Update

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for supporting me while I've been writing this. I would like to tell you all that there are only two chapters left, and the book should be done withing six months at the most. Hopefully it will be done even sooner. I'm not posting any more chapters on this website though. This is to prevent anyone taking this material. The final two chapters will obviously reveal much more information than just the name. And feel free to ask me on the progress! I will update this as chapters are complete still, and I will also notify you when it is complete!

Thank You again!!!!

Josh Mitchell

Chapter 18

          I didn’t sleep well through the night. Having a mixture of excitement and nervousness, I kept waking up every hour thinking it was time to get up. When it was eight, I just decided to get up instead of trying to sleep. One of the longest days on the Island had just begun. I had nothing planned except hanging out with Kassedelia and the others at seven. My day proceeded to be pretty much uneventful until seven, unless you count getting the high score in the racing game.

          Finally it was 6:30, and I was ready to head towards the club. I was feeling pretty confident as I walked toward the club that Kassedelia had mentioned. When I got to the entrance, there was a big man standing at the door.

          “What do you think you are doing?” He said. I could tell he had a judging tone as he looked me over.

          “I thought I could go in the club. I have a fri…”

          “A friend inside?” he laughed, “Do you know how many times I hear that every night be people just like you?”

          “Five times?” I asked naively. The big man just laughed.

          “You know nothing, little guy.” He said as he signaled for me to go to the back of the line. Just as he signaled, Kassedelia came through the door in the club.

          “Hey Bro!” she shouted in order to get me to turn back towards the club. Then she turned towards the big man, “James, he’s with me.”

          “With you?!” the big man, who I now knew as James, laughed again. “He’s not your type Kassedelia. Does he have a lot of money or something?” He joked as he started to lift the rope that was in front of the entrance.

          “It’s not that!” she said. “There’s something about him,” she smiled as she turned and gave me a wink. Then James allowed me through and we went inside. “Hey!” she exclaimed as she led me to her table with about three other guys. It was then that I immediately felt like the odd man out. All of the other guys had on nice suits and slicked back hair. I still had my t-shirt and jeans combo from Gula. It was strange how I never cared to look super nice until then. My mind was going through the many ways I could possibly impress Kassedelia. She obviously hangs out with guys that look sharp. I tried to ignore it and get time with Kassedelia. I didn’t like the atmosphere at the club. When we were at Neocortex, my only place of comparison, the atmosphere was built around conversation. At this club, the music was loud and the atmosphere seemed geared towards drinking and dancing.

“Hey, so sometime would you like to get coffee?” I asked Kassedelia as she looked over at me.

“What?” She yelled back. The music was too loud for her to hear me. I felt so dumb that she couldn’t hear me the first time that I decided to wait and ask her at a separate time outside of the club. I caught Kassedelia’s eyes several times throughout the night, and each time conversation didn’t really happen. Just being there and exchanging smiles felt like I was really living. I decided to be content with being in her presence. Because it was hard to communicate through the night, I decided to pay close attention to the other guys. I figured if they have been granted time with her in the past that I could get some pointers from them. Each had a drink and was either leaned back in their seat or standing by acting sort of aloof or apathetic maybe. It was hard to tell exactly.

Then a song with a really good beat came on. One of the guys quickly took advantage of the song and asked her to dance. I don’t know why I expected different with this style of music, but they started dancing in a very sexual way. I sort of became angry. Part of me felt offended that Kassedelia was into that kind of dancing, but part of me wanted to be that guy. I started thinking about leaving early, because I really didn’t care to watch this happen. Luckily, after the dance was over we all decided that it was time to go.

“You should join us again sometime.” Kassedelia asked me when we stepped out the door. Even though I felt more frustrated with how the evening had went, that smile drew me in.

“Sure,” I announced without thinking. I wanted to kick myself. Was this something that I really wanted? We decided to part ways and I went back to Babel to sleep. It was late enough at this point that Bro and Peyti had already went to their rooms. I decided to quickly do the same and go to bed.

When Saturday morning came, I woke up with determination. My frustration in not being sure if I wanted this turned into being almost all in. If I was going to get Kassedelia to like me, I needed to do something different. I got up and after getting ready I walked to the nearest suit store.

“Can I help you sir?” the man inside the door stated.

