9 Teacher's Tale

Under the small light on the white-gray ceiling panel, Alexis did not feel like in the cell but was swimming in the sea of despair. Perhaps, Wade and Oslo were struggling too, the same sea, but she saw only water wrapping around. They were sinking to the seabed and they were trying to find the coast but, in the end, they lost.

She darted a glance to Wade and Belinda. Guilty she felt even though did not know why blaming herself. Wade’s father certainly could pay the amount fine to make him free if there was no Suspect found. Belinda could assign an attorney to plead for a softer punishment. The judgment had no difference from life imprisonment. They were doomed.

The blond lay down with a small injury on his arms and shoulders. After the interrogation, as he was freed from the locks, Wade ran to attack the governmental officers. Lucky enough, yes, Alexis used the right word. If the two police had not caught him in time, Wade would be sentenced to more serious punishment due to harming the state officers. They beat him with the bats but the girl knew that this was the only way to stop his silly madness.

“I’m sorry.”

Oslo was the first who spoke out. They did not utter any single word after returning to the cell.

“I should say that too,” Alexis said. “You two should not be here.”

“You two? No, all of us should not be here. No one’s fault but her,” Wade stood up. His red eyes glowed fiercely at Belinda and he showed his tight fists. “Because of you! You destroy our life!”

Alexis and Oslo restrained him before he could attack the girl. Belinda wept helplessly and crawled to the corner. It was the first time she showed them her fear and the first time she surrendered to him, dared not to fight against him anymore.

“She’s a girl!” Oslo reminded the bigger boy.

“Like I care!” Too strong, even two people hardly stopped him. “You, that-Stephen-woman, and Mrs. Dobies! They must pay for us.”

“I’m sorry, Miller.”

The voice behind their back belonged to the two newcomers. Ms. Stephen and Mrs. Dobies were standing on the central aisle. Both of their hands got handcuffed. The most appalling was their look that did not differ from maenads—well in the negative meaning. Their hairs were crazily messy and some parts of their skin got burnt. They felt close to Mrs. Dobies more than Ms. Stephen. She, once, was a very charming woman that usually had her blonde hair in a neat high bun and always painted scarlet red color on her lips. Her entire appearance now contrasted with her usual image. The red on her lips is now tainted with dry blood. Her brightness faded from her beautiful face. Ms. Stephen had no better condition than her older sister. It was visible that they had not only been tortured by the electric shock but also brutally beaten.

“We’re so sorry,” she said to her four students.

Belinda crawled to the cell bar, regretfully, asking the teacher if they were alright. The first gesture demonstrated that Belinda Carter cared for someone, “What did they do to you? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Mrs. Dobies had the heart of a true teacher. Her eyes gently revealed forgiveness. Alexis lost her strength again. Their condition was worse. Ms. Stephen almost leaned on her sister. They nearly lost their balances.

The kids should blame them. They should curse them. Instead of doing that, they cried. Alexis silently cried and Belinda flooded tears on her face. Mrs. Dobies was the favorite teacher the students admired. She was funny, kind, and devoted. Although Wade might blame her at first because of his hot temper but saw her standing before him like this, how could a mild heart have no pity on her? What she looked like now was horrible. Alexis was afraid of her parents’ fate.

Did they torture them too? And how about her brothers and sister, Elodie, June, and Davy? How are they?

“Get inside, ma’am” The police, short and a little bit bald, told them gently. He was not Joseph. People called him Bruce. He was one of the police who had come to Wade’s mansion and detained all the teenagers there. When Ms. Stephen was about to fall, he gently took her to the cell.

“This one is kinder,” Oslo whispered. Alexis agreed. If Joseph or the blonde police was here, they would let them fall.

The two women moved inside the cell that faced them. Bruce smiled at them with sympathy and walked away.

Witnessed the two women caused more pressure. Oslo sat on his knee; she knew how he lost. No hope glanced at them. They had to accept the reality that life came to the end. Alexis wiped the tears away. Crying did not save anyone.

“How is my family?” Alexis asked her teacher.

“They’re fine. Don’t worry. It’s Mary’s work, not your father’s. Only us they interrogated. I’m sorry. We’re sorry for you all. We try to protect you from the witch’s hunting. But…,” then sighed.

