Chasing Imagination

Amy

It turned out that, when we arrived at Linzy’s room, she wasn’t around, however the clothes in the large wardrobe at the side had been pushed right to the left hand side so I could put my things in there too. It was set out exactly the same as Leah’s room, apart from the decor, which was to whatever Linzy’s tastes were, and there was now more of everything. As well as a second bed, now freshly made-up for me, there was a second table, and a second shelving area, and a space that had been cleared for anything else I might own.

I looked at Linzy’s bed. It was covered in a simple, stripy quilt, but on top of that were at least ten cushions, all in different colours, and a graffiti-style blanket laid over the top. In fact, it seemed that Linzy had a passion for graffiti. She had stuck brightly coloured stickers over everything, and the plain, concrete walls and wooden wardrobe were all streaked with graffiti. It was not made like artwork; instead it just seemed to be Linzy writing in pen or pencil, sometimes large and scrawling, sometimes small and neat, and sometimes bold over the top of everything, whatever was on her mind.

Moving closer to the wall next to her bed, where most of the graffiti was, I began to read. Simple phrases like 'Dreamers rule' and 'the believers will win this war' and 'the storm will come' could be seen everywhere. Some of it was like a conversation, or even like a diary entry—'having a shit day today'...'got to go on a mission for Markus; looks dangerous but fun'...'it’s not always easy living underground, but it’s worth it...' and that could be found usually in the smaller writing, apart from the angry ones, which were scribbled large over everything.

Then there were some lines that were almost...I couldn’t describe it. The words were carefully chosen and well thought-out to create the maximum image and emotion, clearly straight from the imagination. It was heartfelt and true, or sometimes greatly exaggerated—things like 'this is the time when we could all fall; the dream is dead; the end of it all'...'one day a new summer’s sun will shine over the grey world above'...'I’m lost in two conflicting worlds and a war rages inside my mind...'
It was beautiful; happy; sad; angry; tragic; everything.

‘Linzy is a bit of a poet,’ Imogen said, and the word clicked inside of me.

Poet...poetry, that was what I was trying to describe. I’d heard of poets—apparently, they had been one of the most pointless jobs of all, yet I’d never seen a real poem until now. And it most definitely wasn’t pointless. It was incredible.

‘I’ve never read poetry,’ I murmured, examining the wall for more lines like the ones I had just seen. There were plenty to choose from; some single lines and some entire verses, four or six or eight lines long, or even more.

One in particular stood out more than any of the others.

'Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.'

‘That’s incredible,’ I murmured. I wondered what monsters in this world had the heart to suppress such beauty.

‘That’s not Linzy’s work that one,’ said Imogen. ‘It was written by a poet over three hundred years ago; Edgar Allan Poe; his name was. But I agree; it’s incredible.’

Silence hung in the air, but it was a powerful silence. It was a thoughtful silence. I had never experienced a thoughtful silence before, but it was something inexplicably exciting.

The door swung open noisily behind us, and I jumped round, shocked out of my reverie.

‘Who—oh, right, you’re the new girl are you?’

The girl who was presumably Linzy had just walked in. She looked a little older than me—mid twenties, perhaps, and she had soft, coffee coloured skin—of Asian descent, most likely, and brown eyes like large, glinting almonds. Her black and unnaturally red hair was cut to her shoulders and spiky with lots of layers, and she wore one of the more eccentric outfits I’d seen today; bright red skin-tight jeans; a black waistcoat; a light grey top; lots of long, dangling necklaces and an equally large amount of bracelets in all colours; and large, cumbersome, dark grey boots.

‘Hi, yeah, I’m the new girl,’ I said. ‘I’m Amy.’

‘Hey Amy,’ she said, smiling. ‘You admiring my wall?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s really cool.’

She smiled again. ‘Thanks. Anyway, I can’t stay long—business to attend to, but Casper said you must be back by now, so I thought I’d come give you a welcome in.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, glad to have a roommate who was nicer than Leah.

