Wretched, Offer Reish [novels for teenagers .TXT] 📗

Leonardo was scared for Jessica and the black masks, but it was impossible to stop an awkward chuckle from escaping his widely separated jaws. How could the same accident happen twice, and in succession? Someone must've been very indifferent. Jessica tried to let out a few more words but she could barely be heard, and it took the raging mob to force her away from the podium and in line with the black masks at the back of the stage. A young man who seemed to be the leader of the invaders took her place at the podium and declared with the unmistakable pride and conviction of a man who felt victory was at his side:

"Do you want justice? Here is justice! Let us see who these cowards behind the masks!" He had a big nose that flared when he spoke.

And then something that seemed to regale the whole crowd but was absolutely devastating for Leonardo took place: a large woman that had her wide back to the crowd went from one black mask to another and ripped the masks off the faces of the men and women whose faces had until those moments never been seen in public. All The Existents, from the most terrified black mask to the fatigued but unmoved Jessica, forwent the chanceless physical battle that had been expected of them and allowed the large woman to slip off the masks and the young man on stage to say what he wished with no physical resistance.

Everyone in the crowd stared with fascination at the line of anonymous men and women of different shapes and sizes whose identity was now the public property, except for Leonardo who didn't move his expressive eyes with their transparent glow from Jessica. And she did the same. Like her fellow Extremists she kept her gaze locked on the audience, occasionally shifting her eyes from one unknown demonstrator to another, no longer enjoying the certitude that all the nameless faces she was seeing were friendly ones. And then she saw him. Nothing of the havoc that was all around them mattered when their eyes met, and Leonardo even felt that it strengthened their connection.

Yes, he decided, she was certainly more beautiful now than she'd ever been before. It didn’t matter that her smooth blond hair was no longer neatly pulled back and that the glow of power and authority that had once graced her so majestically had left her. Even standing at the back of the stage she was the most important and admirable person there; certainly more than the insolent young man who'd stolen her spot at the podium!

What could she be thinking about him?

Yes, she was probably proud of him for holding his ground the same way she was. Yes, it was on her face, and he thought he might've seen her lips move and telling it to him. He was proud of her too!

Then, quite strangely, at the very same moment Jessica's gentle eyes lifted from Leonardo his father pulled him down from his shoulders. It was as if his father had waited for it to happen, but Leonardo snorted at the very thought of it.

From that evening forward the winds started changing even faster in the city, and this time it was quite a unanimous tendency of people lifting their support from the Existents, which were now accorded the name Extremists. The opposition was expedited still by the Existents' frequent claims of the myriad abuses suffered by the Wretches- of the exploitation and contamination in Recovery Camps, of the prenatal interventions in the birth process, and many more strange and disagreeable allegations. The final straw, which drove many indifferent voices to the opposition and was the most terrifically provocative claim made since the allegation of the existence of Bad Mother devices (which by then had been consigned to oblivion)- was the adamant depiction of Sand Blowers, those mysterious and adulated, almost legendary men and women that kept the wheels of the Industry spinning, as major promoters of injustice. Their jobs, it was claimed, consisted in diving into the darkest corners of people's minds and coming out with constantly adaptive ways of making the horrid injustices caused to the Wretches agreeable by appealing to them. Their jobs, it was determined, was to make people believe it's okay to abuse Wretches.

"What do they mean by 'the darkest corners in people's minds'?" Leonardo asked on the same afternoon in which these last allegations were made while engaged in a chess game with 462, in which he would later come out as the winning side following an 11th hour stratagem that would turn the game around in his favor, of course.

Hailey, who was becoming less tolerant and more concerned by these kinds of questions regarding the Existents' questionable statements, said:

"It means evil thoughts that we try to hide or suppress. So they can only exist in the dark corners of our minds, otherwise we wouldn't be able to accept them."

"Does everyone have these kinds of evil thoughts?"

"Everybody has better side and worse sides", Hailey said hesitantly.

"Do you have a dark corner in your mind?" Leonardo said without taking his eyes off his most important piece- his queen.

Hailey sighed. "Yes, I do. Mommy isn't perfect, honey."

"Do you think it's okay to abuse Wretches?" Leonardo insisted, at the same time making a very sly move that even made 462 throw its head back in surprise.

"That's enough, Leonardo", said Hailey irascibly. "I don't want you listening to those ridiculous broadcasts anymore." She was referring to the occasional television broadcast that voiced the Existents' new releases. It was his favorite thing on TV.

"Why not? Don't you want to hear the truth?" To him, unlike most people, what the Existents had to say was always the undeniable truth.

