Against society [AMBW]

Chapter Forty Two

W13-Tuesday

Breaking us apart, the sound of a parroting alarm erupts from not only his phone, but mine as well.

I grab my phone quickly, to see an unusual notification. I don't even leave any app notifications on, because I hate spam. The notification flashes in a weird yellow colour as if urgent. Tapping onto the given icon, the face of chairman Abeo appears.

The experiment.

Peeking over to Adrian's now open phone, his screen shows chairman An-Ni li.

It doesn't make sense. Why announce this news separately, instead of with one announcement for all? They're segregating themselves already, Asians for Asians- Blacks for Blacks.

I grab my dots from my pocket and slide them into my ear. Increasing the volume to a reasonable amount, I finally hear his voice.

"Happy New Year! Thank you to everyone listening to this announcement at this early time. It has been a long and thorough experiment. We've learnt along the way that friendships, relationships, families... do not always depend on the race of a person. We've learnt that it's possible to come across people who are just as similar to yourselves, but share a different race. And if I must agree, I do believe this experiment had a lot of positives- however sadly there is one negative that will forever outweigh the positives. It's the fact that there will always be hatred and a barrier between unity, due to the past. This hatred, will build up into violence, terror and attack, if we keep living this way. For that reason..."

I take a deep breathe, already knowing what chairman Abeo is about to say.

"... we have failed the experiment. We surveyed hundreds of thousands of people, majority leaving us with a similar answer. On the twentieth of January, the following guidelines will have to be met."

I turn to face Adrian, before dropping down to the grass. Obviously I knew this was going to happen, but you don't realise the impact until it takes place.

I feel frozen in spot; I can't move. The legs I use to walk, feel numb and overused. The lungs I use to breathe, feel blocked. The air around me feels polluted. It's thick and unwanted, almost as if it's already creating a divide, as if it's pushing me away from what I want.

Adrian attempts to pick me up from under my arms, but I resist, I don't want him to touch me. I don't want to feel his hands. I don't want to see his eyes. The air is too thick and my legs are too weak to continue.

"Viola, I need to take you home." He crouches down, level to my kneeling self.

"I- I need to... to hear the gui-guidelines." I croak before trying to swallow down the lump in my throat.

"You don't have to lis-" His hand tries to touch mine, but I swat it away just on time.

"If I don't listen, how do you expect us to know what to do and what not to do? It's not like some essay you can get an easy detention for... we're talking about prosecution." I spit out, hopefully snapping him back into reality.

Pressing the triangular button on the screen, the video begins.

"Schools will be available for one race. If you are neither Asian or black, contact the department of education to settle your transferral. This law will apply for most workplaces."

That means I won't see him at school again. That's bullshit! How can they move students during their last year of school?

"By January the twentieth, the border between Blacks and the East Asians will be up. Everyone should be on the given side before that date or else there will be fines. After this change, any illegal passing of the border, will lead to serious prosecutions. House exchanges are ready and we intend to have everybody in the right place by this deadline. Majority are already fine."