That night, I had a pretty awful dream. I was a part of the peaceful protestors, as they were marching into Maya's speech, trying to interrupt it. Everything here was just like today was. I was holding up my sign, raising it into the air, and I was having fun. I didn't care about much at that moment.
This time, I was also able to watch it from the newscasters' perspectives from their cameras. It was like I was present in multiple areas. You could see the protestors dividing the crowd of Supporters appart, as our signs were like they were the scissors. Maya had looked real angry at us, like she did the first time.
Everything was going fine, until I noticed some people beside me were gone. They had just disappeared. Maybe they just had moved elsewhere in the crowd, but something was telling me that something had happened to them. I kept marching along, pretending like nothing had happened.
A moment later, another section of people had disappeared, right beside me. The crowd didn't seem to care, as they just covered up the spot that was gone. I got Gabriel's attention, who was beside me, because he didn't seem like he cared either.
"Are you noticing that some people are just disappearing?" I ask him.
"Sometimes, people just have to sacrifice for the greater good." He tells me, and starts waving his sign again. I hope he didn't really mean that. If he did, that means he knew that people were disappearing, but he was okay with it. That's not how he acts, that would probably be something that Maya said.
What Maya said... Oh no. I tried to lunge for Gabriel, but he too had disappeared, along with another portion of people. It seemed like it was now faster than before. The protestors kept moving though, so I kept on going.
People kept disappearing, and eventually, the crowd stopped. Then, the last portion of people had disappeared, and I was alone. I was surrounded by angry Supporters, without anyone else that was on my side. Everyone stood still for a moment, but then rushed to attack me. I tried to cover myself up with my arms, and I felt nothing happen. I put down my arms, and opened my eyes.
I was in another black abyss. Behind me, I heard someone, so I turned around. A little boy stepped out of the shadows, and I knew it was Rome. I never seem to get a break from him. He looked at me for a moment, expressionless. Then, he took a step towards me, as I stepped back.
He continued, so I did too. "Rome, I'm sorry for what I did. There was no other way out at the moment. You couldn't have turned me in. I am going to try and help save Xeinil. We were both just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
We kept going on, so eventually, I had stopped. I was getting nowhere with this. He had stopped too. Maybe he wasn't going to do anything to me. "You can't be sorry for a murder. An apology isn't going to bring me back to life. This isn't like a game. I could have done something amazing, but you had ended it before it had even started." He replied, him slowly becoming more upset.
"What should I do then? As you said, you're dead, and I can't do anything about it. I would do nearly anything to help you out, but I don't think it's possible to heal you. As I said, if I could have just had more time, then I could have found a way-" I started to explain, but I was interrupted.
"You could have turned yourself in. You could have ended everyone's suffering if you would have just sacrificed yourself. You didn't though. You thought that you could have found another way to make it easier on yourself. Now look where you are, cowering, hiding in someone's house. Face it. You are selfish, and you are weak. Even with all the assistance you would have ever needed."
"You... you are wrong. This wouldn't have ended if I had given up. She doesn't just want control over me, she wants control over everyone and everything."
I see Rome pull something metallic from behind him. I recognize it, it is my knife, the one that I had carried that fateful day. I start taking steps back, more quickly. Rome starts following me again, walking just as fast.
"She does want control, and she is more powerful than what it seems like. She also doesn't just want control of everyone, she wants control of certain people, like you. Just end this now, and her reign will be over."
I stayed silent for a moment. "I'm not going to give up, not after I have come all of this way. I know that there is a way to defeat her without sacrificing myself. She isn't going to win this."
"Then it seems like she has already won."
"I don't know what else you want from me! Why are you here? I can't do anything else right now, and I can't keep dreaming about you. It is such a shame that I had to kill you, but I need to focus on bigger things right now." I try to explain. I was having enough of this, and I wanted this to stop.
"If you want this to stop, then you know what to do. Now, you should act." He tells me. He swings at me, but I am able to step back far enough to dodge it. I feel my foot that is behind me start to slip, as if it is on an edge, and I accidentally take one more step behind me, as I start to fall. Rome watches me in disgust, as he fades away from my perspective.
