Stephen strolled between the double row of prostitute tents. All of the tent flaps were now closed concealing the events inside. Muffled noises and giggles could be heard escaping from the tents here and there. Toward the end of the row of tents Stephen saw movement as a tent flap pushed outward. A single flap was opened and Stephen could see the silhouette of the Deacon against the soft glow of the fence lights in the distance. The Deacon saw Stephen and scurried off in the opposite direction.
“You old devil,” said Stephen quietly with a grin. “I guess even the preacher steps out of line now and then in the valley of darkness.”
He continued his stroll toward the tent that the Deacon had scurried from. Before he arrived a female figure emerged from the tent. He could tell from the outline of her body that she was young, maybe 18 or 20 years old. The lights beyond them caused the lace robe around her body to glow. He could tell she was wearing only the robe.
As Stephen continued toward her tent she stood rolling the loose flap with her right hand. The flap dropped and she grabbed it again and began rolling it up in order to tie it open with two small bands near a seam in the tent. By now Stephen was behind the young woman. He stood watching her struggle with the flap for a moment, “need some help,” he asked.
The woman jumped involuntarily as she quickly spun around to face Stephen. Although her heart was racing from fear and dread of what the man might want, she answered him calmly, “no thanks, I think I can manage.” She had dropped the flap when Stephen startled her so she turned back toward the tent and reached down with her right hand and began rolling it again.
Stephen watched the beautiful young woman and soon realized why she was struggling with the flap. Her left hand was missing. Her forearm ended with a flat, scared mass of flesh just above where her wrist might have been. The woman continued to struggle, now nervous with Stephen behind her looking at and thinking whatever he may be thinking. She turned back toward him letting the flap drop as she moved toward him and whispered sweetly, “maybe I’m tying this up for nothing?” She moved close enough to him that her bare breasts lying just below the robe brushed against his chest.
“I..um, no, what,” Stephen stuttered as his cheeks grew flush in the darkness.
“It’s okay,” she said in a soft voice now caressing his arm with her right hand, “it’s what I’m here for. Come on inside.”
With her left arm she pushed the flap out of the way revealing a softly lit interior. The bed was covered with plush blankets and pillows. To the left, on the floor beside the bed sat a metal chest that doubled as a beside table. Near the wall opposite the bed stood a clothing rack with various outfits in multiple colors. The grass beneath the tent was covered by a soft, dark red carpet.
Stephen followed the girl into the tent. She immediately threw herself on her bed and turned to face the man, “so what are you looking for? Something freaky I’m guessing, that’s the only reason workers come to me. Something with this,” she said as she held up the stump at the end of her arm.
“Is that what the Deacon wanted,” he asked.
The woman squirmed a bit and looked past Stephen as though trying to read a hidden script somewhere on the tent wall, “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell, sorry, didn’t catch your name?”
“Stephen,” he said still looking into her eyes.
She wouldn’t hold his gaze for long. “Stephen, a lady doesn’t kiss and tell but yes, the Deacon is a freak. He comes in two or three times a week. He asks for some strange stuff but always pays well so, well, whatever, I can make it happen.” She made an up an down motion with her stub mimicking masturbation.
Stephen sat down on the thick rug at the side of the bed, “what happened?”
“Wow, you are a freak! You want me to describe what happened with the Deacon?”
“No,” he said as he nodded toward her arm, “with that. What happened to your arm? It doesn’t look like a birth defect and if it was I doubt we’d be having this conversation. You’d have been Greenspace fertilizer long ago. So what happened?”
The woman sat up on the bed and pulled a blanket around herself, “look, I don’t get paid to chit-chat unless that’s all you want. Otherwise, could you please tie the flap up on your way out?”
“I’d gladly pay to chat but you don’t have a band,” he said grinning as he looked at her stub again. “How do you get paid?”
“Have you been single your entire life,” she laughed at her guest, “because you do not have a way with women. I use this,” she reached to the bedside and picked up an old cellular phone, “scan the QR code with your band and select how much time.”
“Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in years,” he said as he moved his band close to the phone. The band read the code and options popped up on the band screen: 15Min. 30Min. 1Hr. 3Hrs. 8Hrs.
