2

Earth before Awakening

His mother had hated the rain all her life. Incessant storms and floods had shattered his country. But she didn't like being scared. It was a disturbing sensation that paralyzed you during the most crucial moments. She hated fear, so when she hugged her baby girl for the first time, she chose to name her Rayne to silence her two biggest fears, the rain and being a mother. But ironically, the rain only inspired Rayne with aversion.

"I hate the rain!" the 19-year-old exclaimed.

Water streamed down his face and his busy hands prevented him from wiping his eyes irritated by the downpour.

The passers-by turned towards her before continuing on their way.

- Stop complaining and pass the package, said his colleague, Karl.

- Be careful, it's heavy! she exclaimed

“I should say that to you,” he began, remembering the first time he had seen the girl. She had presented herself to him with a body so frail that he had feared seeing him knocked out by the hardness of their work.

I still remember when you couldn't take a step without losing your lunch. Oh! I came home happy every night, he said before tossing the package as if it weighed nothing in the dumpster behind him, then he activated the crusher.

- You can laugh. I'm sure you weren't going too far when you started out either! Rayne replied with a note of irritation in her voice.

Karl's eyes then took on a dark look. He watched the package being slowly shattered, twisted, under the metal jaws, then sighed.

“No one can get used to that Rayne. These are men, women, children who are thrown into a garbage can and crushed so that they are more easily incinerated. We live in a rotten world my dear. But don't forget that it's the highest paying job for miles around.

Karl was right… the population had tripled in recent decades. Human beings crowded into apartments that were too small. Gigantic swathes of land had collapsed or been drowned. The ocean had submerged continents when the glaciers of

the Arctic had completely melted. But the cyclones had also become more and more violent and large metropolises like Paris and New York had been devastated. Along the banks it was not uncommon to find remnants of the horror, memories of lives that seemed to have been transported there to haunt the survivors. These brutal changes had made half of the world's population climate refugees. If they had first been welcomed with compassion, the problems had quickly appeared, the pressure on natural resources and agricultural lands had been such that famines had broken out all around the world. This situation had only changed with the appearance of a super-protein bar that was supposed to meet the immediate needs of the inhabitants. It was also nicknamed, the bar of the poor or the candy of misery. Nevertheless, the population, being able to feed itself, had quickly begun to reproduce. The numbers were… alarming. The decision was then taken by the States remaining in the great meltdown and suffering from strong demographic pressure, to prohibit the creation of new cemeteries and to ban burials. The poor population was picked up by the funerary dumpster, crushed like ordinary garbage and then incinerated. The ashes were then thrown into the sea. The family was forbidden to attend the cremation. The remains being piled on top of each other, the man lost all identity in death. However, the job of garbage collector had quickly become very coveted. He paid enough to be able to feed himself without having to resort to the super protein bar and to live in a small studio, a luxury.

- This world is really rotten ... she whispered as she was about to get back into the van. The omnipresent smell of death forced him to cover his face. It would soak into her skin, her hair, and the shower she took at the end of her shift would never manage to remove it completely. She wasn't sure if the smell was real or just her imagination. But she was sure of one thing, she would never feel clean again.

- Rayne!

The head of the young woman turned in a flash at the sound of this voice.

- What are you doing here ? Where is your mask? How can you do something so risky, Ryan! she said to the boy of barely 12 and a half who came running up to her.

Instead of showing remorse, the boy smiled brightly at the young woman.

"I just wanted to say hello, Ray! You forgot my pancakes for breakfast again. I don't want their disgusting bar, it gives me cramps. I already told you !

The boy didn't seem to see the panic growing on his big sister's face.

Rayne only saw a child too small for his age. He looked no older than six and was floating in his pants. Rainwater trickled down his bald head. He was drenched and his chest was heaving at a frantic pace. Rayne knew that in a few seconds he was going to have a strong fit of coughing.

He always began by unconsciously scratching his throat, then clearing it, coughing lightly before his words were drowned out in a thick, painful cough.

His sister, now used to his symptoms, tried to relieve him by massaging his back.

“I'll take you home,” she said softly, then turned to look at Karl, who simply nodded.

It was not the first time that his brother had left their studio without permission and his colleague was quick to cover his absences.

Rayne slowly led the emaciated child to their apartment. Fortunately, they were only a few meters from their home. Rayne watched out of the corner of his eye, Ryan, the most important person in his life and the last living member of his family.

- Ryan... why keep going out when you know very well that after each of your escapades you will end up with a fever and that I will have to interrupt my tour!

— But Ray, you work all the time… answered the boy before coughing lightly

- For you ! You think it amuses me to pick up corpses every day, that I wouldn't like to be able to sleep at night, not seeing the eyes of the neighbors every time I walk around the neighborhood. But we don't always get what we want. You are sick… and I am working.

The child continued to walk, but remained silent. Rayne gave him a guilty look. He was young and wanted freedom like everyone his age. But he had to stay alive, and at all costs, no other alternative was possible.

“Ryan, you are my only family. I don't want to lose you like them... she whispered without looking up from the cracked sidewalk.

"Ray don't feel guilty, you didn't tell them to walk to that barrier. They only thought of themselves and not of the children they left behind. They abandoned us, said the boy whose facial expression had hardened.

But you take care of me. That's all you do... I just want to be able to help you, Ray. But I'm useless. Every morning, I see you going out to do a job you hate… I feel useless…

Rayne felt tears well up in his eyes as his hand was already resting on the boy's smooth head.

“You help me, by taking care of yourself, and by stopping these little clandestine walks. As soon as I have earned enough money, we will go there to treat you. I promise you, everything will be okay and you can go out and have fun like the other kids, she whispered in his ears before turning towards their building.

The building had aged badly. It originally stood on twenty floors where the majority of students lived. But half the building was uninhabitable. On the facades, you could still see the damage caused by the fire started ten years earlier during the food riots.

The whole city went up in flames that year. The stores had been looted. Food was so scarce that a piece of bread had to last for several days. Some appeased their hunger for a few hours with hot water. Rayne well remembered that time when even vermin had seemed appetizing to them. Until there are no more. The dog that we had loved dearly was sacrificed. And the meows of his neighbor's cat disappeared overnight.

Yet one day stood out from the others.

That day when his mother and father had died on the fence, the wall that separated the poor neighborhood from the paradise of the richest: Etlas.

Lost in thought, she glanced at the announcement board in the hallway.

"Notice of demolition"

It had been five years since that notice was posted and had become one of the things contributing to his lack of sleep. It meant that the building should already be closed to the public, but no landlord respected it. The list of buildings to be destroyed was very long. The owners were in no hurry, but she knew that one day she might find a pile of rubble where her house had been. She had no choice. She had to earn more money, to help her brother and find a new home or end up like those packages she carried every day. There were no vagabonds in the Bresse district.