"Sometimes it's better to leave the truth unspoken. You should know that by now." It was true that part of the treatment of one of the Asperger Syndrome symptoms that manifested most with Leonardo consisted in teaching him to keep his thoughts to himself when they were inappropriate. But his mother had always been the one to advocate teaching him to recognize tactfulness and other people's emotional conditions rather than simply curbing his urges whenever he could- and now she said this? Then, as though unsatisfied by this claim and sensing that it required corroboration, she added:

"The Existents are extremists. They think Wretches are more important than people. Do you think Wretches are more important than people?"

"I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against", Leonardo recited, feeling chills crawling over his entire body as the image of Jessica, still loved by the people (but none the better for it), flashed in his mind as vividly as though he was there right now, staring at her from the height of his father's shoulders. And a moment after he said this he made another brilliant move- this time due to no obvious blunder by 462 but simply brilliant in and of itself, sacrificing his only remaining bishop to open the black king to a lethal attack- forcing 462 to tip over its black king and resign. It was the first time 462 had ever resigned to him (effectively meaning that it conceded its defeat without actually playing it out on the board since it was convinced that it couldn't stop Leonardo's attack). And after the crowned head of the black king bounced softly with a clank clank of glass hitting glass, the Wretch raised its little eyes and looked at Leonardo with- could it be?- was it joy in its eyes? Did it understand at all the objective of the game? Were Wretches even capable of expressing joy or even of making facial expressions? John tried to study the mysterious face, but 462 quickly lowered its eyes, reverted to its usual, dull and apathetic manner, and put the black pieces back in their places.

Hailey's reprimand was now on the verge of a full-scale upbraiding, her voice having risen up the scale from her usual warble to a shrill screech, but he wasn't listening. He was thinking about the game and the look in 462's eyes and what Jessica would say if she'd been there to see it.

"Is that clear?" His mom bellowed, having left the kitchen and standing at the open space in front of the niche in the wall (to Leonardo's left and 462's right. 462 was standing tensely beside the chair that normally seated the player of the black pieces, its head turned down shamefully).

Leonardo looked at her and said, patiently: "What? I wasn't listening."

Hailey squinted at him with eyes of fire, panting like a lioness ready to pounce, and then spun around and scrambled back to the kitchen without saying a word. Leonardo surely would've burst out in tears if he hadn't been so preoccupied. 462 maintained the same awkward position for the rest of the afternoon until the beeping sound emerged a couple of hours later and sent it on the way back to the Storage Camp.

Hailey's concern from the Existents' effect on her son wasn't unique to her. There was widespread apprehension from their provocations and extremist cause, and this spurred the rise of an opposing group that wished to restore reason, moderation and calmness to the people in those times when the seas were raging and peace was impossible to find. The group called itself, simply, The People, and it was headed by none other than the young man with the big nose who had somewhat symbolically taken the podium while The Existents' last demonstration was being dispersed. Thanks to the group's conciliatory, peaceful and highly agreeable nature it gained immediate popularity among the people. The instability brought about by the Existents' bold and presumptuous actions put not only the Industry on edge, but- even more so- the people as well. They appreciated the comfort and tranquility of their lives, and they had no reason to follow the Extremists' attempts to overthrow them. When the Industry agreed to allow visits to a selected few venues within some of the Storage and Training Camps, The People held a demonstration that denounced anyone who would make such a rash move and exerted continuous pressure on the Industry to revoke its decision. When the Industry agreed to reduce the amount of waste and air polluation that was regularly disposed of in the airtight Recovery Camps (this was a common practice that significantly reduced the air, water and land pollution in the city) in light of The Existents' demand to cease this practice altogether, The People rallied the objection of the people, claiming this was a slippery slope to descend. And so the Industry's concession was reversed, and the disposal of waste and gases into the Storage and Training Camps proceeded as they had before. The People had yet to hold a formal public debut, but one was scheduled for the near future, and the excitement among the people was, naturally, great and on the rise.

At school there was a new trend among many of Leonardo's classmates, primarily the boys. If before about half the boys in class were occasionally seen with black masks on, flaunting their participation in an Extremists demonstration or fantasizing about becoming a black mask, now almost all the boys carried a new and wildly popular accessory: open masks. These were black pieces of fabric that were fitted over the head like a mask but left the face exposed. They were symbolic, of course, of the black masks, all of whose identities had been exposed by the big lady with the wide back. Leonardo was infuriated anew every time he saw these masks and pictured those moments of evilness when they'd been exposed, but he was afraid to show it. There was no way he could expressly stand up to a group of unfriendly classmates, but inside he could do anything he wanted to.

'I have to be like Jessica and let them do whatever they want- or at least let