The Chains

Written by Christina Onorato

“Why can’t there be a different hairstyle? This one does not match my hair!” Leah cried, tugging at her auburn locks that were coiled together to look more like a segment of rope, rather than their natural soft waves.

“Well, it’s the number one style right now!” her friend Bena retorted.

In spite of this advice, Leah felt that ever since their fifth birthdays, the “Technological Age,” she and Bena had been drifting farther and farther apart like two clouds in a blue sky. Bena had scarcely ever looked up from her hand except to look at herself in the mirror.

Leah sighed.

She wasn’t particularly happy with this new trending style. But as her tablet gave an electric rumble and a “Zup!” she found that that style was already over and the new style was braids that spiraled upward in midair. She tapped her finger on the “Apply” button on the screen, and she felt the usual rush of electricity race up her arm, and surge its way to her hair follicles, and when she looked at herself on the reflective ground, she saw what could have been a humanoid deer. However she’d recognize her green eyes and her nose sprinkled with freckles anywhere. She did feel a little better, looking at least similar to everyone else now.

She didn’t feel so left out then.

Suddenly Bena jolted her from her thoughts by asking, really more absentmindedly or just to try to be polite, Leah wasn’t sure, “So have you gone to your operation yet? I mean, your nose has been a fashion disaster for as long as I can remember…”

Leah moaned, “It’s today at noon.”

She felt her nose in thought. She could feel the way it jutted out slightly at the bridge, rather closer to a bird’s beak, which was considered unflattering. Her parents had told the officials again and again, exclaiming that they would schedule it to be fixed. But that was years ago, and they had not had enough money back then. Operations for faces and other parts of the body today were frightfully popular, and thus really expensive. Leah quickly reorganized her dress, looking down at herself on the ground. Her reflection stood watching her back, looking alive with the waves cast on it. Bena said that Heaven (where they lived, though Leah doubted that it was the same place as the Bible described) was made with water, and that you could see yourself and fix yourself to stay in the norm all the time. It was a huge risk going against the officials who said this sameness was Heaven.

Leah always prided herself on being an avid reader. Only fiction was allowed here in Heaven, and she read literature whenever given the opportunity. Non-fiction books had been hidden from the light long, long, long ago. Leah, struggling to fix her pale complexion with a kind of a cream, sighed sadly as the cream turned her complexion the color of a white birch. She knew she was not that pale, and not even the cream could hide her darker tone underneath.

Suddenly, faster than a viper, something snapped and wrapped itself around her neck. Leah jumped and cried out, but by then it was already over. She gingerly touched her neck and felt the cold weight of a chain wrapped around it, dangling and disappearing into the waves below her feet. Bena tore her eyes away from the tablet in her hand for an instant, then continued to check constantly for when the next lipstick of the moment was going to be posted.

“For complexion? Really? That should be an easy chain to avoid, Leah.”

Leah sighed. She couldn’t counter that.

Bena had always seen herself as a guru, telling her what was in style. Leah probably had been lost in thought when Bena told her the new skin tone. If this be the case, Leah thought to herself, why then does Bena have so many chains already wrapped around her? They are all around her legs, waist, and even one on her forehead that doesn’t quite work as a fashionable headband. How did Bena get those chains? No one wanted chains. This was why, whenever Leah was browsing on her tablet, the only celebrities, or anyone important for that matter, that were shown, had no chains. Not even one link.

While checking her tablet right now, she had noticed that the “Drag” Theory was still trending. “Three minutes ago? That must be like a whole new record,” Bena said. “Nothing ever trends that long unless, it’s like, really seriously trending.”

“I don’t even know what it is!” Leah exclaimed, shaking her hand with the tablet in it in frustration. “It only says it has been trending, and nothing more! What is ‘the Drag’?”

Bena shrugged her shoulders,“I have no clue, but it’s supposedly for people who have more chains, so we’re fine. No need to stress over what isn’t gonna happen.”

Leah wasn’t satisfied with this answer. If she and Bena both didn’t know what the Drag was, how could they be sure they were safe from it? Leah believed that she had many chains, yet she couldn’t understand why they weren’t even heavy. Maybe that had something to do with this “Drag theory.” This theory only just started trending, but was taking people by the multitudes, according to the tablet. Leah couldn’t help but wonder what might happen to someone who experienced the “Drag.”

“Do you think, Bena, that it is scary? The ‘Drag’?” Leah inquired, looking at her own chains with concern.

“No, don’t be silly…..” Bena muttered.

Leah knew she was distracted and looked at her own reflection sadly. The only memory she had when she was actually happy with Bena was the party before her fifth birthday. That was before she was given her special present from the officials, which she would treasure for the rest of her life. When that present came, Leah saw that Bena and herself, as well as the rest of Heaven around her, seemed to dote on the social world ever since. A cold shock hugged her forehead and she squealed, always frightened by the way the chains appeared out of nowhere and just as quickly became a part of her. Leah had several chains there already, but there was still no gain of weight, much to Leah’s surprise. While Leah felt that she was more lazy about checking the fashion trends of the millisecond, and spent more time reading,

Bena was her polar opposite. She always happily searched up the models and celebrities of

“Free And Flawless!”, her favorite men and fashions designs. According to Bena, Leah could even watch them live, with the guarantee of no-chain-gain from binge-watching.

