All to White, All to Right - Conrad Zbikowski

LMFAO was on. A girl grabbed her man and pulled the boy off his bar stool. His Flirtini crashed to the linoleum, but that didnt matter. She pushed him, hands against his back, to the center of the dance floor. He stumbled along.

Lets dance! screamed the girl over the base beat of the woofers.

Everyday I'm shufflin' Shufflin', shufflin'

The boy started shuffling, walking in place, swinging his arms back and forth like a raving chimp. He was the biggest flirt on pops.

The girl laughed and started shuffling along, mimicking his insane routine. Her high heels slipped on the sweat that glazed the floor to a rainbow sheen. Nothing was going to stop her from having the night of her life. She was here to party hard.

..One more shot for us, another round Please fill up my cup, don't mess around We just wanna see you shake it now Now you wanna be, you're naked now..

The girl moved closer. He smiled into her green eyes, then turned away and continued shuffling, his legs jerking like a shorted android.

..Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound Put your hands up to the sound, put your hands up to the sound..

Her hands waved up to the ceiling, normal to the dance floor. They waved in the jungle of lasers, smoke and the sparkle of a disco ball.

The boy was still shuffling.

..Get up, get up, get up, get up...

The girl woke up in a communal cell. The morning came with the switch from red to white light from the panels above the washed-out room. Still groggy, she shifted on the bunk. A black lady was sitting on the other side of the cell, three meters away.

About time yo little pretty ass got up.

The girl stared blank.

Wheres Jeremy?

The rest of the cell started laughing, all fifteen of them.

Oh, last night you came in kicking a screaming up a storm! You dont remember any of that? said one of ladies, a short, fat latina.

What?

They laughed again, it had been a while since a newbie came along.

Girl, how old are you? asked the black lady in a caring tone, suppressing a chuckle.

Are you over sixteen?! chimed a skinny lady in the back.

Shut up, Chancy, ya dont be messing with the girl, ya hear?

If you felt the way I do, Kora, the skinny lady whined with her hands on her flat chest, you would follow your heart too!

The rest of the cell laughed.

Whats your name, girl? the black lady asked Emilia, ignoring the rest of them.

Emilia.

Good morning, Emilia.

The room was washed-out, just like the cell. The girl sat across a laminate table from a proper lady in a power suit with some documents spread out in front of her. The room was chilled, it owas still midwinter. There was only one door on the room, no windows. At each of the four corners of the ceiling were cameras, all pointed at the table. Emilia sat silently.

Do you know why you came here last night, Emilia?

I got caught, she mumbled.

Thats one way of saying it. Last night you almost died from an overdose. Luckily, an officer had brought along an emergency antibody kit, but you still came very close.

I got vaccinated? Emilia asked.

Yes, after you were stabilized, you were vaccinated. When things like this happen, we are obligated to give it to help in your recovery. Its the law.

Emilia stared at the table.

But today I wanted to talk to you about some other things. I am here to help you to..

Become a bitch like you?

Emilia looked up into the womans eyes with a green, burning glare.

Emilia, I know that things are very difficult right now, but after we get you back on your feet you can have your record cleaned in a couple of years. If you make positive decisions now..

Wheres Jeremy?

We can talk about..

Where is he?!

It was dark and cold and damp.

Soft Rachmaninoff rattled through the windowless wing. The stench of forgotten men hung in

the humid air, the odor of decayed lives.

In the corner or a cell at the end of a jagging corridor, Jeremy curled with his hand around his legs.

He had been snapped.

It happened so quickly.

From both sides of the dance hall, coppers surrounded the crowd of chavs. An SIS agent wrenched Jeremy from his trance, slamming him to the floor.

All to dark.

He heard the world around him through a rusty pipe, echoes of a brief firefight, laughter at something. He felt his bruised body lifted by hands into a waiting van.

There had been a bright room, white and blurry. He was stripped of his clothes, sprayed with antiseptic and shot up with needles in the arm.

Bleeding slowly, he was dragged as an animal to its cage, the cell.

He started coughing and pulled his legs closer to his chest.

Tears ran down from his knees.

It was his only his first day at the zoo, and it would be his last day in the broken land of plenty.

After seventeen days in the communal cell, Emilia was let off on parole. She was not a threat to herself or others and would do better with the youth welfare service. This is what she told her mental guidance officer anyway.

The streets were dark and damp. A yellow moon glowed hazily in the foggy sky.

Emilia strolled down the street, her fists in empty pockets. As the drizzle came down, the jacket rationed to her when she left wasnt holding up. The rain ran down her shoulders and arms, following the back of her hands into the empty pockets, welling them with natures sadness.

In the distance, trains howled through the night, riding on tracks of force.

Emilia had learned about it in elementary school. The class even went on a field trip to a service and maintenance station. Back then she was fascinated by such things back then.

Now she never wondered why a train could ride above the ground at half the speed of sound.

She had grown up.

She continued on, moving towards the fence, towards the trains rushing. There was a break in the barbed chainlink near an old willow. When she was younger, this was where she would read during hot summer days to avoid the lightning between her mother and stepfather. That lightning had burned and scarred Emilia many times, too many times.

Jeremy had been the only boy who would listen. He could make the scars disappear, if only for the afternoon, when the two of them would bounce around town, jumping meters and riding trains to places unknown.

Standing on the smooth track, she watched the approach of forward lights growing brighter and brighter, with a howl screeching higher and higher. All to white, all to right.