Chapter 16 - blacklisted

 

 

"Ah! A classic. The green book written by Henry Welsh? Ah, I remember that guy, I still feel sad about what happened to him." The old janitor sighed as if he was at a loss. He was talking about the book as if it was a golden classic.

 

"Wait, you know the book?" I was shocked momentarily, I searched for the title for hours without finding anything. Who would've thought that I could just ask an old man?

 

"It's one of the 2000's classic, brat! Of course I do." 2000's classic?  That's an old *ss book then, no wonder I can't find it in the web. But if it was one of the classics, I'm sure I could've at least found an article or two about it.

 

"But, I couldn't find it in the web." I said. It must have not been a famous book.

 

"Of course you won't. That book was blacklisted by you guys."

 

"Wait, us?" What do you mean by us? Yvonne and the leads weren't even born during that time; how could it have been them?

 

"Your posh high society hated it so much to the point that the writer was shamed on by the whole media in 1996. Oh, that poor guy, he was only 25" The old man continued talking sadly about the writer of the book, Henry Welsh was it?

 

"What company was it published under?" I wanted to look for the publishing company, maybe it's still active, I could buy a copy of the book myself.

 

"The book was blacklisted kiddo, what do you think would happen to the publishing company?" He said in annoyed tone. It got me thinking for a second.

 

'So the company went down with the writer as well?' I didn't think that the book would be hated to the point that even the publishing company went down as well.

 

 

"What was that book about anyway? Why was it hated to the point that not a single article is written about it?" I asked. Most books that are blacklisted normally contained gore and other unacceptable things that's frowned upon by society. The old guy turned his head around looking for other people and leaned in a little closer. I leaned in my ear and listened properly.

 

"It contained the dark side of City A's high society. Child trafficking, illegal weaponry, and even drugs." My eyes went round when I heard what the old guy said.

 

'No wonder the book was blacklisted!'

 

"It's a well written novel that indirectly exposed the corrupt government and how Large companies monopolized the trade market. They ship illegal stuff into the country for billions of dollars." The old janitor whispered.

 

"That's why even the publishing company was shut down?" I whispered back.

 

 

"Yes, even the journalists and newspaper companies were affected when they wrote about how unfair the case was. Their mouths were basically zipped shut about the matter." The families that were exposed must've been really pissed off, they put the poor man to jail and even convicted him of other crimes.

 

"The school's closing kid, go to the school waste management building, I'll tell you the rest during lunch." It was already quarter to seven, the school guard would be going on rounds anytime now.

 

"You'll do that?" I was excited, this grumpy old man was nice after all.

 

"Aish~ You think I'll do it for free? You have to bring me food of course."

 

'Wah~ this stinky old man.' I thought to myself, but buying food wasn't really a huge cause to exchange a "somewhat" illegal information. It's not reliable, but I'd gladly take the opportunity and hear about any information about the book. How could I dream of a book that I haven't seen in my life? It was really weird. It was as if I knew that the book existed, and that I have to find it no matter what.

 

 

"Now-now, scurry along, I still got something to do." The old janitor talked in a rude manner and shooed me.

 

"Alright then." I said my goodbye and walked outside. It I'll reach home late at this point now, I stayed later than usual, but who cares anyway? It's not like I'd be scolded by Yvonne's "so-called family".

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"You've been coming home late for the past week now; I'll give you a chance to explain." Yep, I completely got that wrong. Looks like this old guy, Michael, noticed that I'm coming home late for the past two weeks. I mean, claps for noticing I guess?

 

"Answer me, young lady!" He slammed his hand on the table beside him which shook the vase laying on top of it. The loud bang rang around the whole living room. I looked at the old maid who was smirking behind the couch. She was standing behind Michael with an evil look on her face.

 

I swear to God I wanted to rip off her face then and there, but of course I couldn't since the old man is right in front of me.

 

'You'll get your day Beth; you'll get your day.' I said in my head while I gave a scary glare towards her. She must've used her dirty mouth to twists things out of proportion again. Of course I'm staying late because of the school festival, this should be a known fact to this old man.

 

 

"Nothing much, just prostituted myself and did drugs." I find it fun to aggravate his anger further. I mean, what other reason would Yvonne's father be angry about? He's most likely scolding me now because he can't control "Yvonne" like he used to. Yvonne isn't obedient anymore and doesn't say "yes, father" or "Sorry, father" anymore. Although Yvonne appeared mean, spoiled, and would always cause trouble, she acted obedient towards her older brother and father. I don't know why she stayed loyal to them even thought she was shunned by her own family

 

"What did you just-!" His voice got suddenly loud from anger and he rose from his seat with his brows furrowed. He looked like a red tomato because of his face.

 

"That's what you expect right? Something bad. That this disobedient daughter of yours is doing something to ruin your reputation." I said. I cut him off before he could even continue his words. Honestly this old man, together with that stuck-up son of his is a pain in the *ss.