I know that a million apologies wouldn't ever bring him back, but I really do mean it. I was in such a bad state at the time, and I still kind of am, and I was irrational. If I am ever able to get out of this alive, then I might start to find a way to bring people back from the dead. I can't do that right now though.
I land on another floor. I don't get hurt though. I stand back up, waiting for something else to happen. Instead of that, the area around me transforms into a grassland. It was like the dream I recently just had. I realize that is just like the dream that I had.
"Isn't it beautiful?" I hear someone say. Their arm is on my shoulder. I look up. It's my dad again. I push away from him out of shock. We both are silent for a moment. "Ezra, is something wrong?" He asks me.
"Yes. I know that you aren't really here, just like Rome. Just like mom too. Can you please explain to me why this is happening to me?" I tell him.
He is hesitant to speak. "I understand. I would be scared too if I was in your shoes. I want you to know something though. I am not really your father, I am just a reincarnation of him. There is no need to be stressed out."
"So why are you so nice? And why are you my dad?" I started to calm down.
"Your powers are starting to become unstable. The tragedies that you have encountered are starting to mess with your mind. Your powers are only making it worse, being concealed away, and not being able to escape your grasp. As time goes, on, you are going to rip yourself apart if you continue living like this." He explains to me very kindly, compared to Rome.
"What should I do? Turn myself in? That seems to be the only answer."
"Don't let your mind get to you, that is not the only way to stop this. You need to make people not believe in Maya, and overthrow her. You are powerful enough to do it, trust me."
"How do you know all of this? Who are you, and why are you trying to help me?" I ask. I do not fully trust this guy yet.
"You do not need to know that information. I may not be your dad, but I know that you have the bravery and courage to do it, just like he once did." He hugs me, and after a moment, I hug him back. Maybe I can trust this person.
I wake up in a cold sweat. Light is shining through Gabriel's curtains, as I look around. I see that Gabriel is already awake, scrolling on his phone. He looks at me in surprise. "Did you sleep well?" He asks me.
"Yes, sort of." I tell him, still trying to process what I had just witnessed.
"Are you sure that you are okay?" He replies to me, acting suspiciously.
"Yes, I'm fine." I tell him. I am fine.
I'm not sure if he believed me or not, but he went back to his phone, so I guess I am safe. I don't want to explain something that I couldn't explain at the moment. I picked up my phone and started playing on it too.
Me and Gabriel watched the news on my phone today hours before Maya's speech started. We were both bored, and maybe it could provide some useful information. Maybe we could also hear about what we had done at the protest.
"As the search continues for the missing people, who were last seen at the protest yesterday, the great savior Maya promises that she will address the people in her speech today. Now, the weather, with Clark Hampson."
"What missing people?" I ask Gabriel, as the meteorologist talks about the gloomy weather and Maya. These news channels can't seem to get enough of her.
"I don't know. I'll search it up." He says.
I continue to listen to the news on my phone. "The skies will be cloudy once again, with a small chance of rain. The sun could possibly shine through the clouds before it goes down. Temperatures ranging around the low fifties will be present throughout the day. For the Supporters working outside, the radioactive pollination count will be mild today, so make sure you stay safe. The temperatures will also be close to freezing. Maya will hopefully bless us soon with higher temperatures and more sunshine-"
"Oh my gosh." Gabriel says, interrupting the meteorologist on screen.
"I know, right? Imagine having to go outside when water turns into ice."
"No, not that. The people who went missing were all of the peaceful protestors. Nearly everyone who we saw two days ago is now gone. The ones who didn't come yesterday are safe, but supposedly they're back in hiding now."
"Just like the mayor." I added on. This was such a surprise, I should have expected it, but it caught me off guard. We had made so much progress, and now it's gone.
"We could have been taken if we weren't forced to stay inside. My mom had saved us."
"Do you think that they are trying to find us? Even if they weren't there yesterday, they know that we were there."
"I do not know. Maybe something special happened yesterday so that people were able to track them down easier. They might be onto us, it wasn't taking place at Maya's speech, so there is probably no recording out there to know what they did." Gabriel explains worriedly and quickly.
"Maybe they are still out there though." I try to calm down Gabriel. "Maybe they are just planning something big, and didn't tell some of us. Or they could have just converted into Supporters, and we can just get them back."