“Yeah, I’m interested in looking at suits.”

“Well, we are the best in the city, so look no further.” He smiled. “Now is there a certain style that you are interested in?”

“I have no idea,” I mentioned blankly. I really didn’t know what looked good since I was usually content with my t-shirts.

“Well, we can just try on some things and see what looks best on you.” He said as he took me over towards some of the suits in my size. He had me try on suit after suit. At first I was still doubtful but as the minutes progressed, I started enjoy myself. I looked really good in suits! “How about this one?” the man asked while I was trying on my tenth suit.

“Oh wow!” I smiled, “I like it!”

“Should I place this one aside to buy?”

“Yes, thank you” I mentioned as I was taking it off and handing it to him.

“Now, you can’t just buy one suit.” He explained, “It’s tacky to wear the same suit throughout the week. You need at least three or four.”

“Ok,” I smiled. I was beginning to enjoy how I was looking in these suits. Five hours later, I found four more suits.

When we got to the counter to check them out, the man stated, “That will be 4,000 Coin.” My mouth sort of dropped. I didn’t realize that it would be that much. At this point, I had spent so much time in the store and I self admittedly looked really good. Knowing that I wouldn’t have much Coin until Monday, I still decided to go ahead and buy the suits.

“Alright thanks!” I handed the money over to the man and he gave me the suits. I knew that I would look great and that Kassedelia might notice me more now.

I started to walk back to Babel with a chip on my shoulder. As I got close the entrance, I realized that Peyti and Bro would not be happy that I spent so much money. I quickly started thinking how I was going to justify this. I knew that Bro would be really mad if I told him I did it all to impress Kassedelia. I hid the suits as much as I could behind my back as I opened up the door to our place.

“Hello?” I questioned as I cracked open the door. No one was home. I lucked out. I quickly rushed to my room and hung the suits up. I knew that I obviously couldn’t hide the fact that I had suits when I would start to wear them around, but at least I didn’t have to think too much on my toes. To cover up how I spent my afternoon, I decided to get a higher score on one of the arcades. When Bro and Peyti came home, we chatted for a bit. When they asked how my day was I just said it was uneventful again except for getting the high score in a game.

“We are getting tired of this place,” Bro sighed.

“We know that you are starting to find some purpose here, Bro,” Peyti said to me, “But we are still feeling lost. We just want you to know that, but we did at least promise this next week to keep trying.”

“Thanks guys,” I said, “We’ll find something! I’m sure we will!” The others sort of shrugged even though they were smiling.

We went to bed and the next day we all decided to just have a fun day. It was good to spend time with them. I forgot how relaxing it was to be around them. It was kind of hard to not bring up the suits, but I really wanted to protect them by not disappointing them again.

Before we knew it, the day had passed and another work week began. I started the morning by putting on my favorite suit and heading to work. I had my eye out for Kassedelia. I daydreamed while riding the elevator that she would see me and fall head over heels. When I got to my floor, I didn’t see her at her desk so I went ahead to my office. I worked for a bit and then she came in not long after.

“Oh hey!” she said with a large smile on her face. “You look great!”

“Thanks,” I smiled back. I tried to act smooth like I wasn’t doing all this to impress her. I knew that was how the other guys acted when they were around her and I was trying to follow suit (not only by wearing the suit). My confidence was boosted again. “Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?” I asked politely.

“Well…” she hesitated, “I am actually going out with the guys again if you want to come along with us?” I was a little disheartened. I knew that I would not only have to compete for attention again, but I would have to endure the loud club scene. But I was at the point that I would do anything for her. I don’t know why I was already there in my mindset. I just knew that she was the bridge to who I was. I couldn’t explain why I felt that way. I just did.

“Sure!” I said without regret.

“Great! See you at seven again?”

“Great!” I said as she winked again and walked out of the office. Because I was looking forward to the night, my work day flew by. As I walked up to the club, I saw James again at the front of the club.

“Welcome sir,” James said humbly.

“You aren’t going to fight with me about me entering or not?” I was confused. He lifted his glasses and realized that I was the same guy from Friday.

“Woah, what happened to you?!” he said being surprised by my change of appearance.

“Just fitting in a bit more,” I smiled.