Mrs. Dobies was entirely weak but forced herself to give some explanation, especially about actions. She said the authority chased the people whom they regarded as a threat to the system. Owing to the fact that the source of superhuman quality was still unknown, it was dangerous to let them be free. She did not know how the rehabilitation program would treat them. She had no idea.

“If you want to know why, this is our reason to do this. Before you were born, the government founded a special unit to chase the Risk specifically. But because the target began hiding their identity, the qualifications of being the Risk; therefore, have been declared and the word ‘Suspect’ has been added for those who tend to be the Risk even though their talent is invisible.

“People opposed this measure and they were defeated. Those that sit behind the government could not sit in peace. The riot rose and the protestors were eliminated and the new ones rose again. The cycle of chaos found no end. The government realized that when people feel like they are being over-controlled, it will cause more trouble than letting them think that the government is under their control. Later, they declared the deposition of the special unit in order to respond and to reduce the protest but it still works in secret until now.”

“How do you know about this?” Alexis asked and then she thought of the mysterious case of Desiree Dalka which Jesse had made her read it. Some people know but lost the way to transfer the information or were prohibited from doing so. It was dangerous but sometimes danger was alluring. The protestors still worked secretly. Listening to their voice tone, it was clear enough that they told them the fact, not imagination.

“That time was the age of terror,” Oslo guessed.

“Yes, it was. I’d never understood that kind of terror until it happened to my family. What made the protestors defeated is because of people’s ignorance. Not all people thought about the other’s rights. My family was ignorant too until the police visited our house. And then we became the victims. On my birthday thirty years ago, our mother and our sister were killed.”

Her jade green eyes were full of tears when recalling the worst memory. Alexis hugged herself, attentively listening.

“The cops visited our house and tried to drag Molly, our sister, with them. They said she was a threat to the federal republic. My mother protected her so she was shot. The bullet killed both of them. My birthday was ruined. Even now, I still remembered my sister’s lifeless eyes. But one thing I and Mary could not see is her ability. She died before I see it. Or maybe she died without possessing it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Mrs. Dobies.” Alexis felt ill when she heard this story. “You don’t have to tell us if it makes you down.”

The teacher shook her head. “No, my dear Davis. I must tell you. You all must know. Everyone must know. After the tragedy, our family moved twice to escape the scene that keeps haunting us. Mary and I tried our best to prevent the same thing happened to the other families. I don’t want my students to have the same fate as my sister. I love you all and I want to protect you. But we didn’t think it will end like this. Mr. Jessens, your calculation skill is above the others. Yes, it’s not strange. It’s gifted. But I was too afraid that it would attract their interest. Consequently, I changed some of your tests before submitting them to the central education headquarters. You still get an A from me but not a perfect A. I did it too much…And I cause you trouble.”

She moved her eyes to Alexis.

“And Ms. Davis, your memory is too wonderful but because Mary put the wrong information on your medical profile and you have never outshined it. I let this work to my sister.”

“I haven’t known both of them have the super-brain,” Wade muttered.

“It’s not the super-brain,” Alexis corrected him. “It’s just a skill.”

“Yes, just a skill. We thought it was the best way to protect them but if they did not find out, they won’t interrogate you. They will think it’s the make-up story by Ms. Carter only.”

Alexis thought of her parents. They insisted that her gift was just a normal gift but she was better not to show off because it might cause annoyance and hatred when someone overacted in something. Now, she understood that they tried to protect her like Ms. Stephen and Mrs. Dobies had done. Sometimes a gift could be a curse.

“I don’t know who to be blamed. I don’t see the point of it.” Alexis revealed what she truly felt right now. “They want to put us in this case. It’s no doubt. If it’s not us, the victims can be others. If it’s not you, they still force us to be the convicts. They can free Wade but they don’t. It’s not about who to be blamed, Mrs. Dobies. It’s about the system and the power users. Carter might start the fire but if there’s no fuel, we won’t sit here.”

“She’s right,” Oslo supported her thought.

“Fuel?... I am the fuel,” The nurse mumbled. It was like she ran out of energy. “My…because of our action, they dig up the whole system in our district. The other kids would be arrested soon if they…Oh, Meg! If they find out.” She started to cry. Mrs. Dobies comforted her sister.

“No, you’re not.” Alexis denied her word. “It’s the system, the act, the people…those people who sit behind those chairs…they have no right to do this…to all of us.”

