Overcast | ✓

Red Ink

Fear occurs in every organism. Fishes fear whales, gazelles fear lions, mice fear cats. It is a natural response when a threat is near that has been written into our DNA. There are certain behaviors shown when living things are afraid. Their feather's may spread apart, their tail may raise, they might begin to burrow into the ground. For humans, however, we may have a quicker heart rate. The hair on our arms and back of our neck might stand up. We may receive a gut-wrenching pit in our stomach. What differentiates human fear from that of animals is the ability to hide our symptoms. We can swallow that pit and pretend to feel completely normal. This, I suppose, is why at the protest meetup Wednesday afternoon, nobody can tell I am afraid.

I am alone in a crowd of people dressed completely in red as the same projector screen from the last meetup beckons me. My outfit is almost entirely black, partly in objection to this entire meetup and partly because I didn't own any red clothing. Everyone here is operating off of vodka, which has littered the park in an excessive amount of bottles, and sheer excitement towards the supposed announcement being made. Nobody knew for certain that anything would be announced, but there was a general understanding that something big was coming very soon. It seems like everything has led up to whatever the leader has planned next.

I feel like I have to preface this by saying that I am not an idiot. I know that the last meetup was dangerous and I know that floating to the front of the crowd is probably a bad idea, but I have seriously stopped caring about anything at this point. The front of the crowd will earn me the best possibility for finding clues. That's all that matters.

Once I reach the projector screen, I see Ruby and Sam H. They're both wearing red and I'm slightly disappointed in Ruby, but not all that surprised. The couple has been together all the time now, but haven't told anyone that they're dating. It makes me a bit annoyed. If you're not trying to hide it, why not just let people know? This might be the reason why I approach them. Or, perhaps, I just want to speak to someone familiar, even if they don't want to speak back.

"Ruby," I say as I push past a very drunk senior. Her eyes flick up to me with an odd expression. "I need to talk to you."

"Sunny," Sam grins. "I heard 'bout your arm. Feeling alright now?" I stare at him for a very uncomfortable 3 seconds before he clears his throat and steps away.

"C'mon," I roll my eyes before grabbing Ruby's hand and pulling her out of the crowd. Once we're a good distance away, I release her. "When did you become so awkward?"

"What?" I cross my arms and take a breath.

"You weren't like that in elementary school. You weren't embarrassed all the time."

"I don't... You're being really strange."

"Yeah, I know. I don't normally confront people, do I? But, now, I'm doing things. I've decided to do things."

Ruby furrows her brows. "How does this involve me?"

"Because you were my friend," I say. "And now... Are you and Sam H. secretly dating?" It feels sort of like I'm going insane. My mind is whipping through thoughts very quickly and I can tell she is having trouble keeping up.

"What? No, no. We're definitely not." I'm taking that as a yes, because her eyebrows move wildly while she says this and it is very suspicious.

"So, why is it that you don't want to be friends?"

"I already told you."

"No. You didn't. You gave me a lousy answer that didn't actually explain anything. Please try again."

Ruby exhales. She looks quite frustrated with me as I keep my arms crossed. "I'm just not great at being around you, Sunny. It's too hard."

"Holy fucking shit," I answer, flinging my arms outwards. She's wearing a bright red jumpsuit and I absolutely hate it. "Tell me what's wrong with me for christ's sake! Why am I 'too hard' to be around, hm?"