Armbands (Chapter 6)

Rigecleft

When Ms.Morgan gently nudged me awake from the nap I had gone into amidst the wonderful, restful feeling I was sad to find that the feeling couldn’t last. I had known that I couldn’t stay like that forever but that hadn’t stopped me from wishing. However the rest had been very refreshing and I felt strong and renewed. 

Ms.Morgan led me back through the corridors and to the lobby I had first come into. I hugged her before we parted saying thank you for the wonderful morning. She waved at me as she went down the hall. 

Looking around I saw more new arrivals in the lobby smiling and talking excitedly about their treatments. As I started walking toward the doors to go out I saw something I hadn’t before. There was a large masterful mural on the wall above the large doors of four hands each with different colored armbands reaching up from the darkness toward a bright golden star. I squinted at the signature trying to figure out who had painted it but it was too far away. Beneath the picture were the words: Courage,Encouragement,Control

I went out the doors and started down the path. The sun had risen more and the path was covered with splotches of warm sunlight. A squirrel ran past in front of me along the path and leapt onto a small marble slab that I realized had a plack on it. I stepped closer to read it making the squirrel scitter into the trees.

Michael Higgins Building

“It is the purpose and duty of people to help each other in whatever way they can.” 

-Michael Higgins inventor of the ETM

 I smiled at the quote then wondered what an ETM was. Was it the machine that had somehow made my fear go away back in the building? If it was I had a new respect for this Michael Higgins person. I gave the stone a little salute then headed back down the path to the rest of Rigecleft.

***

I was walking out of the trees wondering where I should look for Vinessa and the rest of my new friends when I spotted them walking toward the cafeteria. I rushed over to catch up with them.

“Hey guys! Wait up!”

Vinessa turned toward me then ran over and gave me a hug. “Megan! How was it? Was it awesome?”

“Beyond awesome! I see why no one would tell me! It really was too good to ruin.”

Brooklyn,Chandler,and Mia came up smiling asking how much I liked it.

“How was it?!” Brooklyn asked grinning at me. 

“Amazing! Thanks for keeping it a surprise!”

“See, I told you there was nothing to be afraid of.” she held up a fist to bump “Story of our lives, eh Redband?”

I nodded smiling as I bumped her fist. We started walking toward the cafeteria and Vinessa told me what they had been doing while I was gone.

“They’ve been showing me around. We went and saw the horses! They grow all their own food here in the pastures and we fed them some cornshucks they were going to turn into fertilizer.”

“Cool!” I said as we walked into the cafeteria and I realized just how hungry I was. The food smelled delicious!

We walked over to the buffet table picking up our plates. At the table there were steaming plates and pans with grilled cheese sandwiches,chicken nuggets,pizza,and macaroni and cheese. It all looked so good I wasn’t sure what I should get.

Eventually I decided on getting a grilled cheese sandwich and some chicken nuggets. At the end I saw there were fresh chocolate chip cookies and I took three and put them on my plate. I loved chocolate chip cookies.

We all sat down at a table and started eating. The grilled cheese was still hot so I had to blow on it to cool it off a bit. “Did you guys go to the stores yet?” I asked

“No we wanted to have you there too!” Vinessa said “I’m excited to see what they have!”

“Me too!” I said feeling excitement building in me. For the first time I had money to buy things and a place I could go to get what I wanted. 

What should I even get? I wondered. Sure I had wanted stuff before but I had never actually bought anything; some things I wanted I never even told anyone about. Like a massager so my back wouldn’t be so tight. Though after my treatment I felt very relaxed and my back didn’t hurt at all. I had a feeling it wouldn’t last long however.

I started eating my grilled cheese as the others told me about the horses and the lake with kayaks and canoes that you could ride. They had gone searching for frogs on the bank and had found a couple of little ones which Vinessa hadn’t liked that much.

“They look so cute but then if you pick them up they jump at you!”

“She screamed so loud I thought they could hear her at Northpoint!” Chandler said with a chuckle.

“What’s Northpoint?” I asked swallowing some grilled cheese.

“It’s a town a few miles north of here. You can get there using the bike trails sometimes.” He said with a mischievous smile.

“Which we’re not supposed to do!” Brooklyn said “I swear one of these days you’re going to get in trouble Chan!”

“Come on all we do is ride around town! It’s not like we go telling everyone about how we got positive on the tests! We may break the rules but we aren’t that stupid”

That reminded me of a question I had. If what was going on here wasn’t bad why was it so secret? Why did we have to leave? Couldn’t they just set up places like the treatment centers in towns and require people to go to them? Did we really have to leave everything we knew behind?

