Life With Their Rules

Chapter 2: The Boy with the Red Band

Once again I turned around and once again, that boy I saw that morning was there again.

"How do you know my name...?" I asked him.

"It was on the monitor this morning. Anyway, want to walk home together?"

"Oh... um... I'm going to Red Ring Brook, soー"

"So am I." He held up his wrist, with the red band tightly coiled around his wrist.

"Oh... right, sorry."

"So... you're okay if I walk with you?"

"O-okay."

He shyly smiled and started walking toward the front entrance of the school. I followed him and we headed down the sidewalk to our neighborhood.

"Um... so, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Miller. Dell Miller. And you're Pix Appleberry, right?"

"Yeah... now stop referring to me by my name, please. It's weird that you know it even though I never actually told you it."

He laughed, "Alright, Pix Appleberry."

I nudged him with my elbow. He laughed again.

We kept walking through the desolate plains, only stopping to retie our shoes or take a break from walking in the heat. As we began approaching Red Ring Brook, we attempted to get to know each other. We played a game of Would You Rather to get a general idea of our standpoints on certain topics. Then, a random question popped into my head.

"So Dell. Why exactly do you want to walk with me?"

"Because," he said, tugging on the electronic collar around his neck, "just like you, I'm lonely. And you'd understand what I'm going through better than anyone else."

"I understand that but... I'm stupidー"

He then put his finger over my mouth.

"You're not stupid. They just say you are. They make you think you're stupid, so you have less of a chance of success in life. They all think you're supposed to fail, because They don't like people like us. So They put us down, to make us feel weak. But we aren't. They just make us think we are. Because, between you and me..." He pulled me closer, "we're original. And They hate originality. That's why They want us to feel worthless."

I froze in place. That... that was kind of unexpected. He's really annoyed with Them, isn't he? Dell then backed up a bit.

"Sorry about that... I just... I don't like what They're teaching people to think about corrupted people."

"No, I understand. I don't like it either. Just make sure you keep your voice down so They don't hear what we're saying."

"It doesn't matter how quiet we speak. These collars around our necks record our conversations. They can always hear us. So that's why..."

Then he broke off the collar, threw it onto the sidewalk, and smashed it.

"W-what are you doing?! You can't do that, you'll get in serious trouble!"

"It's okay. I figured out how to make copies of them. I have more at home. I'm just making sure They don't have the recordings. Here."

He took off the electronic collar around my neck, and smashed it on the sidewalk. It was bizarre not to have anything constricting my neck. If I'm gonna be honest, I was glad it was gone. But I was still scared that we were going to get caught without collars. We could get killed for that.

"Now let's hurry to my house so we could get some fake collars. That way we won't get in trouble."

"What sector do you live in?"

"Sector 7. We gotta hurry though. We're only in Sector 2 currently."

"No need. I know a shortcut."

Without thinking, I grabbed his hand and started running toward the hill I always go over when walking to school. The path skips over sectors 3 through 6, making it faster to get home, and easier to avoid Them. And that's what we want.
I'm not a skilled runner, and I haven't ran in months, but somehow, I was able to run really quickly.

Something about holding his hand made me more determined to get through life.

"You're a pretty fast runner," Dell said, breathing heavily from sprinting with me to sector 7.

"I actually don't usually run that fast" I explained. I was kind of impressed with myself. Heh. That's new. After all, I hate myself.

But having Dell around gave me a bit of confidence, and a bit of hope. It's like he said, we understand what we're both going through. We're both lonely sophomores. Now that we know each other, we have someone who can help us get through life. We're there for each other, even though we only met 6 hours ago.

Still, like any time you meet someone and become acquaintances at least, there's always that unspoken rule: have faith in them, because if you build trust, you'll have someone to help you out of a sticky situation. And as they say, "teamwork makes the dream work."

For the next 5 or so minutes, the two of us casually meandered down the sidewalk, only saying a few short statements along the way. We learned a bit about each other during that time.

I told him how I occasionally write webcomics and novels online, but not often, since they never get any reads and the comments are mostly full of hate.

He told me about how he likes to tinker with electronics and frequently builds computers and sometimes sells them online, but rarely ends up selling anything, due to where he lives.

We talked about our favorite subjects in school, his being math and science and mine being art and English.

A few times he complained about the school's grading system and security policies. I had to agree with his complaints. If I'm being honest, I hated our school system.

In fact, I hated everything about how They ran our town. I know Dell does too. But I'd rather not risk getting in trouble with Them for being a free thinking "rogue" or something. Dell's more of a risk-taker. I'm too shy and anxious to do anything bold.

As I got lost in my thoughts and built-up anger, Dell spoke.

"We're here."

I glanced up from the ground where I was staring and losing myself in my mind. We were standing in front of a silver, townhouse-like building, with a deep red door. I scanned the rest of the area. None of the surrounding houses had a red door like Dell's

I chucked a bit, "Cool. I can easily tell which one's yours."

"Just don't tell Them that I changed my door. I doubt that it's allowed," he sternly replied.

A chill went down my spine. I felt both anxiety and rage well up inside me. I felt like I could potentially puke. Their rules are stupid. I'd willingly disobey Them if I wasn't as cowardly. But I won't.

Dell would though. That's why he changed the color of his door. That's why he took off our collars. That's why he made fake ones.

I didn't know it at the time, but getting involved with Dell meant starting a revolution. We could potentially get killed for that. But, to be fair...

...I'd rather die with a friend than completely alone.