Truth

Part Seven

I didn’t sleep well. One, maybe two hours at best. I just kept berating myself for what I’d done. But I couldn’t change the past. And I’d just have to face the music.

I was fortunate enough to know that his whoreness was a good lay (not from personal experience, but the number of girls who would knock on the door and mention how their friend recommended him), and so hoped that she’d calmed enough, or however it helped her, that she would accept my apology.

So here I sat in the conference room, awkwardly awaiting the leader’s meeting. A few of the sub leaders trickled in, before finally Tilly came in, followed by Tyler and Two. The sub leaders leant against the walls around the room, while the four of us sat around the table. I’d been glaring in disgust at the table for the past hour or so, my stomach twisting itself into knots with guilt as I recalled last night.

“Before we begin, I would just like to apologise. You know who I’m talking to. We’ll speak further later.” I stated, wanting to at least say that bit. Questioning glances passed between the sub leaders, but I could tell all four of us knew what I meant. I wondered how Tilly knew, but she’d always been suspicious of Two. I guessed she followed her actions closely. This was confirmed by the filthy look she gave Two on the off chance they made eye contact.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. And now, our hard work has paid off. We all know what we’re going to do. If you don’t, you don’t belong here. All we can do is hope for the best; hope for change.” Two said lowly. The tension was palpable, everyone nervous. No one knew how this would turn out.

No one else said a word, none were needed, so Two simply rose and glided from the room. The rest of us followed her out, and stood, all lined up, on the stage before the packed floor of Wheeler’s. All the tables and chairs had been packed up, and every inch of floor space was covered by supporters, our supporters. Who would have thought the Three Ts would ever have been this successful? We’d all been about to give up hope of anyone truly listening, and then Two came. She reignited our passion, reminded us what we were striving for in the first place, why we’d risked everything for it.

These thoughts just doubled my already substantial guilt.

Each of the four of us gave awe-inspiring speeches, but I couldn’t recall any of it for the life of me. Even though I’d been practising my speech for weeks, and could say it in my sleep, I forgot it all the moment it was over. ‘Courage’, ‘revolution’, ‘change’ and ‘future’ were common words, but of course they were. My mind was numb, all I heard were the cheers, all I felt was the nerves, all I saw was the hope, and all I knew was that this was it. This would make or break the cause. Hopefully not the latter.

We instructed the group to wait a moment before flooding the streets and storming the Government Corner. We planned to stop right before the first step, and hold up as much traffic as possible. Make as much noise as we could, and make an impact. See if we could get a reaction out of the Governor.

As last minute checks were run through, mainly the sub leaders all making sure they knew every minute detail by heart, I cornered Two.

“I’m sorry.” I said, before pecking her lips softly. “Really, I am. Maybe after today you won’t have to Pose. Maybe after today, we can be together.” She bit her lip, her eyes flooded.

“I really hope so Tristan. But promise me one thing.”

“Anything!”

“Glad to see you two made up!” Tyler interrupted us. Two’s tears disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Were they real tears then? Of course they were. Even if they weren’t it didn’t matter. “I didn’t want this to be really awkward. Doesn’t leave a great impression upon the troops, now does it?” It was nice to have a bit of humour in light of the danger ahead, but he couldn’t have chosen a worse time. After Tyler apologised to me, and happily suggested ‘I’m sorry, you’re sorry, we’re all sorry, now let’s move on’, the three of us made our way into the street, and people poured from the building. Some held signs with the Three Ts symbol on it, but most just brought themselves. Two went over and joined the skaters, who were to lead the march. And so it began.