The girl looked at her feet, wondering how she had felt before. The scholarship was the goal she dreamed of since childhood but to be part of the dirtiness and the absolute authority, being a puppet was never the thing she desired to be.

“Because I was Mr. Naïve like you are but now I am enlightened.” Jesse’s words replaying in her mind.

It’s too late for me, brother.

“They have the right to do everything.” This time Oslo showed his contradiction. “That’s why we’re here. We’re over. We can't do anything. We have to admit it. I don’t blame you, Mrs. Dobies. Your intention is goodwill. I blame fate. My life is over. Goodbye, my future.” And he returned to his place, sitting in surrendering.

No one said anything more but the silence reflected their agreement that the boy was right.

The teens had no more questions to ask the teacher. Mrs. Dobies looked entirely weak and they let her rest with her sister. Belinda kept crying and no one thought about comforting her when everyone had their own misery to bear. Alexis sat leaning her back on the wall trying to calm her thoughts. It was the end. No more university life, no more social life, nothing left to yearn for.

In the evening, they hardly consumed food but they were tasteless anyway. There was no new information announced. Alexis did not know when she would leave here and if they would allow them to meet their family or not.

“Please, we do nothing. We don’t know anything about the false information.”

Alexis and the other poked their head to the metal bar when they heard the new voices. They saw the other teenagers being detained. Most were younger than them. Mary Stephen wept again.

“I don’t know what she’s done!”

Mrs. Dobies focused on her lap with her sister’s head lying. The new cellmates cursed the two and, of course, Belinda too. The girl with the chocolate-colored hair kept herself in the corner, covering her ears.

“You guys, please tell us what they will do to us?” Anthony Hernandez asked loudly from the next cell.

Alexis wanted him to keep his mouth shut. Telling the truth would make them scared but keeping silent caused the same thing. She did not know how to answer them.

“Electric shock and shut the fuck up!” Wade replied. The younger boy dared not to ask again. Perhaps, her friend’s answer shocked him and the others.

“You don’t have to put all your temper on them. They’re frightened,” Alexis warned.

Wade did not answer, fixing his eyes on the bruises on both arms.

The newcomers kept talking among their group while people in the other two cells sat in silence (except for the crying of the nurse and Belinda). The new ones still had hope like Alexis and her friends before experiencing the interrogation in that room. Alexis glared at the ceiling without certain thought and she fell asleep.

In the night, the girl dreamed that she was freed. Their judgment had been amended and they were judged as innocent. Until she heard the noise outside the cell as if someone talking, Alexis hardly opened her eyes. She was too sleepy to wake up at that time.

“Don’t even touch them.”

“You’ll come with me?”

Who’s speaking? Then she succumbed to sleepiness.

**********

The next day, four teenagers were allowed to meet their family and friends. Elodie came with Alexis’s parents and she cried all the time, blaming herself that she was the real cause of Alexis’s trouble. The girl spent a lot of time comforting her dark-haired friend instead of being comforted. Her father said if Alexis had not been there, she would be arrested anyway because of Mary Stephen’s confession (or being forced to do).

“The newspaper stated that four crème students of San Bosa High School were involved with drugs. How could they write that fake news?” Jesse complained.

“They’re forced to write that thing,” her father explained.

“At least it did not show our names, didn’t it?” asked Alexis.

“Nope, if there are any, I will sue them.”

“You sound like Mr. Miller.”

Alexis noticed her mother and Bryce rarely spoke. It was hard to manage their feeling. They sat quietly watching her talking with Jesse. At the same time, Elodie’s cry echoed all over the room. Even her father and Jesse were extremely tired as she observed them. They might put all the effort to save her in every way but failed. Her brother completely lacked all of his confidence, compared to the assurance he had given her two days ago. Well, nobody expected this would have happened to Alexis, to become a wrongdoer or a threat to the federal republic.

“You all look deadly alive like zombies,” she tried to make a joke but it was the worst joke ever.

“You have to go?” asked Little Charlie, the only one who was not infected by the depression. He was too young to understand that his sister would never come back to him, never teach him drawing, never take him to eat ice cream and pizza, and never play with him, never, and never again.

“She will come back,” Bryce spoke. The sister gave her a hard-breathing hug. “Right?”

They shared the room for almost fifteen years. Being sisters and best friends for most of their lives and one day when one of them had to sleep alone; it was so depressing to imagine how lonely both had to encounter.

