The Nocere: A Haunting Dystopian Tale Book 1 Read online

  “That’s all you’re wearing?” Genie gave me a condescending look.

  “I’ll put on some glamour okay?” I grumbled.

  “Yay!” Lane clapped his hands and then pushed me out the door. “We can pick out ours together.” His smile loosened my mood.

  “I can’t stay that long though. I have to work tomorrow. New job, can’t be late.”

  Genie and Lane stopped on the stairs to look at me. “What?” they both asked in confusion.

  “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” I laughed. “But seriously, I don’t want to stay out forever.”

  Time doesn’t exist when you’re in the other realm. Yeah, we manifest clocks there and try to control it, but it doesn’t really exist.

  It exists in the world. Here the sun moves through the days which turn into weeks and those turn into years. Aging, ever changing. Things move with a purpose toward a final destination. There is order and meaning to it all. In the realm, there is none of this.

  Gravity, space, matter, all these concepts of the world bend and change in the realm. There you can manifest anything you desire, have almost anything you want. You don’t age. You don’t get sick. You don’t need to eat or sleep or drink unless you want to. Except, you’re basically just a spirit. A shell of a human form, floating around with nothing to do.

  That’s where the mafia came in. These guys aren’t all that bad. I mean, I hate being a slave to them, but I don’t know anyone who wasn’t. That’s just the price you pay for growing up in the orphanage. They figured out how to put order in a place where the concept literally doesn’t exist.

  We all have these trackers in our arms that are monitoring devices, but they are also our wallets and anchors in the realm. Once you’re a real dead spirit, you don’t have to worry about that anymore, but the rest of us need them to get in and out of the realm. Whoever designed this technology, included a code to limit living beings’ manifesting ability while we are there.

  There are stupid things we have to purchase using credits like drugs and alcohol so that the mafia gets their cut. Since body glamour is the most used item, they make us pay for that too. Other than that, the realm is pretty limitless. With the right training, or practice, people can create cities and countries and live there for the rest of existence if they wanted to. They might not ever see another soul again.

  Then there are communal spots, like the bar we were going to. Where people gather is where the jobs are. Since no one really wants to work in their utopian otherworldly paradise, this is where servants like me come into play.

  “I wish we had a bar close by that didn’t require a portal,” I shivered against the night air.

  “Do those even exist anymore?” Genie stepped closer to me. I knew she was trying to alleviate my irrational night fears. I love her, even if she does look like a glittery pineapple.

  “Why do you hate the realm so much?” Lane waited for us to cross the street.

  “It’s just not natural,” I shrugged. “And I don’t like going into work on my days off.”

  “Yeah, but look at this shit world we live in.” Lane kicked an empty tin can and it rolled down to the gutter.

  Four decaying bodies lay in front of the doorway that we needed to enter. Genie stepped carefully over them. I tripped on a man’s knee, and he moaned as he reached his hand up to me. Mumbling my apologies, I hurried past.

  “There were more here yesterday.” Lane shook his head in disgust. “Why do they do this to themselves?”

  We call these bodies the “Can’t Commits”. They don’t want to be in this world, so they spend most of their time in the realm. The kicker is, if you spend too much time there then you can’t come back here. The body begins to deteriorate, and you have to come back to the world for real nourishment.

  “I keep wondering who is feeding them.” Genie pinched the end of her nose. “More will come to this portal if they think there is a free meal waiting.”

  I bit my lip and lowered my eyes. Thankfully, Genie didn’t notice my hesitation as she marched up to the portal gate. She’d chew my ear off if she found out that I try to feed whoever is there in the mornings. What can I say? I like this world better.

  The portals remind me of mirrors. When activated, it emits an energy that has no true color. It’s more like a reflection of every single color in a watery surface, but you can’t see anything in it. Technology is weird.

  Lane smacked his tracker against the panel and the portal opened. The static energy vibrated throughout the little room. We were standing in what once was a coffee shop. Years ago, portals were installed in public places because businesses argued it would bring customers in. Little did they know, it would also take them away one day; along with their employees, families, and eventually themselves.

  The coffee shop had been abandoned for so long that the drop ceiling panels crumbled away. Exposed electrical wires dangled like taunting reminders that we were living in a deserted world.

  I touched my forearm to the panel and followed Genie in. The void is what we call the transition between this world and the next. I squinted as we passed through, trying to make out the in between.

  When humans discovered the realm actually existed, they built the portals to get there. However, spirits had been traveling back to the world since the beginning of time. They can easily pass in between the two places whereas the human body cannot. I always kind of thought the in between was like our void. Just a vast nothing to get you to where you were going. Turns out, it’s a real place.

  Chapter 3

  ∞

  The exit from the portal dumped us into a long hallway. The hall wasn’t part of any particular building. The contractors that the mafia employs are good at holding these types of manifested structures. It’s easy to funnel portal hoppers into a central place so that we can get our bearings before venturing off into the realm.

  Genie stormed past the windows displaying the glamour for sale. She pretended not to notice, but I saw her glance twice at the intricate butterfly wings dripping a shimmery smoke from their tips. She liked to go big on the glamour and it always cost her too much.

