She chose the wide empty wall behind the TV and turned it into a mural of her project. With a pink neon torch light she put up her research one by one and kept the rest in the box next to Adrian's chest.
Adrian watched her from the matrass, admiring her enthusiasm. She was relentless, wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, the kind of person who would go through lengths to get what she wants.
Adrian remembered how eager he was to go on an adventure when he was her age. An adventure in Mofocity could mean danger. Curiosity had taken him on a solo trip all over the city and all of it's edges. That was how he learned about the history and the future of where he existed. It was a disappointing lesson but an extraordinary experience.
Somehow he was happy with the journey even though the result was far from what he'd expected. The city was surrounded by the forest for the most part, the only edge that wasn't covered by trees was the West Edge where the floaters were. He'd seen that edge in the light too, there were only thick mist of fog and a bottomless ravine.
He couldn't bring himself to enter the forest, though he often stared at it for hours when he was out on his strolls. He felt like it spoke to him. The silence was sometimes deafening at night but the leaves of the trees whispered. The darkness echoed. Deep in the woods lay the secret of the city where no one dared to discover. He wondered. Then he turned back to the life he had chosen.
He felt his eyes were getting heavier, he could see from the corner of his eyes, that lady was sitting on the matrass, looking directly at the wall where Friday was working. Her hair bundled in a bun, Victorian black dress, sitting with both hands on her lap, motionless, soundless. Adrian shut his eyes completely, hoping he'd fall asleep soon after.
He vaguely remembered what his mother looked like. He knew her face, but the details had faded in his mind. He kept a blurry picture of her in a small can, it used to be in his pocket wherever he goes but he didn't want to lose or ruined the only reminder he had of her. But he could never forget the last time he saw her, no matter how hard he tried, it haunts him still, even in his dreams.
She was still in her night gown that afternoon when he found her. She was facing down on the floor, her hair drenched in blood. As he moved closer, he saw a pool of blood where her head laid. Blood drips from a gaping wound on her head, her eyes wide opened. He knew right then, she was dead.
He was paralyzed with fear, he couldn't make a single sound even though he wanted to scream from the top of his lungs. He wanted to jump to her rescue but he just stood there. He was twelve, had just gotten home from school to that horrific scene. His lips were glued together, his tongue limped. That was the day he'd lost the will to speak.
And then he saw a movement, his mother's fingers started to move. They started to tremble and she slowly lift up her hand as if she was reaching out to him. Her eyes widened in horror, she opened her mouth, tried to make out a word. Her throat was slit, blood clogged her pipes. She started to weep and then she cried out in a cracked voice, "GET HER OUT!!!!!"
He woke up in a jolt, the dream never ended that way before. She was dead, she was always dead just like when he found her. Before he could even process it, he saw the lady still sitting on his matrass pointing to the wall and screamed the same thing, "GET HER OUT!!!!!" in a deep demonic hoarse voice. Friday was no longer in front of the wall, he turned to look and she was fast asleep by his side not interrupted by the scream. He looked again to his right, the lady was gone. He couldn't go back to sleep.
She never spoken before, both his mom nor the lady. He didn't know what it meant but it was probably because of Friday. No one had ever stayed in his flat before, maybe the lady didn't like that. Maybe she penetrated his dream and tried to tell him that Friday wasn't welcome there. But he shrugged it off.
He walked towards the wall. A web of information was linked with colorful threads. Places, faces, names and newspaper clippings. Friday wasn't fantasizing her escape from Mofocity, she had a master plan. On top one of her boxes was a manuscript. "MOFOCITY: A Study by Jade Cromwell" it was typed but not bound, she hadn't finished with her research. He started reading it. It was an essay for her history class and it began way before the separation. She detailed her findings from the 1960's when the government started doing their investigation on Twincity, the former name of Mofocity.
"They didn't like my report ... they said it was too scientific for a high school essay."
Friday's voice startled him. He put down the manuscript.
"Oh ... go ahead read it, I think you should know more than you already do if you're going to help me out," she sat up and stretched her arms. "I don't know what they're trying to teach us at school if valid research is considered 'too scientific' ... so I thought I'd continue my work for personal reasons and the things I found were more fascinating as I go."
Adrian went back to the wall. Something caught his eyes, vintage maps of the world was in the top middle of Friday's web. It was a sequence of maps, the first one was the most interesting where the earth consist of only blue part and one large piece of land.
"They particularly didn't like that one ... they said it's just a fairytale, the world has ended on the day of the separation, and what's left of it is hell on earth as we see on TV ... and we should be grateful to have been spared from it, forever living in this shithole totally controlled by my dad and the government ... but at least it's safe."
"I've never seen a map like this before," Adrian was still amazed with the first map.
"That's the map of Pangea, how the world used to be 335 million years ago ... one supercontinent surrounded by blue water ... they call the water part 'The Ocean'" she approached him and pointed to parts of the land. "It gradually broken off into 7 continents ... Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Antarctica, Africa and Australia, they drifted apart and it happened very slowly in the course of millions of years ... maybe it's still happening now, it only makes sense, don't you think?" Adrian never knew of this and it was an eye opener, he nodded in agreement.
She put on her boots, took her jacket and her backpack, "I don't have much time, I need you to take me somewhere ... we'll be doing this a lot for the next couple of weeks, you'll be convinced before than."