Short Stories
TashaDavis
Who’s up for Tag?
I looked ahead at the strange boy in front of me. What was he? The boy that could pass all his tests if barely and still have time to play. Still have time to run around outside, while not making his mother upset.
“How do you get okay grades and still have time for your antics”, I asked Siler. “How do you not upset your parents and still have time to have fun”?
He looked at me and smiled that wild Cheshire cat grin but malice never reached his eyes. He was just having so much fun that he couldn’t help it. It didn’t even know that was possible. He could be considered the class clown but never did anything too serious and never at the expense of others. Most people just said he was weird and left him alone. I knew better though. If he had a secret trick, I wanted to learn it. To be that happy, not to care if everyone was giving you strange looks because your happiness was worth more than their scrutiny. I wanted that. All the others were fools to not want happiness. And in all, that was all I had wanted when I went over to him. All I was going to request. All that I was certain about getting from this boy before squirming out of my skin and wiggling away.
Instead, his grin softened, eyes still playful and energetic, but kinder. It didn’t quite go the way I had planned.
“It’s something I’ll explain to you, but first you have to do one thing. You have to play tag with me”.
I was nervous but I wanted to know. I had played tag once and knew it wasn’t any fun being chased but I had to find the answer. So far I didn’t know how to please my parents or have fun. I’d do anything to learn how to do either.
“Alright. Just let me put down my backpack”, I said bending over to put take it off. Then Siler did something I hadn’t expected. While my backpack was going “Thud!” on the ground, he touched my shoulder and began darting away yelling back, “Tag! You’re it!”
OH, IT WAS ON!!! I was mad and angry and happy all at once. I was full to the brim suddenly by emotion from his action and the only way I could let it all vent without going home and sobbing like a baby into my pillow, was to chase after him. And I did. And I didn’t catch him. But I had found out how to have fun. It was a nice chase and in the end we both fell on the grass next to each other laughing.
“So”, I asked, “If that’s how to have fun, how do you make your parents happy and still have to time to do that”?
“You don’t. I mean yeah, that’s a great thing to try to do every time you try to do anything but it shouldn’t be the thing you live to do. You’ll never please them if that’s all you’re trying to do. You do things for them because you love them. Not because you feel the need to impress them”.
“Hey, umm. Can we be friends? I don’t care what others say, you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met”. His reply? “Sure! We can be best friends. Like a sibling except you get to choose them!”
Dawn's Vignette
In Minnesota, a similar event was happening. A week after the initial arrival of the Black and Whites, a girl of nineteen and a boy who was a few years younger, waited inside their house until the Black and Whites were knocking at their door. Then, with the rest of their neighborhood, they filled out the forms. They were among the first of their neighbors to turn theirs in.
The older girl with a bomber jacket sat patiently with the not so patient teen beside her. A German Shepard sat faithfully by the girl's side, keeping a watchful eye out for any trouble the strange people in black and white might make. Their backpacks that they had become accustomed to taking everywhere with them for the past week, sat in the road as they sat on the curb. After an hour of waiting, the boy became rather hyper. The dog looked at him. The boy had to at least be in eleventh grade. The girl made sure he was aware of this.
“Siler. Sit down,” she said sternly. She looked around, her dark brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail flew about her with the turn of her head.
“But Dawn, I have to see if they might know where they are. If my mom and sister were among the first to be moved then I have to know which of the camps she might be in,” he explained.
Dawn sighed, “Si, I know that you want to find them but…”
Siler cut her off, “No. No buts. I am really worried. Your brother was called off to the Reserve Forces the day it happened. My mother and sister disappeared shortly before that. There has to be something big going on. Whatever terrorist group has formed, it’s bad.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Dawn said, “Just because there aren’t any channels or internet doesn’t mean that this group is going to be able to take over the world.”
The boy was angry by now. People they knew were trying to ignore them where they sat on the curb. The girl stretched out her hand to rest on the shoulder of the dog, "It's okay Dyllan. Calm down."
Siler lowered his voice so he wouldn't upset Dyllan again, “You know as well as I do that I could get past any block that was put up by government. You saw me win that award. It’s not just a block, Dawn. It’s completely gone.”
Dawn tried to ignore him at this point. She didn’t want to start a bigger argument and she wanted to keep him in her sight.
“Alright, I believe you,” she whispered, “But try to keep it down. You don’t want everyone panicking do you?”
Suddenly a voice came up behind her, “Dawn Rivera and Siler Winston?”
“Yes?” she answered.
“Do you know anything about my mom and my sister?” Siler quickly got to his point.
“No, I’m sorry son. But I have to request that both of you follow me,” the man wearing a suit of black and white armor said.
Dawn and Siler looked at each other. Dawn agreed nervously, “Sure.” Dawn whistled for Dyllan to follow.
They got up and the uniformed man led them to a black van where they were asked to sit. They sat down after Dyllan jumped in after their backpacks. The man got in the front seat, said something over a radio, and then the rest of the ride was spent in silence.
The van stopped at a train station. The man got out and opened their door. "Alright, you two. Follow me," the man said.
"I don't understand," Dawn piped up as they followed the man over to a train, "Where are we going?"
Without looking at her, the man spoke, "You're being transported based on the information written on your census. This young man will be a computer specialist, and you have also been chosen to help us in this time of war."
The boy and the girl were aghast. It was only an hour ago that they had turned their papers in.
"But where are we going?" Dawn asks again.
"You are being transported to a place that should be better suited to your given tasks."
"And what about my mom, and sister?" Siler speaks out, "When can I see them again?"
"Family reunions should take place soon, but I'm not sure in your situation."
Siler gave a scowl of frustration.
"What about my brother?" Dawn said, "Jett was in the Reserve Army Forces. He left and I haven't seen him since."
Unlike the freight trains that were rumored, this one was built for passengers. Dawn and Siler were filed into their own room. Dyllan laid down on the floor.
"We don’t know much about when those in the service will return," the man said in response to Dawn's previous question. The door shut, the train's wheels began to click, and they moved forward into the unknown.