The Fourth World: Chapter 6 Part 3

It happened when we were ten years old. Three bangs echoed in through my window, coming from the dark streets outside, waking me up with a start. By law everyone is supposed to be in bed by midnight, so the nights are always completely silent. Our house and the other one next to the Hales’ were probably the only ones who heard. The Authority would never want to bring so much attention to an infraction.

Looking outside my window, the only light coming from the shining stars in the sky, I saw some four Authority Members outside Skylar’s house. I connected the three bangs to one of the Members knocking hard against their door. Two of them were dressed in their usual uniform, glistening white like the moon, while the other two were camouflaged black like the sky in the background, covered from head to toe. That was the first and only time I’d ever seen them. The Authority in black are the ones whom we should be afraid of, the ones who you wish you’ll never have look you in the eyes. One glance at them and my heart ran into panic. They only come for one reason; when an infringement is committed. They take you away and you never come back. We call them the Grims.

My sweaty palms were bawled up into fists, I ran downstairs to find both my parents by the door. I barged right into them, pushing away from their tight grip, keeping me from opening the door. But it was useless effort, and now I realize they were even right. What could I have done, a crying ten year old begging to see her friend? I would’ve only made things worse.

From the living room window, hiding behind curtains, I watched helplessly as his parents opened the door. I still remember the look on his mothers’ face, engraved into my memory. Her face completely drained of colour, her body motionless as if her heart had stopped beating, eyes unblinking. Sometimes I wonder if the colour has ever really come back to her face. Have her dull eyes ever shone brightly like they once did before that night? I don’t know.

The two Authority Members dressed in white stepped forward, taking out a formal sheet of paper and reading something out to them. I stood there, unable to do anything, watching as the men dressed in black forced Skylar’s father to turn around and placed handcuffs around his wrists. That was when I saw what kind of heart his father really had, where Sky’s bravery truly comes from. He did not go without a fight. A fight for life, tears streaming down his face as he desperately tried to hang on to his wife’s fingers. The men had to force a cloth around his mouth to stop him from screaming. I saw Skylar and his sister creeping up from behind their mother. That is when I forced myself to look away. How could I just stand and watch, as my best friend’s life was getting torn into two? As they were taking away someone he loved?

Through the two windows on each side of our door I saw him again, for the last time, and he wasn’t looking towards his own house that time, but ours. He looked straight at my mother, and I watched as she quickly turned her gaze away, tears gliding down her cheeks. Both my parents didn’t say anything to me that night. My mother immediately went back upstairs, not risking a look at either of us. She walked slowly, her eyes fixed ahead of her but lost in a completely different world. My father looked at me and tried to say something, but failed. There was nothing he could say, nothing I could have asked for.

The next day it had been announced that he had been involved in the black market. When one commits an Infraction, they are taken to war, and I don’t think one soldier has ever come back. Skylar never believed a word the Authority said. I have to admit it was hard for me to believe it too. His father was always like the breeze of fresh air in a boiling summer day, lifting weights off your shoulders, making you feel free. How could he have such a secret identity?

I’m trying not to, but if I think about today, I realize Skylar also has a side to him I never knew about. Whether it was the black market or a rebel group, everyone has secrets. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Some weeks, maybe months, after that night Skylar’s family received a letter telling them that his father had died in the war. Sky was never the same after that. For almost a year he walked around with a black cloud constantly following him wherever he went, and anyone who tried to let the sun shine through only managed for a few precious moments. He’s gotten so much better since then. I don’t know what changed inside his head, maybe simply the gift of time helped him. But I do hope he’s not feeding himself on the hope of revenge.

Every year he has to remain silent and watch the city mourn all who’ve died due to disease, old age or accidents. Yet the Infringement Soldiers whom we’ve lost in the war are excluded from Remembrance Day. The Authority refuses to acknowledge them like everybody else, as they have not been a rightful piece in our society, so they don’t deserve to be remembered.

I understand Sky. How can he be forced to remain silent while slowly every little piece of his father is getting lost and forgotten in everybody’s memories? Getting replaced by thoughts of all these people who have Remembrance Day dedicated to them.