“Come and look like that every night, and you won’t have to argue with me about entering. Maybe I was wrong about Kassedelia being into you.”

“Thanks man,” I said as he let me through the door. Although I was dressed nicer, I didn’t get any more time with Kassedelia than I did on Friday. I did get another invite to go the following night though.

A strangely similar thing happened on Tuesday. The night ended and I got another invite to the club on Wednesday. This time at the club was different. I wasn’t going to be passive. When the music turned to a good beat, I made sure I got to Kassedelia first. I asked her to dance with me. Of course she wanted to dance like the previous nights. Although I knew I didn’t like to dance that way, I felt like it was the way I could be closer to her. I just felt like it seemed like I was being disrespectful to her by dancing that way. But since she wanted to dance, I went ahead and danced with her. As the night closed and we walked out the door I asked to walk her back to her place.

          When she gave me permission I asked, “So where do you live?”

          “The upper district.” She said, “Have you been there before?”

          “No, I haven’t,” I shared, “You might have to lead me then.”

          “Alright!” she smiled as she reached for my hand. If she was playing me, at this point I would totally be fine with it. For a girl so stunning to want to hold my hand was amazing to me. We walked all the way to her mansion in the upper district. It was so crazy to see all these mansions on the hill above the city. I could see Babel in a distance towering over the downtown section of the city. When we got to her door and I began to say goodbye, she went in for a kiss. I didn’t oppose. It was amazing. I knew I was falling for her. Then she went inside and I turned around and headed back to Babel.

          When I arrived at the hotel, I walked in expecting everyone to be asleep, but Bro and Peyti were sitting in the living room waiting for me. “Where have you been these last few nights?” Bro asked.

          “Out with Kassedelia again.” I explained

          “And where did you get that suit?!” Peyti smiled. I then realized that I was being caught about the suits. I forgot that they hadn’t seen them yet because I was waking up and going to bed when they were asleep.

          “Um… work bought them for me because they said they wanted me to look more professional.”

          “Looks great!” Peyti said joyfully. They completely trusted me. It was hard not telling them the truth, but I wanted so badly to not disappoint them again.

          “We are looking at heading out at the end of the week still.” Bro interrupted the happy moment for us.

          “I’m just getting used to this place though.” I sighed. Sort of like a child that doesn’t get their way.

          “Bro,” Bro explained, “Can you honestly tell us that this is giving us an idea of who we are? Do you honestly want to find purpose anymore? Or are you content with making this your new purpose?” Bro was cutting me to my core. I knew he was right. I hadn’t found out anything more about myself. But I was finally enjoying something. Why should I give that up for the unknown?

          “I’m staying!” I proclaimed.

          “That’s what we feared…” Bro said disappointedly, “Peyti and I discussed it, and we decided that if you were going to stay, then we would leave tonight and go to Superbia.” Peyti looked at me disappointedly as well at this point.

          “Alright,” I said bluntly. “Maybe we will see each other again.”

          “Hopefully!” Peyti, now crying, said.

          “If we find out what this is about, we will make it our goal to find you.” Bro said, “Come on, Peyti, let’s let him go.” Then just like that they started to leave. I didn’t realize that they had their bags by the door already.

          All I could do was lie on my bed. I had such a great finish to my night and then I had to have that finish instead. Because it was so late, I still fell asleep quickly.

Days then began to pass quickly. I continued my usual agenda by going to the club with Kassedelia. When a month had passed, I had moved to a mansion in the upper district near Kassedelia. I still didn’t know much about myself, but I knew that being with her felt right. She still was mysterious though. She wasn’t as committed to me as I was to her either.

Then one night, I was opening the door to my mansion as I was coming back from Kassedelia’s. As I was opening the door, I heard rustling coming from my bedroom. It was pitch black besides the light coming from the moon. I silently grabbed a knife from the kitchen and headed up to my room. The light behind the door was one. I could tell that someone was behind it. I slammed the door open and yelled, “Who are you!? What are you doing!?”

“John Small? I’ve been looking for you.”

Chapter 17

When we got up the next day, it was time to pay for our next week’s rent. “I’ll take care of paying for the rent, guys,” I explained to them.

“Alright, sounds good.” Bro answered as he left with Peyti to search for things within the city. Then I went down to the counter. I was planning on surprising them with a new room on a higher floor.

