Raleway: A Thrill Short Story

‘What’s Next?’

I sat on the bridge connecting two skyscrapers. My legs dangling. I laid down my back against black metal. Most of the metal was black in Seventh Town. The color didn’t distract from the bright neons, or LEDs. Our city was The Seventh City. There was First Town, Second Town, Third Town ext. Towns like in books didn’t really exist anymore. All we’ve every known was city. I swing my legs back and forth. I’m wearing black, and layers. I always were black and layers. People tell me and my best friend Marsh always match. I’m wearing a dark grey tang-top and a black crop top tied in the front. Black plaid boots. A black plaid bandana tied around my wrist like a bracelet, and black shorts and tights. I also wear my Talkwatch.

“Hey Talkwatch.”

“Yes Rale?” I hear the male, even voice say.

“How many miles was that?”

“About 2.5 miles. You are half way to your intended goal.”

“Talkwatch play my Running Playlist.” Fast upbeat music plays. Catchy, and a newer song. I get to my feet, and jump onto the roof. It’s not a big jump the bridge connects the top story. My hands grasp the ledge and I pull myself up. Then I start to run. I jump from rooftop to rooftop. The gaps seem like they were made to be jumped. They were. I pick up speed. The people I see around me blur past. I jump footsteps across metal. Jump. I take one last jump, and duck and roll. I land back on my feet. I walk across the bridge connecting the rooftop I’m standing on to another. Another person leaps to the rooftop next to me. I walk across the bridge the railing has bars connecting it to the platform. I sit with my leg on ether side of the thin bar. I move my head so it doesn’t block my view of the city down below. My feet dangle again. I grasp the bar with one hand, and for a moment I grasp the thin railing just above me leaning forward slightly. There two screens playing ads on ether side of me. In front of me there’s an old video of The Thrill playing. People climbing up a small skyscraper to get to the top. No rigging, just hand holds. Some day that’s going to be me. I watch for another beat. In the corner of my eye I see the lilac color of a neon sign. The same color as my hair. It’s still black at the roots, an accident but I like it. I pull my wrist back in front of my face.

“What was that?”

“You have reached your goal of five miles.”

“Pull up Thrillplace.” The app opens. A photo of Marsh and me jumping from skytrack to skytrack is the first thing that pops up. The most viral thing we’ve done. So far. I was already planning what I wanted to do next, and I knew Marsh had had a few ideas for a while. We would do the next one separate. I think Marsh wanted to do something with fire. Something flashy and dramatic. She was a high number like me. The higher the number the more you crave the rush. Like instinct.

“Play a video by Viz, Chase the Thrill.” One of thier videos starts playing. One of his videos. Viz is the only one who runs the page now. I knew how likely dying during a challenge was. Still you never thought I’d be you, or someone you knew. I didn’t know him well. Mostly he was just Viz’s freind to me, but he seemed like such a nice guy. Now Viz was doing the Thrill alone. That what this video was. He had a parachute on. I hadn’t seen this episode yet so I wasn’t certain what the context was.

“You watching a video of me?” I jump turning around. “I didn’t realize you were such a fan.” I roll my eyes getting to my feet.

“You sure are popular.” I say. He waves me off.

“You and Bright will surpass me soon enough.” Bright is Viz’s nickname for Marsh. I’m not sure if it’s because of her personality. She can be the life of the party when she wants to be. If it’s because of her power. Her immunity to fire. Or if he just calls her that because of our towns lights.

“Come on.” He says holding out his hand. I take it, and we start making our way toward the end of town. The edge of the city is a sea of green. Besides the two large blue lakes that are on ether side. There’s no trees, forest, or fields in the city. There may be a few greenhouses to grow food but most of that stuff is done outside of it. I know in the sea of green there are patches of gold, but not near Seventh City. We don’t have many farmers. There’s a chill in the air. There always is. We always joke that even when the trees are green like this it’s always fall here. I’ve only seen snow fall a few times, and it never sticks to the ground like it does in story’s. It’s almost always cloudy but it never seems to rain much here. It’s about to get a lot chillier.

“You ready.” I nod. We jump. Its a jump we’ve done often. It’s not very satisfying but hasn’t lost its charm. It’s not a particularly high leap. I’m grinning by the time we reach the shore. Viz helps me to my feet and we start walking.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“It’s a surprise.” I do like surprises. I keep walking. We’re walking hand in hand again. We haven’t been together for very long, but I know I love him. I know he loves me too. We walk past trees and bushes, and wildflowers who’s names have been lost to time. We walk for about half an hour when he stops suddenly. He spins around facing me.

“So you know how your named after railroads.” I don’t even know if that’s were my name comes from. It’s popular to name kids after Oldworld stuff, but I really don’t know. I don’t correct him again though. He brought me out here. Said there was a surprise. He had my attention.

“Come on.” He says gesturing me forward. I move back a branch, and in front of me is a track. Not like the abandon junkyard of skytracks. Tracks on the ground. There different too. A different metal maybe. There’s pieces of wood in between the two strips of medal. I wonder why. I stare fascinated for a long moment before looking up.

