Normal

There is no danger. Emma thought to herself. Shaking her head and holding on tighter to Melly's arm, she glanced over to the far west side of PortTown. Stood there in the distance, visible as it peaked above the rooftops of homes and the shopping center, was a grand thirty meter tall concrete wall that enveloped the district of PortTown. It stood there as a defense mechanism against infestations. Incidents where hundreds or even thousands of monsters attack an area at once. It had been the reason their childhood colony had fallen.

Not wanting to look at the wall, and what it reminded her of, she turned her sites towards the east, from where they stood, approximately four kilometers out, she could see Floating City in the distance, only the base not visible beyond the building heights in the foreground. Where Floating City gleamed in the ocean light, PortTown sat in the shadow of its wall.

Life in the district of PortTown was both beautiful and horrid. As it sat against along the beach, the air gave such a sense of vitality and life to the people who lived here in low means. But because the elite lived in the safety of Floating City, PortTown was poor. Along with the beautiful beach, there were grimy alleyways, salt-eaten rooftops, and streets that flooded every spring.

PortTown was Floating City's underbelly, built on the shore to handle trade its position on land meant it experienced more monster activity then Floating City. As a result, it was common to see Defense force members and their uniforms everywhere. Perhaps that's why Lily was so inspired to enlist, it was such an everyday part of life in PortTown.

Although the rich didn't live in PortTown, because of its trading activity, they often visited. And as such even PortTown had a glamours side to it.

The shopping center: a monument to architecture from an old world, before the dimension rift, before the monsters, had glass ceilings that caught the sun like crystal, and marble floors that echoed beneath the boots of PortTown citizens who could never afford what they passed.

Or Stellar, where Emma and Melly worked, the high-end restaurant nestled in the same plaza. Gold-lettered signage, white linen tables, and expensive wines.

Girls like them came to this shopping center just to be apart of something beautiful and luxurious, even if just to pretend that you could be part of a world that glittered. The reality was that girls like them shopped in street markets, they didn't dine in fancy restaurants, they worked in the smoke-filled kitchens. But still, Emma and Melly were luckier then most. They served the elite at Stellar with polite smiles and made great tips doing so.

It wasn't a glamorous life, but it was stable.

And for a long time, Emma thought it might be enough.

Back then, before her sister disappeared, for Emma, their life was beautiful, it was perfect.

Many people of PortTown dreamed of one day moving to Floating City. But Emma was perfectly happy to walk along the PortTown beach to watch as the waters rose and enveloped the concrete pillars. Did the citizens of Floating City even truly understand why it was named Floating City? They couldn't watch the wonder like she could. Yes, life for her was great.

Until-

No.

Emma shook her head, she didn't want to think about this anymore. 

The two friends were now just in front of the shopping center. For Emma and Melly, the shopping center was like visiting a museum, a place for these two waitresses to admire things they couldn't afford but enjoyed looking at anyway. However, as Emma looked at the same walls and floors she had seen many times before, she felt it didn't seem to gleam as much as it had, the glass walls were not as stunning, the marble floor not as breathtaking, everything was dimmed. She wondered if she ventured out to her favorite spot on the beach, to view Floating City, would that view also be not as grand? Rather then know the answer to that question, Emma thought to herself, she just wouldn't go. 

As they stepped through the main entrance, Emma felt the strange sensation that had been plaguing her begin to dissipate. Being indoors, surrounded by walls and people, made her feel less exposed, safer somehow.

A thought crept up.

Is this what Lily...?

No, this is something else. I'm just tired. Losing my mind thinking of Lily.

"One day," Melly declared as they passed a window displaying handbags that cost more than six months of Emma's rent, "I'm going to walk in there and buy something without even checking the price tag."

Emma smiled, grateful for the distraction from the lingering unease that had followed her from the parking lot and her intrusive thoughts. "When you do, I want to be there to see the sales assistant's face."

"Obviously! What's the point of being filthy rich if your best friend isn't there to witness it?" Melly looped her arm through Emma's again, guiding her toward the central atrium where a massive fountain sprayed water in elaborate patterns.

The shopping center was crowded for a weekday morning. Families with children, elderly couples, groups of teenagers—all seemingly oblivious to the Level Two emergency from yesterday. That was life in the colony for you; people adapted, normalized, moved on.

Emma watched Melly as she chattered excitedly about a new boutique that had opened on the upper level. Her friend was so perfectly normal in a way that Emma had never been, not since their childhood colony fell, not since losing her parents, not since Lily left. Melly talked about dating boys, complained about her parents' over-protectiveness, and approached life with an enthusiasm that was both infectious and slightly foreign to Emma.

That normalcy was like an anchor for Emma. When she was with Melly, she could almost forget the strangeness of her own life, could almost believe she was just another ordinary twenty-three-year-old with ordinary problems.

"Let's get coffee," Melly suggested, pointing to a café on the upper level. "I want to tell you about this disastrous date I had last week."

Emma followed her friend, feeling the sense of danger lessen with each step. 

A brief thought flickered in her mind. 

It's farther away from you now.