  I settled on purple hair and a fake nose ring. Glamour was pointless to me. I know you can see it in a mirror and that everyone else can see it, but you can’t touch it or feel it. No one seemed to mind that part though, it was one of the most popular things about the realm.

  “Hurry up.” Genie tapped her foot at the end of the hall, anxious to be away from all the temptation. Lane picked up silver pants with tiny sequins casting disco ball lights in every direction and vampire teeth that dripped blood.

  “Very freaky,” I laughed at him. We ran to catch up with Genie.

  Outside the hall, the realm greeted us with the nauseating blast of nothing. No shadows, no light. Honestly, it isn’t even true dark. More like a stormy winter night sky, just heavy grayish oppressing clouds of stale thick nothingness.

  Genie grabbed mine and Lane’s hands. We closed our eyes and manifested ourselves to Wasters, the bar that Vorie worked at until her end of service.

  I smiled down at the little girl who greeted us upon arrival. She was wearing a pink tutu and a princess tiara which trailed holographic flowers down her tightly spiraled curls. She stuck out a forked tongue at me and I burst into laughter.

  “Welcome,” she squeaked, her face catching my smile. “What’s your pleasure tonight?”

  “None of that nonsense.” Lane draped his arm over my shoulder. “We’re just here to celebrate with Vorie.”

  “Oh good, you’re not more of them!” She spun around in her ballerina slippers. “Follow me. Vorie is already at the main bar.”

  We passed through the candlelit hall with interior doors leading to private rooms. Each one would hold a manifestation of different bar scenes depending on who was renting the room for the night. The empty rooms were there for the creatives to design themselves. Vorie told me those ones didn’t get much use anymore. Over the years, it seemed there
were less people who enjoyed manifesting their own environments. People preferred to live in dreams already created for them.

  The main bar was an ordinary room with a stainless-steel counter, neon lights, and a pool table. Clusters of circle tables and chairs filled the center. A half man, half tiger creature sang songs on the small platform stage.

  “Fawn! Genie!” Vorie cried out from a stool at the bar. Her normally sweet voice was uneven and shrieking. Brayson put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at his fiancé.

  “Someone’s already drunk,” Genie laughed as she pulled me across the room.

  “Can you believe it?” Vorie squealed as I hugged her awkwardly. She was tottering on her heels, so I sat her back down on the stool. “It’s finally over.” She grabbed her cup and raised it high in the air.

  “How much did she have?” I whispered to Brayson behind her back.

  “Like three drinks,” Brayson chuckled. “We switched her to water twenty minutes ago. When she realizes that, she’ll come back down.”

  I winked at the bartender, a young teenage boy with acne covering his face and a roaring dinosaur on his shirt. He smiled as he refilled Vorie’s cup from the water pitcher.

  Alcohol, drugs, any type of mood-altering substance was mostly a placebo effect in the realm. You thought it messed you up, so it did. That knowledge didn’t stop people from flocking to bars and drug dens. My last job at the store required me to hand out drugs to people lying around pretending to be high. I guess it’s the experience that counts. Plus, it was all legal. Well, legal in a sense. The trackers stopped people from manifesting it on their own. This made them want it more. The mafia is a smart operation.

  “Three cheers for the free woman!” Lane yelled as he grabbed Vorie’s hands. She stomped her heels giddily on the floor as they spun around in a circle. The girl who led us in, the bartender, and the teenage cocktail waitresses all turned to whistle in Vorie’s direction. She took a deep bow before falling back on the stool.

  “How does it feel?” I turned to her and asked. She smiled at me, exposing all her teeth.

  “Ah. I don’t know,” she laughed. “Just so… Free!”

  Genie eyed the water pitcher and smirked at the bartender. “I’ll have what she’s having I guess.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Brayson reached his arm out across the bar counter. “Have whatever you want, drinks are on me tonight.” Genie beamed and thanked him before she ordered a large fruity cocktail.

  “What about you, Fawn?” he asked, pulling me back from my surveillance of the room. The bar was starting to fill up as more patrons entered. “What’s your poison tonight?” I looked to the water pitcher and Brayson shook his head. “Just get something. Celebrate with us.”

  “I’ll take the house IPA,” I smiled.

  “That’s a girl.” Lane clapped me on the back. “And I’ll have a Gin and Tonic.” The bartender hurried to get our drinks.

  I sipped from the frosted glass. It tasted like water to me. I’d always had a hard time pretending these manifestations were real. Genie said it was because I was too grounded in the world. I always just assumed it was because I knew this all was fake.

  “The new job is going well then?” Genie turned to Brayson. “Seeing as though you have all these credits to throw around.”

  “I’m doing alright.” Brayson lowered his eyes to the ground. “They just promoted me to an architect position.”

  Genie’s jaw drop matched my own.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered. “That is amazing.”

  Vorie spun around on her bar stool laughing. “Isn’t it? We’re having a double celebration tonight. I’m free from the bonds of servitude and my handsome fiancé just landed one of the most sought-after careers in the universe.”

  “What do they having you doing, man?” Lane was still staring at him in disbelief.

