It has been seven days since Pocket Writers Association (PWA) was created and the community had finally reached a total of forty members. The four leaders - Eden, Rose, Kirstie, and Nanner - were busy establishing the association when they received news of their community's success.

 

"This calls for a celebration!" Eden cheered as he emailed everyone on the member list.

 

Kirstie smiled at her friend and nodded. "You're right! Let's get everyone together for a welcoming feast. Let's say it's for the latest addition of our community."

 

"Good idea! What was his name?" Nanner walked towards the pair when she overheard their conversation.

 

"Um...I'm not sure. Eden, do you remember?" Kirstie scratched her head embarrassingly.

 

Eden rubbed his chin for a bit before remarking, "Maybe Rose knows. She talked with him before, right?"

 

"Yea, that's true. Rose likes to personally visit each new member to welcome him or her to the community." Nanner murmured in agreement.

 

Kirstie clapped her hands once and pulled out her phone. "Alright, I'll go call her now."

 

Kirstie tapped in a few numbers before holding it up to her ear. She walked away from the group as soon as the other end picked up. Meanwhile, Nanner leaned over and whispered to Eden.

 

"Any word from the other Writing communities? Have they acknowledged us yet?"

 

"No worries. There's no definite answer yet, but I'm sure we'll hear from them soon. After all, why would they reject us? We are all fighting for the same cause."

 

"True. Ever since the Madness Suzerain banished the Keeper of the Books and burned down all forms of Writing, our world had suffered a terrible decline in Creativity. If it weren't for the fact that some Writers survived by hiding in the sewers, then the world would continue to be boring."

 

"Yea, it's a good thing our Professor was one of those surviving Writers. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been able to awaken our Creativity."

 

"Yea, if that didn't happen, we'd still be doing something like...like playing sports."

 

"Haha, don't mention it...I still remembered how I liked lacrosse. Ugh!"

 

..........

 

"Hello, Rose. How are you? When are you gonna come over?" Kirstie exclaimed as soon as she heard her friend's voice.

 

"I'm fine...eh, I'll be there in a few minutes. There's some Erasers patrolling around where I'm at. Gotta lay low for a bit."

 

"Ah, okay. I got a quick question. What's the name of our newest member?"

 

"Our newest? Hmm...I think it was Suze."

 

"Suzy? Nice, another female addition!"

 

"No, no. Suze's a guy."

 

"A guy named Suzy? Weird."

 

"What's weird about that? Suze is a good name for a guy."

 

"Oh no, I didn't mean to be rude. If there are names like Ashley and Erin, why can't Suzy be one as well."

 

"Ashley? Erin?"

 

"Don't worry about it. Hurry over."

 

"Oh, okay. Bye."

 

"Later!"

 

..........

 

After Kirstie hung up on Rose, she scratched her head curiously as she mulled over the unusual name of their newest member. While deep in thought, she walked back to the group.

 

"Hey, Kirstie! You find out what the name is?" Eden called out upon seeing hunched girl walk towards him.

 

"Suzy." Kirstie replied after some hesitation.

 

"A girl? That's great!"

 

"That's what I thought as well, but apparently, Suzy is a guy."

 

"Really? Well, to each his own."

 

"Ah, yes. It's just...something's weird about it. Maybe I'm just a bigot."

 

"Don't be like that. Don't worry about it too much. Nanner, go notify Suzy of the party. Make sure he comes. What's a party without the guest of honor, am I right?"

 

"Aye, aye captain!" Nanner comically saluted before sauntering out of the room.

 

Eden glanced at the quiet girl before him and reached over to pat on her shoulder. "Don't worry about such a trivial thing. Let's focus on the more important things like getting approval from the other Writers."

 

"Un!" Kirstie nodded as she put her thoughts to the back of her mind.

 

The two packed up their things and left the room shortly after. They each headed to their own office to begin working on improving the community. And so, the day went by routinely. Nothing unusual occurred, which placed the minds of every member at ease. After all, in the despotic society they're in, joining a Writing community was a dangerous decision to make. If they were found out, they would be rooted from their daytime identities and annihilated from existence.

 

It was a good thing, however, that Eden was quick-thinking. He was able to set up the community under the guise of a natural energy company called Power of Wind and Air. With this disguise, the members could write freely without fear of being found out. When it was near closing hours, the members of the community quickly finished what they had on hand and prepared to leave for the party.

 

"Hey Oz, have you seen our newest member?" Eden called out as he approached the elevators just in time to see another of their recent arrivals enter the elevator room.

 

As the elevator closed its doors, the genius Writer pointed towards the break room silently like some ghost in a horror film. Eden glanced over at the break room and saw the silhouette of a man making some tea. That must be Suzy. Eden strode towards the man and greeted with a smile.

 

"You must be Suzy. Welcome to the community. Do you have any questions or uncertainties you want to ask about?"

 

The large man stirred his tea for a bit before grunting, "Yea, I seemed to have a few small issues I want to ask about."

 

"Is that so? What is it? Maybe I can help out."

 

"Is this community approved by the other Writing communities?"

 

"Not yet, but I have their contact numbers. They keep me updated about the situation." Eden held up his phone for Suze to see.

 

Suze took a sip of his tea and turned around. Eden finally had a good look at the man standing before him. He was old...with thinning hair and gray beard. His eyes, however, were full of vitality. A tattoo of a red circle marked his left cheek while a large, pale scar ran through it. A weird tattoo indeed, but who was Eden to judge. Suze took another dainty sip from his tea before remarking.

 

"I see. If you have trouble getting their agreements, I could be of some assistance. After all, I am told to have very....persuasive abilities."