Leah decided to try and talk to her companion, “Why don’t we call it the Icarus Phenomenon, Bena? It sounds more fantasy-like, and less - er, well, apocalyptic.”

Bena snorted, “Don’t act like such a child, Leah! The ‘Drag’ is what it is, no need to sugar-coat it. Eek!”

Leah looked just in time to see a whip-like chain wrap itself around Bena’s upper lip, just below her perfect nose.

“Bena!” cried Leah. “Are you….okay?”

Bena grumpily went back to her device. “I wahs u’til you tr’d to talk to me anmd nahw I hab a chahin cobering hapf ah my mou, an’ th’ lpstick ob dthe mome’t jus’ boasted. Somb friend ‘ou awre! Leb meh abone!”

Leah felt hurt and mad at herself. She had just made things worse for her friend. A tear fell down her cheek. After quickly wiping her cheek and regaining composure (for puffy eyes made for fashion trouble Leah knew) she felt horrendously uncertain about the possibility that Bena would ever speak to her again. Moaning softly, she opened up a literature site on her tablet. Leah traveled to the site of her favorite author, called “RoseFairy597,” who constantly posted about “The Icarus Phenomenon.” Leah much prefered that name to the “Drag.” It was more poetic she thought, and she felt that she would much prefer a place you were accepted for yourself rather than one where you have to look like everyone else.

Whenever Leah was upset or scared, she came to this site and read her stories. She saw a link to a newly updated piece of writing. “You’ve written a poem!” Leah whispered to herself excitedly. She tapped on the link and read it ferociously, hanging on to every word:

To the sun, and don’t look back.

Let nothing stop you, you Icarus.

Be free of this world of uniform,

And find your place among the stars.

Why have your wings burned, Icarus?

Why are you falling down?

Cascading down towards the ground,

When you had once been so high?

Who is the sun that lifts you up,

Or melts your wings and drowns?

Your wings were built much stronger than this,

So please hold on a little longer.

Leah felt numb, and in a trance-like state, looked down at the column where the author could leave a comment. There was one. Leah clicked on it. It read: “Hello, my loyal followers! I am sending you this while I am in “The Icarus Phenomenon.” I have ascertained that your chains pull you down through the ground! Is that not unheard of?! This is my last entry on my site, for I am also aware that one does not venture back from this undertaking. I hope you all enjoy this work. Furthermore, I would like to give a personal thank you to my longest and most loyal follower, Leah Amabel. You know who you are. Thank you.”

Leah gasped, and quickly covered her mouth. “RoseFairy597” knew her?! Leah looked around. Bena was still on her device, happily ogling a picture of a model. Other than that no one was out and about. Leah couldn’t help but expect to see Rose standing right in front of her, looking like a fairy. But she realized that Rose was gone. Leah felt as if a candle she didn’t know she had inside her, had been snuffed out.  Suddenly her world was heartless and cruel. She remembered feeling this only one other time, when her parents left her. Even Bena, her long-time friend, suddenly appeared to her like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She knew that Icarus had fallen and died. That was how the story ended. But in Heaven, no one had an ending. People lived interminable existences, and where one angel fell, a new trend showed itself and engrossed the others. Leah touched the chain wrapped around her chest over her heart. She knew now that she was running away from the reality of why she always thought her mom and dad had disappeared without a trace. They had departed and no one had noticed. Leah felt angry with her own insensitivity. Leah straightened her standing pose. I vow to not be the person I once was… so callous and ditzy. I am going to be extraordinary. I am going to always be forthright, and unique. And most of all, I am going to care about others and put angels before the distractions in Heaven! A chain practically grabbed her forehead and wrapped itself about her. Bena heard the rattle, looked up and saw Leah’s new accessory, and snickered, “‘Ou ‘ook ‘ike a ‘ippie…..whaht a dissahstar.” Leah felt even more exasperated than before.

An electrical rumble shook Leah’s hand. She lifted it and looked, glad for the distraction from Bena. It was an update from an old site that told you about a person who just died. In a way, a library site of obituaries. This site used to daunt Leah, and she would never click on it.

Leah clicked on it.

The page opened up and the picture in the obituary was a boy, not too much older than Leah, judging by the picture. In the snapshot, he was smiling scintillatingly up at the camera. He had bright blue eyes, and fair hair. He had one dimple on his right cheek, which Leah knew would be a fashion crisis if he were still alive. There were some chains wrapped around him, but those seemed to wisp away as if unable to really hold onto him.  Leah did not recognize him, but then she had not known many people during her lifetime.  She read his blurb. She reasoned with herself, mostly to calm her nerves. I have made an oath, haven’t I? So that somebody would care that he was leaving Heaven. Leah read a sentence that she felt made her face go whiter than any cream had been able to do: “He eventually created an online artist account under the name of “RoseFairy597,” and inspired many other people with his art and writing. One of his better known works was his writing and art for the still trending “Drag,” which he renamed “The Icarus Phenomenon” on his site.”  

