Rotation Seven (Grain Series)

Rina wakes before the bell and lies still, reading her. Anna sleeps on her back, one hand curled near her chin. Everyone born down here sleeps like that, nothing like the training reels. Her breath is shallow and fast. It has been getting faster for a week, and Rina knows it the way she knows the fans in their section — not as a figure but as a change in the room. The bell goes at first shift. Anna’s eyes open and find hers immediately. “Kumusta ka?” “Mabuti.” Anna sits up and something catches when she reaches overhead. Rina sees it. Anna sees Rina see it. Neither of them says anything, because saying it is a thing you do to someone. In the head, Anna goes first. Rina waits in the corridor with her shoulder against the plate. When Anna comes out she doesn’t look up. Rina goes in after. The water in the bowl is dark, darker than it was. She flushes it twice before she uses it and once more after. Mess at half. The porridge tastes the way the loop tastes when the filters are near their…