Pursuit of the Whole

XLIX. Confidential

I filed my nails.

"When do you think it will be on the news?" Eric asks.

They all look at me.

I'm pretty sure my nails are uneven. Whenever I try to do my nails, they always somehow come out crooked, or even worse; one hand is better than the other.

"And on other news-" they all turn their heads towards the tv. I stop filing my nails and look upward to see a photo of Kai.

Kai cuddles closer to his giant panda.

The woman on the TV proceeds to talk about how they had found Kai. Then, she talks about the upcoming court case. Next, she talks about the people who are harboring him. In a short amount of time, she covered everything that happened in the past few months. But, of course, the news didn't stop there. After the information is publicized, it's time for the debate.

Are we good people?

No. We must be bad because we are harboring a fugitive.

How bad can we be? After all, the fugitive is a young boy.

However, that young boy isn't normal - he's a werewolf.

"When do you think those people are going to leave?" Brenda asks. She looks outside the house to see a bunch of people with cameras.

Yesterday, after school, the media showed up. It wasn't unexpected, but it feels like we were stuck in the middle of the storm. Of course, the government happily dropped by and tried to arrest my parents.

My parents had called for a lawyer beforehand.

Right now, we're all house arrest.

They tried to take Kai, but the lawyer Marcelo set up for him had a thing or two to say about that. Somehow, we manage to have them allow Kai to stay with us.

"Hello?" Eric takes a bite of the jerky. He exhales, "For the last time, mom, I'm fine. Just don't talk to anyone and everyone is a liar."

Eric, Brenda, and Brian were with me when I got home, so they're stuck. Also, they're associates to a crime - harboring a fugitive.

"My mom wants to talk to you...again." Eric hands the phone to my mom.

Mom got out of her seat, "Anne, everything is okay." She went to another room.

"Wow." Brenda hands me the phone. Natalie sent her a photo of my locker. Someone painted - werewolf whore - on it.

I handed it back to her, "The idiot doesn't seem to know I'm not going back to school for a while."

Before the news outbreak, my parents called Mrs.Rodriguez to tell her I'm not coming for a while. After the news outbreak, Mrs.Rodriguez graciously arranged something for me.

"You gotta give them credit," Brian says. He peeks outside the curtains, "It's freaking cold out there."

"I hope it storms," Brenda got off the couch to go into the kitchen.

"How's the situation at school?" I tilt my head back.

"Half of the school wants to kill us," Brenda grabs a cup. "The other half is debating whether or not to kill us."

Sounds comforting.

Brian let go of the curtains, "Really?"

"Nah. Most people don't really care." That sounds about right. Whenever something happens, the mass majority generally doesn't care. The news would pique their interests, but that's it.