An Idea (by Ingenious Piece)
By: M. Olchawska
Tags: Ecotopia, Storytelling, Relationships, Love, Utopia

Feeling the pressure building in her body Maggie closes her eyes, and in an instant, her thoughts rush back to that last night she was with Patrick.

FLASHBACK

The logical Maggie should have never come to negotiate with the Old World. She knew that seeing Patrick couldn’t possibly end well, but there is always very little logic in love, passion, and desire. The negotiation took place on the Isle of Wight, which was agreed to remain a neutral zone at the start of the revolution. All the way there she tried to convince herself that her decision had nothing to do with Patrick.

Way before the revolution took over the world; they were both inseparable. He was her best friend, her love, her lover, and her whole life. At least this is how she felt before Patrick decided to join the Corporate World and then the Corporate Government, which Maggie still can’t even begin to comprehend. Why did he choose the wrong side of the revolution, having the opportunity to build a new sustainable society with her? Time after time she tried to start all over again, but none of the relationships felt like it did being with Patrick.

Having not seen him for years, Maggie had no idea how much he has changed and whether trying to persuade him to join the New World would be a wise move. The Ecotopian government didn’t keep tabs on the Old World’s officials, unlike the Old World did. What if Patrick was married and had a family? What if he was a part of the problem and one of the designers of the oppressive system of the Old World? What if he wasn’t the Patrick she knew all those years ago?

Ecotopians were very forgiving and always willing to give another chance to those who wanted to redeem themselves and join the right side of the revolution. But what if he didn’t want to join the revolution? What if he was rotten to the core, just like the Corporate Government was?

One of Maggie’s deep beliefs was that power and money corrupt people and turns them into slaves willing to do anything to get ahead. She lost many dear friends to glitter and glitz. But she still hoped that Patrick didn’t become one of them. She never even entertained an idea that maybe, just maybe, Patrick joined the revolution “just” to show her that he could build something on his own, without her help or her nudging him to do something worthwhile with his life.

For many years the Old World showed no interest in negotiating with the New World, so the offer to negotiate seven days’ peace treaty was met with the considerable scepticism in the Ecotopia.

The Ecotopians were fully aware that the Corporate Government was moving Above. To build the Above, they spend 90% of all the resources they had left to accommodate the growing needs and demands of the 1%.

The Above turned out to be a bigger challenge then the Old World was expecting. Soon enough the need for basic supplies such as medications and seeds turned out to be greater than the Old World’s pride. The Old World’s population was already starving, and new limits on food wouldn’t help the regime to use and abuse the oppressed as they had done for years. The Ecotopian government knew that punishing the general population for the sins of their government will never build a strong and long-lasting relationship between the two worlds.

Their mindset was in complete opposition to the Old World’s mentality. The Ecotopians built their society on equality, respect, and shared responsibility; that belief helped the Ecotopians to create an innovative, pioneering society, with a collective mind and responsibility towards their own lives and Mother Nature.

Since the Ecotopians were always aiming for reconciliation, not for a longer and bloodier conflict, the negotiation was a perfect opportunity to show the Old World’s population that the New World was caring for everyone equally and not putting profit ahead of people or the planet. Deep in her heart, Maggie knew that the seeds wouldn’t produce the quality of food people deserved to eat. The soil in the Old World was very damaged and polluted. Even years before the revolution begun, it was already hard for the farmers to grow good quality food.

Maggie always had hard times understanding why anyone who has an option to cross over to the New World, would consciously choose the Old World with its limitations and ever-increasing poverty. Anyone from the Old World was going to be accepted by the New World as long as they managed to follow and accept the New World rules and accept the Ecotopia’s ethos and beliefs. People who didn’t believe in what Ecotopia represented didn’t belong in the New World.

During the negotiations, Patrick sat across the table from Maggie. They both tried hard to avoid eye contact just in case they gave away too much. The Old World didn’t take kindly to the New World and surely wouldn’t take kindly to women of the New World mixing with the high-ranking government officials of the Old World.

By the end of the negotiations, the Old World agreed to exchange the “prisoners” (as the medical personnel sent by the Ecotopians was called. The ordinary people had no access to the medical help in the Old World, and that was one way, in which the Ecotopians have been trying to reach out to the Old World’s population.) as well as some of the family members of the Ecotopian citizens who didn’t manage to escape before the Old World’s Corporate Government built the wall. During those seven days, the Ecotopians were going to keep the seeds and medications supply coming.

When the deal was agreed upon, Patrick suggested that Maggie should stay behind to finalise the dates and crossing with him. She surely did stay behind, letting her team go back to Ecotopia to start preparing the transports and temporary facilities for everyone who was going to cross over.

Once everyone was gone, Patrick walked over to Maggie. He didn’t say anything, just touched her hair, then her lips. Maggie closed her eyes while trying to control herself but the desire to kiss him was stronger than her.

After that kiss, Patrick quickly suggested a hotel nearby. Even though Maggie was in a relationship, her desire to be with Patrick was stronger than logic and loyalty to her partner. She never loved anyone as much as she loved Patrick.

After mind-blowing sex, they talked, had wine, ate real food (something even Patrick didn’t have access to very often) and had more sex. Just like it used to be before the revolution. Deep down Maggie hoped that Patrick would want to come with her and start all over again. Unfortunately, her hope was shattered when she saw his incoming message “Did you get the information we need?”

After reading that, Maggie’s heart stopped. ‘He just … to… all they had that night wasn’t real… He needed something… that was all…’ It was both surreal and way too painful. She got dressed as fast as she could and left determined to put that night and Patrick behind.

She cried all the way back to Ecotopia, trying to convince herself that Patrick wasn’t the same person that she knew so well and loved for so long. It was inevitable that he needed to change to survive the austerity of the Corporate Government. But using her was unacceptable.

Upon her arrival to Ecotopia that very night, she truly thought that the past was never going to catch up with her again. Soon enough she found out that she was pregnant, which made her beyond happy; she never even thought that her kids could have been Patrick’s as well.

Only a few weeks ago she found out that her daughter had a rare blood disease. The Ecotopian doctors needed to find a blood donor to help her daughter survive. However, after doing the DNA and blood tests on both: Maggie and who she thought was the father, it turned out that the DNA didn’t match. After hearing that, Maggie knew who the father was and what she needed to do.

Since she always believed in honesty, she told her kids and her ex-partner about that one night in the Isle of Wight. The next morning her children were gone. Not being able to hold them, comfort them, and be there for them made her weak, prone to mistakes, and willing to do anything to find them.

NOWADAYS

Upon hearing the door being unlocked again, she opens her eyes.