LJ Idol Season 9, Week 17: "Scare Quotes"
Ryan hitched up his backpack on a single shoulder and glanced around the busy street. He shoved his hands in his pockets, head hanging as the voices of his fellow students continued to follow him on his long walk home.
“Going to your rat’s nest, Carrier?” someone said to his left.
Ryan didn’t so much as blink, instead lifting his head and throwing his shoulders back.
“Hey, where’d you get your hair? Your mother?” sneered another.
They were just words, Ryan reminded himself. There was nothing wrong with him, just because he looked different from the rest of the world.
The “rest” of the world, he thought with a snort. How could they not know he was different? In the sea of black and brown hair, Ryan’s was a flaming, coppery color. He was paler. Had freckles. Thin -- too thin, according to his trainers at the Academy.
Except they did know he was different -- they just didn’t know why. They didn’t know that his mother had committed the crime of giving birth to him, the way nature had intended. At nearly nineteen years old, Ryan had spent the majority of his life watching for signs of hostility, like the ones that seemed to follow him much more closely today than any other.
Ryan shook his head and kept walking towards his childhood home. Once he got home, he’d take off his shoes, rake the lawn, and maybe, just maybe, hang out with a couple of friends -- if they’d be willing to be seen with him, anyway. Maybe Ryan could convince them to do something private, at one of his friends’ homes. Or maybe his own.
Except maybe not his own -- Ryan’s feet came to a sudden halt, his body lurching as he turned the corner to his street. His neighbors all stood outside, their eyes transfixed on a single point:
His house.
Specifically, on the figures of his mother and father, both standing with their chins held high and arms interlocked in a show of solidarity. Men in black uniforms surrounded his home, some with weapons while others stormed past his parents and slipped inside the house, the white letters NBET on their backs.
Ryan’s mouth went dry, his jaw gaping as he stood for a moment too long on the corner. The team swarmed back out onto the porch and pushed his parents to the ground, weapons pressed against the back of their heads.
Heart pounding in his ears, Ryan turned on his heel and began to walk again. Running would only alert others to his presence. His fingers shook as they grabbed the hood of his jacket and pulled it over his head, covering his hair.
“I will not tell you where my son is!” He heard his mother cry, her voice strong and loud and brave.
***
“The Natural Born Elimination Team raided the home of the Natural Born Liberation Movement’s leaders today, after the true nature of their son’s ‘engineering’ had been revealed. Lisa and Frank King refused to disclose the location of their supposed only son, Ryan King, and have been eliminated as a result. King himself is still at large, and rumored to be a Carrier for the Disease. If you have any information on King’s whereabouts, please contact the NBET at...”
Ryan turned off the radio and rested his back against the dark, desolate alleyway. He threw the cheap radio back inside his backpack and frowned, his stomach rumbling and tightening with hunger. He was still too close to home, still too close to those who’d immediately recognize him for who he was. But that didn’t matter -- not right now.
He’d never see his parents again, he realized as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Going to your rat’s nest, Carrier?” someone said to his left.
Ryan didn’t so much as blink, instead lifting his head and throwing his shoulders back.
“Hey, where’d you get your hair? Your mother?” sneered another.
They were just words, Ryan reminded himself. There was nothing wrong with him, just because he looked different from the rest of the world.
The “rest” of the world, he thought with a snort. How could they not know he was different? In the sea of black and brown hair, Ryan’s was a flaming, coppery color. He was paler. Had freckles. Thin -- too thin, according to his trainers at the Academy.
Except they did know he was different -- they just didn’t know why. They didn’t know that his mother had committed the crime of giving birth to him, the way nature had intended. At nearly nineteen years old, Ryan had spent the majority of his life watching for signs of hostility, like the ones that seemed to follow him much more closely today than any other.
Ryan shook his head and kept walking towards his childhood home. Once he got home, he’d take off his shoes, rake the lawn, and maybe, just maybe, hang out with a couple of friends -- if they’d be willing to be seen with him, anyway. Maybe Ryan could convince them to do something private, at one of his friends’ homes. Or maybe his own.
Except maybe not his own -- Ryan’s feet came to a sudden halt, his body lurching as he turned the corner to his street. His neighbors all stood outside, their eyes transfixed on a single point:
His house.
Specifically, on the figures of his mother and father, both standing with their chins held high and arms interlocked in a show of solidarity. Men in black uniforms surrounded his home, some with weapons while others stormed past his parents and slipped inside the house, the white letters NBET on their backs.
Ryan’s mouth went dry, his jaw gaping as he stood for a moment too long on the corner. The team swarmed back out onto the porch and pushed his parents to the ground, weapons pressed against the back of their heads.
Heart pounding in his ears, Ryan turned on his heel and began to walk again. Running would only alert others to his presence. His fingers shook as they grabbed the hood of his jacket and pulled it over his head, covering his hair.
“I will not tell you where my son is!” He heard his mother cry, her voice strong and loud and brave.
***
“The Natural Born Elimination Team raided the home of the Natural Born Liberation Movement’s leaders today, after the true nature of their son’s ‘engineering’ had been revealed. Lisa and Frank King refused to disclose the location of their supposed only son, Ryan King, and have been eliminated as a result. King himself is still at large, and rumored to be a Carrier for the Disease. If you have any information on King’s whereabouts, please contact the NBET at...”
Ryan turned off the radio and rested his back against the dark, desolate alleyway. He threw the cheap radio back inside his backpack and frowned, his stomach rumbling and tightening with hunger. He was still too close to home, still too close to those who’d immediately recognize him for who he was. But that didn’t matter -- not right now.
He’d never see his parents again, he realized as tears rolled down his cheeks.