Perfect World. (On Hold)

14: Error.

Name: Judd Martinez
Location: Pingle, Black Hills
Time: 0300

Judd stared in frustration at the computer screen. The school computers weren't working properly. He reworded the search in his head and typed again.

Religious freedom movement.

Error. Try again later.

He roughed his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes. Nothing. He'd tried every single word combination he could think of and always got the error.

He walked to the school library, checking his watch. Still half an hour left of his spare. Maybe he’d find a book on the subject there…

He found the right section and he knew he would find nothing. Maybe the librarian will know something.

He walked over to the desk, but she was already watching him. Something about her expression made him change his course, heading to a different bookshelf, her eyes following him the whole way. He felt his skin tingling, as though her stare was enough to melt skin.

He finally located a book that looked relatively like it might hold information on the subject of religions, and went to find a place to sit. The chairs at a nearby table were full, so he joined another student on the floor.

It was only after he saw the suprise on the kid’s face that he realized his mistake. It was the ‘weird’ kid of the school.

The kid’s name was Mason Saini. He didn’t look like a geek or anything, and it wasn’t obvious to people who didn’t attend the same school, but he was that ‘special’ kid who got called on a lot so the teacher could use him as an example.

He tried to pretend not to notice, opening his book to read, but Mason had spotted it and leaned over. “You’re interested in religions?”

“I don’t know.” Judd whispered back, shrugging. But Mason didn’t get the hint.

“Well you must be if you’re reading about it.” He insisted. Judd just shrugged, shifting away. Mason went back to his book, but kept glancing at him.

Judd tried to ignore him and focused on reading the words on the page. He quickly realized he was reading a list of horrific things that people had done in the name of religion.

“That’s not entirely accurite you know.”

He looked up. Mason nodded at the book in his lap. “They don’t even specify which religious groups did what. They just asign the responsibility to all religious people. That’s generalizing, not telling the truth.”

Judd lowered the book. “What would you know about it?”

“More than you think. I grew up around religious people.” His gaze dropped to the floor. Just then Judd noticed the librarian watching them like a hawk.

Somehow he felt like he was doing something wrong, but what was wrong with this? He stared down at the book, starting to flip through the pages, scanning them. Were these really just lists of every bad thing religious groups had done? Wasn’t there anything else?

The bell rang. Judd sighed, carrying the book back to its shelf and putting it away. So much for school being about learning…