“Seriously, 15 minutes? Who the…, well anyway, sorry about your luck on those,” he said as he tapped the 8Hrs option.
Stephen’s band vibrated and read: $243 to Davelyn Spencer. $57 to cAAmp Recreation. Thank you.
“Davelyn, huh? Nice to meet you.”
“So now what, Mr. Stephen,” said Davelyn as she lie back down on the bed still covered in a blanket.
“Let’s talk,” he said. “Let’s start with your arm. What happened?”
Davelyn threw a pillow and blanket at him, “seriously, that’s what you’re spending your money on? Whatever, it’s your choice.”
Stephen’s band vibrated again: DoHS Entry Detected. Tap Screen to View.
He tapped his band and video images scrolled on the screen. He could see his son Timothy walking around the apartment and sitting down at the KBT. He spoke into the band, “Hey, Timmy. What’s up?”
Timmy looked around the apartment, “mom and I had a fight, is it okay if I stay with you tonight? Where are you?”
Stephen looked at Davelyn then back to the band, “Sure, you can stay. I’m not coming home tonight. I’m working at cAAmp 237 and staying here tonight.”
“Holy shit, dad,” said the boy, “you’re a grave robber now?”
“It’s reclamation work,” he said. “I’m not a grave robber.”
“Hey, can you give me access to your KBT system, I’m starving,” he said into the empty apartment while tapping on the panel hiding the dispensing system.
“I will as soon as we’re done. What was the fight about this time?”
“Guess, dad, guess,” the boy said as he got up and moved toward the narrow window. “Nice view.”
“Thanks. If I have to guess, I’d say the Greenspace,” he said looking back toward Davelyn who was pretending to review her nails in the soft light of the tent.
She could hear the boy’s reply, “bingo, you’re the winner. She received a notification that I was searching for information on the Greenspace and went crazy, said she’ll have to pay a fine and shit.”
“Hey, watch your language,” Stephen said as he turned toward Davelyn’s rack of clothes. “I’m sure she’s mad, this isn’t the first time you’ve been told that you can’t do that. Even if it’s for a school project, you have to use approved sites.”
Davelyn watched the man sitting on the floor of her tent with interest. She listened carefully making mental notes as she filed on her nails.
“I know, don’t start, Dad,” said Timmy as he walked back toward the KBT. “I just don’t know why. Why can’t I do real research on the Greenspace? What was it like before? Does anyone live there now? Why is it off limits? Don’t you ever wonder about it all.”
“Look, it’s the law. They are probably afraid people will mess with the power system or something. I don’t have those answers and frankly I don’t really care. I’ve got more important things to worry about,” said the man shifting his position on the carpet.
“Like grave robbing,” the boy snapped back. “Is that how you paid for all of our schooling and care? I doubt it. What are you really doing, dad.”
“We’ll talk about all of that later,” said Stephen growing anxious about the conversation knowing that Davelyn could hear all of it. “Would it help if we took a trip to the Portal soon? You know, get out there and see the Greenspace again, maybe go on one of the Portal camping trips?”
Timmy looked directly into a spot on the wall that he guessed held the camera or microphone, “are you serious? Hell yes, I’d love to go. Let’s do it. I’ll find out when the next trip is available.”
Stephen breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the conversation coming to an end, “yeah, find out and we’ll go. Let me know what you find out tomorrow. I’ll give you access to the room, no booze though!”
“Trust me, dad. I don’t want that shit in my life,” said the boy with disgust.
Stephen’s heart sank a bit knowing what had caused so much pain in the life of his son and their entire family. “Okay, talk to you tomorrow.”
Stephen tapped his band and spoke, “Timothy Partridge, full access to DoHS apartment.”
The band vibrated and read: Full Apartment Access Granted: Timothy Partridge.
Stephen turned back toward Davelyn as she continued to work on her nails. The beautiful girl held a nail file in her teeth filing the nails on her right hand. He stretched out on the carpet and watched her skillfully complete her work.
“How old is he,” she asked after placing the file on the bedside table.
“Timmy is 15. He worries me with his obsession over the forest, the Greenspace.” Stephen propped himself up on his left elbow and looked at the beautiful girl. “Probably not much older than you,” he thought.
