Perfectly Scarred

The Help

ONE HOUR EARLIER

"Hello?" I pace the small cabin. "Judge Ramirez?"

Ramirez is one of the three judges who sit alongside Judge Dahee and ____? (If you can still remember; What's the name of the other Judge) in the Society. She was responsible for my Failure verdict, too, but spent the entire trial trying to undermine Dahee. I just happened to get caught in the middle.

Ramirez caught me on the run and tried to make a deal with me to help her bring down Dahee. I didn't trust her, but she let me go, to prove that I could.

I told Granddad about her and he told me to tread carefully. Getting involved with her could get me in more trouble.

"Ramirez speaking."

"Roseanne Park."

Pause. "Well, well, well. She surfaces. I hear you escaped her again. I must say I'm enjoying this little game of cat and mouse. Can't say the same for Dahee."

"You told me two weeks ago that you'd help me."

"In return for something else, I recall."

She has no idea what exactly I have against Dahee, she just knows that she is panicking about something and is sending Whistleblowers out left, right, and center to find me. She drew her own conclusions.

"I'll work with you on that. But first do something to show that I can trust you."

"I believe I already did. I let you go, don't you remember?"

"But things have changed. You're holding my granddad in your cells. That doesn't seem very trustworthy to me."

"My, you've learned fast, Roseanne. What can I do for you?"

"A little F.A.B. girl was taken from the CCU facility an hour ago. They need her back."

"That's impossible." She interjected.

"Then so is my helping you. Good-bye." I say sarcastically.

"Wait." She pauses. "Give me an hour."

_______________________________________________________

"I'M IN," Somi says suddenly, shouting up from the courtyard.

"Us too," Adam says, firmly nodding at Lisa's in apology.

"Right, let's get this started," I say, adrenaline surging. "Let's all pack up and get out of here. It's time to move on."

* * *
Back in my cabin, my hands are trembling as I throw my few possessions into my backpack. I throw it over one shoulder and reach out to the door handle.

Instead of turning it, I lock the door and huddle down in the corner of the room. Head down on my knees, I cry as it all sinks in.

"How did you do that?" Lisa asked me over and over after Ella's release. They were all looking at me like I was some kind of god, and some kind of freak. I didn't tell her how.

I will when we are alone. I think the shrouded mystery is on my side at the moment, when inside I feel like a bag of rattling bones.

The truth is, I was terrified when I made the phone call that led to Ella's release.

The truth is, I'm still shaking with nerves now.

NOW, AFTER MY magic trick, they all await my next move, believing in me, trusting me. I can't tell any of them that the weapon Lisa thinks I have, which is the footage of Dahee losing control and in a psychotic episode illegally branding me for the sixth time, is not in my possession.

Nobody can know that I don't have it. It's the only power I have. It's the only thing that any of us Failure have—without it we have nothing.

For now, people believing in me is all I have to go on. And I'm lying to them all.

But what else can you expect from a Failure?