Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 20: Hockey Night and Chloé

I was on the bus that same Friday night. I was going to see the hockey match at the Sports Palace, in the Shell neighbourhood, in the northwest part of Thalis.

I was running late and the match had already started, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to pay too much attention to the match, anyway. I was only going there because I knew Siegfried would be there, playing.

His hockey team, the Dam, was playing against the Shell that night. I had to see him. I wanted to apologise to him as Agape had suggested. And once I would've done that, I'd hurry home. That night we had to perform the candle farewell ritual for Daniel.

I sighed. My warm breath clouded the bus window on my right. I had already made up my mind. I would stay, mend stuff, and become a spy for the rebels. Was I crazy?

Would I do it for justice? Or for vengeance? Those two were radically different, and yet Agape had made them sound the same. The clone ruling elite had us, traditional humans, under the most tyrannical rule. The President had caused my brother's death, but I wasn't going to fall prey to Agape's tempting proposal. Agape had made it look like one of the forbidden apples of the Garden of Eden, but murder wasn't me.

She promised that she would change the world after winning her war against the clones. I wanted, and needed, it to change to fulfil my dreams of becoming a mechanic since the clone law made it almost impossible. But was I willing to pay any price to get a chance to fulfil my professional dream? No. If she wanted to get clones murdered, it would be on her soul – not on mine.

The downside? My place in that terrorist organisation would make me a culprit by association, but I would survive.

Anyway, I regretted having angered Siegfried to such an extent. Why did he cut his hair? Was it a cultural thing? An honour thing? Was it a newfound, low self-esteem?

I found it hard to believe, that last guess. Siegfried seemed to be a lot tougher than any other guy. He was an enforcer, for the love of God!

It was almost ten o'clock when the bus arrived at the stop near the Sports Palace.

As I got off the bus, I realised I would probably find my 'friends' from the Dam. They were hockey fans, too. I wasn't in the mood to deal with any of them, especially now that I knew that they had a different idea of friendship than mine and that I had bothered them with my passion to become a mechanic.

The air was cool at night. That was why I was wearing long blue jeans and my dark brown jacket over my favourite red top.

Even though I had a bike of my own, my dear Frankie, I couldn't ride it to the Sports Palace unless I took one hell of a long route, bordering the City Centre. It was against the law that traditional humans rode a motor vehicle in that neighbourhood, whose only inhabitants were clones. The Clone Highway Laws. It would've taken me way too long to get there. That was why I had taken the bus. That law was also the reason why I took the bus to go to work every day.

I walked to the door of the Sports Palace and sighed.

I had come there so many times with Daniel! He didn't have what it took to be a player. Some of his friends were players, but in the youth squad. Surely they were all there. And Chloé, too.

So, there I was, crossing the doors of the Sports Palace.

The doors led to the top aisle of the stands. I looked down below, and immediately saw that there were no free seats left. The Palace was full, also noticeable in the deafening acoustics due to all that cheering and the chit-chat of multiple voices. I didn't feel like sitting down anyway.

Then, a loud noise took me out of my reverie.

A brave chorus of angry hockey fans was complaining about a foul just as I was slowly walking down the aisle looking for a free space. I had not been able to see the foul that had triggered that negative reaction. I heard angry whistles and insults in a cacophonous symphony, besides the squeaks of the wheels of the roller skates.