Davelyn rolled toward him keeping herself covered with the blanket, “why?”
“Why what?”
“Why does his obsession worry you?”
“I’m worried because I think he may try to go into the area.”
“He wants to be a Harvester then?”, she said with an involuntary shudder.
“No, at least I don’t think so. I think he is just seeking adventure or answers or something. I’m not sure what. He’s a teenage boy, who knows what’s going on in that head of his. He’s always been fascinated with nature. When he was little he would beg to go to the interior ponds or the experimental forest just hoping to see fish or bugs or birds.”
Davelyn looked at him keenly trying to read his face, “what’s wrong with fish, birds, and bugs?”
Stephen looked toward the tent flap and back to the woman. “We both know there are more than bugs and birds in the Greenspace.”
“Like what?,” she said with a smile.
“Like what? Like bears, wolves, snakes, and Harvesters. That’s what. Are you messing with me?”
She smiled again and Stephen felt an overwhelming feeling of attraction toward the young woman. He pushed his feelings away and sat up again cross-legged on the carpet.
“That’s what happened,” she said as she moved to the center of the bed imitating his position.
“I don’t think I can take 8 hours of riddles, Davelyn. What are you talking about now? Hell, you remind me of the old man who just left here.”
Davelyn laughed out loud, “the Deacon, you mean. Oh, he never wants anything but to talk too. He’s harmless. He flatters me with his fancy words and poetry, calls on me to ask the great Who, as he calls his god, to grant me forgiveness of my sins. He may be crazy but he’s harmless. That’s what happened,” she said again only this time she held out her left arm so that the fleshy stub was inches from Stephen’s nose.
“You ran?”, he asked wondering why he hadn’t realized it sooner.
“Yeah, I ran. I was all caught up in what might be out there. Trees, sure I can see those from the fence. But what else, I wondered, was out there? What made those wild sounds like the howling late at night? Why was it against the law to run free in the forest? Were there people living there? There must be, I thought, if there were Harvesters. Why else would they send those terrible people out into the forests? Yes, I ran because my curiosity took hold of my very being and propelled me into the dark, dense trees of the Greenspace.”
“And?”, asked Stephen in a whisper.
“And? And I got this as my badge of honor,” she said thrusting the stump of her wrist toward his face. She gestured towards the tent with both arms as if displaying a palace, “and I got these luxurious accommodations for all of my trouble.”
Stephen looked at her intently. A small trickle of blood appeared beneath her right nostril. He pointed below his own nose to signal to her what he was seeing, “and that too, I guess?”
She grabbed an old rag from the table and cleared her nose. “Yes,” she said placing the rag back on the table, “and this. If you don’t want the same for Timmy, keep a close eye on him.”
Stephen thought about leaving the tent and catching a ride or walking back to his apartment. He tapped a few times on his band and could see Timmy in his apartment lying on the bed and scrolling through channels on the TV. He tapped the screen again and it turned black. Timmy was in for the night so there was no reason to rush back.
“Did it hurt?” he said without thinking.
Davelyn looked at him as though he had just asked if the Pope was Catholic. “Hell yes it hurt,” she almost yelled. “You don’t think having your band explode and rip off your hand and wrist would hurt? Jesus, are you messing with me? Are you from the government or something?”
The angry girl wrapped herself tighter in the blanket and stared at the tent wall beyond Stephen’s head.
“Sorry,” he said. “But you knew what you were doing, right? You knew it was going to hurt but you did it anyway. Why?”
Davelyn stared at him coldly, “yes, I knew it would hurt but I didn’t know how bad. No one can tell you how much something is going to hurt, right? If I said that tomorrow you’ll have a stone fall on you and break your leg, can I truly tell you how much it will hurt? No. But I was prepared. I already knew what would happen and so put band on my upper arm that I could use as a tourniquet after it happened and I kept on running through the pain. Why? I told you, I wanted to know for myself what lie beyond the fence and trees.”
She reached down and rubbed her stump with her right hand. Both were silent for a long time. The voices in the tents around them were replaced by a few whispers, giggles, and a great deal of snoring.