"Mayor Alcalde never came back though. I think that Maya had done something really bad to them. I don't think they will ever be coming back-"
"Calm down Gabriel. Everything is fine. We will get them back one day, but not right now. We should be focusing on taking down Maya, and not worrying about the others." I tell him.
"But as a team, we were so much stronger. Now, they are gone, and what are we supposed to do now?"
"We are a duo though. We have been best friends for a very long time, and I am not going to give up on you. We aren't also going to give up on trying to save the city. We have been through so much, and we can't give up right now, especially because we are almost halfway through the novel."
"Huh-"
"What I am trying to say is that we need to stay strong. Can you do it for me?" I ask. I realize that I could be saying the same exact things to myself. Why would I want to do that though? Gabriel is the one who needs confidence now.
"I will keep going, and I'll do it for you. And for our friends, and for the people who we have lost. I'm not going to give up, not just yet." He tells me.
"Good, because I cannot do this alone. If we want to do anything else, we need a gameplan."
It turns out that taking down a "godly" dictator who strives for power and acceptance is much harder than we first thought. Both of us were tired staying cooped up here, and we still needed to do something that would seriously damage Maya. Or we needed to do something where the Supporters were able to overthrow her.
We have come up with so many plans to try and catch her off guard, but as soon as we think a plan works, then some other factor that we haven't included is able to completely destroy our carefully crafted idea. Days started to pass where the only thing we would do is just create plans, and take a break by watching Maya's livestream. We weren't getting anywhere.
"Here's my idea that I have just thought of. It's not the best, but it's something. What if we try and distract the crowd with something? It would involve a large object, like bigger than your bed. It doesn't have to be big though, it can just be anything that can get people's attention. We could place it in the middle of the park before it begins. The Supporters could be distracted by the object, and we could go get to Maya, and take her down." I announced.
"I don't think that is going to work. The Supporters aren't going to be distracted for long, and Maya has a bunch of guards next to her, who could come and attack us right away."
"Right, what did you come up with?" I ask. My idea was pretty stupid anyways.
"What if we are able to do something like yours, but use sound instead? We could set up a bunch of speakers around the park, and use them when Maya has her speech. We could create a noise loud enough to make everyone freeze, or use a recording of Maya's voice to lead them out of the way."
"I think yours has the same problem as mine. I don't think the Supporters are dumb, so they aren't going to follow a sudden order from Maya. If we create a very loud sound, it could freeze us too."
"The Supporters will follow Maya's order no matter what. We can also wear ear plugs."
"Maya could just turn off our speakers, wherever we are going to get them."
"Maybe we could just tap into her speakers?"
"She can still shut them off." I explained to him. "Do you even know how to rewire signals?" I ask.
"No, I don't. I guess we go back to the drawing board." He says, and we get back to work.
A couple of days later, we had another big moment of ideas. We came up with new ideas every hour or so, but now we were trying to make sure that not much could go wrong with our plans. We agreed to do that do we could get of the dumb ideas faster, which has seemed to work.
"I have two good ideas." Gabriel said after we were done with our planning period.
"Okay, you can go first then." I reply. I was in the middle of refining my idea, which wasn't the best.
"What if we disguise ourselves as Supporters, and go very early to one of Maya's speeches so we can be in the front? We can pretend that we are the more honorable Supporters, and that we have a pass to be close to her. While she is talking, we sneak our way onto the stage, and we grab her. We take her away and force her to let go of all the people, and we win!"
"How is Maya going to react to all of that though? She's going to call for backup as soon as we get close to her, and we are going to be taken away."
"I have a plan for that too. We can just say to the Supporters that we need to tell her something, and then we can smother her, so she passes out. Then, we can take her away."
Even though I hated Maya with all of my heart, I would not be able to even try to hurt her. I didn't want to do an awful act ever again, like killing Rome. "No, we... we shouldn't do that. That seems a little wrong. We could get caught with her as we are taking her away, and I think the top Supporters would know that this is not normal."
"Right, sure, but what is your idea then? Is it better than mine?" He tells me.
"I hope so. So, what I was thinking is that we don't do anything while we are at the speech. It's too risky there. We could instead do something before or after the speech. I think it's more preferable to go after the speech, since she will be wrapping up. She would usually be with more people before the speech. Once she is alone, we just lock her in a room until we can get some answers. If she doesn't want to tell us anything, we can try to tell the Supporters what she is doing wrong." I explain.
