The After/Life (The After/Life Odyssey) Read Online Free

for our names with that familiar whisper telling us that we would not pass and we would never become Teachers. I remember the moment when I finally found my name in the Teacher Training section – it was probably the single happiest moment of my life, it was the day when I was finally able let go of my sorrow and look into the future with bold eyes...  
     
 

Chapter VII
    Looking back now, I can say that the four years of Teacher training were probably the best time of my life. I was a teenager and being a teenager is always associated with certain notions and feelings – even in the post-apocalyptic world.
    At that time, on the twelfth year of the New Era, there were around 160 of us and, for the lack of a better word, we were thriving. All the machinery and life support mechanisms of the nuclear shelter were running smoothly, there were no more sudden deaths, the gardens and orchards were producing crops aplenty and even the fact that one of the cows just gave birth to a three headed calf could not spoil the overall mood of jubilation and the feeling that life, strange as it may seem, was back on track.
    This was also the time when I first fell in love. Her name was Suzannah. I had known her all my life. She was the only daughter of a local colonel in charge of the military shipyard. Sometimes, when my parents took me to the port, I would look at the giant ships chained in the brightly lit hangars – prisoners to their malfunctioning mechanical organisms - they looked uncomfortably out of place and positively unhappy in their stranded position. And there I would see Suzannah, running jubilantly around the metallic sea monsters with one of the soldiers trying to catch up with her lest she hurts herself. I would watch her as she laughed and kept on running with her long dark hair flying after her, her white dress flapping in the wind, all smudged up and completing the image of a little mischievous angel. She was two years older than me so she officially ignored me, although I would have sacrificed my favorite toys for a chance to climb one of those ships - especially the Orpheus - a magnificent military vessel that arrived at the shipyard just days before the End. It was damaged by a torpedo that left an ugly tear at the side of the perfect silvery hull. I dreamt of sailing the mighty ship (right into the maroon colored horizon) after it was repaired but not all dreams come true (or do they?).
    After the End, Suzannah did not speak at all for almost a year. When she finally did, she seemed perfectly happy and calm, although sometimes her eyes would give away the storm that was raging inside her. I can’t say that we were friends as she was always hanging out with older Students. We were living parallel lives, each in our own little circle of friends. Our conversations were limited to an occasional small talk, which always left me feeling awkward and disgusted with my clumsiness. All of that changed on that day…
    I was done with my Teacher training classes for the day. I had chosen World Literature and History as my majors and was enjoying every minute of my studies. After the classes, I dropped by the underground pool (which was actually part of the water filtration station) and swam for two hours in the dimly lit facility. Swimming gave me a sense of freedom from the overwhelming confines of the School. Sometimes I would imagine that I was somewhere else, somewhere outside, maybe swimming towards the Orpheus, back in the sea, once again ready to set sail for lands unseen (and, perhaps, never to be seen). After swimming I headed over to the air purification machines. Going there had become a kind of a habit and I would just go there and sit in the corner and sometimes read a book but mostly just listen, listen with almost no hope of hearing anything but listen nevertheless. And as I sat there with my back against the metallic wall, I saw her coming towards me. Suzannah was wearing the standard issue Teacher trainee