I ate one of my cookies while thinking of this. It was a perfect cookie just a bit crunchy on the outside and super soft with slightly melted chocolate chips on the inside still warm from the oven. I smiled, licking chocolate from my lips.

“Hey Redband mind if I have this?” an arrogant voice asked as a hand came out from behind me and stole one of the cookies from my plate.

I turned around glaring to see who was so rude as to take my cookie when I saw it was the angry looking boy from the bus the other day towering over me with a smug self satisfied smile on his face as he chewed on my cookie.

I opened my mouth to tell him to give it back but nothing would come out.

“No? Great; more for me then!” he gobbled up the rest of the cookie.

Someone called out to the boy. “Hey Caden! What are you doing?”

“One minute!” The boy called back. He grabbed the second cookie off my plate and I tried to stop him hitting his hand and making the cookie fall onto the ground. He glared at me as if it was my fault. 

“Now look what you did you little Redband!” He said fists clenched. I instinctively raised my arms in front of myself to block whatever attack he sent my way. A flurry of motion in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Suddenly Brooklyn was in between me and Caden.

“Leave her alone Greenband” She said sturn and menacing.

Cadens friends called out to him again. “Fine” he said to Brooklyn but I caught him giving me a deadly glare as he said it. He went over to his friends.

Brooklyn turned back toward me. “You alright?”

I nodded still watching where the boy had gone to see if he would turn back and try and get me. I turned back to my plate trembling and looked down at the crumbs trying to distract myself by wondering if I should go see if there were any cookies left over to replace the ones Caden had taken. 

“Greenbands” Chandler muttered “I’d keep away from them if I was you. They like picking on people.”

“They go after Redbands like us because they think we’re easier to get at.” Brooklyn said shaking her head “not so much the Bluebands because I guess even they can understand depression but they just see us as easy pickings.”

I nodded, glancing around for any nearby Greenbands. When I was younger I had learned to keep away from bullies. It was best if you just stayed out of their way if you could.

Once everyone had finished eating we went to the small lane of shops outside that I had seen out my window the night before.The shopping lane which the others called Mainstreet was a line of wooden shops each a bit bigger than a shed with their doors standing open waiting for us to walk in and look at their goods.

We walked with our new friends; looking around at the shops with their goods spilling out onto baskets and hanging out of windows.There were small flags and lanterns hanging on lines of fishing wire crossing above us as we walked down the small path making it look like the place could be just as bustling and cheerful even at night. 

Our friends led us down the street pointing at all their favorite stores. There was a small bakery at the end with everything from cookies to birthday cakes. Chandler said he liked the sports store called Sportish best where they rented out balls and gear for sports and canoe rides. They took us to a pole where there was a device you could put your card into to see how many credits you had.

I slipped my card in and pressed the button on the reader. The number appeared on the screen showing my credits and I gasped. 

“Three thousand and nine hundred credits!”

“Hmmm,impressive!” Brooklyn said, looking at my number.

I pressed the button on the device and took back my card. I looked at the little piece of plastic feeling rich.

That was until Vinessa put hers in and the others cheered looking at her like she had accomplished a nearly impossible feat.

“Four Thousand!” Chandler exclaimed. “You got a four-point-oh last semester?!”

She blushed. “When you can’t sleep you get a lot of homework done.”

She retrieved her card and the others took us to the clothing shop to pick out clothes. It turns out Mia is secretly a total fashionista and helped us pick out the best clothes which I was secretly glad for despite debating with her about the practicality of skirts and her looking appalled at me for being totally fine if my entire wardrobe consisted of t-shirts and leggings.

Finally we finished our clothes shopping and walked around the various shops for any other things we might want or need. Vinessa and I carried our bags of new clothes and the others saw our struggle with the bags and helped us carry some. I was glad that the clothes shop had a sale for the new arrivals marking all their stuff at fifty to sixty percent off so we wouldn’t have to spend all of our credits for the term just on getting new clothes.

We wandered into a store selling random small things like pens, necklaces, pillows, blankets,and more. I looked around at the shelves wondering if I needed anything in here. I found a sign on a shelf marked watches and I went over to it; without my phone I would need a new way to tell time.

Most of the watches were the digital kind with buttons on the side so you could change it into a timer and set alarms. I didn’t want one like that, with my luck I would end up accidentally setting an alarm for three in the morning and not be able to turn it off. I found an analog one that looked good. Gold arrows and lettering on silver with a gold frame around the numbers. It even lit up when you pressed the knob you used to change the time so you could see what time it was even in the dark!

