Clandestine

forty two

-julia-

I stifle a yawn. Again.

I don't know if this meeting could get anymore boring. All of the Assembly members are just discussing taxes of the rich. I don't really care what they are saying. It's nothing like the last meeting in which there was screaming and pacing.

This is just...politics.

I know that what they are discussing is going to affect me someday. Taxes are the thing that everyone complains about after all. Soon, I'll be trapped in a boring life like everyone else, using distractions like complaining about taxes and my job to make me feel better about myself.

I wonder what would happen if all the people on the Assembly weren't rich. I've heard rumors about how unfair the taxation is. What would the people say if they could actually talk?

It's no use wondering about it. It will never happen. Nothing will ever change. Everything in the Assembly will stay the same for the next thousands of years.

Maybe more.

The meeting finally ends and I have no idea what was decided. I was too busy struggling to keep my eyes open to pay attention to the exciting debate.

I'm sure that my mother will want to discuss it on the way home. She has always done this the few times I've come to a meeting. She wants to review all the great things she said and how she shut down anyone against her. She basically wants me to praise her and say how her point was right and I pretend that all of my opinions are identical to hers.

Because that's what she wants.

She wants me to be her.

She wants me to be a clone of her, full of forced smiles, deadly grace, cold stares, and the love of politics.

Too bad I'm me instead. I'm sure I'm a real disappointment.

I say everything that my mother wants me to say on the way home. I praise and congratulate, struggling to keep monotony out of my voice. My mother eventually allows the conversation die, which I couldn't be more than thankful for.

She's probably afraid to push me in case I snap and tattle on her.

There's a way to use this against her and I'm still working on the theory.

Once I get home, I hurry upstairs and grab my phone from beneath the pile of dirty laundry. I stuff it deep into my pocket and sneak outside,

It shouldn't be too difficult to get away with this. If someone finds me, I'll just tell my mother that I was out for a walk. I was still on our property. She can't get me in trouble.

Even if she does get me in trouble, I'll find a way to blackmail my way out of this.

I have power now. I need to use it.

I dial Diane's number with shaking fingers.

She doesn't answer.

What if she gave me the wrong number? I'm sure she would find it amusing to watch me try to call a fake number.

I call again. This might be my only chance all day, so I can't pass up the opportunity.

She picks up on the first ring.

I say, "It's me. Julia."

There's something off in her voice. "Julia? Just Julia, right?"

"Yes."

"What did you call me for?"

"I wanted to make sure I had the right number."

"You said that you wouldn't call unless you had something important to tell me."

"I do."

"What?" She asks.

"I um..." Why did I call her? I did tell her I wouldn't bother her unless I had something important to tell her. But really? I was just bored. I wanted to feel like I was doing something when I was just wasting both of our time.

Diane says, "Actually, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Do you know who the guard was the killed my father?"

I can't answer that. Not when the entire guard story is a lie. But I'm not about to tell her the murderer was my mother. "No, I'm sorry. I just know that it was a guard."

"How?"

"I...I can't tell you."

She hangs up on me.