She watched her own reflection in the mirror, focused on her complexion, thought of how pale she used to think it was only about 24 hours ago, but that was before she landed in Pallid and saw the extraordinary bright shade with its slight pinkish tone. Her faint golden skin seemed 10 times darker in contrast, no wonder everyone kept staring at her at that coffee shop.

A knock on the bathroom door startled her.

“You done yet?” shouted Veronica.

She took a deep breath and answered, “Yes, yes, just a minute.”

“Okay, just don’t slip, all right! I can’t afford taking you to the hospital, if you know what I mean.”

And she did. It was too risky, she’d have to expose herself. And an outsider in Pallid or any section without authorization or a legal permission could be sentenced to death.

“Yes, yes, I get it. I’ll be out in a minute, I said.”

At that, Asli heard the stranger’s footsteps retreating away from the door and disappearing in the distance.

She sighed. Tilting her head to the side, she gathered all her golden locks in one fist and squeezed all the water out into the sink.

She wore a cute white dotted pyjama offered to her by her host, but considering the stark difference between the two girls’ heights, Asli had to fold the sleeves and the pants about twice or thrice to feel comfortable.

Sighing for the second time in a row, she held the knob and turned it, the door creaking as it opened.

“Finally!” she heard Veronica shout as soon as she closed it behind her. “Come out here, I’ve got the table ready for dinner!”

With her stomach complaining already, Asli couldn’t turn the offer down, in fact, she was grateful for it.

A few quite steps later she was out of the corridor and back to the living room. Veronica was sitting down at one end and gathering spaghetti with her fork. She waved for her to join her and Asli obliged, politely taking the seat next to her host.

“So,” Veronica started as she swallowed, “What brings you here to Pallid?”

Asli let her fork roam around the food in her plate, embarrassed to eat despite her hunger. She gulped and kept staring at her food as she answered. “Nothing really.”

“Nothing?” she exclaimed, giving Asli her full attention. “You can’t tell me you decided to illegally cross sections for nothing, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Asli sighed as she lay back in her chair.
“Well?” Veronica pressed, raising an eyebrow.

It was hard to note why exactly Asli thought Veronica could be trusted. Nothing could ever suggest it, the girl seemed too open and curious for anybody to be comfortable in her presence, and yet Asli saw something in her that didn’t make her feel any hint of fear as she spilt out the whole truth a moment later.

“Well,” Veronica said when she was done, “that’s... Interesting.”

“You don’t sound convinced.” Asli noted in an instance.

“No no no no, I’m just overwhelmed. As a first, I never knew life outside Pallid was that hard, damn it.”

At that she lay back on her seat and angled herself towards Asli, her expression a mixture of confusion, pity, and shock all at the same time.

“I mean,” she continued, not waiting for Asli’s response, “we’re over here living out best life with the latest technologies and lots of food on our table, and you’re literally dying? Surviving in little colonies and trying to defend yourselves against section riots that are based on, on what again?"

“Racial reasons.” Asli finished for her, her arms hugging her chest as she listened to her.

“Yes, exactly that. And why is there still riots based on racial reasons, as you proposed, after the Separation act of 2035. ‘Cause as far as I know, all the wars stopped since then.”

Asli was so shook, she couldn’t help staring at her with her widened eyes for the entirety of the 10 seconds that passed.

“What?” Veronica finally said, her confusion even more intensified at Asli’s reaction.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she found herself saying as she stood up, neither noticing how her voice rose to a yell nor the trembling of her hands.

“What? What do you mean?” she paused when she caught the sight of Asli’s shaking hands, “Are you okay? What happened?” she said, her expression was that of concern as she, too, rose up from her seat.

Asli shook her head frantically as she intertwined her hands to stop the sudden surge of panic.

She started speaking slowly through short breaths, “Are you trying to tell me that you absolutely had NO idea of what’s been happening since 2035? That you don’t know that our population has decreased so much in the last  century that we’re now literally, literally, near an apocalypse? Are you telling me that we, as in the human race, is close to extinction and you have no idea about it?”

Veronica stood silent, frozen solid.
Asli took in a deep breath, and as she looked up at the ceiling she started laughing hysterically, leading the other girl in the room to slightly feel alarmed.

“I,” she started to respond, trying to gather the truth in some words but the haze in her brain was making it so hard, “I swear to God, I swear, I had no idea. We were never told, up until this moment I had a firm belief that all sections lived in our luxury, that the,” she stuttered and had to pause for a second, “that the Separation act was a peace advocate. No more wars no more deaths, I swear to God I had no idea. In fact, I don’t even know what to say ‘cause I just can’t believe it, I can’t believe it at all.”

Hearing that, Asli calmed down in a weird sense. She sat back down, put her head in her hands and started to cry, so quiet at first but eventually rising to a loud sob. Her shoulders shook and her tears fell onto the glass dining table.

Veronica’s eyes welled up and her heart broke into pieces at that sight. She couldn’t remember ever feeling as helpless and shattered as she did that moment, standing in the middle of the living room. She felt as if she was watching the scene from a third perspective, as if she were stuck in a dream she was aware of.

She gathered all her will to take the next few slow steps towards the girl who just couldn’t stop sobbing. Not even realizing it, Veronica circled her arms around Asli and hugged her tight, so much so that her arms ached from the pressure exerted on them. Asli didn’t seem to mind as she embraced her back and cried even louder.

And in the darkness of that evening, in the heaviness of its emotions, where two hearts intertwined in pain and despair, fire burning in their chests, the citylights of Pallid hadn’t flickered, the music in the rushing cars hadn’t stopped, the parties kept going on for the night, the laughter rose with the smell of wine. Pallid and those who lived in it were just as unbothered as they ever could be, the way they had been everytime blood was spilt on ash and ruin, everytime an orphaned child screamed next to his dead mother. Pallids had a ticket of protection, of promise, of fortune, that ticket being merely their skin.

And perhaps, that’s what needed to change.