I took that one and looked around to see if I needed anything else. As I wondered I spotted a bowl with small,smooth stones like my rubbing rock and smiled. I turned looking around and spotted a tower shelf that spun where stuffed animals were stacked watching the people with longing eyes to be held and loved. 

I walked up to it trying to act like I was looking at something else; to seem like I wasn’t enthralled by the animals. I saw a stuffed wolf and was drawn to it with its fluffy coat and bright blue eyes. I reached toward it and looked around, knowing it would be embarrassing to be seen with a stuffed animal.

Once I saw that no one was looking at me I picked up the small wolf and held it close against my chest. It felt wonderful to hold something so soft and fit so perfectly in my arms. I looked down at its eyes and I felt like it was scared just like I was and wanted a hug just as much, but didn’t know how to ask. 

I held it close again not caring at that moment if anyone saw me. I held one of its paws in my hand whispering to it like it was a small child. “Shh,Shh It’ll be ok. Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

“Megan!” I heard Vinessa calling out to me in the store and I gripped the wolf tighter before forcing myself to put it back on the shelf, its eyes looking at me with sadness and longing.

I’ll be back my friend. I thought of it as I pet it one last time before walking over to the counter where the others were waiting to pay. 

“What did you get?” Vinessa asked smiling

“A watch.” I said holding it up.

“Is there anything else you need?”

Yes.

“No; I think I have everything.” I said resisting the urge to look back at the stuffed animals. I would have to come back for the wolf another time when the others weren’t with me.

We took our things and went back to the Loge to put our things in our room. I put my clothes in my drawers, moving my bag with my notebook, journal and reading light under the bed. When we were done organizing we went downstairs to look for our friends.

I looked over at a hall on the main floor right across from the front doors where there was noise coming from rooms with their doors open.

“What’s that?” I said pointing as I started walking toward it. Vinessa followed.

We walked in and found the room was a large lounge.Teens were playing arcade games and others were playing video games on computers or mounted televisions. In the corner we saw a popcorn machine making the smell fill the room while people snached bags and went through a door into what must have been a small movie theater. Brooklyn waved us over to an arcade game and tossed me a token to play.

I looked over and saw a skee ball game over by the wall. I remembered I liked playing skee ball when I went to the arcade with my mom. I put my token in and picked up a scratched, white ball from the line that had appeared. I had five shots. I tossed the ball between my hands testing the weight then rolled it down the lane towards the holes at the end.

I smiled as I made it into the forty point hole. I picked up the next ball and rolled it down the lane but this time my throw was off and it hit one of the barriers around the holes and rolled down into the ten point hole. I picked up the next ball and moved my hand back and forth practicing my swing; testing the weight. I swung and let the ball roll down the lane crossing my fingers as I watched it fly towards the holes.

“Yes!” I pumped my fist in front of me. I had somehow gotten it into the one hundred hole off to the side. 

I picked up the next ball making sure to do a couple of practice swings before I send it down the lane. It makes it into the fifty hole. I pick up the last ball and look at my score;two hundred. I pulled my arm back for the swing seeing just how the ball has to go to make it into the one hundred hole on the left side. I swing and let the ball barrial down the lane jumping diagonally across the holes and into the one hundred hole. 

I jumped up and down in my excitement whispering quiet yeses at making the shot. I looked down and saw ten tickets get spouted out of the machine. Pulled off the tickets and looked around for the prize desk. I hoped they had bouncy balls; they were the only good things you could get at an arcade, everything else broke.

I spotted a desk near the front with glass windows and prizes like lights,glow sticks,and surprisingly packets of tokens to play games. I looked closer and found that a packet of ten tokens cost four tickets.I wandered up to the person who was serving popcorn and saw a sign saying it was three tickets a bag. I went over and bought a pack of ten tokens and a small, black drawstring bag to hold them in that cost three tickets then got a bag of buttery,warm popcorn to munch on.

Vinessa walked up to me. “Oooh popcorn! Can I have some?”

I held my precious treat away. “Hey! Hands off! This is to replace those cookies that Caden guy stole from me!” I said smiling.

“Oh alright” she said disappointed then plucked a piece from my bag and ate it,giving me a mischievous smile.

“Hey!” I said half laughing pulling the bag away from her.

She moved around to my side and plucked another from the bag and munched on it. I held the bag close to my chest to protect it from her greedy popcorn fingers.

“My popcorn!” I said, smiling like goblin protecting its treasure. “It’s only three tickets you can get your own!”

