Connections

Chapter 8: The Talk

The next few days passed without anything life changing happening. Chris and Melanie were as busy as ever, so operation get-to-know-them was on hold. Ric spent a lot of time in his room doing who knows what. This left me with a lot of free time, and nothing to fill it with. So, I ended up spending a lot of time in the woods or simply walking around town, trying to get to know the Aftermath through the eyes of someone who knew what lay underneath the smiling faces and casual conversation.

I saw a lot of things I'd never noticed before. When I walked by the school building that the Animalz learned at, I noticed that the windows were dark, a couple were even broken in. There were two big, beefy guards standing at the front doors, one on each side. I had always thought they were there for the protection of the people inside. Now I'm not so sure. I noticed that whenever I walked by someone who wasn't in very high ranking (meaning local townies I didn't go to school with, and Animalz) flinched away, or was suddenly so interested in what they were doing it was obvious they were trying not to stare. It was crazy how the place I'd always called home could change so much overnight. It was crazier that it didn't happen overnight, but had instead been there all along. I'd just been too naive to notice.  I'd always known that people avoided me often, and were less than friendly, but I'd always thought it had something to do with me. I would never have guessed that it might have had more to do with where I lived...or more importantly, who I lived with. 

One day after I'd arrived home, I was suddenly attacked from all sides. Melanie, Chris, and Ric converged around me, pushing me back into a wall. "Um, guys? What's going on?" I asked, completely freaked out. Not only because I was worried Melanie and Chris might get into trouble for not doing any work, but also, and mainly because they were intruding upon my personal space. And Ric should know more than anybody that I don't like people getting to close to me. He found out the hard way one Christmas, when he decided to wake me up by giving me a big hug, and I responded by pushing him off me, and sitting on his chest until he'd apologized. 

Taking pity on my obvious confusion, Ric said, "We're going to tell you something you're not going to like, and we want you to just accept it, and go with the flow. Doing anything else will jeapordize our whole operation."

"What. Is. Going. On." I said more than asked. They were really starting to freak me out.

"Word has it that Ruler has picked a date for your party." Chris started.

"Well, I know that. It's next Friday. Exactly seven days from now. Believe me, I've been counting." I replied. 

"No, you don't understand." Melanie said.

"When we say date, we mean-" but Ric was cut off when Ruler entered. 

"Pegasisyly, darling! How nice it is to see you! Did you hear the good news? I've arranged for Bones to be your escort to your sixteenth birthday party!" he said happily as if he were delivering a grand piece of news. Not a death sentence. Bones' death sentence.

"What? Why? And do I get a say in this?" I asked, completely taken aback, I mean seriously, Ruler did these things all the time and it was getting more an more annoying, as if Ric and I were supposed to mindlessly to exactly what he told us, no complaints. 

"Well Mrs. Moon said that Bones came home saying that while the dance was a quote 'bust' - whatever that means darling, I wasn't sure, but she said it was bad - he had enjoyed spending some time with you. Who better to escort you?" I could tell that was a rhetorical question, as Ruler couldn't picture me wanting to do anything other than what he told me. 

But that didn't stop me from reaching out and grabbing Chris by the arm. "Chris can do it." I suggested, and then procceded to watch Ruler's eyes pop out of their sockets.