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

a young nonexistent had been extracted from the Training Camp and hidden somewhere in the city. Before its absence was noticed and searches commenced, a short video was shot in which the nonexistent, its faced turned to the camera at all times so it couldn't be recognized by the number on its back, was asked five simple questions and gave five simple answers.

"Your name- the number on your back- how did you get it?"Asked a black mask with a woman's voice. It was common knowledge that Wretches were born with the numbers on their backs.

"Someone with something very hot burned it on me", the nonexistent said in the broken, influent manner that nonexistents always spoke. It's eyes didn't meet the camera but alternated between short glimpses at the black mask and long brooding stares downward.

"How did it feel?" The black mask asked softly.

"Very bad. Very very very very bad." Wretches typically commanded a very narrow variety of adjectives, and so adding very to the adjectives they did know was the only way they could express an increase in its degree.

"Did you try to escape?"

"You Can't escape. If you try they catch you and do it harder and slower."

"If you caught the person who did this to you, would you do it back to him?" The black mask said, now almost in a whisper, and her voice trembled.

"Yes!" The nonexistent blurted out wrathfully. Then it did something with its eyes- one couldn't make out through the camera the movement in the hardly visible eyes- and muttered a low "No. Never."

This astounding, outrageous, provocative, fabricated, disgusting video (it had been characterized as all of the above and more) had of course been banned from all mainstream media channels, but was easily accessible online. Leonardo had managed to curb his urge to tell his mom of his intention to watch it, anticipating her response, and did so stealthily in his bedroom before going to bed. There were so many questions floating around in his head and so much sorrow in his heart that he barely slept that night. But there was also a new feeling that started growing inside him, which had crept up on him without warning: disbelief. Disbelief in what exactly- the truthfulness of the video, the Wretch, its answers, or the drama of it all, he wasn't sure, but he felt disbelief. In the end he fell asleep and had a dream (he tended to have vivid memories of many of his dreams) that he was in a large dark place with a Wretch that had no number, and he had to choose between burning the Wretch and having his own back burned.

The People reacted to this video- this new weapon in the battlefield- on several fronts. First they questioned its authenticity and called for The Existents to come out in the open and let the people test it. Then they denounced the act of thievery and prompted Industry owners to file an official complaint with the police and request to have the stolen property retrieved (nobody in the Industry had intended to do so but there was no point in contradicting The People). Next they launched a series of accumulative arguments, each of which further stultified The Existents' already feeble claims. It was time for The People's first formal public event.

It happened on a cloudy, windy afternoon in which neither sun nor warmth were part of the kingdom of the people. Everybody was in a state of belligerence that didn't feel like belligerence but like healthy enthusiasm, like an army prepared to deliver a death blow to a debilitated enemy. In the apartment this was also at least partly the case: Fred's eyes had been alight for days and he was armed with his open mask, Hailey was quite excited herself and overtly hopeful that the zeal of the crowd would sweep Leonardo away as well. Steve was impassive as usual, though Leonardo thought he detected occasional signs of nervousness in his father's rarely nervous face. Leonardo didn't know what to feel. He could never betray Jessica, but there was a part of him that wished to be convinced and blown away by The People. It was this confusion along with the feeling that his father was constantly testing him at the chessboard (which had nothing to do with The People or The Existents or justice) that always brought his game to far below par when playing against him. This time was no exception, and Steve blurted out irritably: "What's the point of you playing that Wretch all the time?" And he marched away from the table. It took an inhuman effort from Leonardo to stop the tears from flowing, the source of resistance being the alternating images of Jessica and of the man with the big nose.

The family hadn't entered the elevator when Leonardo's spirits were even further dampened by the arrival of Dr. Joshua, Father Lockworth and their wives. There was no need to state the obvious, as there wasn’t the shadow of a doubt anywhere in the hallway that all were headed to the Eastern part of the city square.

"Hello, father. Dr. Joshua, we saw you on television a few days back. All of us. Very impressive. Really, very impressive!" Hailey greeted, and Steve shook the hands first of the building's new celebrity figure and his wife, then of the man who used to be the most awed and revered in the building (and had now fallen from grace to number two after the Doctor) and his wife. It was so obvious what the topic of discussion would be that the boys weren't given their fair share of attention before the grownups started talking seriously.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just doing my job", Dr. Joshua said with a smug smile and a healthy ruddiness that was deeper than usual. His wife, much like father Lockworth's, was very ordinary in her appearance, and was so deferential to her husband that her voice was rarely heard in these chance neighbor meetings. Leonardo didn't even know her name (assuming she had one other than 'Dr. Joshua's wife'). Dr. Joshua inevitably continued:

"But really, this whole thing is crazy. I used to like those Existents, especially the girl- she was great. But they crossed the line, probably got drunk with power. And the thing with that Wretch they stole- that was awful. It's cruel to even ask somebody to watch it. Awful."