“I’d like to upgrade our room please.” I said to the lady at the counter.

“Great!” she exclaimed, “what package would you like to have this week?” I then started looking through one of the booklets that had floor plans that I had found in our room. They had them at the counter as well. The highest level was 250. The price per week for the highest level was 10,000 Coin a day. My weekly income was at 4000 Coin a day so I knew I shouldn’t pay for a really high room. I decided that saving money was a better option than going too high.

“We’ll take a room on the 40^th floor.” I knew when I asked that the cost per week for a room on the 40^th floor was only 100 Coin a week. The floor plan still included a kitchen, three separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, a huge TV in the living room, and some arcade machines there as well.

“Wonderful!” She responded, “We will go ahead and transfer your belongings to your new room.” She then handed me my new key. “Here is your key and we will catch your friends as they come in and let them know of the room change for you.”

“Thank you!” I nodded. Then I left for work.

Before we knew it, Thursday morning had come. Not much had happened throughout the week. I barely got any ideas for the Island because I was still so caught up with Kassedelia. She would get my coffee every morning. Wednesday, I even said “Hi” but that was about it. I needed to work on my ideas though. When I got into the office I started to think back to my time here. My first thought was emptiness. Everywhere we went brought nothing but emptiness. I thought by this time I would have found out how and why I was on this Island. Maybe I could produce a question based interview that would allow individuals to know what they are seeking. If they could know what they are seeking, then maybe there could also be a booklet that shows what the cities have to offer and what city best fits the individual’s needs and desires. That could still help me I’m sure. I knew that I finally was helping people. That was something I knew was a desire of mine. Even with me in the position I was in, I still felt that I was lost. I may have filled some of the emptiness with Bro and Peyti’s companionship. This job and the mystery of Kassedelia both seem to have a hope attached to them as well.

As I decided to go ahead with the idea of making a test that helps individuals realize what they are seeking, I noticed Kassedelia through the window of my office. She was across the room and two other guys were talking with her. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I immediately became overcome with some sort of emotion I had not felt the entire time I was on the Island. It was a deep rooted longing. I felt that I was almost issued to protect her in a way. Out of nowhere, the boldness that I couldn’t come up with to talk to her was present in abundance. I got up and walked over to the group. As I was walking up to the group, the two guys both looked down at me like they were looking at what I was wearing. They kind of made a face that has a look of feeling awkward and confused. After they made that face, they both got up together and walked away.

“Hey, I haven’t given myself a name yet; my friends call me Bro though.”

“Well hey there, Bro,” Kassedelia smiled.

“Have I ever met you before?” I asked.  Although I may have gained some amount of boldness, I still didn’t have the ability to come up with appropriate first meeting conversation.

“I don’t think so,” she subtly giggled “When did you come to the Island?”

“Not that long,” I said, “My friends and I haven’t even made it to all the cities on the Island. What about you?”

“Three years,” She sighed.

“Oh I see,” trying to be sympathetic, “Have you been to everywhere on the Island?”

“No I haven’t. I still haven’t been to Superbia.”

“Me neither,” I smiled. As cheesy as it sounds, just learning something I had in common with her was warming.

“Hey,” Kassedelia smirked as she continued, “What are you doing tomorrow night?” I kind of paused to figure out what day it was, and right as I was about to respond, she went ahead and asked me, “Would you like to hang out with some of us from the office tomorrow? We are going to one of the clubs downtown around seven in the evening if you want to come along.”

“Sure!” I said loudly at first and then I tried to appear cool and collected. The other times that I went to places similar didn’t have any good result for me. I knew that. But that wasn’t why I accepted the offer. Obviously, my mind was on Kassedelia. Since she invited me, I wanted to seize the opportunity.

“Great! She smiled again. That smile was imprisoning me. “See you tomorrow then.” Then I quickly fell back into my usual shy and awkward state. I nodded and smiled and turned around to walk towards my office as I could hear her subtly giggle again as if she thought my shyness was sort of cute.

Not soon after, my supervisor walked in the office. “What do you have for me this week, Bro?”

