I lay, my skin soaking up the hot sun, my hands picking up the sand at my sides before allowing the grains to fall from my grasp. I eye the grey-blue sky above me studying it’s dead presence. I sit up, grasping at the red-orange sand. I roll my eyes and let out a sigh, tilting my head back to look up at the cloudless sky once again. I do this same thing everyday, just eagerly awaiting something exciting to happen. Since the time I was old enough to make my own decisions I’ve been coming out here to watch. The earth's surface has always intrigued me, I’ve been trying my best to know more about it for as long as I can remember. Every so often a stranded ship or lost aircraft will enter over our borders, and to their surprise, in they come, to what I deem as hell. That is, if they survive whatever mishap they’ve been apart of. It’s been 184 years since the last arrival happened, but still I wait for the next. Life here in the triangle isn’t what I want, I’ve learnt as much as I can about what's beyond our sky, and that’s what I want. So here I sit, patiently awaiting the portal to open, just hoping that somehow I’ll manage to get through it and into the world which calls for me. With each day that goes by, the more I know the chances are slim, and yet, I still sit. The last arrivals were my own parents, and if there is anybody in our community who fears the world it would be them. The things they tell me are hard to believe, I know I should believe them as they lived it, but all part of me knows there has to be some good to what’s out there. I lay back, resting my head into my hands which find a spot beneath it.

“Eryn!” I sit up turning my head. I roll my eyes and lay back the way I was. “Eryn” she says, her voice laced with aggravation. “When will you give it up?” my sister continues, and with her voice I roll to my side to show her my own irritation. “Nothing is going to happen out here, when will you learn that the damn thing isn't going to open again, nevermind how in the hell you’ll leave, you won’t and you know it, so give it up” I know she speaks but all I do is my best to ignore her. “You’re missing class and you know the consequences of that” she nudges my shoulder and I feel the sand shift as she seats herself beside me. Slowly I sit up, still not taking notice to her. I take a handful of sand raising it to my mouth I blow sending the grains flying. I watch as each floats back to the ground. “Dad isn’t going to be happy with you” she nudges me again. “So” I finally respond. “So, you are supposed to be in class, like everybody else, not out here dreaming about pointless things and near impossible happenings”.

“Right, I’d much rather be in class learning how to plant a seed correctly, build tents, and reproduce, because everything about that is fun” I stand from the ground dusting off my skirt and beginning to walk away from her.
“Eryn, you’re missing the point, that’s what we are raised to do, that’s our purpose” she tells me, as if I haven’t heard it before. “No Skye, we are not born with a purpose given to us, we are born to seek and find one” I retort, my voice ridden with anger but still monotone.

Together the two of us head back to our home sector. “She’s home” Skye calls into the tent and to my mother who sits shucking corncobs.

I take a seat on the grass and watch the flames raise up and around the pot which hang above it. “Young lady” my father's voice startles me. “Yes father” I acknowledge him but don’t remove my eyes from the fire. ‘Where have you been” he takes a seat beside me. “Sector One” I respond confidently. “Again?!” he yells standing up to his feet once again. I look up to him “Yes”. “Forget the world you think is out there, and remember the one you were taught about” he tells me and I roll my eyes. “What do you think will happen?!” his voice raises and I shrug. “Nothing Eryn! Not one thing will happen out there!” he continues. “That's fine, it’s the theory that entices me father” I speak calmly, my eyebrows raise and my voice lets him know how much I don’t care. “Tomorrow if you are not in class there will be strong repercussions” he angrily tells me. “I’ll be prepared for that” I retort. He purses his lips and leaves into the tent.

“Would you stop it with all this nonsense about what world there is, and all your little made up theories and face what reality you live in instead of focusing on your abstract dreams” Skye begins, as she pours chicken stock into the pot to boil. I look up to her with a glare taking every ounce of self control in me not to lash out with anger. “What? It’s all in your head, nothing will happen out there, the portal has never gone this long without opening and it isn't about to any time soon, so give it up” she eggs on. “But what if it does?” I throw an unwanted question at her. She goes to speak but I know she is at a loss for words at such a question. With no other exchanges, she leaves. She’s scared, they all are. Our whole lives we’ve been taught to fear the outside world, to be scared of anything that could ever possibly enter our safe triangle which they all enjoy calling home. They fear what they say is impossible, but what I say will happen. I scare them, my thoughts send shivers down their spins and makes their hair stand upright. I know they fear the worse and as do I, but that portal opening I see as a light, as my true calling, we are born to find who we are and myself is out there, on the surface, I just know it. I know I could have a life that is more than farming and mothering children upon children. I don’t want to work the fields, I want a job which I can enjoy. I don’t want to be assigned a suitable husband, I want to experience love at my own pace. I’m not one to just abide by whatever the elders say, I want to live and what they call life here isn’t living. Every step you take is a marked routine, each step you walk today is the same each step you’ll walk the next. It’s like they have no souls, no freewill, no, no anything. My father can tell me all he wants, threaten me as much as he wants, but nothing is stopping me from being out in sector one, under that portal, because my curiosity and determination to get out of this hell hole is larger than their fears.

Night has fallen and everyone has retreated to their tents for sleep, all but me. I remain where they left me. Rubbing my hands together to warm them, I look over my shoulder and into my sister and my home tent. My eyes shift to the ground. What if something were to happen?

I stand, walking into the tent and kneeling at my bed side. A small sling bag lay flat in front of me. I look back at my sister, asleep. I grab a canteen and fill it with water from our bucket before shoving it into the bag. I pick up a small jar of fresh picked grapes, tossing it into the bag beside the canteen. “Eryn” my sister mumbles catching me off guard. I turn to her whose eyes remain closed. “Get some sleep” she speaks rolling over to face her back to me. I don’t make a sound, just pick up the bag a quietly skip from the tent into the cool breeze. I know what I’m doing is wrong, and if there's a worse crime I could commit from what I usually do, it would be leaving the home sector in the dead of night. Before heading out towards the desert of sector one, I retrieve a large scrap cloth from my parents clothes line and stuff it into my bag. Without taking another look back I run, into the darkness.

I have a feeling, a tingling in me, I just know something will happen today. Everything inside me is telling me today is the day. Today, my dreams will mold into reality. It’ll all happen today.