The Order of Things

By Catoblepas Books

Ida and her son is barely surviving in the Outskirts, small communities that exists outside the walls of the City. Every day the Outskirters searched the Citys dumping grounds for hidden treasures – food, clothing, electronics, anything that could be mended and somehow put to use. On days when the wind came blowing from the north, its stench drowned the community.

Every Ouskirter shared the same dream – to get away from poverty and the dangers lurking in the woods. To become a citizen of the City. But everything comes at a price.

(Short Story)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Catoblepas Books
• Release date: Apr 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9789188183040

Catoblepas Books

Founded 2016 in Sweden. Catoblepas Books is specialized in fantasy, steampunk and dystopia from new talents.

Book preview

The Order of Things

Lupina Ojala

Published by Catoblepas förlag 2016

Distributed by Smashwords

ISBN 978-91-88183-04-0

Copyright © Lupina Ojala

Author website: lupinaojala.com

The Order of Things

She missed him immensely. Two days had passed since he had left, two long and terrible days. Linus was her own flesh and blood, her only son, and now he was gone.

It was inevitable, of course. All of the young ones left sooner or later. Some of them returned to the community after a couple of weeks or sometimes after as long as a year, disappointed that they hadn’t made great discoveries or found a better place to live. At least they brought home some good stories to tell their friends and families during the dark and rainy evenings. Others disappeared for good, leaving worried parents and sometimes even grandparents behind. The average life expectancy for the inhabitants in the outlying communities was low. Mainly they lived on scraps, dumped from within the city walls. The monstrous city was their mother, and her huge piles of trash, the placenta. She was not a loving mother, but she was all they had.

Every day the Outskirters searched the dumping grounds for hidden treasures – food, clothing, electronics, anything that could be mended and somehow put to use. On days when the wind came blowing from the north, its stench drowned the community – their community, Serenity. Why such a mismatched name had been chosen was a mystery. Perhaps peace and tranquility had been what its founders had been hoping for when settling there. No one could remember.

There were other communities scattered around the city. Each one had claimed one of the city dumps for itself, and the territories, once marked, were well respected. The hardships outside the walls were more than enough to deal with, even without any discord between the communities.

Ida sighed and drew her fingers through her cropped, brown hair. It hadn’t been an ideal place to bring up a child, but her only other alternative had been even worse. At least people out here stuck together and helped each other when needed. Of course, not everyone had good intentions, but those