“Uh,” I hesitated as I was trying to get my mind back into work mode. “Uh, yeah, I thought of creating a test or assessment that allows people to know where they might fit somewhere on the Island. You could also provide a list of city attractions that the cities have to offer. This way, people can understand more about themselves and the Island in a quicker span of time. You could even set up this assessment at the hiring booths in the various cities.”

“Brilliant idea, Bro!” My supervisor said, “You are already a huge asset to us.” Then my supervisor left. I was surprised how quickly that conversation went. And at the same time, I was smiling because he mentioned that I was a huge asset. It felt good to be helping out people.

By that time, the work day was over. When I got back to the hotel and went up to our new room, Bro and Peyti were waiting there. “What is this?” Bro asked standing close to the door.

“I thought I would treat you guys a bit,” I smiled. “I’m still making 3900 Coin a week buying this room.”

“I didn’t realize it was that cheap!” Peyti exclaimed as I looked over to see here playing a racing arcade game. “This is pretty cool!”

“Peyti is right,” Bro admitted, “But I don’t want you going any higher. We should be able to make it out of here in a week. Peyti and I still haven’t found anything worth our time.” In that moment, I thought through how I was just getting to know Kassedelia. And I was making a difference in this job too. I agreed with Bro that I didn’t need to go any higher in Babel, but I wasn’t sure I’d be ready to leave in just one more week.

“Yeah, I understand,” I answered. I didn’t think it was good timing to argue with Bro; even if I didn’t fully think I was on the same page as him. “Hey guys, I talked with Kassedelia today!”

“What!?” Peyti shouted, “Tell us about it!”

“Well, I just went up and talked with her. We didn’t talk for very long but now she knows my name, and she asked me to hang out with her tomorrow night!”

“Great!” Bro said. Although he seemed happy for me, I could sense that he was beginning to be frustrated that I was finding some sources of purpose in this city when he wasn’t.

We kept talking and playing games the rest of the night until we went to bed.

Chapter 16

She was the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen in my life. She had auburn hair that curled down past her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled with green and had hints of blue. Her beauty wasn’t what drew me in the most though. As soon as I saw her, I felt this deep attachment like I hadn’t felt. I couldn’t explain it. I felt like I knew her soul, and as much as that is scary, it was also the first time I felt purpose around this Island.

“Hey, your office is this way.” The man was pointing toward the right. I didn’t realize it but I must have been staring at her longer than I thought. As I took one last glance over at her, she looked up at me. In that moment, I knew that I needed to meet her. So that I wouldn’t get in trouble I continued following the man to my new office. “Here it is,” he said.  I looked inside and the room was larger than the room that Bro, Peyti, and I were staying in at Babel. I had a large desk and a brand new computer. “I’ll be back here in about ten minutes to give you a rundown of your position.” The man said as he turned the corner. I went over and sat down in my seat. It was so comfortable. I felt like I could get used to this!

“Excuse me sir, do you need me to get anything for you?” It was the same woman that I just saw.

“Um…” I couldn’t get any words out.

“Like coffee? Or something to go into your office?” she asked.

“Uh… yeah… thank you.”

“Yeah as in coffee?” she smirked. I really had no idea what I was saying.

“Yes please,” I said as I straightened up my face just in time for her to leave. I couldn’t believe that she came into my office and I couldn’t think of anything to say to her. As I was still thinking, she came back in.

“Here is your coffee…” She hesitated in a way that infers for me to give her my name. I was still so caught up that nothing came out of my mouth. My mouth may have been open too. “Alrighty then,” she continued, “My name is Kassedelia.” By this time I just had a creepy smile on my face and my eyes were sort of staring at the back of the room. “Oooookay, I’m leaving now,” She smiled and then turned the corner.

Shortly after, I snapped back into reality, wanting to punch myself for not saying anything again. I didn’t have too much time to dwell on my poor choices though, because the well-dressed man came back into the office. “Alright bro, I’ll give you the rundown,” he explained, “Just as I told you yesterday, we want you to develop and come up with creative ideas to make the cities on the Island a much more appealing place to live. You don’t have to come up with many ideas in a short period of time though. We want you to take your time and really think about what can improve our city system. Is one idea per week sound reasonable to you?”

