One hour left now, and then I’d be done with work on my last day.

And I was glad that I hurried to get my work done earlier because boy, everyone wanted to say something to me. Most people were wishing me luck at my new job in the city – which was as much as anyone knew about why I was going there. The only people that knew why I was really going were very few.

“Hey.”

I glanced up, smiling when I saw Todd leaning against the short wall separating our work spaces, his glasses pushed up on top of his head.

Which I always thought was really funny. The vast majority of those in the colony had to wear glasses and could be divided into two categories – those that were fucking useless without them and couldn’t walk two steps without bumping into something (and were usually completely blind unless the lights were on or the sun was up), or those that just needed them for reading (who could get buy as long as they had a candle with them at night).

I still hadn’t figured out which Todd was.

Sometimes he had to wear them the entire shift, other times, just when he was working, staring at his computer screen.

But he never had his glasses on when he was talking to me or with me.

Ever.

“Am I ugly to you, Todd?” I drawled, my voice a little hoarse from all the screaming.

He burst into laughter as he pulled away from the separator to stand in my cubicle, leaning down against my desk to give me a bewildered look, “What?!”

“Why do you only push your glasses up when you are talking to me?” I asked in the same polite, almost coy tone I usually used with him.

He let out a startled laugh, saying then “Because I want you to see my beautiful eyes and remember them, not my glasses!” He laughed. “I’m near sighted. Sorta.”

“Uh-huh.” I said as I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms across my chest as I coughed a little.

But I wasn’t going to push it.

“Come with me to the new restaurant on Daylight Street for dinner.” He said then with a brief lift of his chin.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s Riverside so...fish.”

I laughed, “What sets this one apart, do you think?”

“Find out with me.” He said with a smirk as he straightened.

I gave him a sly smile.

Yup.

We for sure had a flirtatious relationship.

But regardless of the possibility of sneaking around and be romantic with men, I would never have a romantic relationship with Todd because Blue would literally chop off my balls.

“It will have to be a quick dinner. I have to head home as quick as I can, my mom is doing a cleansing ritual.” I said with a sigh, leaning forward to return to my work.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He said as he sat back down.

There was a beep that was all to familiar to be and I stilled, sitting up straighter in my seat before I stood.

That was the JN error code noise.

I twisted to the other cubicle, looking down as one of the newer recruits picked up the comm at his desk to call our manager.

Marybeth had retired after the last incident, instead working in town at the clinic, so we had a new manager, a sort of twitchy woman who was older than my grandma by a couple years. She was the only Tawny clan member I had met, since they all lived up north, but she was nice and friendly, if not a bit overly energetic.

She laughed as she came over, asking if I had seen a ghost before she went and ran the samples again for my coworker. Sure enough, the error report wasn’t there when they were finished.

But my nerves were raw as all hell anyway.

“There’s medicine in the water now so JN babies being conceived should be...entirely impossible.” My manager, Hakeema, said with a smile.

Todd wondered over then, his glasses high on his nose, a smile on his face. “I heard rumors from the city that the medication might cause allergic reactions?”

Our manager nodded with a frown. “Yes, unfortunately it can, which is why they gave out shots before they put the medicine in the water.”

“I also heard a rumor that they were thinking of switching to a different medication.”

Our managed frowned, pushing her own glasses up her nose, hers the dainty silver framed ones all the girls were wearing these days while Todd had wide rimmed frames with little gold crosses around the top. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“Mm, the new medication I heard it was going to be was...Sica-something?” He asked with a frown.

“Sicatathpol?” The manager frowned.

He snapped his finger at her. “That’s the one.”

“They’re actually using that now – it’s a mixture with Trenitsol.” She said with a nod.

“That must be it then.” Todd said with a little smile. Our manager smiled as well, turning to walk away after patting my shoulder. I smiled at Todd and he smiled down at me. “I do love science,” He said in a cheerful tone. I shrugged. I was indifferent. I just like learning in general. “Are you excited for the city?”

“Yeah.” I said with a sigh, “To bad you aren’t coming up for two days. I would have liked us riding together.” I said as Todd pushed his glasses up by the bridge of their nose to let them rest on his head.

“Yeah, I would have liked hanging out with you on the ride up...thought I haven’t the faintest idea what we could pass the time with, alone in a compartment for four hours.” He said with a smirk. I laughed. “I have a feeling your really, really going to like the city.”

“Oh yeah? You don’t see me as a small town guy?” I said, looking around casually to make sure no one was listening in on our flirting. No one was. Most were still busy trying to vomit out all the words that they had kept to themselves since the silence started.

“I see you as someone that will enjoy all the city has to offer.” He said with a little smirk. “We can enjoy it together.”

I laughed. “I look forward to it.” I said easily. “It’s my last day though, what are you treating me to?”

“Lunch. At a new fish restaurant.”

I let out a bark of laughter. “Alright then, Vermilion. Let’s see what your city has in store for us before we leave it behind.”

“Let me go turn in my reports and I’ll come back and get you.”

“I’m going to go give one last good by to Hakeema.” I said with a nod, sighing as I turned off my computer, grabbed my backpack, and walked back to the managers office. She had a box of hand made soap for me to bring with me to the city and thanked her, promising to tell an old friend of hers that would be working in the lab I would be assigned to hello for her.

After saying goodbye to a couple others, I caught up with Todd.

It would be weird, not being in Riverside five or six days of the week, every week. We had been so busy at the lab up until about four months ago that they required I be there when I wasn’t helping my family recover from my loss.

It was hard to imagine what it would have been like if I had been registered my entire life – I was eighteen and a couple months now, which meant I should be having about ten different people breathing down my neck to get married-

But because they had the marriage pause, so no one was being pressured to marry while we all recovered from our losses, and I was, you know, born off the record.

So the colony could not give a fuck about me, because...I didn’t really exist.

But I couldn’t just be a ghost forever, which is why I was doing all of this.

It would have been really easy if I could stay a ghost thought. I couldn’t own property or have anything in my name, nor could I get married, yeah, but….

Also I could just be for a little while.