Red Tickets

He slid an envelope over the table.

"Take it" he said quietly.

It's like this every year; I knew it was coming but I didn't expect it to be this different. I glanced down at the envelope in front of me. It was brand new. The white paper almost glowing under the lights unlike the beige envelopes with dark, re-folded edges of the previous years.

"I was able to get a bit more due to my promotion." he explained, sensing my uncertainty "Have a look."

I took the envelope in my hand and peered inside.

Five red tickets and some cash.

"This..." my mouth hung open.

I looked up at my him in shock. Five red tickets each with a different item listed. It was enough to feed a family of five for a week, let alone two people for a day.

"I'll be busy at work, you know I get my meals there." he sighed "Get going now, don't be late to the market."

I was never close to my father. He was the type of man who avoided things he didn't know how to deal with like a young child, or in this case, his in-laws. Ever since mother passed, he always avoided seeing grandmother during new years. The tickets could show his filial piety, but they could never convey his sincerity and the relationship has deteriorated over time. It's too late now to ask him to come with me.

I stood up from the table. I needed to get to the market before it's too late. There's only about 20 minutes left before lights on.

"I'll get going then." My red poly dress swinging as I turned towards the door. He didn't say anything as I left, his head already down, focusing on the tablet in his hands.

The alley was dimly lit by the Dawn lights. Metal gray doors sparsely lined each side of the alley, the LED locks lighting up as I walked past casting a green glow over me. It was eerie, I didn't like it.

We moved to the A floors after father got promoted at work six months ago and I'm still not used to it. It was too different from the D floors where we used to live. I reached the elevator platform in just a minute with my brisk pace. There were three other families already waiting on the platform.

The residence towers were broken down into different floors and apartments were assigned to families based on a large number of factors such as your family size, social status, place of employment, age and so on. There were three towers, all of which connected to the Surface, or what is known as the G floor. The towers were pillars in a triangle formation in the north, south-east and south-west of the city. They are what holds up the city and prevents it from collapsing in on itself.

The city is underground below what remains of what used to be called Hangzhou. As the surface became more and more uninhabitable over the years due to global warming and pollution, citizens moved underground to avoid the new dangers. Animals mutated into rabied monsters, the air was near unbreathable without a mask, new diseases spread like wildfire, and even the sunlight became too dangerous to stand under. Grandma told stories from her childhood of living on the surface every new year. I'm sure to hear some more stories today as well.

I stepped into the elevator and looked around. The market rush should have passed, but there was still a crowd of people, the seats were all taken. The market was located in the business district in Outside 3. The elevator will take me to the correct floor in about 10 minutes, but I still needed to walk a bit in order to reach the market. I held onto a railing near the door and turned to lean against the elevator wall as the doors closed.

The elevator shook slightly before it started going up. I could feel a warm, tingling sensation moving up from my hand where I held the railing. It was the magic used to power the elevator. The low chime of the magic resonated quietly in my ear as I reveled in the feeling of the power entering my body. A few seconds passed before I gathered my thoughts again, letting go of the railing. It's not uncommon to be able to feel and absorb the excess magic that powers the city, but the feeling is a bit dangerous, I mused to myself before inspecting the tickets in my hand.

Pork, fish, chicken, eggs, and fruits and vegetables, were stamped on the tickets along with a barcode and the Zhou city seal signifying the location and family it was assigned to. The tickets were colour coded. Purple, red, yellow, green representing 10, 5, 2 and 1 pound denominations of the listed commodity. Purple and red tickets were rarely ever issued to families. They were mostly reserved for corporations who needed to feed their employees. Even larger families are typically issued yellow and green tickets so that they can make purchases in smaller denominations since a ticket cannot be split into several purchases. Red tickets were only sometimes used by wealthy families to feed their caretaker staff or if they were hosting parties.

He really gave me 25 pounds of food tickets. I bit my lips. It's a bit ridiculous since we aren't hosting a party and it will just be Grandma and me. Father never eats at home, so he never understands these things.

Tucking the tickets back into my shoulder bag, I waited for the elevator to reach my stop.

The next stop is Gate 3.

A robotic voice sounded throughout the elevator.

The next stop is Gate 3. Please step away from the doors.

My stop.