Page 11 of The Commons

Beatrice proceeds to walk through a transparent curtain. We follow her as she continues to talk like a passion-infused tour guide. “You will be sharing these spaces, five in each room separated by the glass demarcations.”

I look around the large room with different stations. Each station is separated by a different color, and there are about five stations in the room. At each station, there is a fuzzy gray seat and a queen size bed.

She begins to list all seventy-four rules like a broken record. “No looking a Patron in the eye. No talking to or asking Patrons questions outside of class. You can only make phone calls once a month in the phone booth. No talking about The Commons while on the phone. No romantic relationships with a Patron if you are not one, except if claimed in the 6C Hallway. If you disobey any of these rules, you will be sent to the dark dome.” Beatrice holds up another manual binder, which I’m sure is filled with more rules, curfews, bedtime and other schedules. “This contains the most important information you’ll need.” Blah blah blah blah…

We settle down in our space as the night falls. The way the stars shine through the windows has a sort of nostalgic feel to it, like although we are being watched by The Commons, the stars are watching out for us.

I can’t go to sleep like everyone else. My mind is plagued with the fact that it will be virtually impossible to search for Levon due to The Commons’ stringent rules. I will have no private time to do any research. Since this is the only night we are allowed to stay up past the usual bedtime, I take full advantage of it to memorize the rules and try to make a plan to find my sister.

The clock strikes midnight and I lie on my bed, wide awake, with The Commons manual rule book. I memorize the rules and highlight the punishments, writing out how I plan to incorporate this new information.

My pen drops from my tired hands, and my face falls on my pillow as my mouth opens in a yawn. A part of me is terrified of the dark dome, but I am more terrified of not finding my sister.

Surrounded by girls sleeping, I make my way into my private drawer for one last thing. I open my bag to find a picture of my beautiful fair-skinned sister with long curly hair. I wonder how she felt coming here and having to memorize seventy-four rules. I wonder if she watched the stars like I did. I wonder if she was thinking of me.

Tear drops fall from my eyes. I remember the last day she left.

September 17th, 2124. Today, my nightmares become a reality.

Hidden under my ocean blue blanket, I pull the covers higher to drown the sound of the blazing breeze sweeping across the Atlantic to my home, where snow and ice collide.

It is not enough to escape the constant crackling of the ice crystals on my windows, but the moonlight mysteries mellow my heart in sweet silence and I sink into the depths of my silken mattress. Suddenly, the freezing floor beneath me begins to scream, and the ice crystals that surround me begin to break louder and louder and louder until my ears are drowning in the roar of a stormy call—wake up!

Who else could shamelessly drag me from such dreamy delusion at two a.m. but Levon? My own mind begins to side with her aggressive proposition to propel me into a chilly reality. Buzz… Buzz… The sound of my alarm jars my body.

Levon is pounding on my bed, ripping the covers of comfort away from my skin, causing my toes to curl. My eyes open, fluttering in semi-consciousness. I sit up and stare at a blurry creature with green eyes, a light bronze face, and golden wavy things on her head. She calls herself my older sister. Levon.

She shakes the bed like a trampoline, and I am the target of her jumping. My eyes blink, narrowing themselves into focus like a camera lens, and then they open completely. I am wide awake, and everything is in focus. I look at my sister.

Today is the day she leaves for The Commons.

“Oh my gosh, you’re leaving in thirty minutes! That’s not enough time to say goodbye to you,” I exclaim, pounding on the snooze bar.

“Maybe if you would listen to your alarm,” she teases, pulling the covers completely off me and sitting on my feet.

“Ouch! You promised to wake me up!” I whine. “I was gonna help you get ready.” I sit up and pull my feet away from her, hitting her with my pillow, giggling.

“Mmm… you were gonna help, huh?” She smiles, throwing the pillow back in my face.

I catch it, clutching it to my chest. I am still in denial that she is leaving. Maybe that’s why I didn’t wake up in time.

“I told you, Shantavia, I don’t need your help. I simply want to say goodbye, and you basically cooked me dinner all month as my farewell present. That’s more than enough.”

“Levon, you made me cook you dinner.” I draw closer to her, my gaze fixed on her face, trying to read her soul, as always. Something doesn’t seem right. “Mom and Dad are coming, right?”

“Only because The Commons requires them to, or you know they would have opted out, as usual, but they can’t go past check-in. They should be back by six this evening, so you won’t have to spend the night alone.” Levon wrinkles her forehead, turning her face away from me.

“Remind me again why you are traveling all the way to that god-forsaken island to go to a school with endless rules, that’s gonna brainwash you into becoming society’s robot?”

She turns back to me, eyeing me with a subtle smile. “Because when I become society’s robot, they think they control you, but really, you control them. How else am I going to be the first female president of our common world?”

“You’re Levon, you can do anything!”

“That’s not how our world works, Shantavia. The connections and political programs they have in The Commons are the best on the entire planet, you know that,” she says as she clenches her jaw.

“I know, but you can get that from somewhere else⁠—”

“I can’t. I’m so lucky to have even been accepted. You know I can’t afford to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How else am I going to be able to help people who aren’t as fortunate as us?”