“Yeah, definitely,” I responded. I was worried that he was going to be asking me for an idea a day, and I had no idea where to start. “So basically I will find you and tell you my idea on Thursday of each week?” I said that because I was only scheduled to work Mondays through Thursdays.

“Yes, Bro,” the man explained, “But I will actually come to you on Thursdays to get that idea from you. It isn’t necessary for you to come find my office.”

“Ok, thank you, sir!” I nodded as I booted up the computer so I could begin writing out some of my thoughts from the city. Then the man left again. I placed my hands on the keyboard, but I couldn’t write. My mind was still full of this woman. Why was I so overcome by her presence? And did she have any of the same weird feelings? I got up as if I was going to go find her, but then I just began pacing the office. My mind was racing so much that all my thoughts were jumbled and anything but helpful or concrete. Sometimes, my pacing led to sitting back down and sighing. Then a simple rotation began of mustering enough courage to stand back up, make it to the door, then turn in order to pace the office again and again. I was getting nowhere, but time wasn’t. I looked at the clock, and my work day was over.

As I was exiting the office, I sort of looked with my peripherals everywhere just in case I was to see her, but I didn’t. I took the elevator back down and out of the building and walked back to Babel. Strangely enough, I felt some sort of purpose today; actually two types of purposes. Although I had thought that this Island was failing me at providing purpose, I could give purpose to others who aren’t finding theirs. The other purpose was unique though. I knew that I had to talk to Kassedelia again. I had to learn why I was so drawn to her.

When I got back to the hotel room, Bro and Peyti were already done for the day. “How was work?” Peyti asked.

“I didn’t really do much,” I laughed, “but I did make 1,000 Coin!”

“That’s great,” Bro said politely, “but let’s not gets too carried away with making Coin that we never get out of here.”

“Bro is right,” Peyti added, “we still haven’t found anything worth it around here. We will continue for a while like you asked though.”

“Ok thanks guys!” I smiled. “Oh, and I almost forgot about the best part!”

“What? Tell us!” They both said eagerly.

“I saw this woman there,” I continued, “She is so beautiful! I only said one phrase to her so far but I caught her name.”

“What’s her name?” Bro asked.

“Kassedelia,” I said, “I couldn’t work up the courage to ask what it means or why she came up with that name. She is my secretary too, guys!”

“Let us know more about her if you ever learn more yourself,” laughed Bro.

“Ok, I will,” I said. Then we ate and chatted until it was time to go to bed again. 

Chapter 15

When we got up in the morning, I told the group that I was planning on working to earn some money back for us.

          “Bro, you don’t have to do that for us,” explained Bro, “We already forgive you. Let’s see if this town has any place where we belong.”

          “I know, and thanks,” I said, “But I still want to pitch in a little bit. How about you and Peyti look for things as I work for a week? We paid for a week anyway,” I mentioned.

          “Alright that sounds good.” Peyti said as Bro nodded. Then we said goodbye and I headed off to my new job.

          “Good morning!” I said to Autarkia.

          “It is, isn’t it!?” She exclaimed. Then she began to teach me how to go about the job. It was pretty simple. Just filling out paper work and filing it as we did different sets of laundry. We had plenty of time to relax and talk in between.

          “So where do you live, Autarkia?” I asked.

          “Just the second floor. And yourself?”

          “I’m on the first. How long have you lived here since you are only on the second floor?” I asked being slightly confused.

          “Well, I’m unsure how long it’s been. I was sixteen when I came to the Island. And I was probably eighteen when I settled here. I don’t really need to move up in floors once I got a kitchen, especially since I work at a Laundromat.”

          “I see,” I smiled, “all of the stuff in the upper floors looks pretty cool though.”

          “Bro, it’s not worth your time. You might assume that going up is going somewhere, but it’s not. Trust me.” Autarkia returned. I think I knew what she was getting at, but I was thinking about how well I could treat the others if they stayed in a nicer place. Just saying sorry didn’t seem like I just way to make it up to them.

          The work day was finally done and I went back to Babel. Bro and Peyti explained that they hadn’t found anything worth our time yet, and since the city was very large, they only covered a small section of it. The rest of the evening we relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. It felt good to be in a place of giving back to my friends. I still was upset at myself for ignoring or friendship all for the sake of knowledge. After spending time together, we went to bed.