  “I’m hoping to get this zoo job started soon.” Brayson took a sip of his drink. “But for the past week I’ve been helping with the finishing touches on this new club.”

  “A new club?” Genie clapped her hands together. “That’s exciting. What’s it called?”

  “Don’t get too excited,” Brayson laughed. “It’s an exclusive member only thing called The Nocere.”

  I froze when I heard the word. “Brayson, I have to work there starting tomorrow.”

  “Oh man, Fawn. I’m so sorry.” He swirled around the brown liquid in his glass.

  The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. The musician still sang, but the noise level grew eerily quiet. The group of people entering the main bar stepped aside to let a man through. He was beautiful, almost regal with a quiet aura. The air stilled around him. He glanced around the room with knowing eyes.

  “I’ll never understand why spirits come to places like this,” Genie whispered in my ear.

  “That’s why,” I whispered back.

  A giddy young woman with wild curling red hair clung to his arm while laughing. She ran to the bar to order a drink, using her tracker to pay. The spirit man manifested his own beer as he sat down at one of the tables. He looked around the room sadly.

  “I can’t wait until we don’t need these trackers anymore.” Lane looked at the man’s drink jealously.

  “I can wait,” I mumbled under my breath. Lane and I didn’t see eye to eye on these things. The reserved silence faded after the woman finished her drink and the couple left.

  “We haven’t had one of them in here in a long time,” the bartender told me as I declined another drink.

  The crowd in the bar was beginning to swell. The musician played louder to be heard over the roars of people talking. Vorie caught the bartender refilling her cup with water.

  “Tally!” she shouted right next to my face. “How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends.” The kid’s face went pale and his acne burned brighter. He scooted down the bar to attend to another customer.

  “It’s not his fault babe.” Brayson stood up and pulled Vorie to his chest. “I asked him to do it so you wouldn’t be too far gone when your friends got here.” She bit her lip as she looked up to his face. “How are you feeling now? Ready to drink some more?”

  She glanced over at the two young girls who had taken over the cocktail waitress shift. They both had dark sunglasses that reflected nothing, and their bodies were shades of gray. A group of customers wearing leather jackets with demon horns and glowing eyes slammed their fists on the table demanding more.

  Vorie nodded her head. “I’m ready to get drunk enough to forget this place and then never come back.” Tally poured a round of shots and they all cheered to that.

  Hours later, the rougher customers came strolling in. Not that Wasters was a classy joint or anything. All the patrons were rough, but the meaner ones like to come when the staff was already exhausted. Vorie decided to call it a night.

  The other employees whistled in unison as Vorie walked to the door, despite the annoyed barks of the customers.

  Vorie scooped the girl at the hostess station into her arms for a hug. “Take care of yourself Sammy. Find me if you ever need to.”

  Sammy put her small hands on either side of Vorie’s face. “You’re my best friend and I’m going to miss you.”

  Tears streamed down Vorie’s cheeks as we latched arms and manifested ourselves to the portal hallway.

  “I never want to come back here,” she whispered as she leaned against Brayson’s shoulder. I squeezed her free hand.

  “They all say that,” Lane sighed as he walked down the hall. Genie stomped his foot with her heel. “Ouch,” he cried as he hopped up and down, holding the affected limb. “What was that for?”

  “Quit being dramatic.” Genie rolled her eyes. “You know you don’t feel pain here.”

  “Still,” Lane glared at her as he resumed walking normally, “You don’t have to be so mean.”

  “Neither do you,” Genie mumbled as she touched her forearm to the panel. We each waited our turn to get sucked t
hrough the void back home.

  Chapter 4

  ∞

  The “Can’t Commits” were laying in the same spot as when we left. Since it had only been a few minutes world time while we were in the realm, I really didn’t think they would have gotten better that fast. Vorie refused to look at the decaying shells of human waste.

  I stayed close to her side and Brayson kept his arm around her. It wasn’t the realm alcohol affecting her balance, just the emotional trauma of the last eighteen years culminating in a single moment. I expected her to crumple on the sidewalk as we walked down the street, but she surprised me when we reached the corner.

  Vorie suddenly stood up straight and turned to face the portal. She spit angrily on the concrete and held her middle finger up straight as a sword. Rage was seething in her eyes.

  “We should burn it to the ground,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “I wish we could.” I raised my middle finger in solidarity. “But I have to go to work tomorrow.”

  “About that Fawn,” Brayson said as he stood raising his hand next to ours. “We need to talk about where you are going.”

  “Not now.” I shook my head. Vorie’s teeth were beginning to chatter. “Get her home. I’ll come by in the morning to see how she is doing.”

  Brayson nodded and steered Vorie down the opposite street away from our flat. Genie and Lane hugged her good-bye before the three of us trudged home.

  “Think she’ll be okay?” Genie asked, looking back over her shoulder.

  “She’ll be alright,” I said as I watched them move further down the dark street. “The freedom is just a shock to her system.”

  *

  Vorie’s flat was every bit a representation of her. The tiny room she had at our place grew to encompass an entire home. Sheer white curtains draped in folds over giant windows that lit up the open living room. Light blues and pale pinks blurred on mismatched furniture. Everything was artfully arranged to create a warm and inviting space.