Crossed Worlds

Chapter 20: The Day That Changed Everything

  "I'm so nervous," Jade brushed her sweaty palms on her denim jeans for the sixth time.

Her and a few of the group were stood outside of the building where the meeting was taking place – a converted church, strangely enough. Religion was lost and fractured in some places when the world was split, but Jade always felt like there was someone, or something, out there somewhere looking over her, so she welcomed this being the destination. It gave her a sense of hope and warmth.

"Me too. I haven't eaten anything today," Zoe looked pale, even beneath her warm fake tan. "I'm mainly worried for Lily."

They looked over to her. She was, understandably, stood with her parents to avoid any suspicion. Jade could tell her own parents were suspicious of her demanding she stand outside and wait with her friends instead of them, but she had such a raging passion inside of her she didn't let it bother her.

"I should probably head back to my family, actually," Luke sighed. He always sighed when he was nervous. "I guess I'll see you guys on the signal."

He hugged Jade first, like usual, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She smiled back at him as calmly as she could, even though she felt like a shaky mess on the inside.

"We've got this, guys," Anna nodded at them all, and Jade grabbed her hand, feeling her words where their palms interlocked. We've got this.

Zoe decided to head back to her parents next, and then Jack, and then it was just Jade and the twins.

"I think the Wild Ones are due to arrive now. Anna, we better go too," Hunter looked up from his phone. "See you in the prison cell later, J."

Jade nudged him in the ribs teasingly and turned away into the crowd. She walked past Lily, and subtly squeezed her arm as she went by, letting her know that she was there for her, they all were, and that it was going to be okay.

Dawn and Chris looked relieved as she approached them.

"Stay near now, Jade. The Wild Ones are almost here," her mother said, and the disgust in her tone when mentioning their name made Jade's passion burn even brighter.

Sure enough, though, they appeared. The Police kept them in tidy rows as they walked into the church. Some kept their heads down, others stared in the faces of the Beings they walked past boldly. Jade liked those people.

One girl, with long, glossy dark hair, looked right at Jade and her parents. Dawn and Chris seemed to shuffle awkwardly, turning their attention to the ground. Jade smiled at her, to which the girl frowned at, before turning away.

Then she spotted James and Isaac, side by side and looking just as anxious as the whole gang had been feeling. James didn't see her, but she didn't mind. It was nice to simply see him and Isaac and be reminded that they were all in this together. Plus, she didn't want James to see her awkward, forced, pretending-to-be-calm smile.

Once the Wild Ones had all filed into the church, a stocky man appeared to announce that the Beings may now enter. Jade's stomach dropped. It was time.

Though the church had been converted to hold political meetings, truly it was of the same structure as before. The seats were exactly where the pews would have been, and Wild Ones populated the left side whilst Beings took their places on the right. At the very front, officials were setting out glasses of water and brushing non-existent dust particles off of the two large seats for the two leaders.

Jade scanned the room and found all of her friends one by one. She counted the bodies on her row that she would have to push past. She anticipated how many steps she'd take around the open space as she protested, how her and her friends would manage to form some kind of line. Then, she let it go, and let it be. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and at least they'd tried.