          The same pattern continued for the next two days. On the day after, while I was working, a very big man walked into the Laundromat.

          “How can I help you sir,” I asked, “Do you have any laundry for us?”

          “No, I don’t have any laundry,” he stated, “Our business has been observing you these last few days; we would like to offer you a job.” I looked over at Autarkia to see what she was thinking. She sort of shrugged apathetically. Her shrug was almost as if this is what had happened to the other workers that she has hired. I started thinking how she mentioned I wouldn’t be getting anywhere. I also started to consider how I had only intended on earning some quick money.

          “Sir, I’m sorry but I don’t think tha…”

          “Wait, I know what you are going to say,” interrupted the man, “You were planning on telling me that you don’t need a different job right now, but I haven’t even told you how much Coin we are offering or even what the job is.”

          “I still don’t think it is necce…”

          “You will be working four days a week as a developer for other cities.” He interrupted again, “You see, we haven’t just been observing you these last few days. We know that you have visited multiple cities and left empty handed.” In that moment I was sincerely worried. Being watched, no matter the cause, is not a very appealing thing. “You see,” he cleared his throat, “What’s your name again?”

          “My friends call me bro.”

          “You see, Bro, we want to provide you with the chance to give back to these cities. Make it a better place for the future people who make their transition to the Island. Does that sound like a good idea?”

          “Well,” I began to explain, still worried about being watched. “I just…”

          “Oh I forgot to mention how much money we will be paying you!” The man exclaimed. “We are offering you 1,000 Coin a day.” My mouth naturally dropped. And at the same time, my mind started racing to all the awesome ways I could treat my friends. It was the perfect way to give back to them!

          “Ok, as long as I can choose when I’m done working there.” I demanded.

          “Of course!” he said. “We will meet you at the bottom of the lobby and take you to your new office in the morning at 8:00am sharp!” Then the man left the Laundromat. I looked over at Autarkia still with a smile on my face from the large number of Coin. Autarkia gave me a disappointed look.

          “Bro, you are a nice guy,” she stated. “I don’t want you to lose who you are. Be careful, and remember that you aren’t going anywhere when you are going up.”

          “Thank you, Autarkia,” I said as the work day came to an end. I left the Laundromat and headed to Babel. On the way back, I decided that I wanted to surprise Peyti and Bro, so I chose not to tell them when I got back. I wanted to buy them a nicer floor with the money I made in the first day.

          When I got back to Babel, Bro, Peyti, and I talked about how things were going again.

          “How has work been?” Peyti asked.

          “Same old stuff,” I responded trying to keep my surprise secret. “How was the search?”

          “Still not too much,” Bro said, “I’m starting to think this Island has nothing for us.”

          “Don’t be silly, Bro,” said Peyti. “We’ll find something, but if we have to spend a few more weeks here, then I doubt Avaritia has anything for us.” The conversation continued for a while longer and then we went to bed again.

          When morning came, I was full of energy. A new job was right before me, and also a way that I could help people fit in. I headed downstairs earlier so that I didn’t miss my opportunity. I was sitting in the lobby and instead of the man I saw the day before, a well-dressed man entered in and approached me.

          “Good morning, Bro,” he said, “I’m your supervisor at your new job. Mike told me to tell you welcome, but he couldn’t make it to show you around this morning. Please, follow me.” He then took me to a building five blocks down. It was also huge. We were going up the elevator for quite a while and the well-dressed man was awkward enough that I sort of kept silent most of the time. When the elevator opened to my floor, my eyes caught her.

Chapter 14

On the bus, I realized that we had travelled to all of the cities except for two. Combining my time at Neocortex and the amount of cities left, I started to get upset. “What’s wrong?” Peyti urged. At this point, Peyti knew that I always get quiet when I’m confused or upset.

“I’m losing hope.” I sighed, “How can people settle here without knowing how they arrived and for what purpose?”

“You almost settled!” bro exclaimed, being still frustrated with my choices.

“I guess,” I shrugged. I knew Bro was right, but I wasn’t ready to admit it.

“Well I’m still hopeful!” Peyti said as she was trying to pull some optimism back into the conversation. “We have just narrowed it down now,” She smiled. Bro and I both nodded. I could feel a slight desire to rebuild the unity between us, but my overall feeling of being upset was still holding on.

