The Owls Who Watch

Chapter 15 - Commotion

Kevin hadn't slept in nearly a week. The gas had dissipated, weakening as the days passed until it faded entirely by the Thursday. Sleep was what Kevin had spent most of his time doing since the day he arrived in the village. Now, with the gas fading from prominence, Kevin could now catch up on being awake.

The day prior, he and Olga engaged in their longest session yet. Kevin, despite trying to appear neurotypical, was instead diagnosed with clinical depression, anxiety, and was under 'suspicion' for possessing an anti-social personality. His therapist appeared to take the word of Kevin's wicked stepmother and halfwit father over direct communication with Kevin. Nothing he said mattered in the end. Her initial charming and bubbly personality melted away entirely once she revealed his diagnosis, and the medication he was forced to ingest at the reception every week, and take at home every other day. Rising from his bed for the day, he entered the kitchen and swallowed the first of his at-home medication. I'll take them anyway. See what it does to me. If I don't show whatever symptoms they're meant to produce, they won't believe I'm taking them.

Youth Night was happening again on Saturday. Charlotte, Svetlana, and Jordan claimed to be there again. Daniels better arrive on time for once. That man is as lackwit as my father. Kevin opened the window and took several deep breaths of the fresh air. Feelings of entrapment and fear of authorities, the disappearances, and any consequences he may face, were always present somewhere within his mind. No matter how hard he tried to suppress those emotions, they instead found outlets in frustration and a short temper. He wondered if Olga somehow saw through his innocent act. How could she? I've done nothing wrong. They believed lies and discarded my word. As Kevin stared at the swaying forest trees and observed the circling crows, he wondered whether or not his father and stepmother paid for his relocation here. He had a stake in his grandfather's will, that was certain, yet for all Kevin knew, he was still alive as the head of a successful delivery and moving service. No matter how much he theorised, none of this added up. Arumlily covertly being Kevin's personal purgatory made more sense than why MEPHRA took him in, forced him to stay, and threatened him with death. All due to his stepmother's baseless claim. Her lying is always so obvious. Why believe her over me? There was nothing much else to think about here except stare out of windows and ponder on the unfairness of life. He would have to find out more about his newfound pals and how they ended up here. There was still more to find out. Not that it would make any difference. He could also find out if they knew where to find a key for the chest he uncovered and spent all day yesterday attempting to force open. When he threw the chest at a wall in frustration and left a permanent dent in the plaster, he heard something hard inside break.

Noon came and went. The sun appeared in front of his windows later in the day, only to be concealed around an hour later when it fell behind the forest's treeline, amplified by the forest's rising hills as it stretched into the distance. When Kevin finally grew mindlessly bored of staring out of windows, he closed it and walked to his bedroom. Sounds from outside made him pause in the hallway. Outside his main door were the sounds of arguments, shouting, and inaudible conversation. Once he verified no one was directly outside his door or on the staircase directly to his door's right, he peeked behind the door's archaic curtains and inspected the lane outside.

Ten or twenty people were gathered throughout the lane. They were staring up at someone's apartment, unnoticeable from Kevin's position. More people were exiting their main doors and leaning on their balconies, listening to the commotion, and to the shouting coming from this unnoticeable apartment. Some windows began opening on the apartments across. The voices were calling on people to leave their homes and hear the truth. That the patrollers were gone, and they could engage in discourse. Someone might've died, Kevin pondered, as he thought of Dean. He left his apartment and subtly navigated around the brick wall decorated in fake leaves, and leaned against the end of it. If anyone tries to punish me, I'll just say I thought I was meant to be outside. How am I meant to know any better?