 

'They don't believe a single word that comes out of Yvonne's mouth, so why the heck should I waste my energy explaining? They just assume whatever they want. Yvonne already experienced that way of treatment and even died because of it, so why would I waste my time sucking up to these morons?

 

'Ugh, reminds me of that old hag.' I said to myself. That aunt of mine and Yvonne's father has the same attitude. They act really elegant and posh when their attitudes and morals are f*cked up. My aunt used order me around so did her two daughters, call me C*nderella or whatever, thankfully I ran away from that horrid place when I had enough.

 

"Do you have no respect for me!? Do you just cut off-" I looked at him dead in the eye and cut him off.

 

"Eh, at this point my patience and respect for you is 6 feet underground." I said while smiling. I don't want to always get in a sour mood and get my day ruined when I see their faces, so I might as well ruin their day as well when they see mine. In that sense, I at least used my my time on entertainment.

 

"Anyway, what's the point of telling the truth if you don't use your own ears to listen?" I could see his face getting even more red from anger. He held his head because of a sudden headache and was catching his breath. It was as if he ran a mile.

 

'Blood pressure's getting to you, huh?' I thought to myself. The signs were showing, and since he's already an old guy, it's inevitable that you'll get various health problems.

 

 

I walked off before he could even say anything anymore and went straight up my room. I passed by the third floor hallways and as usual, it's dusty and dirty. Instead of going straight to my isolated room, I laid my bag on the sofa and sat there surrounded by the darkness. The only light that was present was the light provided by the moon. It shone through the dirty glass windows.

 

I sighed to myself and laid back into the couch. Arguing with those two bastards do get tiring. 'Are you at least satisfied Yvonne?' I thought to myself, as if she were there seeing everything I was doing.

 

"I know you genuinely love those two b*tches, but dear, they're the very reason why you're gone now." I whispered to the air and sighed again. I didn't know if Yvonne wanted revenge, or if she just wanted to get things resolved without any arguments.

 

"I'll try living this life to the fullest so your life won't be wasted." I talked again as if someone was really there. I chuckled to myself and lied down, what am I even doing? As if she'd hear what I'm saying.

 

'Where are you when I need you the most Nova?' I'm missing that small floating fur more and more as the time goes by.

 

"The festival is already nearing, I need you." Maybe it's because of the darkness, or maybe because of my tiredness that my eyes slowly closed, and moments later, I fell asleep.

 

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"Ugh." I felt a cold breeze touching my skin lightly. It was really cold, but it wasn't bothering me that much.

 

'Did I open the windows?' I thought to myself, but then I remembered that I fell asleep on the couch. I reached for my phone to look at the time but it wasn't there.

 

'Did it fall off?' I opened my eyes to look for it, but what I saw was pitch black. I turned around to look for a source of light, but there was nothing. It was scarily quiet and cold; all I could feel around me was the couch I was sleeping on.

 

"What the fu-" There was a small light I could see from the distance, it was very small but very bright at the same time. I stepped on the ground to try and reach for it or walk towards it, but all I could feel was water under me.

 

I looked down to see that the water reached my ankles, and before I could even make one more move. The light in front of me became bigger and brighter. My ears started ringing and an extreme headache came right after. I felt like my head was being put under tons of pressure that I couldn't even handle it.

 

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes seem to turn into hours. I couldn't tell how much time has passed, it was neither long nor short. I opened my eyes and I was standing in the same place. The couch was behind me, and the table was in front of me.

 

"When did this get here?" I started noticing random stuff that wasn't originally there. Pretty vases filled with flowers, ornaments that was displayed on tables, and clean windows that sparkle. Before I could even process what situation I'm currently in, I heard a distant cry.

 

 

 

*SOBBING*

 

 

"Why do you keep defending that bastard!?" I heard a man's loud shout and a woman's sob not too far away from me. It was somewhere downstairs. Their voices were heard from the third floor; it was echoing through the halls.

 

"He didn't do anything wrong! How many times do- " I was going down the stairs trying to peak at what was happening down there. I squatted down to see the commotion from down the second floor.

 

"Didn't do anything wrong?! He coveted you Phoebe, my wife?!" The man's anger was becoming worse and worse from the looks of it, and the woman's eyes were red from crying.

 

'He looks familiar.' I thought to myself, but I can't grasp as to who the young guy looked like.

 

'Wait, this is a dream again right?' I stopped peaking and looked around. This is the same house, but it has a different feel to it. It's warm and very refreshing because of the color of the curtains, the plants around, and there were even birds chirping from outside the window.

 

'Whoa~ am I lucid dreaming?' This feels weird, becoming suddenly aware that you're in a dream? That's cool!

 

"This has nothing to do with our past relationship Michael, he had done nothing wrong and you know that. The poor man has already given up on me!" I was snapped back to the two people fighting. It looked really serious and interesting so I crouched back down again to see what was happening.

 

When I crouched down, I felt a cold breeze running past my shoulder, and from my peripheral vision, there was a silhouette of someone crouching right next me.

 

 

 

 

 

"SONOFAF*CKINGHORSEB*TCH!"