“A good surprise huh.” I hug him laughing as I step onto the track. The railroad.

“Follow it.” He says and I start waking down it like it’s a path, or a bridge. I step from wood plank to wood plank. Viz only a few steps behind me. I heard the tracks used to be used to have machines called vehicles that took people from place to place. That was before people started waking everywhere, or using Hover Skates. After a few minutes I ask,

“What was the vehicles on this called?” The word subway comes to mind but that doesn’t sound right.

“Trains.” He says. “They were called trains.” We keep walking until we come across an old building. It’s practically falling apart. The widows are dark from dust or weather, but I try to peek in aways.

“What was this place called?”

“Not sure, but they used to have places like this to let people on and off trains.” He says as I take a look around. I start think about the Oldworld. The Oldworlders. Before us, and the humans. Before us. The Old Worlders became the New Worlders. There really was no difference besides the whole, new species thing. Thousands of years ago my family lived in this city. It looked different then. They all were human. They had laws and didn’t do challenges like we did, but maybe they loved this city too. Like me, and not like me. I think about how the society’s of the past would have looked at us. No context. We would certainly be a sight. Most of us crave danger, a challenge, or at least to do something we’re not supposed too. Break a rule while trying not to break a bone. A dare. A challenge. A thrill. The chase of that rush. We live off it. Like air. Like water. Like food. It’s a part of what we are. Not human. We were all human once though. I couldn’t image a world were most of the society didn’t need challenges. Didn’t need danger. It was hard for me to picture. It seemed nice, and not for me. Much too boring. But maybe that was just the cravings talking. I guess I wouldn’t really know. I passed a large window to a small room with a chair inside it. There was a small whole in the bottom of the glass. There was a table. I reach though the whole and grab the only thing on the table. A small metal box. Silver medal, not black metal, or redish gold medal like the train tracks. I open it. There’s a bunch of small pieces of paper. I pick one up to read it. The papers in good shape, but the letters are mostly faded. Train Ticket. It says. A number I realize is a price. They used money, not trade. The date is unreadable, and so is the destination. There’s a sudden longing to know what this place used to be called once a long time ago. The city before our city. No answer comes so instead I focus on the cute picture of a train. “This is what I really want to show you.” He says and we turn the corner. I realize the track turns with us. I stop when I see a row small buildings made of medal. Except it’s on the track and it has wheels. It looks a lot like the picture. A train. A real train on a railroad. My grin widens while Viz leads me to one of the doors. We enter the train. It’s old too. Every surface is covered in dust. If it wasn’t Oldworlder I won’t be so impressed, but it is so… I start walking. No even trying to hide the joy. Viz is right behind me. The a path down the center. On ether side is a row of very small rooms. There’s something like booths inside of them only without tables. We keep walking down. We enter the next door in line. This is more set up like a restaurant. White table cloths, and black painted wooden chairs. Matching white cushions. There’s a cart, and another door. The very front of the train. I open the door to a bunch of levers, buttons, and dials non of which I know what they do or mean. Viz pulls a rope, and a shrill sound is made. A whistle. It’s connected to a whistle. I take a turn pulling it. I remember vehicles used to warn other vehicles of there presence this way. I think about the excitement of making this thing go. What’s it’s top speed? Once again I am drawn to the centerpiece of the room. I look at the; fireplace? It’s made out of black metal like the city, but not as pretty. There’s a door to open and shut it.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“It would make the train go.” He explains. “They would take black rocks from underground put them inside and then burn them, and it would make the train go.” I look at him. I knew Oldworlder’s had a very different ways of getting energy and electricity than us, but now it just sounded like he was making this up.

“That sounds fake.” I say laughing.

“It’s true.” He insists.

“Why did you show me this?” I ask.

“Your name, and to do something with you. Away. To have something special just the two of us.” I hug him and then pull him into a soft kiss.

“We should come here again.” I say.

“Than we will.” He says.

“Can I show Marsh?”

“You think I showed you this place thinking you were gong to keep it from Marsh.” He says laughing.

“Now come on Railroad it’s getting late.” It dark when we’re back in the city.

“What time is it Talkwatch?” I ask.

“1:14” He answers.

“So what’s next?”

“Climbing the tallest tower in The Seventh City.” I say. Lightning strikes once overhead there’s no rain to accompany it. I climb into my bedroom though the window. A typical way to enter. My screen wall still plays an episode of Thrill. Viz is in it.

“Someday your going to be there.” I smile at him. “Your going to be popular, and rich. And your going to be so ‘full’ all of the time you won’t remember what ‘hunger’ feels like.” Not the hunger for food. The ‘hunger’. The need to do dangerous challenges or dares. The thing we die without. Like sleep. I kiss his cheek. Then I yawn.

“Goodnight. Thank you for showing me the train.” He turns about to leap out the window. He turns back and says,

“Oh, and I like the hair.”