This short story was written by Yasmeena Sharif ’23 for her English Class. It follows Nala Signia and her life in an alternate universe.
Transcript. 4/2/2021
This couldn’t be real – could it? Out of all of the professions I could have picked out of this bag, out of all of them, I had to be a lawyer. I would have given anything to be a songwriter; I had even practiced for days on end in anticipation. I sighed. Lawyers were rare, the rarest of all of the professions. They were so rare, that I didn’t even know what a lawyer was, let alone if there were any other lawyers out there.
“New York City, September 16, 2020. Name: Nala Signia. Profession: Lawyer.” He smiled at me. “You’ll do a great job,” he whispered.
My name is Nala Signia, I’m twenty-two years old, and I’m a lawyer. Where I come from (Universe 13, of course), you are assigned a profession at the age of twenty. It’s completely random, and whatever it is you pick is what you’re stuck doing for the rest of your life, whether you like it or not. You said Universe 13? What do you mean by Universe 13? What do I mean by Universe 13? It’s the – uh – universe I come from. Universe you come from? I don’t really know how to explain it. You don’t know? I don’t know how to explain it.
I walked out of the banquet hall into the hallway, filled to the brim with shame. I sank to the ground. How could this be? I had been so confident, so very excited about the prospects of being a songwriter. I had even calculated it. I had a 97% chance. With chances that high for this selection round, I had been almost certain I would get my dream, I would achieve my dream. Inhale, exhale. The ceremony was almost over, I could go home.
The wheels on my bicycle turned and turned, and as I made my way to my cramped studio apartment, I paid close attention to the lives of those around me. People were clearly identifiable by their professions, yet each so different from one another. That’s what’s so lovely about New York, it’s so beautiful to see so many minds at work here.
I turned the key in my apartment door, but to my surprise, there was an envelope forced under it. I examined the red envelope carefully, even though I already knew what was inside. I opened it, and it had instructions for where I would be going the next day. Great.
When you turn twenty, you are assigned to a profession. It’s completely random. You’re saying you have no free will? Well, there’s free will, you randomly pick a job out of a bag. The will is all yours. That’s not how free will works. Well, maybe that’s just not how it works for you.
My alarm rang for what must have been the third time. Shit! I was already running late for my first day of work. As I rushed to get ready, I had to wonder. I had no idea what a lawyer was or even what they did. I knew that everyone who had ever been a lawyer had to work in complete secrecy, work alone, live alone. What kind of life was that? Would I become such a boring person?
Even though I was running late, when I reached the office building, all I could do was look up. Its sleek windows reached high up into the abyss that was the sky. It must have been the tallest building out of all of New York City, but for some reason, I couldn’t remember ever seeing it before. That was strange.
Inside the building was one long, dark, bleak hallway. I thought that there wasn’t anyone in the room until I noticed a short, stout woman sitting at the desk to the left of the entrance. I signed in, her stoic, unblinking face staring back at me. “The elevator’s that way. Fourth floor.” Her voice was cold and frigid, and I began to think that I had made a mistake. She gestured down the hallway. It was dark and unwelcoming, and I noticed that there were pictures lining the walls. I stopped to examine one. There were tiny gold engraved plates underneath the photo frames; with names and dates ranging back for three hundred years. These must have been all the lawyers from the history of my world. It was mesmerizing. Standing at the elevator, I found myself staring at one picture in particular.
It was of a woman, with long, dark, curly hair. The only name listed for her was Sarai. She was stunning. When I looked at the date, it said 2018 – present. That was the nearest date to the present I had seen so far, especially since it was only two years ago! I wondered who she was.
I remember my first day so clearly. Once I got up to the fourth floor, I found myself immersed in this busy, bustling office. In the midst of all the chaos and movement, was a clear desk. It was like the calm in the middle of a storm. For some reason, I knew that was where I belonged. As I got closer to it, I saw my name on it. I couldn’t figure out how I knew that was where I was supposed to go. On the desk was a red envelope just like the one that had been pushed under my door. And in it were the instructions. The instructions? It’s classified, I’m really not supposed to talk about it. The company you worked for has collapsed! You need to cooperate with the FBI on the investigation.
What was in this envelope is beyond your mental capacity. I’m not supposed to share it.
The packet in the envelope was very thick and had an extensive amount of information. Apparently, this company I was to work for trained lawyers in this world and sent them to an alternate universe, an alternate New York City, to solve their problems. I tried to make sense of this. How could it be that lawyers were sent to another world?
“You look like you have many questions. My superiors have told me about you for months. You look somewhat – promising.” I glanced up. It was the girl from the picture in the lobby, Sarai.
“You’re the..!” I stopped myself. Breathe, Nala. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. “But I thought the selection process was completely random, how could they have known about me for months?” I had spent months calculating. Was I to believe now that all that was spent in vain? That my destiny had never truly been for me to decide?
“You’re naive. What you will learn, is that nothing in this world happens by accident. Your selection was picked out for you a long time ago. We hold all the strings.” Strings? What was she talking about?
If you don’t talk, you’ll never get a plea deal. I don’t want anything from you. But I’ll talk, okay?
After that first meeting with Sarai and the first day at the office, I trained. I had to study books about the government, perfect martial arts, learn how to shoot a gun, read medical books, and take classes on teaching. Lawyers don’t do those things. I didn’t have your definition of what a lawyer is. I just did what I was told. It was strange though, I didn’t know anyone in any other profession learning about so many different topics. It was really strange.
Anyway, six months after I started working there, I took my first trip to your world. Our world? I’m from an alternate universe. The job of lawyers is to come to your world and handle anomalies, take care of business. What do you mean? When people in your world get too powerful and begin abusing that power, they are eliminated. We, the lawyers, were in charge of the elimination.
She opened the door and stepped out. Her red heels moved at such a fast pace, and I almost had trouble keeping up. The other world looked just like ours, just like our New York City. But there were subtle differences – an “Ulta Beauty” where I was used to an “Ultra Beautee” and a “Panera Bread” instead of “Paniera Bread Co.”. It was so strange.
We were here to talk to the governor of the state of New York, who had become abusive with his power and his wealth. It was the first stage, the warning. This wasn’t Sarai’s first trip. She had a 9mm pistol tucked in her skirt just in case, and my only job was to stand there and watch. We had agreed that he would only be eliminated if he refused to cooperate.
We arrived at the governor’s penthouse under the guise of working for the capital, and reporting recent news from the White House in Washington, D.C. He opened up the door and immediately he collapsed. I almost didn’t see it happen. It was so fast, three shots to the head, just to make sure he was dead. “Why’d you do that? You know that wasn’t the-” Sarai turned, and directed the gun towards me. I knew I didn’t have much time before she pulled the trigger. So I ran.
So what happened? How’d you end up at the police station? I ran. I just ran until I couldn’t run anymore. This was the first safe place I saw, that’s all. That doesn’t explain anything. What happened to you, Nala? How did you escape her? She didn’t. What? What do you mean? I guess she didn’t run fast enough.
POW. POW.
Remember, you can’t out-do me. Anyone who gets in my way must be eliminated. Click.
This is the end of this transcript of a voice recording. This is classified and property of the FBI.