Vinessa did a dramatic sigh. “But it’s more fun to take yours!” She went over, bought her own bag and we found seats in beanbag chairs and watched some people play a game of Super Smash Bros Infinity plus. 

Brooklyn, Chandler,and Mia came over and sat by us sometimes stealing some popcorn pieces of their own causing me to admit defeat and share some with them. After I had finished my popcorn I walked over to the skee ball game and put in a token to play again. 

I picked up the first ball and moved my hand back to swing but before I could, I felt a strong hand grip my wrist and try to pull the ball from my hand.

Instinctively I did what I called the Twisty Wrist Move that I had learned in a sixth grade PE class for self defence twisting my wrist and jerking it hard to get out between the person’s thumb and other fingers where the grip was weakest. I dropped the ball and turned, fists raised in self defence. My eyes widened.

Caden stood smiling with my ball in his right hand. “Thanks for the ball Redband. Now get out of my way.”

***

I instinctively took a step back, causing me to bump into the Skee Ball game. There were two other guys with Caden surrounding me and at a glance I saw they were all Greenbands. My arms were tight with fear and I felt myself slouch to try and hide; I stared at him trying to stop the thoughts in my head and find something to say to get him to leave me alone.

Run! Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. Just leave me alone! Run! Fight!…

I glanced past him and spotted Brooklyn laughing at a joke Chandler had said and as she glanced over at where I stood her smile fell eyes going wide. Caden blocked my sight of her.

“I said move Redband!” He said threatening.

I leaned away from him as he took a step closer. “My name’s Megan.” I said quietly.

Caden turned as a hand tapped his shoulder. Chandler stood there smiling at him.

“Please leave my friend alone.” 

Caden and the others looked down at Chandlers yellow armband and I saw a small sliver of uncertainty cross their faces. One of them took a step back almost running into me.

“Hey Caden, maybe we should just leave her alone.” he said quietly “I don’t want to cause any problems.”

“Quiet you ninny!” Caden spat at him then turned to Chandler.

“She was just paying for us to play a nice game is all” Caden said louder so he could hear.

“No she wasn’t, leave her alone.” Vinessa said coming up next to Chandler. 

“Yes she was” Caden said he turned back at me his voice holding a slight threat. “Weren’t you?” 

I hated being backed into a corner and I felt ashamed for having to have my friends bail me out of this though I was grateful for their help.

“Please leave me alone.” I said quietly.

Caden glared at me angry that I hadn’t gone along with his story. 

“I have an idea!” Brooklyn said walking up she held out an arcade token to Caden. “How about you play each other? Megan plays on that one and you can play on the other one.” 

I glanced over at the Skee Ball game to my right. There had been a boy playing it earlier but they had apparently seen what was about to go down and left. 

Caden studied the offered coin then took it from her and moved toward the game. “Deal”

I stared at my friends, eyebrows raised. Chandler stepped up to me and whispered.

“You got this. I know you do!”

“Are you crazy!?” I muttered.

“Yes.” He said still smiling “Now beat that Greenband bully.”

I picked up the ball that Caden had put back with the other ones and swung. With how wound up I was I swung way harder than I needed to and the ball hit the top then clanked down into the ten hole at the bottom. Caden and his crew laughed.

“Balls scaring you Redband?” one of Cadens friends jeered.

Brooklyn came up to me shooting them a glare that made them stop laughing and put her warm hands on my shoulders. 

“Relax, take a deep breath. Imagine it working. You’ve got this.”

I nodded, took a deep breath and swung the next ball. It landed in the fifty hole. I picked up the next one resisting the urge to look over and see Cadens score. I stared straight ahead and did a few practice swings then sent the ball down the lane where it made it into the hundred hole.

I picked up the next ball and swung for the hundred again but it missed going into the fifty instead. I take another deep breath and send the next one down the lane making it into the hundred again. One ball left.

I forced my eyes to stare straight ahead and not look at Cadens number as he gets a small cheer from his group. I look at the holes and I can see just where the ball has to go to get into the hundred up on the left. I pulled my arm back and sent it streaming down the lane towards the hundred hole. And makes it in.

I glance up at my score. Three hundred and ten. I looked over at where Caden and his crew stood glaring at me and saw his score. One hundred and seventy. 

Caden moved forward fists clenched, as I grabbed my tickets and was led away by Chandler. I don’t know what made me do it. Perhaps it was the thrill of winning but as I walked out I said something I would learn to regret.

“On the other hand, you can use the game Caden. You clearly need the practice.”

Vinessa failed to smother her laughter as we rushed out the door.