‘Yeah,’ she said, beginning to move around the room. It was not strictly tidy, but it was better than Leah’s by a mile. ‘So, you can put your clothes in the wardrobe or on the shelves or whatever, you got a table there for what you want to keep by your bed, and...I guess that’s it. If you wanna go to bed stupidly late, don’t make a lot of noise. Feel free to write on the wall--it's great for anger management and letting out your emotions--just don’t obscure anything. An’ that’s pretty much it. I don’t like rules much.’

‘That’s good,’ I said, smiling, able to feel more relaxed with her. ‘Thanks.’

‘Anyway, gotta go, Markus calls—oh, and I love your boots,’ she said, before disappearing like lightning back out of the door. Just talking to her made me feel out of breath, but it was nice to meet someone with a bit of energy.

‘D’you want some time to settle in?’ Imogen offered. ‘I’ve got to go too, I know Markus wanted to see me at some point today. If you want some lunch, you can go help yourself from the dining area, and Casper or I will probably be back a bit later.’

‘Sure, thanks,’ I agreed as she disappeared. I sat down, perching on the edge of my clean, white bed. I liked to think it was representative of a blank canvas; it was my chance to start over again. Right now, I had the potential to become absolutely anything I wanted to be. It was a new life for me, and I would use it to its full potential. For the first time ever, it felt like I was really, truly alive.

And then I realised something else: I was imagining. I was dreaming.

I was overwhelmed by it all.

Casper

‘You settling in a bit better in this room?’ I asked, perching on the edge of Amy’s bed. She looked a lot better now; she was dressed like the rest of us, and her bag of clothes and wash kit and everything else that she needed had been unpacked.

‘Yeah,’ she agreed. ‘Linzy’s a lot nicer.’

I still couldn’t work out if she liked it down here yet. Just to be on the safe side, I tried not to bring it up, but she’d gotten on well with Imogen, and she looked a lot more relaxed.

‘I’ve got to go and see Markus again in a minute,’ I said. ‘He says you can come as well if you like.’

‘Err, should I?’ she asked.

I smiled, looking down. ‘I’d like you to come. It can be your first assignment—it’s not much; just going down to the Vaults.’

Amy looked up sharply. ‘The Vaults?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Y’know, the place where the—‘

‘I know what it is,’ she said dismissively. ‘I mean; you want me to go down to the Vaults?’

‘Not just you,’ I said, realising I should have explained what she’d missed at Markus’ first meeting. He liked sending me down to the Vaults. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was good at it, or because he thought it was a punishment. Either way, it wasn’t too bad, and it meant that we could choose exactly what books and films and music the other Dreamers got to have, considering we couldn’t ever bring it all up.

‘You trust me to do that?’ she asked. Those beautiful but cold dark eyes of hers fixed on me, unmoving, unblinking, her dark blonde curls falling forward over her shoulders. She was undoubtedly a very pretty girl.

I laughed, but it was tense. ‘Why, shouldn’t I?’

For once, she laughed back. Perhaps she was getting to like this place, finally. ‘No, you can trust me. I’m not going to do anything.’

‘If you did, you’d be turned in too,’ I pointed out. ‘You’re one of us now.’

Her eyes hardened; two brown balls of ice. ‘That’s what I was getting at. I couldn’t turn you lot in and expect to get away free.’

Perhaps she didn’t like it that much after all.

‘I think Markus just thought that it would be a good first assignment for you to join in with,’ I continued. ‘Of course, just for the record, you’ll have to be kept under intense supervision, just so you don’t go off anywhere. I don’t know what the government do to Dreamers who turn themselves in, but I’m sure they’re less harsh than they are on the ones who have to be captured. But it’s an easy assignment; a lot less dangerous than actually going out into the open and getting supplies.’

‘How do they know you’re a Dreamer though?’ she asked. ‘Surely, if you go up above wearing normal clothes to go buy some food, they can’t really find you out.’

‘I wish,’ I muttered. ‘But they have their ways. And besides, we don’t exactly have a lot of money down here, do we?’

It took her a moment to register what I was getting at. ‘So you steal stuff?’

‘Pretty much,’ I said. If we lived in a nicer society, I might feel a bit more ashamed. But we lived in a despicable society, so I could feel no remorse at taking a few things from the shops. ‘Anyway, you in?’

She thought about it for a moment. ‘Yeah,’ she eventually decided. ‘Yeah. I’m in.’

‘Good.’