Adamalda's Glen

Adamalda's Glen: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I leisurely crept through the town, making my way to my abode. It was about 3:40 pm, ten minutes after everyone was supposed to be in their homes from school. If I got caught, I knew I would surely get another licking, only from Osborn himself. Osborn. Goodness, does that name make me shiver. Our government official in Briar is named Wayne Osborn and he is not someone you want to meet. My father thinks he's great, but then again my father does work with him.

Sire Osborn (as he demands to be called) has black beady eyes and cropped black hair, which fits with his black soul perfectly. He wears a deep red tunic over black dungarees and large black gloves that stretch halfway up his arm. There are posters of him around nearly every corner in Briar, just to let people know that he really is the boss. He has dozens of other officials; two of them being my father and my best friend Aileen's father. I have to admit I am not genuinely scared of him, but still hearing his name makes my insides feel as if they are decomposing.

Finally, I finished my ghastly trek to my home. Of course I knew that going inside would be just as grim but I wasn't really safe anywhere at the moment. I gently opened up the front door and went inside, awaiting whatever blow was to come to me. It was alarmingly quiet, meaning that my father must have had to stay late to work. I rounded the corner casually, seeing my mother bending over the counter while she scrubbed it clean. "Hi mother." I said, trying to be as normal as possible. She shot her head up and stood up straight. Her face seemed dryer than usual and her hair was barely presentable. "Oh Alissa! Where have you been? It's nearly four! You know you can't walk around between passing times." she nagged me, slowly approaching me. She inspected my suspiciously with her sea green eyes and inched backwards to the counter again.

"I got a call from your school today." She said.

"Really? About what?" I was trying to be casual.

"You really wrote an essay on individuality?"

I nodded.

"Alissa you know that's frowned upon! I'm sure you got licked! Are you OK?"

"Yes. It was just my arm a few times."

"Well don't do that again! Why don't you just stick to the boring topics? Like... I don't know... making passing time shorter."

I laughed when she said that, remembering all of the droning about it I did hear in class. She smiled wearily as well; little wrinkles appearing at her eyes. She began to scrub the counter top ferociously again; her hair shook wildly around her face. "Mother do you need any help?" I asked worriedly. She seemed more nervous than usual, maybe because she knew she'd have to break the news of my faux pas to my father. "No, no dear. Your father will have a heart attack if he sees I put you to work. This is my job as a mother, not your job as a child." she told me, not seeming to be able to rip her eyes from her toil. "He doesn't have to know." I uttered, stepping closer to her. She glanced up to the clock and looked back to me. As if she totally ignored my last comment, she said "It's four o'clock! Why don't you go to Aileen's for the hour? I'm sure she'd love company." "Yeah. I guess she would Bye, I love you." I told her. She nodded as she continued to endeavor efficiently on the counter top.

As I walked past the town square on my way to Aileen's, I noticed that there was quite a commotion flooding the airwaves. I peered through the square and slowly approached the mob of people standing in front of what seemed to be the Government Announcement Stage. "Why is that up?" I whispered to myself, approaching more briskly, desperately wondering what as going on. I began to get nearer when I saw a familiar head of thick brown hair entered the stage. My father made is way to the podium centered on the float and said calmly "People of Briar. I insure that there is nothing to worry about. You are all safe and there will be no change in our community because of one minuscule report."

My eyes widened as I heard that. Was this whole anguish about me? I swallowed hard and remained in my space. My father continued. "We are not going to begin to enhance individuality because of someone's thoughts on it." He over exaggerated the word "someone", which led me to suspect that he knew it was me. He kept rambling on about the law and the mystery student (me) for a few minutes when someone cried "But the fact that your own daughter is protesting what you work for must be terrifying. Is that right, Official Mochrie? Does that scare you? Or maybe embarrass you? I am sure I am not the only one that would like to know." The whole entire square went silent, I could even hear people breathing. My father glared down at the speaker and just began to open his mouth to speak when he peered up, spotting me across the square. He jaw set and his brown eyes pierced my own hazel ones. I stared back at him nervously and awkwardly. I slowly began to feel more eyes and I looked to the crowd, which had turned to me. All of the people there stared and whispered as they saw me, pure hatred pouring from their souls. I felt as if I was melting away right there, being bludgeoned into a thousand tiny pieces.  It looked like my dad wasn't the only one who knew who he was talking about.