not to stare. Then a voice breaks the eerie silence.

“Emily… Aiden?” A voice of disbelief cuts through the booth.

I turn towards it, knowing well who’s voice it is, but not quite registering it. It is Carly, I’m not going insane, but maybe I am, because of all people we would expect to talk first, it’s Carly. Socially awkward Carly. Then it hits me, right bang in the face. Carly had met other kids that her parents showed her when she was little. Children of people in her parent’s unit. I relax, knowing Carly knows them.

“Move you b****!” Glaring at Almira was a hard-edged girl. Almira’s eyebrows raised and she tried to maintain her inner violence, but that’s not going to go well.

Soon we all quicky introduced ourselves. The other unit was made up of 3 boys, Aiden, Ray and Jax and 2 girls, Emily and Ella.

“What… an all-girl unit? Lucky!” said Emily as we introduced ourselves.

Ella was the one who told Almira to move. She’s kind, but has a spikey edge to her. Emily, on the other hand, is her polar opposite. Sweet, soft, nervous and trusting. Perhaps too much. I don’t think she even understands the concept of sarcasm. Then there are the boys. Aiden is plenty nice, but like Emily and somewhat Zara, I swear he is in love with food. Ray and Jax are silent. If I had to pick who is more weirdly silent, I would say Jax. He doesn’t say anything and just nods, keeping his lips tightly sealed. He hates sitting near people, except maybe Ray. Ray doesn’t speak, more like he doesn’t speak if it is not necessary. He’s quiet and only talks when needed. Sometimes it’s a jibe on Emily, but he’s nice. Like Carly.

Ella and Almira had quickly become… well I don’t know exactly what to say, but let’s just say they matched each other violence levels.

Like, perfectly.

Almira and Ella were talking, and suddenly Ella bit Almira, and then the chase begun. Almira was not happy. And well, let’s hope they never team up.

I started up a few conversations with Zara, Almira, Emily and Aiden. Ray occasionally commented, but half the time it is hard to get anywhere because Carly, Emily and Aiden just intently stared at each other.

Suddenly, a tray of blueberry bread was dispensed in front of us.

“That looks…uh… questionable….” Issy eyed the bread with concern.

“It looks like a piece of s***,” Ella filled in helpfully.

I reached for the bread determined to make the best of a small treat. It was fine, I guess, it just had an unusual taste. Like its blueberry if you know it, but if you don’t... it’s just a strange flavour.

Almira tentatively bit on her piece. Her face scrunched up with distaste.

“Ew, it tastes like alcohol,” Almira spat.

“How do you know what alcohol tastes like?” Carly wondered.

“Dunno, I just do… it tastes like it,” She replied. “Issy, try it!”

Issy reached out and took a bite with a confused look.

“It’s blueberry bread,” I added. Issy nodded slowly as understanding dawned on her.

“I can see that,” She replied.

“No, it tastes like alcohol, doesn’t it, Aiden?” She gives Aiden a pointed look. He looked up from his 4th piece of bread, and opened his mouth to say no.

“Now, Aiden, if you don’t want to get hurt, say yes.” Almira stared at Aiden intently in the eyes. We’d known the other unit for what, 10 minutes? And she’s already making threats. Aiden gulped down more food, and nodded slowly.

“It’s just blueberry,” Ella interrupted, “I take it back, it doesn’t take like s***, it tastes like bull s***.” But still, she reached for another one. It’s the only good food we’ll get here. So, we’ll take it. After all, it’s better than mushed slop.

“It tastes like alcohol,” Almira stared Ella down.

“Alcohol s*** or blueberry s***, it doesn’t matter it still tastes like s***,” Ella honestly stated.

A loud thump broke the silent laughter. A trainer marched in. Freaking out, I jumped up from my chair and banged my knee on the table, groaning in pain. Almira burst into laughter, at my expense mind you, and simultaneously Issy fell off her chair, shouting in shock a mix between a “Urggg!”, “Ackkk!” and “Ahhhh!”.

“SHUT UP!” The Trainer stared at all of us with clear disdain. Relatively young. Unusual… I noted, eyeing a long scar travelling down the left side of his face. His mouth wrinkled in disgust.

“No more caretakers to oversee your education,” He hissed, “You have reached the age to start training.”

“But we’re not 13 yet,” Ella muttered. The Trainer whipped his head around and stared her down.

“It’s close enough,” He spat back.

Alarms go off in my brain. Training. Training. For the crown. Its started. No more freedom. These words whisked back and forth in my brain. Carly gingerly touched my arm. A supporting touch to remind me I wasn’t not alone.

“I am the Head Trainer, and I oversee all training here. You will be under my rules for the next while, so you better behave yourselves -” His eyes lingered on me, and a stab of fear rushed through my body, why did they always have a bad feeling about me? But he slowly turned to everyone else in the room, wanting them to feel that feeling of fear and desperation, “- otherwise you’ll have my consequences to deal with. Understood?”

We murmured in agreement. His face flickered in a frown before finishing.

“And you’ll be training with another unit. Get acquainted.” Then he turned and left without any sincerity of dropping this huge bomb on our faces.

I stared at the other unit. And a huge screen on a wall of the booth started flashing in our face.

The crown symbol faded away as a trainer briskly marched into view and started speaking.

“Welcome trainees, to your introduction for the training program. Today, your training commences. You will be put in a group with another unit; the one you would have met today. The groups that outperform others will have an automatic gain as they will start in the higher levels. In your groups, you will have two levels to be assigned to depending on your group mark. The unit that outperforms the other unit in the group will be assigned to the higher level. These positions will matter as the lower levels are disgusting and harder to maintain, with stricter punishments and less freedom. As you climb higher, conditions will steadily incline. So don’t rely on the other unit. It’s a fight on who’s better. Take your training seriously and stay to the schedule, otherwise you will be killed. Not just you, but your whole unit. Happy Training!”

And the screen went blank.

My mouth felt dry as I saw my own fear and bewilderment reflected into the eyes around me. I clenched my hands into fists. Lifelong work and they turn it into a competition. Then a trembling voice speaks up.

“Do we have to verse you?” It’s Emily. She’s practically shaking in fear. I stared into the depth of her eyes.

“Not if you don’t want to.” I softly replied. Her body slowly calmed down as she took deep breaths; exhaling she looked at Ray for support. He doesn’t let her down. To an extent.

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.”

With that Emily rolled her eyes, but she looked happier, not as scared.

“We’ll both try our hardest and do our best,” Zara commented.

I smiled at her and Emily seemed to have perked up too.

“We got this team,” Issy added. Ella snorted in contempt.

“Sure, we do,” her voice laced in heavy sarcasm, but no one paid any attention to her.

Instead, I nodded along with everyone in the room and realised that competition with the other unit doesn’t matter. We just needed to beat the other groups and tie with our soon-to-be allied unit, and to do that we needed to work together. So, slowly but surely, I grinned at the team around us. Glad we got assigned a caring unit that could bring out the best in our abilities.

Then my food got dropped onto the table, dropping me from my thoughts. I swallowed and fought the urge to stick my tongue out at the food. Overcooked mush… again. I stared hopelessly at my food and poked half-heartedly at the pasta. I stuck it into the back of my throat to get rid of it as soon as I could.