When the Rules Break

1

LINA

Reading the title of the paper my teacher handed to every student in the classroom was exactly when I heard everyone start cheering and getting excited; only the rare ones were quiet and terrified. Like me.

This year, Ironwood Academy and Obsidian Maw High are going to battle against each other...

Unease settled in me, forcing me to stop reading. I knew that the more I read, the more I would realise that this was reality.

Each year, the government chose two high schools to go under war with each other. Not the typical silly water gun, laughter type. No. It was real guns. Real blood. Real wounds.

Why? Because they thought it was the best way to prepare elder teens for war. To make the country stronger, make people aware, and make everyone open to the idea of future war.

I found that absolutely ridiculous. Instead of sticking with the military, which we already do, they add this war on top of it. Clearly, this country wanted to be strong. But wouldn't that also be dangerous? Everything was real. Not toys.

I was strongly against it. Which was not a surprise. Most teens or civilians, though, weren't. They enjoyed it. They encouraged. Nothing more than a silly game, they always said. Excuses, excuses, excuses..

"I am so excited to participate! They say that the experience is like a video game, but in real life. How fun does that sound?"

The typical reaction. Just like the numerous comments I had read on social media.

I continued down the busy hallway. Everyone was with a friend, classmate, or mutual comrade. Everyone was acting normal. Just like normal young students, only that they were soon going to be anything but 'normal' students.

"Hey, are you coming over at mine to watch which position we will be taking?" I heard someone murmer, along with many more, endless conversations about the news.

Position. There were two different positions for both high schools. It always played in the local news, where the president sat down and discussed his thoughts about both schools. Who he guesses will be easily defeated by the other one, will be the school that will be attacked.

That way, the weaker team will have a headstart. They can stay in the building and shoot from there. More hiding spots and more knowledge of the school grounds.

Right after school, I ran up the stairs and into my room. Turning on the TV, I started watching the local news. As expected, the president sat in the front and was talking about his thoughts.

I highly despised him for his decisions. Putting the people in this country through so much, brain washing them into thinking that this was normal, when it was far from that. It wasn't something to laugh at. But what the president says goes.

The same pang I always felt inside me returned. Thinking about the fact that humans, young, old, the same age as me. They didn't realise that this was a dictatorship. And if they did, they never paid much thought to it.

That was human nature, after all. They always realise, once its too late. Do not procrastinate with these things. Those were the words I always told my friends, family. Still, they stayed ignorant. Acted normal. It gave me a bitter taste of the inevitable if they kept acting like that.

"The school that will be attacked on will be Ironwood Academy." The president announced. "Obsidian Maw High had already done a battle in the past, which was successful. That gives me the impression that they are stronger. Not to be biased."

The laughter that followed, not only from the president but also from the people in the background that were live listening, made me lower down the volume.

I didn't see why that was something to laugh about. The president basically announced that my school was weak. That we would get injured. And who knows, maybe permanent injuries could happen. I did not wish that upon anyone around me. Or for me.

The countless videos I had watched of students expressing how much their injuries had affected their daily lives were also ignored. I felt for them. For the people who felt like they didn't have a voice or a chance to change things. To make people understand. These manipulated people to realise the danger. The dark parts of this arrangement.

"And remember students, follow the rules. No killing. The battle may end as soon as one of the teams surrenders."

I scoffed and turned the TV off. The last words he said were the rules that were always said before the battle. Written in new papers. Basically everywhere. It was another form of manipulation. To make it sound safe. As if the real guns and the actual injuries don't happen as well.

My worst fear was happening. And I was going to be forced to play along.