Wear - Chapter 40

The next morning, Emma splits from the group before classes start. She went to go talk to Ryan, while waiting for their homeroom to begin. When Emma comes up to Ryan’s office, she knocks on the door. “Come in” Ryan says from the other side of the door. Emma slowly opens up the door and walks inside. “Oh, it’s you” he says, “did you need something?”.

“I just had a few questions, actually” Emma says in a low voice. “With all of this… this stuff going on, I think it’s safe to say that everyone wonders how it came to this”.

“Some people will stop at nothing to prevent their ideas from being challenged” Ryan says. “Some may enact violence, some may force other people into tough situations, some may even- for instance- vandalize a school if they feel their safety and ideals are being challenged”.

“Well… my question is why?” Emma asks. “Stuff like: why do people do the things that they do, and lots of other questions like that may be asked frequently… but… why do you challenge their ideas with new ideas? Or, more importantly, why are you helping us?”.

“Ah, the ‘laibah’ question” Ryan says. “Well, some people just go by what they think is right. Sometimes, those people are changed when they’re forced to experience something cruel. It’s the universe’s way of telling us when it’s time to change. Some people may not like the change, but when life just seems wrong, then you have to stand firmly to fix that. Does that make any sense to you?”.

“Then, you went through something to change you?” Emma asks. “What did you go through that made you want to… stand up for us?”.

“I lost a lot of things” Ryan says. “Family, friends, everything I held dear at the time”. Ryan pauses for a moment and says “Remi… I wish I knew the rest of her family, so I could properly apologize for what happened”.

“Who was Remi?” Emma asks. “Was that your wife’s name?”.

“No, I never married” Ryan says. “I’ve met her sister before, but I’ve never seen her sister since that day”.

“I-I’m… sorry I asked” Emma says. “If it helps, I’m sure her family would understand, with how much you’ve done so far. If it means anything, I would at least like to say thank you. I know I’ve denied your help before, but… thank you”.

“I should be thanking your group of friends” Ryan says. “Maybe we can actually pull together enough support for this bill to begin voting soon. We are very close now. Just a little more, and- well, you get the idea. You should be heading to class now, Emma. Homeroom is going to begin soon”.

Emma nods and runs off to her classroom. When she gets there, Refus was already in the room and class was starting. “Sorry I’m late” Emma says as she enters.

“Any excuses for this morning?” Refus asks.

“I was talking to Principal Schafold” Emma says.

“Well, I’ll check up with him later” Refus says. “For now, just take your seat. You haven’t missed anything yet, so I won’t hold it against you”.

The morning classes pass by quickly, and lunch period soon began. When The Rejects gathered for lunch in their club spot, Jessica asks the rest of the group “Do you guys think anything will happen next week?”.

“Like what?” Jackson asks. “More vandalism?”.

“Well, yeah” Jessica says.

“The Principal did say we were close to getting enough signatures for the proposition of the bill” Emma says. “Voting for the bill should be coming up soon. Hopefully nothing else happens, but seeing as how those people are really opposed to the bill, they’ll likely do whatever they can to stop it”.

“You don’t think that anything will happen to the school again, do you?” Tina asks.

“Who knows?” Thomas asks. “They know pretty much everyone here supports the bill by now, but they very well may try to start an uproar in the inner city instead”.

“Unless everyone from the inner city is already on the same page about the bill” Gregg says. “If all of them oppose it by now, then it’s likely they’ll try to just cut off support wherever it shows”.

“Fair” Lily adds. “That does sound like something they’d want to do”.

“So then, it’s almost guaranteed to happen at the school?” Darren asks.

“I would like to hope there are other places in the city that show support” Aeris says.

“There has gotta be somewhere else in this city” Wyatt says.

The next day arrives. Saturday of January 18th, 2020. During the afternoon, Emma and Wyatt went down to Savvy Threads so that Emma could sell some of her clothes to Matilda. Before the two of them left, Matilda told them “Look out for yourselves. Make sure you don’t get into any trouble, you got that?”.

“We’ll be fine, Matilda” Emma says. “Are you that worried about the bill and everything too?”.

“I’m just an old woman who wants to see the world move in the right direction” Matilda says. “Of course I’m worried”.

“By the way” Wyatt says, “you help support the bill too, right? Does the bill receive support from other areas of the city?”.

“Oh yeah” Matilda says, “lots of places now. The first place to show active support, other than Reyo, was the town on the other side of the city Durley”.

“Durley?” Wyatt asks. “That’s where I’m from! Is my mom and dad’s signatures on the bill too?”.

“No idea” Matilda says. “How many people do you think I know?”.

“Are you worried about them?” Emma asks.

“I’m sure they’re fine” Wyatt says with a sigh of relief. “I just hope my mom and dad are also helping this bill now. It’d be nice to see them on the same side as us”.

“Hmm…” Matilda says as she seems to be uncomfortable in her chair.

“Is something wrong, Matilda?” Emma asks.

“Mm- no. It’s nothing… I guess” Matilda says as she taps her fingers on the desk.

“Well, we’re heading out now” Emma says. “See ya later, Matilda!”.

“Take care now, you two” Matilda says. After the two of them leave, Matilda says to herself “Maybe I should tell Wyatt about the state of this city, but I think it’ll just make things worse for those two. There have been protests all over the city about this bill, and a lot of the supporters being attacked in riots. I haven’t heard anything about Durley being attacked… but I’m sure it’ll just make him worry more”.

“Hey, Matilda!” Emily says as she comes out from the back of the store, “is there anything to do? Inventory, stocking, price tag checking… anything? I’m bored”.

“No” Matilda says. “It has been a rather slow day, child”.