"Where are we going to lock her?" Gabriel asks. He makes a very interesting point.
"I have not thought of that yet." I tell him.
"Maybe we can just knock her out or smother her instead of-" He starts saying.
"No, Gabriel! We can't just knock out people whenever we feel like it!"
"Fine. Then what should we do instead? It would be so much easier if we just did that."
"We can't do that because it's not appropriate. There has to be another way." I tell him.
Many more days went by, and we had little to no progress. I ruled out trying to harm Maya. I didn't want to see anyone ever getting hurt again. Each time Gabriel talks about a way to make Maya unconscious, I remember Rome, his face, the context, the emotion, everything. I wanted to forget about him, but I can't.
We were also watching Maya's speeches as we were making ideas. We could see nearly everything that happens on the livestream, so we could include other factors that we see. As we did that, it became more difficult to make new plans. It would take us much longer to try and formulate a plan.
Then, something happened. We were going to watch the speech at four o' clock as usual, when we got an error. The site couldn't be found. I tried checking other websites, but their live streams were down too. I had also noticed that the older recordings of the livestream were gone. It was like they had never existed in the first place.
"What are we going to do?" I ask.
"Do we need any more information about the area? I think we are fine with what we have."
"No, it's not that. We need to stay up-to-date with information. What if she does something crazy bad and we don't hear anything about it for two weeks? What is she showing off where the protestors are at? What if she-"
"Alright, I get it. We could escape out of the house with our badges, and go there to see what's up. We can get a better view of the area around anyways."
"Wait, what about your parents and the groceries that you have to get? Maya's speeches are usually more than one-and-a-half hours long, and your mom tells you to go at five. Both of your parents get done with their work a little after five too. You won't be able to be there for long enough."
"Right. Maybe I can't go. But you can! You can take mental notes on what's happening. You don't need to write it down, since you will be there. It will be like before everything went to crap, except a bit more risky." He explains to me.
"Are you sure that you want to stay back? Maybe we can find a way where you can come with me."
"Nah, dude. I will be fine. You better get going soon if you don't want to miss anything." He tells me.
I grab one of our badges, and I crawl out the window, while Gabriel stays behind. I start walking towards Central Park, as I realize something. This could be a great opportunity to continue something that I had to stop before. Now, I could finally use my powers again to try and stop Maya!
That could also be a really bad idea too. I was almost caught, and barely managed to get away. I cannot risk myself doing that again. Maybe I would have to try something else that is more discrete. Maybe I could just try to convert people back to normal, as I try to have a low profile.
That seems much better. I could also continue the peaceful protestor's goals as I take notes for Gabriel. This time I have to myself could be of great use. I turn myself invisible, and I keep walking to Central Park.
I try to stay behind the crowd as much as I can. I don't want people bumping into me. As Maya's speech starts, I try and choose my first target. The first one I chose was an older guy, but not very old, maybe like fifty. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around in confusion.
"What you're doing here is wrong." I say to him.
"Who's saying that?" He asks.
"It doesn't matter who I am. I am here to tell you that you are not supposed to be here. Maya is planning something evil, and you do not want to get caught up in it."
"Maya is doing nothing wrong, ghostly spirit. You should see for yourself." The man tells me.
"You might not be seeing clearly. Maya has been working everyone here to death, and you could be next. What are you trying to accomplish for yourself?"
"It doesn't matter what I want to do. It doesn't matter how I feel. The only thing that matters is the afterlife and Maya, who is our savior, and will help us when we are dead. I do not fear dying, in fact, I embrace it." He says.
"What if she is lying? What if she isn't this savior as she says? Just a few months ago, you would have probably never believed in this stuff. Why should you now?"
"You are wrong. Everyone who doesn't believe in Maya is wrong. Before this, I was not complete. And now, I have a purpose in life to fulfill."
I had given up on him. I was going to have to face the fact that some of the people here will not budge. Their bond with Maya is too strong, and I will have to find a way to free them from her later. Maybe when I am able to recruit more people, then I can. I went over to another random person, and started talking to them.
