ANON. || l.s.

Tagged

The sound of iron shocks is stuck in my head
The thunder of the drums, dictates
The rhythm of the falls, the number of deads
The rising of the horns, ahead

----------------------------------------------

   'Louis Tomlinson.'

No. This can't be happening.

I heard the class turning in my direction and all I could do was keep eye contact with my teacher. My hands turned cold and I felt myself break out in cold sweats. My teacher looked displeased but not shocked. I guess he saw it coming. Mr Waine did warn me this could happen, but he also said he'd put in a good word for me. I hadn't even thought about the possibility of getting Tagged today. My mind was occupied with Father, with Zayn and even with how to walk home on my own. But not with this...

The voice of my teacher startled me out of my dazed state.
   'Tomlinson, you know the drill...'. He gestured his hands in an upwards motion and then towards the door. He wanted me to go to the headmistress' office. Noone, except the people that were already Tagged, knew what was explained in that office. Liam and I used to wonder about it. Would she be bored about the next one coming in, or would she be angry and scold you for your behaviour? Or, would she cry and already say goodbye to the poor student? 

I packed my bag in silence and looked at Liam. He was sitting on the other side of the class crumpled into himself and holding his arms like he was giving himself a hug. He looked at me in fear and sorrow. Liam was always the braver one of us, so his posture swept my last piece of confidence away. We looked at each other for a moment and then I zipped my bag shut. I hoisted my bag around my shoulder and crossed Zayn's table on my way out. He had a look on his face I couldn't quite place...Was it interest? Pride? No. As I walked out and shut the classroom door behind me I knew what the look in his eyes was. I'd seen it before. On the news, on the faces of the people who were rioting. Rebellion.   

I knocked softly on the door of the Headmistress'office. I had been here before only once. It was my first year when I got into a fight with that annoying boy Nick. The day before I had gotten into a huge fight with Father, or rather, Father got into a fight with me so to say. I remember it so well because it was the first time I lost consciousness. I woke up in a hospital bed with my head wrapped in bandages. Father sat beside me and held my hand while he gushed on and on about how dangerous it was to run outside after the rain to the nurses. They all believed him. Father could be quite charming if he wanted to, you know? I went along with it ofcourse, I was too afraid of him and also my head was pounding so heavy that I don't believe I could argue even if I wanted to. Luckily it was a small injury though, so I was forced to go to school the next day.

Maybe Nick thought I looked ridiculous with that bandage on my head. Or maybe he just wanted to act out because everyone else thought he was an annoying little shit. I don't know. But he pushed me. And I hit him back. Ms Neelis wasn't too pleased about my behaviour and I had to sit there and listen to her go on and on about how boys should behave. I got grounded and when I got home, Father made sure I would never think about hitting someone again. Yet another confirmation that starting a racket wouldn't get me anywhere. Keeping my mouth shut was the way to go.

   'Come in!' The shrill voice of Ms Neelis echoed through the door and I entered. She was sitting behind her desk in a jet black suit, and light purple lipstick on her lips. Her greyish hair was up in a bun and frameless glasses balanced on her nose. She was in her fifties, but she still dressed like she was twenty years younger, her clothes always a little too tight. 
I sat down and looked at her in anticipation. 

   'So...Mr Tomlinson...' She looked at me over her glasses and furrowed her eyebrows as she eyed my bruises. She didn't address them though and instead peeked down at a file in front of her. The same file Mr Waine showed me when we had the talk. The file with all my grades. She continued: 'I guess being Tagged wasn't that much of a shock to you, now was it? Did I hear about a small inconvenience the other day? Something about carving into a desk?' She raised her eyebrows waiting for my explanation.
   
   'Well, no. That was all a big misunderstanding! I wasn't carving into that desk, it was already there!' I tried to compose myself but my voice was trembling. 'I don't know why this is happening!'
She tutted. 'Good to hear...But that doesn't explain the bad grades' She took off her glasses and looked at me as she leaned back in her chair. 'Look, this must probably be a shock but remember that this system is in place to protect you..' 

I huffed but she chose to ignore me. '...Honestly, looking at your grades, I think that being Tagged isn't the worst thing there is for you. You do know what the benefits are don't you?'
   'Benefits?' I asked. How were there benefits to being ignored at school and monitored even more? 
   'Yes, benefits. Starting from tomorrow you will get more monitoring, extra tutoring and your Father will get a parenting course once a week, which he is obligated to attend. Do you know about the GPS system?' She rambled on and looked at me questionably. I nodded yes, but she explained anyway, probably just reciting some rehearsed lines. 

   'You will be injected with a small chip today by a civil servant of this town. They will come to your house after school around four PM. Don't forget please, four PM.' She annunciated her words clearly and went on. 'The chip has a location tag on it, so we can follow your location in case you become a Missing. Also-'
   'Why do I still get a chip if we all know it doesn't work once people get taken?' I interrupted her. I found the whole chip laughable, so did everyone else. ANON. either had a way to remove them or take them out. Nonetheless, no one ever found the location of the Missings. 
   'I don't make the rules Mr Tomlinson, better safe than sorry, right?' 

I shrugged and slumped down in my chair. Great. More monitoring and a chip in my arm. She continued her speech. 
   'We will contact your Father today about the situation. They will agree on a time to meet with you and your Father. As for the extra tutoring...', she glanced down at the file again, '...the teachers of the classes you are failing will agree with you on what days you'll get additional classes.' She finished her rant and looked quite proud of herself as she closed the file. 'Any more questions?'

My mind wondered about the call Father was going to get today. He would probably be mad. I knew for a fact he didn't want strangers in his house and I could imagine that the "parenting courses" he was obligated to follow would set him off even more. But...I couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. If there were people monitoring our household, he couldn't get physical with me again, right? Okay, I had a blue eye right now, but if I just came up with an excuse and make him look good, he was probably more prone to keep his cool, right? I felt optimistic. 

And then the fear of possibly being taken peeked up again. There was one question that came to mind, something that could hopefully calm my anxiety.
   'How many Tagged people go Missing?' 
She bit her lip and I saw her contemplating what to say. 
   'The national average is about 10 per cent...' she said. Okay. That isn't that bad...But I noticed her hesitation. 
   'But...?'
She sighed. 'This school's reputation isn't that great...Our percentage is about 60 per cent.' She looked at me and mumbled an "I'm sorry".  

Sixty per cent...So out of the ten people that were Tagged in this school, six would eventually vanish? I gulped. Great. This was just great. 

‐------------------------------------
What do you think about the book so far? Lemme know 🤗

Also please vote and comment if you like:D

XXX isa