Still, Theo had come to think of the penthouse as home. As much as he missed his family, as much as he was tired of rotating through the same few articles of clothing over and over, and as much as he wanted above all to return to his little suburban life, there was something charming about coming home from work to his best friends and his girlfriend. In a world with no television to watch (Ryan assured him they were working on that) and no computers or phones to play with, Theo and his friends had discovered the pleasantries of simply talking with one another.
The day of the lottery, the teens packed up their few belongings and departed the penthouse for the last time. They walked in silence. Theo knew they all were thinking the same thing as him: the penthouse had been their refuge in the face of a frightening and terrible disaster. He wished they could take some of the furniture, but in addition to the difficulty of the task the official lottery procedures had stated that furniture must remain in place. Theo wondered how that would go over with those few who were about to leave the homes they had rightfully owned prior to the Event.
The teens arrived at one of the several lottery stations that had been erected in anticipation of the day’s activity. A woman with long gray hair pulled into a ponytail stood on a platform and fiddled with a laptop that seemed to be misbehaving. Finally, she got the results she was looking for and approached the microphone.
“Good day, citizens of Atlantic Island!” she cheerfully intoned. “Today is the day you have all been waiting for…the day you get to go home!” A mixed reaction from the crowd greeted this statement. Theo was taken aback by the woman’s boldness in reminding everyone that Atlantic Island was the new reality. Thoughts of returning to their pre-Event lives should apparently be banished until further notice. He assumed representatives at all the lottery stations were repeating similar sentiments, potentially those exact words.
“Today’s lottery should be very efficient and we’ll get you all to your new accommodations as soon as possible. First the computer will generate a name at random. Then, it will pick from among all the possible choices remaining to us on this island. Do not worry, even with the damage from the Event I have been assured there is enough quality real estate left for everyone! Please remember that only citizens aged sixteen and older may be assigned homes. If you do not have parents with you on the island, you will be assigned legal guardians by the government.”
“When your name has been selected and a home chosen, come to the desk at the side of this platform. You will be told how many citizens may be co-owners and residents of your new home. You may then select others to occupy that home with you. If you do not choose enough other residents to fill that particular space, citizens will be selected for remaining openings at the end of the lottery.”
The woman’s face became very serious. “It is my duty to inform you that there are no trades, no changing of one’s mind, and no “do-overs.” As there is not yet a system of currency in place on the island, sales of homes are not allowed.” She smiled broadly. “But enough of all that dreary legalese. Let’s give out some homes!”
The process proceeded without much interruption or controversy. Theo was selected toward the beginning of the process and assigned a one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the city district. He was allowed one co-owner and selected Kylee.
Michelle was assigned to a large, 8 bedroom house in Ventnor; one of the few that had survived the Event without any damage. She selected Ryan and Jamie but found that Bill was not eligible for ownership because of his arrest and Mark could not be assigned because of his continued incapacitation at the hospital. Ryan promised Bill he could stay with them as long as he wanted. The remaining six rooms in the large house went back into the lottery pool.
Theo and Kylee walked for twenty minutes from the lottery station to their new home. The small apartment had not been well maintained. What little furniture existed was dirty and broken. Theo assumed either the original owner or whomever had occupied the apartment up until the lottery had damaged it out of anger and spite. Kylee saw his expression and tried to be positive. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we will straighten this place up in no time. If this is going to be our future I want to make the most of it.” She maneuvered herself into his arms and kissed him. Theo kissed her back, his mood lifting.
Over the next few days, in between work shifts, Theo and Kylee did manage to pull things together. Theo borrowed tools from the construction site and did some small repairs where he could. Once the place had been cleaned of dirt, sand and cobwebs, it actually held a little charm.
Bill and Jamie began to hang out there regularly when not working or at the hospital. Despite the big shore house offering more luxuries than the humble apartment, Bill said the other residents made him feel “crowded.” Bill’s wounds from the protest and arrest were healing rapidly and he did not seem overly concerned about his upcoming trial, scheduled for the first week of September. Theo worried constantly. He didn’t trust anything attached to Deputy Mayor Tiberius in any way, and Kylee kept bringing home reports of rumors from the precinct that the leadership wanted to make an example of Bill and the other protestors.
The remaining weeks of August went by in a blur. With the Margate protests quelled, at least for the time being, the destruction of the remaining homes and stores along Atlantic Avenue went quickly. By the end of the month, the final debris was being hauled away, and much of Theo and Bill’s work went to breaking up the asphalt of the side streets. Soon, the foreman had told them, they would move to demolishing the buildings around Ventnor Avenue. The two avenues, cut short as they were, would remain to enable faster transport of goods between the new farmland and the rest of the island.
The morning of Bill’s trial, they all went to the hospital to visit Mark. Mark’s condition had not changed, but he looked significantly more wasted and shrunken than when they had first discovered his whereabouts. Bill held his friend’s hand and spoke so softly that to Theo it appeared his lips were moving soundlessly. Perhaps Bill was hoping Mark could lend him some of his confidence. The thought made Theo’s eyes well up and he quickly lowered his head.
The walk to the courthouse from the hospital took a long time. Theo had never been so far into the city. He wondered where Atlantic Island ended on this side. The courthouse was next to a large park that was filled with people waiting to hear what would come from this, the first high profile trial in the short history of the new country.
Bill said goodbye to his friends at the first security checkpoint behind the courthouse doors. Theo whispered, “Just do what the judge says. Be polite. Be respectful. This isn’t the place to make a big statement.”
“Relax,” said Bill. “I’ve got this.”
An armed officer escorted him down the hall. They turned left and disappeared from view. Theo and the rest of his friends followed signs down a series of hallways to an elevator. As the teens waited their turn outside the elevator’s bronze doors, Ryan said what Theo had been thinking: “Bill’s not gonna keep it together.”
“Give him a chance,” said Kylee, “He knows how serious this is.”
“Right,” said Jamie, “Plus, he was only trying to break up the fight. He’s not even one of the real protestors.”
“Well it would help if he doesn’t try to argue the protestor’s case for them,” said Theo. “Bill doesn’t like to keep quiet.”
The elevator took them to the third floor where the doors opened on another long hallway. The floor was covered in marble and the walls appeared to be adorned in some kind of wood. Mahogany, Theo assumed, not that he knew anything about that kind of thing. They passed several doors on either side, but it was clear that they were headed to the giant double doors directly at the end of the hall. Security guards posted on either side held assault rifles across their chests. “Do you see that?” Ryan asked Theo. “They mean business.”