Daughter of Zeus

chapter 2

I sat up in my bed, thinking about what had happened at the wash-house. Was Tarah right? Did I come across as a Hades? Hell, I didn’t even know who my other half was. I laid back and sighed. When would I know where I belonged? Juvenile Hall was not the place to be.

Tarah noted that I was a half-blood. There were mixed connotations for that term. Half-blood. The word itself sounded vile, like a curse. Was that what I was? Cursed? I hope not. There were enough things wrong with my life. I didn’t need the term ‘half-blood’ stuck to me.

Someone must have come into the room, because the TV came on. I looked down to find one of the older ones staring intently at the screen. Whatever it was, it was interesting to them. I peered over the side of the bed at the TV. It was set on a news station, re4porting some riot that was happening in Washington, DC. The reporter started:

“Here I am, standing in front of the capitol in full view of the protest,” The camera to face the crowd that had signs held up. Many of them read Leave my people alone! and Let the half-bloods go! The camera  turned back to the reporter. “These people are here to argue that half-bloods are being mistreated by the government. The head of this group, Timothy Hazuzaki, stands here with me,”

On camera was a Japanese man who stood much shorter than the reporter. She pointed her microphone at Hazuzaki. “Tell me, Mr. Hazuzaki, what is going on?”

Hazuzaki leaned in. “It has come to my attention that many of my kind are being abused by the government. We have dealt with this segregation for many years, and we will not stand for it any longer!” He raised a fist into the air. “And we will stop at nothing until we get the rights we deserve!”

The reporter spoke. “Do you think this has any relation to the civil rights movement in the 1960s?”

“Absolutely!” Hazuzaki agreed enthusiastically. “The Africans were treated with disrespect and stripped of their rights. I see this happening even now, seventy years later, and we must fight, just like they did-“

Suddenly guns started to fire from the capitol steps. Bodies started to fall, and those who survived started ducking down, protecting themselves with their paper signs. The cries form the people were heart shattering.

I covered my mouth in pure horror. How could the government lash out on its own people when they were merely practicing their rights to protest? I looked down to find the others horror-struck as well. If that was what happened to those who protested, what would happen to the rest of us half-bloods?

A half an hour passed before any one of the hall workers said anything to us. At seven PM an announcement sounded over the PA system: “Will all inmates come to the corridor? I repeat, all inmates come to the corridor.”

I hopped down from my bed and jogged to where I needed to be. As I came into the corridor, I saw Melanie rounding the corner. She saw me and ran over.

“What’s going on?” She whispered in question.

“I have no idea,” I shrugged. No sooner had I said that that men rushed in and started to separate us. Two men grabbed Melanie and I by the arms and dragged us out of the hall.

What the hell was going on?