The Rebellion Era

Chapter Two

I put on my mauve full length coat. It is frayed at the knees due to long hours kneeling on Lavenders. I stalk out of my room. The house is empty except for mother. She stands before the TV, her hand braced against her back like a pregnant woman, with her coat smudged by dirt entirely. The screen is divided into multiple squares, each showing a protest in a different city. The protestors chant "Down with the era of oppressors, tyrants and traitors" over and over again. A voiceover of the reporter says that some prisons were burned and prisoners have escaped en masse. This is an anagram to "prisons were opened and prisoners have been leashed."

To terrorize protestors, I think. I made it a habit to decipher the lies of the media and extract the truth.

Outside, a howl rents the air.

Mother almost absentmindedly glances at the door. She recoils backward in surprise when she sees me standing.

"Another episode." She informs me, but I already know what are the screams and to whom they belong to.

Assem's mother have been diagnosed with brain cancer a few years ago. Ever since, she would have seizure episodes every so often. One time, I've seen her shake on the floor severely from side to side due to violent muscle contractions, like someone has inserted a live wire in her guts. Her eyes would roll back in their sockets and Assem would have to clutch her till she regains composure. It was so terrifying; Assem rushed me out of his house, explaining he wouldn't want me to remember his mother as the vibrating maniac, but rather the tender and kind renowned woman she was before the disease got the best of her.

I nod, staring at my slippers.

Mother shakes her head. "God help this woman."

I peer at the TV momentarily then stride out of the house.

A cluster of people are gathered around the door across from ours; Assem's house. They fix their gazes on the door like they could see through it, breaking from time to time to whisper things in each other's ears. They stand, their eyes full of greed, like someone has told them the house they stand by offers a free banquet, like Mrs. Eman's seizures is new news.

Among the crowd, father stands in his black trousers and purple shirt, his cane resting against Assem's door waiting for him to come out. His duty as a Hakim is to ensure the welfare of our people, so his presence is justified. Even though, we all know Assem will come out to inform the throng that she is unconscious , and he would have to wait for her to wake up confused like she always does, groping for him to assure her like he always have.

Father nods at me across the crowd. I don't return the courtesy and head to the place Assem had asked me to wait for him whenever his mother has an episode.

I squat by the shore. The round lake lies in the midst of the gardens like it is the stigma and the lanes are the surrounding petals, shared and used by all eight lanes. The water is thick and green, filled and covered mainly with brown and green algae. The Quorum of Hakims have banned any swimming or water activities in the lake, but yet some have broken the rules and took a dive, myself included. My ten year old legs were tangled amid the underwater plants until I beckoned for father. His face had bleached white when he had seen me, and immediately hurtled to rescue me.

I was punished for going against the rules.

I look up and see Assem crouching next to me, his eyes staring at the distance. His sullen looks speak louder than words.

I don't ask him how is his mother; for the answer is already known. And I don't say anything at all. He doesn't like to share his mother's pain and I respect his privacy.