Cloud Nine
- Sep 9, 2018
- 3 min read
Nephele Peregrine lived on cloud nine, the cloud colony closest to the atmosphere. The sky was perpetually dark, but the stars were brighter than anywhere on earth. It was beautiful, but the lack of natural light had bleached the colour out of her skin, so she looked to be made of paper rather than flesh. It was the same for everybody on Cloud Nine. They'd been nicknamed Sky Ghosts by the denser populated colonies closer to the earth. At first, it was wounding, but the people took it in their stride and, despite their isolation and fragile appearance, they were happy.
But not Nephele. Upon walking home from school, she found herself in an increasingly sour mood. As her pale eyebrows knitted together and the corners of her mouth turned downwards, she struggled with the constant dizziness of walking on cloud streets. It was infuriating. She had spent all her life on Cloud Nine, feet running along pillowed pavements with no trouble what so ever. But as soon as she turned 14, the air sickness hit and even getting out of bed was a constant battle to stay balanced and not throw up.
No one knew why she had air sickness. She wasn't like the other affected kids who couldn't adjust to the change in air pressure after living their whole lives on the lower levels. Nor was she like the older residents whose lungs were deteriorating with age. Her lungs were healthy, she was a Cloud Niner born and bred, but for some reason, her body couldn't cope. She was, as Doctor Vande told her regularly, a medical mystery.
As she turned the corner that opened onto her street, she had to hold onto a lamp post to keep herself upright. Her head was spinning, and her stomach was doing loop the loops. All she wanted to do was sit down and nurse her head between her hands until everything stopped moving. Just a few more seconds, she told herself. A few more seconds and then she would be through the front door, and everything would be okay. On the kitchen table, waiting for her, was a lovely little pill that could take the dizziness away.
Nephele didn't like taking the pills. They tasted like bitterness and made her feel sleepy. But they were the only thing that allowed her to move around. The people of Cloud Nine looked down on anyone taking Edom Pills. They viewed it as a weakness, and anyone caught taking them was shunned. For a society isolated because of prejudice, it would have been a logical assumption that they would be protective of their own, despite their differences, but they weren't. That's why the pills stayed on the kitchen table and not in her bag, where they should be.
It was an exhausting way to live. Her parents had considered sending her to live with her aunt on Cloud Four to prevent discord, but Nephele had steadfastly refused. She was a Cloud Niner and proud of it. It didn't matter to her if she risked exclusion or bullying or if she could collapse any minute, she was staying. Cloud Nine was her home, with its dark skies and fluffy streets, its pale people and bright stars. To remove her would be separating her from her soul. And so, her parents let her stay, albeit reluctantly.
The sun was setting down on the ground, but Cloud Nine saw none of it. The Sky Ghosts carried on as if it were the middle of the day, their pale skin glowing and their pale feet barely skimming the cloud beneath their feet as they walked. And Edom Pills were taken and nausea hidden. Dizzy spells were passed off as clumsiness, and as her classmates laughed as she fell over another chair, Nephele smiled with them, using humour as a shield for the pills in her system. For now, she could live on the cloud she loved. For now, she was safe.
Painting: Peace by Afarin Sajedi
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