Stargazer - Segregation

Chapter Seventeen - Jack Ketch Fair

He's right. Why can't we just get along as normal people would? It seems so ordinary yet so unnatural. It seems weird for them to see the world working, even though the war is happening. It's true, no matter how much conflict there seems to be around the world, some people still have their everyday life—working and providing. All of this, everything seems so surreal for Henry.

It's night already, Ekon's hands glued onto the steering wheel. Michael, Wylie, and Galina already went to sleep. Henry can't wait for some reason, maybe it's the noise of the sea, but perhaps it might be his thoughts that won't let him fall into slumber.

He walks towards Ekon, looking up to the sky. The cloudy nights let the stars stay asleep tonight.

"What's wrong, young man?" he looks at him.

"Ah well, I don't know. Like, I thought I would know what's going on but, after all. I have no idea what is happening," he shrugs. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?"

Ekon smiles at Henry. "I think so, yes."

"Why?" his eyebrows arches.

"I've seen them all. The good, the bad. But most importantly, I've seen the difference between a shackle and a loose."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The shackle is the Antares. The loose is you," he smiles at Henry's baffled face. "The people lost the ability to think, and you are there to return this. You're good."

Henry stays silent to think about the words. They really can't think for themselves anymore. They rely on him. He looks back to the sleeping three then faces the ocean. They all have a reason, they all have a goal—his one seems redundant. Just to save some people? Is this really all for him?

"A sea is an awesome place, isn't it? Full of mysteries that we haven't been able to figure out yet," says Ekon to push him out of his thoughts.

"That's the same someone told me once about space."

"I would rather live underneath the ocean than up in space. It just doesn't sound right," he giggles.

They look at the silent sea. The breeze runs through Henry's hair. He starts to think again, back at the time when he was with the nuns. He remembers when Jasmine, his mum, told him how big the world is, how many mysteries we didn't find the answers to yet. She believed in God, in an entity that would lead her to happiness.

He can't understand why someone would believe in something that doesn't seem to exist. And yet, he always did what they told him to, pretending to believe in something.

"Are you happy this way?" Henry looks at him.

"Yes, you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I can go wherever I want, and I can do whatever I want. I am a free man with no fences."

"That differs us."

"Yeah, because you have to either live by the rules and be unhappy or fight for your rights and still be unhappy. Either way, you ain't gonna be happy."

"How can I be happy?" he stares at the moon.

Ekon chuckles and looks at him. "That was how it would be, in my perspective. But what about you? Does fighting make you unhappy?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "I never really thought about it. I thought I could, you know, bring back happiness and peace to others."

"So, you forgot about yourself in the process?"

"I guess so," he looks down.

"Anyways, I think you should go to sleep, young man. It's been a rough day, and there is gonna be a rougher up ahead on you."