Stephen kept thinking about Timmy. He imagined him experiencing the same things. His mind filled with images of him running off away from the portal and his band exploding. Different scenarios played out with the band in an array of positions; by his side injuring his leg so he couldn’t run, by his face knocking him out cold, the band malfunctioning and him running away into the darkness, Timmy being gunned down with multiple AMY darts as he ran.
“They didn’t shoot me then,” the girl said reading his mind. “They tried, but I knew they would. I zig-zagged among trees, dropped rolling behind brush, I was too quick for them to hit me.”
“Harvesters then?” Stephen asked looking at the girl in wonder.
“No, tried to sneak back into Cityspace and got caught.”
“Why did you come back?”
“I saw what I wanted to see, heard what I wanted to hear. My curiosity was satisfied and so I came back. I thought I could sneak back in, get a prosthetic off the black market, wear some gloves and no one would be any wiser. I tried sneaking in using the MagL tracks. I climbed the wall and started walking toward the CitySpace but there were guards by the station. I turned to run and they got me.”
The girl held both arms in her lap positioned as though she were trying to clasp her hands. Her right hand opened and closed on the phantom, missing hand but she could still feel the sensation of the joining of her hands.
She continued, “the judge was lenient, said I reminded him of an old girlfriend or sister or someone like that. He said I had to pay back “losses to the people” for my hand, the band, and the dart. So, he sentenced me to the tents until I paid it all back in full. After that, who knows.”, she said quietly still looking at her lap.
Silence filled the tent as the two were lost in their own thoughts. “So, you’re not here of your own will?”, Stephen said quietly.
The young lady looked up slowly and stared at him through the soft light for a long time. An intrusive thought of strangling him flashed in her mind. She laughed to herself at the thought of trying to strangle the man while only having one hand. Davelyn continued to stare at him trying to decide if Stephen was toying with her or really so naïve.
“No”, she whispered. “This is my punishment for getting out and coming back. This is the reward for my curiosity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for the judge and what he did. The alternative was a second shot then and there in the courtroom or sending me out into the Greenspace for Harvester training. Did you know they did that? I didn’t think so. Yeah, keep Timmy in check. If he goes out and then decides to come back, if caught, they usually use the guys to train prospective Harvesters. They give the boys an hour head start and then go after them.”
Davelyn wiped a tear from her cheek with a finger. She grabbed the old rag again and wiped her nose. “They use them for training, for sport, like they’re some kind of damn animal. Is that what you want for Timmy? I doubt it. Tell him that, let him know. I don’t know if it will change his mind. It wouldn’t have changed mine. You know, the whole, that’s what happens to other people mentality. No, I would have went anyway.”
The girl was visibly upset and so Stephen decided to not follow up with any more questions. She lay back on the bed, covered herself with more blankets and stared at the tent ceiling. Coyotes could be heard howling deep in the Greenspace but otherwise the night was quiet.
Stephen too covered himself with a couple of blankets and stared at the softly lit ceiling of the tent. The sound of feet rustling in the grass could be heard just outside the tent as he fought the falling of his eyelids. He thought back over the course of the day and only now realized why he was so tired. His eyelids became heavier and heavier.
“It was worth it”, said the girl as she wrestled with the thoughts of their conversation as though sensing the question he had feared to ask.
His eyes opened quickly and focused once again on the ceiling, straining to hear her next words if there were any. He couldn’t tell if she were awake or talking in her sleep.
“It was all worth it” she began again dreamily. “I’d do it again. The fence, the guards, the animals, the Harvesters. Who cares? It was all worth it.” Her voice became softer and more drowsy, “I may go again once I’m finished here. They say it’s easier the second time because the band is gone. No loud pop, no pain, just slip off into...”
With that, she stopped. Stephen fought the urge to wake her and ask her why it was worth it? What could possibly be worth all of that? What was out there that made it worth risking everything? There was nothing but wildness and danger out there. No food. No medicine. No friends. No technology. What could be worth going into the Greenspace only to be hunted for the rest of your life? He pondered all of this for a long time until sleep finally overtook him.
Are you interested in learning more about the world Stephen lives in and what happens next? Look for this new dystopian novel, The Greenspace, available Fall 2023. Email me to be the first to know about preordering and advanced copies for review.
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