Jacob

Part 1

Jacob looked out over the waves of the ocean that encircled the planet. It wasn’t but a hundred years ago that land still stood where they were now, the platforms built on the peaks of the mountains that now lay leagues below. From afar off, he heard a ship’s bell ring and saw the white sails peek over the horizon. The wind gusted a bit through his hair as he heard the bell of the lighthouse toll in answer, it’s sound echoing off the buildings that lay behind.

“Hey, are you going to help, or what?” Jacob heard a call from Mark. Looking over at him, he saw he was carrying a bag of fish, slung over his shoulder. Looking back down at the dock he stood on, Jacob picked up one of the bags that lay at his feet.

“Sorry about that, drifted off for a second.”

“What, thinking about her?”

Jacob laughed and shook his head. He wasn’t quite right about the moment, but yeah, that’s where his thoughts were most of the time these days. Remembering that, and how she felt…he tried his best to not let the smile drop.

He hoisted the bag over his shoulder and joined his friend as they walked back to the shop down the road. “Yeah, a bit.”

“I’m sorry man, but you really need to let it go. It’s been what, two weeks? It’s not like you two were dating or something.”

“Yeah, I know. It just…sucks to see someone like that, you know? It looked like she was enjoying it here, fish and all, and then her old man ferry’s her off somewhere. It just didn’t seem like that’s what she actually wanted, you know?”

“Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?”

Jacob sighed. Mark was right, as usual. The two of them crossed over a plank bridge over toward a small shop on a platform.

Ms. Taylor looked at them as they came in. “Took you boys long enough, don’t you think? Or did you have to catch the fish yourselves?”

“No Ms. Taylor, sorry. Where do you want them?”

She pointed to a pair of empty barrels off to one side of the shop. Put them in there, and then fill up the rest with ice. You can get it from the back, you know where it is.

The two boys emptied their bags into the barrel, grunting with effort as they tried to keep a hold of them. Jacob walked around to the back room where the ice and other supplies were kept. He grabbed one of the buckets and filled it, yelling for Mark to come help.

Maybe he was just envious of her?

Part 2

Mark came in a couple moments later and took the bucket Jacob had filled up. After filling up a few more, Jacob took one in each hand and went back to the barrel they'd filled with fish before pouring it over the top.

A couple minutes of this and they were finished.

"We're done Ms. Taylor! Did you need anything else from the docks?" Mark called to her as they walked back into the main room.

"No, that was it. You two have a nice day now!" Ms. Taylor liked to play a bit of a hard-ass, but she was a nice enough lady. Jacob and Mark took their leave and walked back over the bridge, heading towards the docks again.

Jacob pulled out his communicator and scrolled through the entries before checking Ms. Taylor off the list. "Okay, next one is...Mr. Mikaels? Four bags? Ugh, he's over on the other side of town. Why didn't he order from the dock over there?" Mark shrugged in response. "Well, let's see if we can take the bike and cart."

The two boys walked back to the dock and Jacob felt his thoughts drift back to the girl again. She was able to just...leave like that, going wherever she wanted. Meanwhile, he was stuck here, or as far as one of the fishing boats could take him. Their town's platform was fairly small, only a square mile or so. But on it was packed an incredible number of buildings and people. But...Jacob had seen it. All of it, almost every day. Sure, he saw the south side docks the most often, but every once in a while someone like Mr. Mikaels dragged them out to the other side.

They arrived back at the docks and looked around for the cart, but couldn't find it. "Well, should we ask the boss, or just walk?" Mark asked with an annoyed tone.

Jacob sighed. The guy in charge of the fish deliveries was Mr. Jameson, and he wasn't exactly...understanding. Carrying about 30 pounds of fish a mile was doable, but their arms would be falling off by the time they got there. "Rock paper scissors for it?"

Mark shook his head and held out his hand. One, two, shoot. They looked at the result for a moment before Jacob sighed. "Alright, fine."

He walked toward Jameson's office with an unhappy look on his face.