escaping ; in a nutshell

chapter 03

Well isn't this just my lucky Saturday?

The atmosphere in the room had swung around. Instead of the excited chatter of newfound information, there was now a degree of unease in the theatre. Whisperings had begun to arise in the audience. Not the kind of excited whisperings, masked heavily by loud applause - but the uncertain whisperings, the kind that occured when one was concerned. Indeed this was gossip that would make its way around the community by the next morning, however it would not be the usual kind. It would be shared in silent among the citizens, when they thought that they couldn't be heard. And none of them were quite reaching Bailee's eye when she turned around to face the crowd. There was an uneasy applause that rang through the building, accompanied by growing whispers in the crowd.

Up on the stage, Bailee was shaking. She was terrified. When her eyes met her mothers out in the crowd, she was shocked. Even the community's Head Elder was not looking very assuring as usual. Bailee walked off the stage as was protocol and found Willow, sitting near the stage, with the rest of the new citizens. Willow got up from her seat and hugged her friend. Bailee began to sob.

"I just - what - I don't know - I can't - " She sobbed into Willow's shoulder, her words muffled by Willows body, her tears soaking through Willow's dress.

"Sh, it's okay," Willow reassured Bailee, rubbing her back as Bailee cried into Willow's shoulder, "I'm sure they'll find a solution, this is a rare situation, I would be surprised if they couldn't make an exception." Bailee continued to cry. By now even those who were oblivious to the previous evening's happenings knew what was up. "You're fine, you're here, alive and well. It'll all work out Bai, I know it will."

"Mmhm, I would like to apologise on the behalf of the community," the Head Elder began, "Normally we would have removed all data of a particular citizen, not that this has occured in our lifetime, however since Tyler only went missing yesterday, there wasn't any time to do so. We will discuss this with Bailee in the next few days. Thank you all for your consideration."

Bailee turned and ran, Willow right on her heels.

x x x x x

I've got to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as I'm not here. I can't deal with this right now. I feel like I've lost something I never even had.

Bailee and Willow finally stopped running. They both bent over and started puffing, exhausted. They were now on the other side of the community, near the fields ij which the fence was situated in.

"You still wanna go to the party?" Bailee asked her friend, and Willow promptly shook her head.

"No way does anyone still want to go. I reckon even your mum'll want to call it off." Bailee almost laughed when Willow said this, in spite of everything that had happened.

"My mother, call off a party? Never. She'd rather cut all her fingers off." Bailee said, before continuing "In this situation however, I am beginning to think she may prefer cutting off her fingers."

"Well if you are ditching the party, then you might as well come back to my place."

x x x x x

Willow flopped onto her bed. It was soft, quite like a pillow, and Bailee shut the bedroom door before laying next to her friend. They locked their fingers together as they gazed at the stars in the night sky above (Willow's parents had double-glazed glass as their roof). They pointed out constellations to each other. It was their favourite thing to do whenever life became stressful or when either of them needed a break. It nearly always did the trick.

After quite a while Willow came back to the ceremony.

"What do you reckon they'll tell you tomorrow?"

"I don't know what the Elders will want, and frankly, I don't really want to know right now." Bailee said and groaned with frustration, "Like what if they start to question me about him? I didn't know him, I can't remember having one conversation with him. All I know is that right now this is all a bloody mess."

Willow nodded and they both stayed silent for a while.

"I wonder what Josh is like." Willow said, in an almost ethereal voice, and Bailee couldn't quite get why until

Of course, she thought to herself, Josh must be Willow's soulmate. How dim could I get?

"I did a project with him once. It was on the founders of the communities, back in First School. He was really nice. Actually I think I'm just saying that because he did most of the work." Bailee giggled a little bit and smiled at her best friend. "You going to visit him tomorrow?"

Willow nodded. "He invited me to come over and meet his family when I was coming off the stage."

"Cool, you'll have a great life with him Will." Bailee says reassuringly to her friend and hoped that she had concealed her jealousy of her friends easily laid out life. Meeting with council was terrifying Bailee. She just wanted this whole situation over with.

Soon enough, the girls' chattering became less and less frequent, until the pair were fast asleep on Willow's bed, still in their formal wear.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Hey guys,

How are you all?

Here is another chapter.

Sorry I updated really late.

School started and I'm really busy.

They all feel like fillers at the moment but I promise that the next one will become more interesting.

I'm just not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday

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