"Hi. How are you doing?" I asked them. Maybe I was too unkind to the man I was just talking to. Now, I was going to try a more welcoming approach.
"I am doing great, since I get to watch Maya in all of her glory! Isn't she amazing?" She doesn't even seem to care that I am invisible, and that she could just be talking to herself.
"Uh... well... She might not be as amazing as it seems. She is hiding something."
"Hiding something? What could she be hiding from us? Do you know?" They ask.
It seems like they are much easier to get to. Maybe this could be the one. "She has been lying to all of us the entire time. It might be a big surprise to you, but you got to believe me. She is going to use you to make herself look powerful."
"That cannot be true. Maya is our savior, and the Wise One will help us in the afterlife if we do everything right. She has promised us a new life, and I cannot wait to see it. I don't care if I have to die by myself, I would love to see this afterlife."
"What happens if there is no afterlife? What if she is lying to you about that? Does she have any proof of it?" I start to ask them questions now.
"Maya cannot be wrong, and there is no need for proof. I know that the afterlife exists, there is no way that it cannot. Maya would never lie to us. She said that herself."
I needed to find a new subject to jump on, or else they are going to not budge. It seems like they are so close to snapping out of Maya's lies. "Do you have any relatives, or do you remember something important before you were a Supporter?"
"Not really, since nothing really seemed to matter before Maya came into my life. I do remember my mom and dad though. They are nice to be with."
"Oh, that's great. Are they-"
"They are a disgrace to me now. I thought they were amazing people, but they didn't want me to see Maya. They said to remain sane so I wouldn't be taken away. They are wrong, so I don't care about them anymore."
"Oh.." That might also be an issue that I run into in the future. Maybe this person isn't going to be as easy to convert back to as I first thought. "Do you have any pets that you have?"
"No, I don't."
"Okay. Have a good day." I gave up on them too. I looked around for another person to randomly choose.
I chose a guy who was about the same age as me. I'm surprised I don't recognize him from another school or something. "Hi, how are you doing?" I ask the same question as I did to the other person. It might be the right way to go.
"I'm going good. I'm trying to listen to Maya's speech though." He tells me.
Instead of focusing on Maya, as what I have done to the two others today, I tried out something different. "What is your opinion on her?" I asked.
"Maya is a great leader, she does anything to help us get closer with the Wise One, and is a good person. She has tried her hardest to gather all of us to tell the truth, and expose the lies that have covered us constantly."
He seems to have a deep passion for her. Most of the people here probably do though. "What did she say when you first decided to become a Supporter?"
"I think she said something about ending the calling service to help guide others further than simple messages. I was very interested in it, and I wanted to see what was going on, so I became a Supporter." He explains.
"Did you know that calling service was to help people in need? She was trying to help people feel better about themselves and stand up to their anxiety. There was no Wise One ever mentioned when she was still doing that stuff."
"I remember her saying that there was a reason behind it. Something about it scaring people if she hadn't gotten enough Supporters."
"Why would she hide that though? Wasn't that a reason why you had joined?"
"Yes, it mostly was. Maybe she didn't realize that people wanted to hear that from her."
"Don't you think that there is something a bit odd going on behind the scenes? When you try and line the pieces up, it just doesn't work out. The only way it would make sense is that she would be lying about something."
"Well, there's probably other secrets that she hasn't told us yet. Maybe we just aren't ready for them yet. I do think that it's a bit odd that she did completely give up on trying to help people, and then bring them to the afterlife and work them a lot,"
He was starting to not believe in Maya anymore. I needed to be careful with what I say so he can believe in me. "Exactly. I don't think she is saying the truth to us. I don't think that she wants to help people anymore, she is now just trying to use us."
"Right. Oh, what have I been doing with my life?" He snaps out of it. "I have been working endlessly for weeks on end, and I'm tired and hungry. I can barely remember anything that she said to us. What is she trying to do?"
I turn back to being visible. I don't think he would want to be talking to nothing anymore. "I think that she just wants power. When she first started these speeches, she wanted everyone to feel safe and happy. Now, they are all being told lies, and even living one. Do you have anyone that you can go to?"
"I don't know, but I will look. Thank you. Thank you for helping me see the truth." He tells me, and runs off into the city.