Before we knew it, we were arriving at Avaritia. There wasn’t much different than the other cities. There was a difference in the size of buildings, but that wasn’t something that stood out necessarily. As soon as we walked into the city, I knew what was different though. The place was clean! Living in Socordia for so long made me accustomed to stingy air and trash. “Wow, we stink!” said Bro.

“Yeah,” Peyti and I agreed.

“Let’s find a place to clean up,” I said. Bro then pointed to a nearby hotel. It was huge. Once we walked up to it, we realized how big it really was. It had to have been 200 stories high or more. The sign on the front read “Babel: Never Enough.”

“That is a weird name,” Peyti said as she looked toward us to explain.

“It sounds familiar,” Bro answered, “But I can only guess it means ‘Never Enough’ or something along those lines.” He then looked to me for an assured answer. I nodded and shrugged. I was just as unsure and confused. Anyway, out of the convenience of not having to look elsewhere, we decided to go in and get a room. As we walked up the front desk, Bro asked the lady working, “Do you have any three bed rooms available for tonight?”

“We do,” she answered, “But we actually have you pay by the week instead of the night.”

“Why is that?” I asked, “And how much does it cost per week then?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she said, “It is most likely just a business plan by the owner. We are the only hotel in Avaritia. Besides this hotel, you can actually buy the mansions in the upper district of the city, but judging by the smell of you three, you don’t have enough Coin for that.”

“Probably not,” I laughed as I was trying to shrug off the awkward remark. “But you still haven’t told us how much it costs.”

“Each floor has a different price. Most people, who come in, are moving up floors because the further up, the nicer it is. A three bed room starts at 5 Coin a week for the bottom floor. Every time that you move up a floor, the price doubles.”

“We’ll take a week then,” Said Bro. Then the lady gave us our key and pointed us toward our room which happened to be room number 1. We then took the next few hours to clean up.

While Bro was showering, I noticed a booklet about Babel. Inside there was floor layout plans. Our current room was laid out like a normal hotel room, but one level above had a kitchen, and the third level had a washer and dryer. As the levels progressed, the more features and square feet were added. The third level was definitely appealing as our clothes still were stinky. Since I had showered first, I decided to go look for a Laundromat nearby. I had taken our clothes, so I could do a favor for Bro and Peyti since they pulled me out of Socordia. Sure enough, there was a Laundromat right next to the hotel. Before I entered, I noticed a sign for help wanted. Now, I noticed that we didn’t necessarily want to stick around Avaritia very long unless we found our purpose, but I also knew that I wasted a lot of our money at Neocortex and I wanted to make it up to the others. When I turned in our clothes to be washed, I inquired about the job.

“We lose our workers here fast,” the manager said, “It isn’t because it is a bad job, but our workers often find better work, but we have an opening if you’d like to join us.”

“Do I need to interview? I have had a few jobs on the Island in different cities.” I asked.

“You seem reliable, and if you aren’t I will just have to fire you. Sound like a deal to you?” He replied, “If so, I can have you start tomorrow.”

“Ok, I’ll take it” I said as I shook her hand. “My friends call me Bro because I haven’t really picked out a name yet.”

“My name is Autarkia,” she returned.

“That is a different name, how did you come up with it? Does it mean anything specifically?”

“I don’t know really, it just sounded itself as I was filling out the name sheet, so if it means something then I’m not really sure of it.” She answered, “Well, I need to get to more work. I’ll see you in here tomorrow.”

“Bye,” I said as I walked out the door. After that, I decided I’d also pick up some food for the group. There was a restaurant nearby as well, I picked up some food for us, and then I headed back to the hotel.

When I got back, Bro and Peyti were done. “Where were you?” Bro exclaimed. I could tell he was still frustrated with me.

“I’m sorry,” I shared, “Not just for wandering, but for being a jerk to you guys in Socordia. I’m so thankful that you pulled me out of the city. I wanted to apologize, so I started by getting our laundry done and bought us some food.”

“How much was it?” Peyti asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” I continued. “I hope you guys except my apology.” They then gave me a big group hug.

“Brother, we forgive you! Thank you!” Bro smiled. We then sat down and ate. Afterwards, it was getting late and we decided to get an early rest.