“Then why can’t I go home?” Emily asks.

“Because I’m worried” Matilda says. “You’ll have to stick with me until things seem to settle down in this city”.

Emily groans slightly and says “Okay…”.

Later that day, as the sun was going down, Emma and Wyatt went out together towards the empty fairgrounds. “Do you remember our first date?” Emma asks. “When we came out here for the fall festival?”.

Wyatt laughs softly and says “How could I forget? I still remember the dress you wore and everything. It was probably the best night of my life so far”.

“And I still remember the day we first met” Emma says with a laugh. “When we accidentally bumped into each other on the street. I never did get a very good look at you that time, but then I met you again at that convenience store”.

“Ha ha, yeah” Wyatt says. “I never expected us to have the same class that day, but sure enough, there you were the next morning”.

Emma laughs softly and says “But I ended up being the reason you lost that job…”.

“Well, it wasn’t really your fault” Wyatt says. “You needed help, and the choice was mine to make. Besides, because of you, I met Matilda and ended up getting a job with her!”.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true…” Emma says. When Emma looks up, there was an old woman walking past them without saying anything. The woman simply walks past them, finds a bench near them, sits down and stares off at the horizon as the sun goes down in the opposite direction as to where she was looking.

“What?” The old woman says after a long period of silence. “It suddenly got quiet, so I assume there’s a problem with me being here?”.

“N-no!” Emma says, “I’m sorry if we were being rude!”.

“Whatever” the old woman says. “I just came here to clear my head anyways. Doesn’t bother me at all if it’s quiet all of the sudden”.

“Umm… so what are you clearing your mind for?” Emma asks.

The old woman sighs and says “Guess it won’t be quiet after all… look, I came from out of the city. I just come here every so often to remember what life used to be. My daughter used to live in this city… but- ah, never mind”.

“You came from out of the city?” Wyatt asks. “Who was your daughter?”.

“Yeah, like I’m about to tell a human about my personal life” the old woman scoffs.

“Are you a laibah then?” Emma asks. The old woman glances over at Emma. “I-it’s okay! I’m a laibah too!”.

“Right…” the old woman says in an annoyed tone. “I haven’t been here for years. In fact, I never showed up here again after my daughter died…”.

“What happened to your daughter?” Emma asks.

“Nature took its course” The old woman replies. “I came here again after hearing about some old fool and their ridiculous bill”.

“Are you hoping that the bill passes?” Wyatt asks.

The old woman glances over at Wyatt and says “It will never work. Humans and laibah can never share the same city. Because of that very same principle, nature took its course, and my daughter with it. I just came here for… nostalgia’s sake”. The old woman stands up and says “If you don’t believe me, look over there”. She then points towards the north, where the horizon was glowing with a yellow glow.

“What do you mean?” Wyatt asks.

“That’s not the sunset” The old woman says. “Think about it. The sunset is leaving a reddish purple glow over there to the west… that’s yellow and towards the north. Do the math”.

“Do you know what’s happening over there?” Emma asks.

“From what I’ve heard” The old woman says, “people were whispering about a ‘protest’. If you ask me, it looks like it’s not a peaceful one”.

“W-What’s happening over there!?” Wyatt panics. “My family is on that side of the city!”.

“Don’t know for sure” the old woman says as she begins to walk away. She then says to Emma “If I were you, I’d get my distance from all humans as soon as possible”.

“Wait!” Emma says. “What’s your name?”.

“I don’t see why any of that matters now” The old woman says. “If you must know, the name’s Tera… do whatever you want with that knowledge, because you’ll probably never see me around here a second time”.

Wyatt and Emma quickly run back to the dorm, as Wyatt begins to worry about his home town Durley. When they get to the dorm, Jessica was acting nervous and waiting outside of the dorm. “Wyatt!” She says as the two of them approach, “I came here to talk. Mind if I come inside the dorm? It’s uncomfortable standing in the halls of the boys dorm…”.

“Oh, you’re back” Jackson says as they all enter the room.

“I knocked earlier” Jessica says, “but Jackson told me you guys weren’t home. I rushed over here when I heard to news”. Jessica closes the door behind her and says “I saw a news report on my phone! They’re saying there were outbreaks of violent protests in Durley! Apparently there were several fires started, and fighting breaking out! I know that you and Darren used to live there, so I-“.

“Have they said anything about reports of deaths or casualties!?” Wyatt asks.

“No, I haven’t seen anything like that yet” Jessica says.

Wyatt sits down on his bed and takes a sigh of relief. “I hope they’re alright” he says.

“Wyatt, are YOU alright?” Emma asks.

“Yeah… I think I’ll be fine” Wyatt says.

“I’m… I’m sorry” Jessica says. “I just thought you’d want to know”.

“No… thank you for telling me, Jessica” Wyatt says.

“I’ll go for now” Jessica says as she opens the door. “I’ll let you know if anything important comes up. Just… try and get some rest”. Jessica then closes the door after she leaves.

Emma sits behind Wyatt on the bed and wraps her arms around him. “Wyatt…” she says. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t think something like this was going to happen”.

“Please don’t blame yourself” Wyatt says in a low voice. “You know it’s not your fault”. Wyatt lays down on the bed, but Emma continues to hold onto him. “We’ll figure out what happened over time. No matter what happens, this is the reason we need this bill to pass”.

“I’m still here for you, Wyatt” Emma says. “If you need to talk, I’ll be here, okay?”.

“Thanks…” Wyatt says. “It really means a lot, Emma”.

“I love you” Emma says.

Wyatt turns over in the bed and faces Emma. His face looked distraught, and he seemed very stressed. “I love you too. Thanks for being here for me” he says.