Silence of Our Voices

I strode down the street of New York City, looking at the neon signs. I got glares from the people in the hover cars. In 2020, most people, meaning non-rockers, dress in spandex suits. But us, we dress like they did in 2008. Tight pants, long hair, you know the deal, with slightly too large sweatshirts. We just feel more comfortable this way.

I made my way to the music store, where I knew Anthony would be. As I suspected, he was leaning against the front window, cigarette hanging loosely between his lips. His black hair was beyond messy, and yet, there wasn’t a knot anywhere. It curled and wisped off, pointing at the sky, and it covered his face a little. His black jeans, his favorite black jeans, were torn on one knee, the back of the cuffs so the back of his converse all stars stuck out. His studded belt was buckled as tight as it would go and he missed a belt loop. His Green Day sweatshirt was zipped, which was unlike him, and he had torn holes for his thumbs in the cuffs.

“Anthony, now what are you talking about?” I asked as soon as I got to where he was standing. He smirked, and took the cigarette out of his mouth, and blew out a thick stream of white smoke. He knocked the ash off of it before he even looked at me.

“Hello to you too,” he said in a clam, slow voice. I glared at him.

“Anthony,” I growled in a controlled voice. I always hated when he did that. You go to him for information, and he gives you a hard time. I’ve known Anthony as long as I’ve known Josh. I mean, they’re in the same band. But Anthony doesn’t hate me for no apparent reason, in fact, I don’t think Anthony hates me at all.

“Alright, alright. Little miss impatient, I’ll show you. Just come on,” he said, standing up from his leaning position. He took one last drag from his cigarette before throwing it at the ground, and stomping it out. He grabbed my hand, like a four year old grabs their mom’s hand and pulled me into a back alley. From there, we went to an old subway entrance that was really out of the way.

“You’re not saying we’re gonna live in the old subway system,” I said, taken aback. He nodded.

“You should see what Josh and I did last night, so, just trust me on this one,” he said. “We really thought this one out, unlike you and the hologram,” he said, raising an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and started to go down the stairs. It wasn’t as dark as it was last time I had been down here, in the eighth grade. As I looked at the sight before me, I saw an entire city, underground, below me. I looked at the amazing view from the hill I was one and I heard Anthony chuckled beside me.

“Yea, we did this,” he gloated. And, I’ll give him and Josh this one. This was pretty amazing for one night’s worth of work. There were skyscrapers (or groundscrapers) and streets. It was lit up as far as the eye could see. There were old fashion cars, none of that hover car crap, and sidewalks.

“How did you....” I trailed off in sheer amazement. He smiled.

“Magic,” he chuckled. “So, I’m going to send you to find Josh. Said he had something special for you,” he said. I rolled my eyes.

“Yea, probably a cardboard box to live in,” I muttered.

“So? I thought you liked cardboard boxes,” Anthony said. I laughed a little.

“Yea, to play with. Not to live in,” I said. Just then, I spotted Josh walking up the hill. He waved at Anthony.

“Hey, did you find...” Josh trailed off, looking at me. I looked right back at him. I never really have taken a good look at him before.

Josh had this pretty awesome brown hair that covered his left eye, instead of the usual right. The right side of his lip was pierced with a silver hoop in the hole. His eyes were this...piercing blue color. He too wore black jeans with oddly placed holes. He wore a tight sweatshirt, a red one with black stars.

“Tegan, come on. We have to talk and you have to get settled in,” Josh said, slinging his arm around my shoulders. I gave him a confused look as he started to lead me down the hill.

“Why are you being civil towards me?” I asked, flat out. Josh smirked, his lip ring glistening in the street light’s glow.

“Let me start off by saying, I still don’t like you, but you raised a good point at the hearing. We have some rough times ahead, and we need to stick together,” he said. He stopped in front of a door, and dug a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door, and opened it for me. When I walked past, he handed me the key.

“Thanks,” I said, looking at it. He laughed and walked towards the elevator. He hit the button.

“You’re going to like your apartment,” he told me, stepping into the elevator. I followed suit and just watched in amazement because one: My sworn enemy was being nice to me. Two: They built this entire thing in one night.

Josh hit the button for the top floor. “Tegan, put your key in there,” Josh said, pointing at a keyhole. “You have the top floor entirely for yourself,” he told me. I put the key in and turned it. The little yellow light next to the keyhole went on.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked again, hoping for a more in-depth answer. He shrugged.

“As much as I love it, I don’t think Anarchy is really going to work if we want to keep this a secret. So, I was wondering, if you wanted to help me govern this place,” Josh said.

“For real?” I asked. He nodded.

“Um...let me sleep on the idea,” I said slowly. He nodded just as the door opened. There was a wall of giant windows and I could see the entire city.

“Wow,” I said breathlessly.

“Anthony said you’d like it,” Josh said proudly. I nodded slowly and stepped into my apartment. Josh cleared his throat. I turned to face him and saw he was leaning against the wall of the elevator.

“I’m going to leave you to get settled in, and we’ll talk in the morning,” he told me. I nodded and pulled out my storage cube and began to unpack.