Yes, Leonardo thought, it was awful. Maybe he shouldn't have watched it. What good did it do?

"It doesn't matter. It's going to be over soon", Fred chimed in. He had those moments when he'd suddenly join a grownup's conversation, and it usually turned out quite well. Leonardo hoped sometimes that he could do it too one day.

"Yes, hopefully after tonight things will be back in order", Hailey said.

"Praise the Lord, they will", Father Lockworth added. Then: "this farce has gone on long enough. The land and everything on it has been given to us not by some boys in masks or the Industry but by Him. To suggest anything to the contrary borders on blasphemy. Of course we mustn't needlessly abuse them since they, too, are His creations."

Leonardo frowned at the sound of this, not because of his dislike for the Father (which had abated considerably, since he felt grateful to anyone who made it easier for him to lean toward The People) but due to his foiled attempts to comprehend its meaning.

Needless abuse. Did there ever exist any kind of abuse that wasn't needless?

"Are you guys having a hard time at work because of this whole thing?" Hailey wondered of Dr. Joshua. He was the family's only direct link to the inner workings of the Industry.

Dr. Joshua emitted a meek nondescript noise that implied uncertainty. "In the beginning yea, I guess. Things were pretty hectic around two-three weeks ago. But actually, The People have been a great help. At it nonstop. It's like they've been protecting our interests more than we have." He laughed as any man whose work has been done for him is bound to do, but with affection that invited everybody to partake in his pleasure rather than envy his unfair advantage.

"You know, for us it’s about doing our jobs, but for them it's like they're fighting for some kind of ideology. Like they're fighting for their lives, almost", he continued. Everyone seemed to be made a little uncomfortable by this and nothing more was said until the families parted and made their separate ways to the event. Leonardo felt this discomfort as well, though he wasn't sure why it was there, and he was glad that even in the car on the way to the square there were no more discussions about The People.

At the demonstration there was the same invigorating density of people backing the same cause, the same sense of unity and power and the same intoxicating revelry that had characterized the first demonstrations of The Existents. It wasn't as hot due to the hermetic protection from the sun provided by the clouds, and the air wasn't as stifling thanks to the fresh, constantly blowing gusts that seemed yearning to take part in the event as well; the force that had brought the thousands together and the one that would determine the intensity of the experience they were about to have and their emotional immersion in it (these were two separate forces) were stronger and fierier, but not as pure as back in the days of The Existents.

They were stronger and fierier since the people weren't fighting against a long time practice that was suddenly found to have been reducing the quality of their already pleasurable lives, but against an attempt to bring a new factor into the equation which would capsize the boat and throw them into the cold water. But they weren't as pure since the cause being fought for wasn't as noble as the one The Existents had introduced. Even The People knew this.

Leonardo was still confused, but the energy of the scene, which climaxed when the young man with the big nose took the stage, brought him one step closer to where he thought he wanted to be. More than having been brought together to fight for a common cause, the people were there to fight against those who opposed the cause. More than wanting to fight for the peace in their lives, the people had been gathered to fight against those who were trying to put that peace in question. And as much as he hated it, Leonardo could feel the same thing happen inside him. Slowly he came to accept the fact that he wanted to be there with everybody else because he didn't want to see or hear any more of what The Existents had to say. He didn't want to believe them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen", blared the powerful voice of the man with the big nose through the microphone. He was dressed very casually with a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans over solid black shoes. He was short and muscular, with a wide square face and eyes that looked at the crowd so intensely that they seemed never to blink.

"We are here to restore peace to this city. We are here to restore stability and moderation in the face of the vile attempts of some misguided radicals to instigate panic and delude us into believing in their own wild fantasies. We are here to fight for justice!" With this last sentence, an obvious parody on Jessica's slogans (which now seemed as ridiculous as they had once been inspiring), the final annihilation of The Extistents had begun.

The man with the big nose was very well organized and was clearly part of a large, structured, powerful body. He didn't gain the crowd's sympathy or admiration, or even inspire it in unexpected ways the way Jessica had used to do, but he had an equally effective method at his disposal: he rallied the crowd's belligerence and antagonism toward