Fiction Club Vol 1.

society

noun: society

Definition: An ordered community of people living together.

Gates Definition: An excuse to impose obligations on to other people without explanation or reason.

~~~

An acrid stench fills my nostrils. It gets stronger the further they drag me and it reminds me of the public toilets at Inchland Park.

I know I'm no longer in the school hallways. They pulled me along for about a minute before opening a door and hauling me down a flight of stairs. My shoe heels bounced off each step like a clumsy child's head. It's cold, the air is damp and it's underneath the school. I can only conclude that I am now in the basement.

By Jove, Holmes! I think you've got it!

Another door screeches open and I'm pulled into another room that's even colder and damper than the one before. I can hear rats scuttling about. Maybe once I get out of this I can report the matter to Yasuko and she can perform extermination duties with her Ruler of Death.

That may seem irrelevant but they've now removed my blazer and shirt and have tied me to a chair. My mind has retreated into irrelevancy as a defence mechanism. That sure was crazy what happened back in the club room. I thought Matilda was gonna crack open my skull and sift through my brains for the secret to mediocre story-craft. God that was exhausting. I'm probably gonna pass out the moment I walk through the door. They're removing my trousers now. What am I having for dinner tonight? Cheese puffs? Probably cheese puffs.

The bag is ripped off my head and I find myself just below a dimming bulb in an otherwise dark room. My eyes adjust and I can finally see the faces of my captors.

Surrounding me are members of the Anime Club. I don't recognize them all but I can tell they're all members. They all have dishevelled, hobo-like looks, bloodshot eyes and thinning hair. Right in front of me, casually straddling a wooden chair and resting his arms and chin on the back-rest is Ryan Yarvin. He grins at me showing off horribly browning teeth.

"Hey bud. How's it goin'?" he says cheerily as though he just ran into me in the game store at the mall.

"Uh, not too bad. Had better days. Yourself?"

"Oh me? I'm fine. Amazing in fact. Just been hangin' out with the boys, watching anime, eating whatever we can find. I'm tellin' you man, time really flies when you're forced to live in a freakin' basement."

I take a quick look around. In the main part of the room I see a bunch of folding chairs laid out in rows in front of a projector sitting on a crate, no doubt stolen from the AV Club room along with the projector screen on the wall. Against the wall perpendicular to the one with the screen is a large rectangular... something with a black tarp over it.

"That really sucks, man. So... why are you guys living in the basement?"

"Thought you'd never ask! See we had this problem before - I think I told you about it - where the Anime Club was kinda in a bunch a' trouble. You remember, right?"

A certain bathroom incident springs to mind. Something about how they were losing members to clubs that don't require the ruination of your mind, body and life in general to be a part of. "Rings a bell," I reply.

"Yeah. Things got so bad that even the President himself dropped out. He ended up joining the Baking Club. You believe that? I didn't even know there was a Baking Club. Did you?"

I almost say yes and then think better of it and shake my head.

"So suddenly I'm president of the club and everything seems hunky-dory. But then comes along the good old Student Council. They tell us we don't have enough members. Which is a bunch a' crap since there are CERTAIN OTHER CLUBS," he stands up and yells this in my face then slowly settles back down into his chair, "with far less membership than ours who are allowed to stay up and runnin'. Just another example of the oppression and marginalization we face. Ain't that right boys?"