“Please…” Alexis pleaded. Resisting the tears was super hard. Little Charlie stared fixedly at her, demanding the answer.

“I try, Monkey,” replied she, then he gave a satisfied smile.

“Do you know?” her mother finally revealed her voice to her father. “Do you know about the fake information that Mary did?”

Caleb nodded guiltily.

“And you let she did it?”

“No one’s fault,” the girl interrupted at once before her mother said anything more. She did not want their parents arguing in front of everyone at this time and they had never done any single time since she became their daughter. The grief devoured all hope in the room and she needed not rage or quarrel because the time to stay with them was running out every second.

“They said the departure date will be announced within tomorrow. Alex, I’m sorry. I can’t do anything for you. I’m incapable of doing anything. I’m useless.”

“I said no one’s fault,” she repeated and took off Bryce’s arms before being out of breath.

Bianna asked Jesse again if he could find any good attorney. And they had to listen to Jesse’s explanation (how many times he had to do it she could not count). The fact was the offense of being the suspect under Act 2966 forbade the defense from the accused’s side. The law was unappeasable and the verdict meant unchangeable. Within two hours, they discussed the law, the possibility of Alexis’s liberation, and the system. In the final minutes, Bianna could not make her mind steady, she cried to Jesse, demanding him to find the way, blaming the authority. Jesse had to take her out of the room before the police officer did it in a barbaric manner.

It was time for them to go. The girl smiled at her father, trying so hard to be strong in his eyes.

“Tomorrow, we will come again. Take care of yourself, my girl,” her father said and kissed her forehead. Bryce and Elodie did the same but Little Charlie lingered a little bit. “You promise to come back, please? I want to draw an elephant. You’re the best at it and Jesse’s drawing sucks.”

“How can you learn to speak like that?” she cried while carrying him on her lap.

“Jesse always said the system is suck and full of bloody people.”

Alexis closed her eyes. Next time, the brother must be lectured. “Don’t say that words. It’s rude, you know? I can’t promise you, Monkey. I try my best, okay?”

Instead of giving him her promise, she gave him a big kiss on his full cheek. Because she knew she would break it, her father taught her not to make any promise that she could not keep.

Charlie jumped down and waved back with his shining smile before getting out with the family. The handcuff locked her hand on the table so she had to watch them go away although the heart followed them.

That day, their friends and teachers at the school visited them too. She began to sympathize with Belinda when all of them preferred to meet only three. There was the cheerleader team, the soccer club, the basketball club, the astronomy club, etc. Davy came too, with the soccer team but June still ghosted away even her mother who was familiar with Alexis’s family had not shown up.

If you just show up, I will forget everything. I will forgive everything.

Alexis missed her best friend from childhood. Although the conflict between them damaged their friendship beyond repair. June’s betrayal caused severe pain. Anyway, the girl knew wholeheartedly that they would never meet again and she desperately needed a good closure. Another reason, even though June stabbed the knife to her back and left it, Alexis hoped her friend would take it off and they could reset things before she departed. Be a stranger but have no bad feelings left.

In the profoundness of her heart, Alexis just wanted June to say sorry. That was all she needed.

The girl was taken outside the visiting room, waiting for Wade, Oslo, and Belinda. They were walking toward the police Bruce. He came to stand beside her and clapped his hand on her shoulders gently.

“You’ll see them again tomorrow, young lady.”

She nodded. “Do you mind if I ask a question?”

“You still have time. Go on, girl.”

The girl smiled with relief. He did not act coldly like the other two police whom they frequently met.

“What is the program exactly? What will they do to us?”

Bruce sighed. “I can’t answer you because I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. Sorry girl.”

“Hey!” Wade greeted her.

“Let’s go back.” The police guided their way. They passed Anthony’s group that was heading to the interrogation room.

“Good luck!” Wade shouted. The other group turned to him, perplexed.

“Go on!” The blonde police urged and pointed at Wade with a warning gesture. Alexis’s group watched them disappear behind that door.

“You’re mean!” She elbowed her friend. “Don’t you see their face?”

“I warn them,” Wade replied.

“Stop the girl!”

Alexis turned and she heard some chaos. A few minutes later, people screamed before sneaking out of that room.

“Get back to the cell, right now!” Bruce ordered and lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth. “We need back up. Interrogation Room. Repeat! We need backup. Interrogation Room.”