I had done it again. I had converted another person back to normal. He even thanked me. I started to smile, as a ray of hope seemed to shine down on me. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I first thought.
I was wrong. The next person who I talked to, a woman, didn't want to talk to a ghost.
"Who's talking to me? Show yourself!" She said loudly, looking around.
"Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you! Just listen to me for a moment-"
"No, you wizard thing! Maya had told us to beware of the person who was using powers, and I won't let you get to me! NOW SCRAM!" She yelled, and I did what she had asked.
I decided to go back to being visible, since I didn't want to scare anyone. The next person I tried to convert didn't want to talk to me. They just ignored me the whole time. I tried to get in their way, but they pushed me away instead, and I almost would have fallen onto the ground if it wasn't for my powers to help me.
I stayed invisible for the rest of the time. I had talked and tried to convert a few other people, but I failed. After a while, I just gave up for today, and watched Maya's speech. I was supposed to be listening to her anyways.
"So yes, we have been making great progress on the building, and it should be done very soon. You Supporters did a great job listening to simple instructions and blah blah blah."
"The next thing I want to address is the number of reports I am getting about injuries and fatalities of the workers. Even though we absolutely care about each and every Supporter, some lives will have to be sacrificed for the greater good. We cannot always ensure your safety, and we also don't want any Supporters that cannot work on the project. Sometimes, we just have to put you down. You will be sent to the Wise One then to determine your fate."
She really does treat her Supporters like animals. I have heard that one of my friends had to put their cat down, which means die for some reason, because it was too ill. Isn't there another way to try and treat people, or pets?
"Today is a big day though. I received a message this morning that more than ninety-five percent of Xeinil has now become a Supporter. That's more that four and a half million people. I don't think anyone else would have been able to devote so much time and work to helping out that large of a population. I don't even think our former mayor, wherever he may be at, would have been able to pull this off."
"I would personally like to say thank you to all of the Supporters who are out there right now, working for the greater good, and for the ones who are here today. About three months ago, I was lying on the street, hopeless. Then, a boy helped me, and then I was able to help all of you."
I remember what I first found that statement touching. It was just a few days after I had helped her. Now, I realize the monster that I had been able to create. How could someone with such a nice idea turn into a pathological liar?
"If I knew where that boy was at, I would immediately make him a part of my Top Supporters, but I don't know what he ever looked like, or his name. He is probably one of my own Supporters anyways. Then again, all the rest of you are nice too. We wouldn't have been able to show our power off like this if we didn't have as many people. You guys are doing such a great job."
I bet that she would completely think of me as the opposite if she knew that I was the one that had first interrupted her speech, and being a part of the peaceful protestors. I'm at least glad that she thinks that I am a part of her group, and has no suspicions about me.
I kept listening to her babble on about food shortages and some issues with the building that she was making. I hadn't noticed it before, but it has started, and it has grown to be quite big in the last few days. She also looked kind of bored while speaking. Maybe she knew that the things she was doing were bad.
I was thinking about maybe trying to convert other people, or maybe just leaving early, when I saw someone in the distance. Instead of focusing on Maya, I looked over to them. They were also trying to look at Maya, but from a distance. It was like they were spying or something, like me. I noticed that they didn't have a badge on too.
Then, one of the patrolling Supporters, that were only present in Central Park during this time, came over to them. He started talking to the person. They got worried, and tried to run, but the Supporter caught them, and forced them onto the ground. No one in the crowd even seemed to care about them. The innocent person was going to get caught!
I ran over, and became visible once again. I fired a pulse towards the Supporter, and they went flying back. The person was still on the ground, trying to protest themselves. They realized that they weren't going to get hurt, so they stopped flinching.
I walked over to them, and I extended my hand out to them. They got up, without saying anything. "You should go, it's not safe here." I tell them.
They are hesitant, but they nod in agreement, and start to run. I guess I could have just saved another person today. Maybe they could have gotten away on their own, but I call that a win.
The moment had shortly ended when I realized that Maya is not speaking anymore. I turned my head around, slowly, and everyone in the crowd, including Maya herself, was looking at me. Maybe I did a little oopsies.
"And the boy is back again, to ruin my speech." Maya said. I was frozen from shock. "Whoever is able to bring him to me gets a prize, and I will maybe message the Wise One and tell that you did a good deed. Now GO!"
