Your Fall

Blight

"Okay, class." Chairs shift as the class turns from their conversations around them to the front of the room. "Today we will be discussing th- yes?" Ms. Devan finishes writing blight on the board with a single harsh underline before turning to Cole Dubs, also known as Dubby the class clown and Earth Enthusiast, who has had his hand raised since Ms. Devan walked into the room, "what it is Mr. Dub?"

"My dad says that Earth is survivable."

"Does he?" Dubby's father is one of the heads in the Hydro station on the Ark. He is well known to be outspoken that the Ark isn't big enough for the population and that Earth is probably fine. "And what do you think?" He didn't need to answer with anything more than the arrogant raise of his eyebrow and relaxed shoulder shrug. Everyone knows his thoughts on the subject. He brings it up any chance that he can get.

The class rustles slightly. Everyone trying to understand the unreadable expression on Ms. Devan's face. She places the marker down on the board sill with a loud clunk before she turns back to the class. "Anyone agree or disagree with Mr. Dubs' statement?"

Silence seems to fill the room as each student looks around to see who will answer first. A throat is cleared and the class turns their attention to the center of the room, a few seats from the door. You raise your hand slowly but with no waver.

"Everyone in the Go-Sci says that it would take a minimum of 150 years for the major amounts of toxicity in the environment to drop enough for a clear understanding of what those toxins did to the known world." Ms. Devan pulls her lips into a tight line, looking anxiously around the room as if asking anyone to argue with you.

You look around the room, smiling to yourself as you feel Raven pat you on the back and Cayen proudly smiling beside you. You don't turn around enough to see Dubby's reaction, but you can feel his smirk laughing at an unspoken joke from the back row in the room.

"Alright then, if that is settled," Ms. Devan turns back to the board and re-underlines blight on the board, "today we will be reviewing what we all know about the blight and what it led to in the Ark history."

~

Two hours pass and the review of the blight is coming to a close while you and Cayen finish shading an elaborate deer with a broad nose and droopy ears. Raven never agrees that the known appearance of a deer is accurate. She always argues that the specific adaptation of the small horns makes no sense with their predators which brings to question other uncertainties about the deer appearance you are all taught.

"The moral of this long and overdone story is that there needs to be a firm set of rules and regulations as a way to keep our humanity and if there is a small chance of a crack being made it must be extinguished," Ms. Devon takes a deep breath and sits in her chair at the front of the class looking around expectantly. "Any questions?"

You and Cayen don't notice Ms. Devon pausing a moment on your giggling frames, but Raven does and she quickly raises her hand to take attention from you and Cayen.

"Do the people in Go-Sci realize that the Sky Box is not a humane way of dealing with delinquency?"

"Does that matter?" The led from your pencil breaks slashing through the quiet stiffness of the room. Standing in the front of the classroom is Aymee Tol with her chin up as she glares at Raven from her seat. "They broke the rules and put everyone else in danger for their own selfish pursuit. Who cares how they live in the Sky Box?" Cayen takes a deep breath and releases it audibly before returning back to shading the beady eyes of the dear. His bone-thin fingers putting more pressure than usual on his pencil causing his frail arm to spasm and him to pause for a heartbeat before continuing.

"You do realize those are people you are talking about who live in a quite inhumane living situation?" You try to keep your voice even but can't help it waiver as your anger begins to build at the close-minded statements from Aymee.

"But don't they deserve that as punishment?" Aymee turns to look at the whole class, most likely trying to see if anyone will take her side and back her up. You notice that slight twitch of her hands as her fingers interlace in front of her body.

"Would you like to be surrounded by four unicolor walls? Rotting away mentally and physically in dirty unwashed clothes and with no mental activity exposure other than thinking?" Raven's voice is hollow and sharp. You feel her desk shake behind you as she shifts in her seat.

"True. Plus isolation alone is enough to permanently hurt a person." You keep your gaze on Aymee, trying to read how far she would take this argument. Her fingers twitch and she quickly licks her lips.

"But they broke the rules," she waves her hands in the air to add emphasis before quickly bringing them back together in front of herself. Cayen softly coughs next to you, but the look on his face says it is not his health causing it.

"Are you dead?" Your eyes grow wide with Raven's question. A few students shift their gaze quickly to Reyes as a reaction to her crassness. Nothing has been heard from Ms. Devon and as you look at her you see her gaze is distant and her shoulders are pulled together making her already small frame seem minuscule.

"Well no, but-"

"So them breaking the rules didn't harm the machine-made vegan food that you seem to suckle on as something you deserve and other humans don't." You watch Aymee's jaw tense as she falters in front of the class. She leans on the desk trying to take refuge from the difficult conversation.

"Alright that is enough, class dismissed," Ms. Devon slams her hands on her desk at the front of the classroom, everyone falling silent, "Aymee, Raven and Y/n please stay behind."

You watch as Cayen delicately gets up after most of the class leaves the room. He stumbles slightly on the way out but recovers quickly before leaving the classroom. Taking a deep breath you lean back in your chair, throwing your head back to lay on Raven's desk behind you. The dark-haired brunette is shaking her head with a tight smirk on her face as she seems to be shooting daggers at Aymee.