The Corrupt

•Blend In•

1

The whistle loudly screamed its wake up call for all to hear. Emmalyn quickly jumped out of her bed and started her routine. First, she slipped into her tan uniform and rushed downstairs to eat her breakfast. She went to check on her mom to see if she is still here, but she’s wasting her time as usual. As she was rushing to the bus stop, her friend Zack stops her with his smile as goofy as ever.

“Don’t grin so big. They might see you and take you away,” She warned him. His smile quickly faded, but she could still see the happiness in his eyes.

After she got on the bus she asked him “What’s your plausible reason for being so happy?”

“The weekend is finally over!” Zack shouted. He then shushed himself as she glared at him.

   Everyone files out of the bus and walks to their classes, but Zack stops shortly after he gets off the bus.

“Zack, what’s wrong?” she asked in a worried tone.

“Just allergies,” he replies as he takes his contact out. Emmalyn walked up to him to try and shield him from any cameras and prepared to scold him after he was done.

“They could see you!”

“I know, I just had to fix it.” Just as he had finished saying that a kid behind us tripped on the stairs and fell on Zack and Emmalyn.

“S-Sorry,” the boy said, and She could tell he was sincere. Both she and the kid stood up but Zack didn’t. When the boy left she had asked he if he was okay. He looked at her with fear in both his brown and amber eyes. He quickly shut both of his eyes and she guided him to the entrance of their school. She hugged him and then screeched “You idiot!” as he wept a plethora of tears, for he already knew they were coming for them.

   He had to try to act as nothing had happened to possibly avoid their arrival, but deep down he knew there was no going back. Emmalyn was having a panic attack while trying to act like it had not happened for her friend’s sake. As they both arrived at their homeroom the teacher looked at them in shock. At first, she was going to scold them for being late, but she didn’t want to draw any more attention to them. The students looked at them wide-eyed, almost fearful, as they scooted away from the two best friends. No one had talked to them that hour. This did not seem unusual at first but their intentions were different this time. Before, they would talk to neither of the pair not because they didn’t want to, but simply because there was no need for the interaction. They did not want to associate themselves with either of them while Zack’s eyes were unique like that.

In the lunchroom, it was even more obvious. They all sat as far away as they could from Emmalyn and Zack. Emmalyn was not hungry but she ate anyways knowing she would regret not eating later; Zack, on the other hand, did not eat at all. He had lost his appetite due to the horrible day and just sat there looking like a statue. He did not even talk to Emmalyn as he always did. His happy demeanor from that morning had fled him completely.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she informed him “everything will work out,” though she did not truly believe what she was saying herself. He just silently nodded and stared back at the wall, lost in his terrible thoughts. What he thought about was nothing good or pleasant. He thought about what they would do to him, what they would do to Emmalyn, what they would do to their families, and if anyone would miss them. This world they lived in was not pleasant at all. It was a very controlling and depressing world with no aesthetic.

The two of them continued their day with sorrow, not wanting the school day to end, and at the end of the last hour, they expressed their goodbyes. They stood in the back of the classroom hugging and weeping, and the teacher surprisingly did not stop them. They both walked closer to the front doors of the schoolhouse. Once they walk out they will either face the capricious punishment of the corrupt hegemony or their prayers will be answered and they get to live life a little longer. As they near the doors all Emmalyn heard was the sound of their feet hitting the tile. They could both feel their anxiety getting more and more intense. They slowly stepped through the big, heavy doors and into the cold fall air. They held their breaths until they realized they were okay. There were no vehicles, no people in suits, it was just them, and that was the scary part.

As they walked home no one spoke a word. Zack kept his head hung low to avoid unwanted attention, and Emmalyn watched for suspicious personnel. First, they arrived at Zack’s house. Emmalyn was there when his mother broke down.

“You walked around the school like that all day?” she cried as soon as her son walked through the door. The lady then quickly rushed Emmalyn out the door “Go on home, it’s dangerous for you to be over here.” Emmalyn did as she was told and went home.

As she woke up the next day she had felt it. She knew her best friend would not show up at the bus stop with his goofy smile. She sat in her bed a little while longer and wept. After that, she quickly finished her routine, including checking on her mother and walked to the bus stop. Poor Emmalyn would not be the same because Zack is not here.