Breaking The Ban

Chapter Two

The days have turned into weeks, which have turned into months. My workdays were now quiet and uninterrupted. At first it was almost foreign to me, not having Summer right by my side, bothering me every so often with some crazy story of her youth or something she did. I didn’t care though. Now I could have peace and quiet for once without that blabbering bimbo.

When she walks passed me our entire line stiffens and looks at us, waiting for her to hit me this time, or for me do it again. No one knows what it was about and hopefully no one will ever find out. If someone was to overhear our conversation that day I could go down with her for being an accomplice. I know what she’s up to, her and that at Matthew guy she met, but she hides it well.

She no longer has a playful grin that used to spread across her face, her eyes are always searching for something wrong, she walks stiffly now with almost perfect posture. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the handbook was further up her ass than it was mine. The fact that she even said that to me put me in complete shock. Who did she think she was making a comment like that? I should’ve hit her harder. I should’ve knocked out all the nonsense she’s held in that brain of hers since she was born.

As time continued to pass, I waited for her plan to go into action. I waited for rebels to come and break down the walls with ammunition tanks: nothing ever happened though. It wouldn’t be possible either for such a thing with the way the government watches us. Frankly, I’m surprised we weren’t confronted about the confrontation we had. There are cameras aligning this place in every corner. Maybe they hoped my hitting her did knock some sense into her. She sure was acting like it did.

I look down at where she stood sometimes and just imagine the things she was going through, the things she would tell me if we weren’t giving each other the silent treatment. My mind would go all over the place and I’d ask myself the most outrageous questions. What if I joined her group? My mind asked one day. For a moment, I considered this question, then out of nowhere a laugh escaped from my mouth and I quickly slapped my hand over it. I could feel my face get hot from embarrassment. Maybe that’s why Summer used to giggle at things randomly, maybe her mind would ask itself stupid questions like that too and she couldn’t contain herself.

Then I rethought that and realized that she wouldn’t laugh about a question like that. She’d welcome that kind of thought and probably elaborate on it inside of her twisted little mind. Maybe she’d laugh when she thought about obeying the rules; maybe a question would enter her mind about actually reading the handbook. That would be a picture to laugh about. I could never imagine Summer ever wanting to be an actual, hard-working citizen. That thought almost made me want to laugh again.

More time passed and I found that I’ve been going to bed later and later every night. I lay there in the darkness and stare up at my ceiling. My thoughts soar around the room and bounce off the walls and back at me. They hit me hard and then bounce back and bump into each other, combining into one thought. All my worries and unanswerable questions hang above me every night in a big, tangled mess that’s impossible to sort through. I needed some sort of closure, to know if Summer was okay or not.

I sat straight up and looked around the room, thinking that my answers would be hidden in the walls. I stood up from bed and went to the restroom; maybe splashing some water on my face would wake me up from this. I shouldn’t worry about her. I should only worry about myself, my job, my life. Not Summer’s. Summer is only one person, what difference can she make? She can’t change anything. She’ll just get locked up with the rest of them in the insane asylum and that’ll be the end of it.

When I reached the restroom I turned on the faucet and listened to the running water hit the sink and go down the drain. The sound calmed me for some reason. I glanced in the mirror for a short moment, something I rarely do since I really don’t care to look at myself, my dark hair was a tangled mess from all the tossing and turning I’ve done, my eyes were squinting back at me due to the bright florescent lights.