Leah felt blown away, like a house in a tornado. So Rose had actually been a boy?! She laughed to herself. She had most certainly been fooled. And, she thought to herself with a slight blush, he was not bad-looking either. In fact, she thought he could have joined Bena’s magazine had he not started receiving his chains at such a young age. That teaches me to not judge a book by its cover, she mused. As usual, there was no information about his parents on the blurb. He must have not remembered them either, she thought, feeling downhearted. As she continued to read about him, she discovered that he had been an English major at the school he had been attending. Too bad it wasn’t my school, Leah speculated, even though it is exactly the same as mine, his school is one district over. As Leah read further she saw a change in Rose’s story. Now things are starting to become melancholy, she thought. The officials had claimed that, “He showed promise in the updating business.” Leah knew what this meant. She remembered that the “business” meant the head of the social world as everyone in Heaven knew it. It was Bena’s dream to be the updater of new trends of “Free And Flawless!”  It was considered one of the highest honors to be elected. According to the blurb, however, Casimir (his real name) had ideas that differed from the officials’. He had posted to the government officials’ site that he was “thoroughly gratified with this recognition, but I refuse to be a part of the propaganda that tells what and when events and objects are trending. This goes against my belief that everyone should be different because this is what makes each of us resplendent and significant.”

Leah was stunned.

He had been a revolutionary. Those were only heard of in stories and legends! It was always a huge risk going against the officials.

Even with all the technology everywhere, revolutionaries were elusive. Leah supposed this could be due to a policy that an official had to accompany you constantly after you have too many chains, particularly at a young age. She deduced that Casimir could have been the match that started this fire. While he sounded fiercely outspoken, Leah found in reading the details that he actually sounded like a very nice person. He complimented strangers when they thought they looked out of style (hence the chain that practically silenced him). He also owned several pets (before the officials came and took away the “monstrosities that were unfashionable”). Leah even read that his outgoing personality had been considered “endangering to the public.”  Thus a chain had wrapped over his chest where his heart was - much to Leah’s shock, as she had one in the same spot. Leah felt tears slide down her face. This wasn’t fair. None of it. She could see her own reflection, and noticed that she looked like a caged bird, its head cocking from side to side, hopping inside of the cage. Leah looked at Bena one last time. Bena did not notice that Leah had to go to her operation soon. Leah decidedly took down her hair, which had been out of style thirty-six trends ago, and took a deep breath.

However, instead of gaining courage as she had hoped, Leah broke down crying. Bena looked up at this, shook her head at the red faced, snuffling girl, and continued to scroll to a new dress that had literally just come up on the trending post. Leah couldn’t stand it anymore. She couldn’t stand herself trying to be someone she could not. No one, Leah thought, can be “the face” of fashion. No one. Not even the models.

Leah gazed up at the light blue sky. Everything was blue. She looked at the tablet in her hand, which was buzzing with new updates, and applied for herself a  new dress. It was red and made with a flowy material. Leah thought she looked beautiful, for the first time ever, really beautiful. She felt more intrepid. She collected a real rose from another site, and smelled its sweet fragrance. The rose smelled nicer than any perfume she had ever known.

Bena cried, “A red dress is the new trend!” and applied to herself the same dress Leah was wearing, before changing it to a butter yellow slender jumpsuit just as the trend changed again, and again, and again. But all of Bena’s henpecking and crowing fell on deaf ears, as Leah, hugging the rose to her chest, felt no more fear. She no longer cared about missing her appointment.

She could barely feel the tears streaming down her face. Leah cried, “Heaven cannot change what I am and what I look like! Heaven cannot make me forget the people that matter in my life, and I will not forget anything anymore! I give up trying to listen to you when you don’t listen to me. I am done trying to match and fit your glass slipper- HMPH!”

A chain wrapped itself around her mouth, but she kept going. Quickly putting out her hand with the tablet in it, she put a single comment in RoseFairy597’s comment box: “I remember you. You are not forgotten. Thank you, Casimir.”

The chains suddenly began to move rapidly, as if trying reel in a fish. Leah stared at her feet as the water caved in around her feet and the chains began to drag her down. Quickly, but not too quickly. Slowly, but not too slowly. Leah made a noise in her throat. Bena looked up and actually ran over and peered inside the hole. “Om’GOSH! Le’ah!” She shouted, and whipped up her tablet hand. “No ‘ne ‘as ev’r seen a purs’n ‘n th’ “Drag”! Sm’le for th’ cam’rah!” She pointed her tablet straight at Leah. Leah, determined to not let technology get the better of her, even while she was falling, held out the rose so that it covered up her face in the camera’s picture.

“There, Bena,” Leah thought “send that out to everyone, The Face of Truth. Even if you forget me, maybe I will be on the site too, and someone will read about me. I’m coming, Mom, Dad, Casimir. Here I come. Wait for me. See my burned wings? I’m still flying, I’m holding on, for just a little longer.”