The Numbers on Our Arms

Chapter 6

Blyke nodded off once she reached the table. On the opposite side of the table to him, she slammed her hands onto the desk.

"I FIGURED IT OUT!" she shouted.

Even though it's a library.

"HUH-?!" He jumped out of his skin.

"Blyke, lets start a club!" she responded.

He frowned. "A club... for what?"

"For everyone!" She raised her hand. "Okay, so I met this girl the other day. She told me a bit about safe spaces within the school. Right now, everything's a mess and violence is trending, but we're both interviewed tons of students, and most of them just want to go on with their day normally without having to deal with all these disruptions. So, that's what I was thinking. It'd be nice to create a place where people can feel safe. They can do their homework, play games or just hang out!"

"Hm..."

"Anyone can join and their ranks won't matter. We'll keep it open as much as we can." She pointed herself. "The two of us can supervise and we can get others to cover for us while we're in class."

"I guess it's a good start," he replied. "That way, we can at least keep some students out of the crossfire while we think about what to do with the rest of the school."

"Yup, exactly!" She beamed.

Then they headed to the Press Room and flung the door open. They both entered to see Isen cowering beneath a desk, completely visible.

"Hey, Isen," Remi greeted. "Isen?"

Isen pushed himself up and waved. "Oh, phew! It's just you guys. Hey-."

He flopped face first onto the desk.

"Dude, you're not even hidden," Blyke said. "We can still see your lower half. What the hell are you so afraid of anyway?"

"Well," Isen replied. His bright green soulmark knocked from beneath his collar, only the four visible. He shivered. "A certain article I wrote may have pissed a certain person off and that certain person might just be a bloodthirsty psycho."

He patted both of their shoulders. "Oh, on the note, I have a request for you two."

"What?" Remi asked.

"When I'm gone, please burn my laptop."

Blyke scowled. "Dude, chill out! If John comes after you, we'll be here! We won't let him touch you!"

"Hehe, good one." Drops of sweat fell down his face.

A vein popped in his head.

Remi laughed. "Hey, on the plus side, your article is working! There are still some Jokers running around, but I only had a few earlier today, so the numbers are definitely going down!"

Isen pumped up his fist. "At least my sacrifice wasn't in vain." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what's up? You guys just here to say hi? Or do you need something?"

"We want you to advertise something for us," Blyke said. "A new club."

"Oh, a club for what? Does it have a name yet?"

"We'll be calling it the 'Safe House'. It's just gonna be a clam, peaceful place for students to hang out. We already spoke with Mr Keene about it. He approved the idea and assigned us a classroom to set up in! If everything goes smoothly, our first meeting could be in just a couple of days!"

"Hm, alright. I can get behind that!" He turned around and wrote something down on his desk. "Let me make a note. I'll put it in the next issue."

Hopefully, he'll help out too.