Nearly all the crowd started running towards me, and I started to run away too. I hope the person that I had saved is far enough away to not also get caught by the crowd. I had gone invisible, and made sure that I was, and I ran far enough away to be safe. I could still see Central Park though, and some one the angry mob. I could just barely see Maya pacing around on stage.
The crowd was confused, looking around for me, but I was not anywhere near there. I could hear Maya rounding her Supporters back up. "I want all of you to be on lookout for that boy. I know I recognize him from somewhere, but I just can't remember where." She says, and continues her speech.
It would have been the right thing to just go back over there and be invisible, but I don't think I can do it for any longer today. Not just because of the state I was in, but because I was struggling to stay invisible. I must be tired or something. I waited for her to get done, as I was trying to decipher her words from this distance, but it was too hard to do.
As the Supporters disbanded, I walked back to Gabriel's house, now visible. I had texted him to make sure that it was okay to come inside, just in case his parents were not working or something. He said it was safe to come in, so I crawled back in through the window. I took off my badge, and went upstairs.
"So.. how did it go?" He asks me. He was on his bed, writing on some paper.
"It went fine, nothing bad, and nothing good." I tell him. I summarized what Maya was talking about the whole time, which wasn't a lot. I probably had missed something while I was trying to convert people back, but it probably wasn't anything too important. I didn't mention anything about trying to convert people back though. Maybe I will tell him tonight.
"So, instead of trying to make new plans, I was trying to narrow down our plans with a few simple rules."
"Did we have some sort of ruleset before?" I ask.
"Ehh... maybe, but this one is better, at least I think. We can also add onto this later if we need to. So, since usually the plans that happen with the Supporters are going to probably not work, I decided to say that interacting with most Supporters is banned."
"Wait, just because we didn;t have good plans with them?" I ask. Maybe I wasn't going to tell what I had done today, since it would violate his ruleset.
"It's not just because of that. I think that you and I know that the Supporters won't always agree with us. Sometimes, they just like to hurt people that don't agree with them. There are some of them that are nicer, but it's not all of them. However many you said there were, ninety-five percent out of the population of Xeinil, it was way too much for us to handle. Even if only a fraction of them are present at Maya's speeches, they can overpower us."
I really did want to say that I could overpower them, because I could! I have powers that are able to deceive them and block them away. Invisibility, pulses, and some stealthiness maybe isn't much, but it is something.
"That leads me to rule two. We shouldn't go to Maya's speeches to try and stop her. It may seem good at first, but there are a lot of risks to take. The Supporters that go around the city are usually there, and as I said, there are too many Supporters there altogether. Maya will just be able to use them against us."
Just like she had done to me today. I was able to run away, but I understand where he is coming from. "What about my note-taking?" I ask.
"Yeah, that's another reason why we shouldn't do it. I'm supposed to be here just in case my parents wonder where I am at, so I won't be able to go over there anyways. You will need to be taking notes for me and trying to defeat Maya at the same time, and I don't want you to be doing that!" He exclaims.
It's too bad that I am doing that. "And for rule three, I just made this one up, but we shouldn't be apart when we are trying to do the plan. We need to stick together, so no one gets left behind. It kind of relates to the second rule, but wherever."
It's too bad that I am also breaking that rule. The plan that I am going to go with is going to break all three of his rules. It's like he knows what I am trying to do.
"Do you think that it's a good plan? Maybe I am being too strict on the ruleset."
"No, no, I think it's fine. It sets a good boundary." I lie to him. I guess I will have to keep another secret from him. Great. It's just what I needed in life.
As the days went by, this had become a normal routine. I would secretly try to convert up to ten people per day, and take notes at the same time, while never saying anything about it to Gabriel. I don't he notices that anything is wrong, which is good. I am sometimes seen by Maya, but it's usually not that big of a problem. I was also almost caught once too.
I thought that I could just keep this up forever, but I was dead wrong.
YOU ARE READING
Supernatural Book 4: Ezra's Story
ParanormalEzra is a young teen who enjoys his life at Xeinil, the biggest and most developed city after a nuclear bomb had brought the planet to grinding halt. He is the best player on his soccer team, has many friends, and has a bright future ahead of him, o...