 

"Really? Then, I'll have to trouble you. Of course, not right now. Now, it's time for your party. Do you have any other questions? If not, then let's go."

 

"Two more things. How do we avoid the suspicion of the tyrant? And, will everyone in this community be at the party?"

 

"Easy! We're under the disguise of a natural energy company called Power of Wind and Air. With how that mad fool of a tyrant is, he won't ever find out about this." Eden chuckled as he patted Suze's arm. "Don't worry and write freely. Oh, yes. All members will be attending the party. So, let's go and not hold them up."

 

"Alright." Suze placed the tea cup on the counter and was just about to follow Eden out when his arm accidentally bumped into the cup, sending it crashing onto the floor.

 

As many small pieces dispersed along the wet floor, Suze bent down to pick up the pieces. Eden rushed over and stopped the large man. He told him that each person's fingers were precious tools to help him or her write. Picking up small shards of porcelain could damage his fingers. Eden volunteered to grab a broom and dustpan from the janitor's closet and motioned Suze to stay where he was. Then, the young man placed his phone on the table and ran to the janitor's room.

 

Seeing Eden leave his phone on the countertop, Suze reached over and picked it up. He tapped on the display screen and found that it was password-protected. He cursed silently as he tried to guess Eden's password. Could it be his birth date? No...drats! Three more chances. Maybe...a lover's birth date? Now, who could be Eden's lover? Could it be...Rose? No, apparently not. Then, it must be Kirstie. No...that's not it either. Damn it! I got only one chance left. What could that password be?"

 

Suze paced around, trying to think. He tried recalling the likes and dislikes Eden had but realized that he knew little of him. Suddenly, he remembered something. There was a word that Eden loved shouting out. It was 'yeet'.

 

Suze exclaimed with joy, "That's right, it was definitely 'ye-"

 

"YEET! I found them."

 

The sudden shout from Eden nearly scared Suze out of his skin. There was no more time to lose. The large man quickly typed in 9338 - the numerical version of 'yeet' on the phone's keypad - and viola...the phone flashed on. Suze scanned through the list of contacts and, using his photographic memory, memorized all of the contact information. He did not know specifically which one was from a Writing community, however, he could study them carefully when he returned home.

 

"Here's the broom and the dustpan. Let's get cleaning!" Eden exclaimed as he walked into the break room.

 

The two of them started cleaning up the mess and in a short two minutes, they were finished. After turning off the lights to the company building, Suze and Eden drove towards the party's location - a fast-food restaurant in the downtown that was known as Amino's Rich Plate. Amino's Rich Plates or RPs, as they were usually called, were stacked sky high with enough delicious food to serve a king. Once the two of them arrived, they were immediately called out by the other members who had arrived earlier.

 

"Sorry we're late. Are you guys hungry?" Eden clasped his hands and apologized.

 

"Naturally. We've been here for twenty minutes." Someone replied from within the group.

 

"Okay. Then, let's first order some food. Suze, introduce yourself to everybody."

 

While Eden headed towards the cashier to order some Rich Plates, Suze nodded towards everyone, carefully memorizing their faces. "My name is Suze. I'm 76 years old. My favorite motto is - 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'"

 

"That's a cool motto. Who said that? It sounded very familiar." A girl with frizzy hair replied.

 

"Haha, Frizz. You need to catch up on your history. That was spoken by the Keeper of the Books, am I right Suze?" A young man in his mid-twenties chirped with a smile.

 

"Zero! Don't call me Frizz! My name is Static! STATIC! Get it right!" The frizzy-haired girl snapped as she subconsciously tried to comb her hair straight with her fingers.

 

"You're right. I knew the Keeper personally and we've fought over...different ideals from time to time." Suze nodded and looked into the distant as if reminiscing about something.

 

"Really? You've met the Keeper? What's he like?"

 

"Arrogant, if I do say so myself. Not to mention his lack of understanding in the big picture. In other words, he was extremely small-minded."

 

"Is that true? How come that's not what the Records say?"

 

"Records are written by men...and men lie."

The whole group laughed at the seemingly self-insult and they quickly moved on to another topic. The conversations have not died down even when Eden called over for some help carrying the Rich Plates. At that moment, Kirstie squealed in delight and immediately rushed over to help. While it looked like she was helping, but to those who were familiar with her, they knew that she was just trying to call dibs on the biggest plate.

 

Nanner teasingly remarked, "Kirstie, which RP do you like more? Rich Plates or Roleplays?"

 

"I like them both!" Kirstie beamed as she stuffed her face into her plate of food. The way she devoured her food was extremely unladylike and not for the faint of heart.

 

Suddenly, Kirstie's face reddened and she spurted out a mixture of food and coughs. Eden rushed over and patted her back. "Easy there, Kirstie. No one's going to steal your food."

 

"Eden's right. Here, take a drink of water." Rose smiled as she handed Kirstie a bottle of water.

 

Now, others may not have noticed, but Suze noticed. Suze could tell from Rose's trembling hands that she was more jealous of Kirstie than worried. As the large man saw the smidgen of darkness embedded in Rose's heart, he grinned with a sense of satisfaction. This was a grand opportunity. He couldn't miss the chance. If he can get the two leaders - Rose and Kirstie - to fight against each other over their love interest, he will be able to break the unity of this group from the inside, making the society easy pickings.

 

"Thanks Eden, Rose." Kirstie sipped the water daintily and looked at the other members. "What are you guys doing? What's with that awkward mood going on over there? Let's eat and celebrate! Today's a special moment! To Suzy!"

 

"To Suzy! Hurrah!"