The days under Kelia's rooftop passed slowly. Each morning, Kelia would leave for school, and Lunarey would have to find all sorts of occupations to get through the day. Lunarey hadn’t left the apartment since she got there, as Kelia warned her that if she really was a criminal, she might be wanted by the police, so she'd be better off not going out. As far as Cynthia knew, Lunarey dropped out of school. Therefore, she never had anywhere to go to. Occasionally she would help Cynthia cook or clean the apartment, repaying her for her generous hospitality. Cynthia worked the evening shifts a lot, so she would usually disappear once the afternoon hit. When Kelia would come home after school, she and Lunarey would talk endlessly, mostly about things from Kelia's life, like her latest crush at school, or what her friend recently gossiped to her about. Most of the time, Lunarey didn’t find any interest in those things, yet she acted intrigued every time to avoid offending Kelia. When Kelia was around, Lunarey felt like the hours would rush by as if they were minutes. She found a true friend and a source of strength in Kelia, and yet the questions and unknowns about her identity and past never ceased to haunt her. At some point, whenever she would find herself doing nothing, she would obsessively look for something to do, just so she wouldn’t have to deal with her thoughts about those things.
Kelia kept bringing her books from her school library, and Lunarey would devour them with utmost passion and desire. Her thirst for knowledge was never quenched. Not until she would learn about the things that she really wanted to know about. Who she was, and how she ever came to that alley with no memory.
One day, while Kelia did her homework, Lunarey was looking at that list of names once more, reading the words over and over again as if it could help reveal the truth behind them.
#7: Silus Jackson – Nightmares, occasional shivering.
#8: Julianer Sanford – lack of appetite, periodically waking up at night, sleep deprivation.
There seemed to be no clear pattern to the human reactions described in the list. Some of them came and went while others were constant or appeared only once.
"I wish I could know more about this list," she said to Kelia, catching her attention.
"I do too, but I already told you, Luni, we can't afford internet access," Kelia said. "It's a shame, really. We could’ve searched for information about these names. I bet the Nucleus would have some information that could help us."
"The Nucleus? What's that?"
"Well, it's basically a vast net of websites that can only be approached using special methods that not anyone is aware of. There's a lot of illegal things you can do there, like order drugs or even weapons, I heard."
"It sounds… scary."
"It is, but that doesn’t stop a lot of people from using it."
"And you think there might be information about the people on this list over there?"
"Maybe. The Nucleus also has a lot of news articles that either got censored by powerful people, or simply things that are posted in secret to avoid trouble. You see, ever since the days of the Tearful Rebellion, government appointed people have to review each newspaper before it gets published, and they remove whatever parts they think may put the government in a bad light. It's all to make sure people won't be incited to start another rebellion." They're so scared of another rebellion… yet they still won't do the things that would actually improve people's lives around here. It's like they enjoy the current state of things. "You know what, I'll try to ask some friends of mine if they have internet access and can help us with it."
"Thanks, Kelia," the hint of a smile curved up on Lunarey's lips.
The next day, while Kelia was at school, Lunarey found herself lying on Kelia's bed, staring at the ceiling. She had already cleaned every room in the apartment, and even washed the dishes. Suddenly, a strange noise that came from outside caught Lunarey's attention. She got up from the bed and looked through the window shutters. At first, she didn’t notice anything, but once she heard those noises again, she tracked them down to an alley below.
The alley was narrow and filthy, with graffiti covering its walls and litter all around it. She saw 4 figures in that alley, all of them were girls who looked to be about the same age as her and Kelia, wearing school uniforms. One of the girls was black-haired and overweight. Lunarey couldn’t make out any further details about her appearance from where she was other than recognizing her school uniform. It was the same one that Kelia had. The other girls, who were dressed in the same outfit, were apparently picking on her, calling her 'fat' and 'ugly'. Lunarey watched as they pushed her around and laughed at her.
The overweight girl was crying and begging for them to let her go, but the three bullies just ignored her pleas.
This is horrible. Why are they doing this? What could this innocent girl have done to them to deserve such treatment? Lunarey's hand clenched around the shutter.
On and on the three girls laughed and cursed the poor girl. "You fat piece of shit," she heard them say. "Goddamn bitch." They kept going. Lunarey felt confused and enraged. She wanted to know why this was happening, but also wanted to make those girls pay for their behavior.
Eventually, the abused girl managed to run through a gap between two of the girls, crying profusely as she was escaping. They let her run away and dispersed a minute later.
Lunarey left the room, hoping to clear her head of what she just witnessed. Cynthia greeted her with a concerned look. "Something wrong, Lunarey?" she asked, noticing the appalled expression on Lunarey's face.
"Y-Yeah, it's just…" she found it hard to express with words, and yet she somehow managed to describe to Cynthia what just happened in that alley, right outside their building.
"I see," Cynthia sounded a bit too calm for Lunarey's taste. "It’s a common thing, actually. A lot of times you get to hear about these kinds of events happening in the area."
"Then why aren’t the schools doing something about it?"
"They've tried many times but… they're simply incapable of dealing with this issue."
"Can't they punish those bullies or something?"
"They can, but that won't solve the problem. In fact, it sometimes makes things worse." A frown appeared on Lunarey's face. "You mean to tell me you've never seen this kind of thing before when you were at school?"
"I-I did, but…" she tried covering herself. "It's just not fair."
"Fair? Honey, I'm working my ass off 6 days a week to bring food to my table, while some people kill or rob others and get paid twice, maybe three times as me. How's THAT fair?"
"I-I'm sorry, Mrs. Hopewell, I didn't mean—"
"It's alright, calm down," Cynthia sat down, burying her face in her hands. "I'm just… tired, I guess." Her voice was full of defeat and frustration. "Alataria isn't a great place to live in, especially when it comes to Brontspil. I swear this district is probably the most awful place in the world."
"T-Then… why did you ever choose to live here?"
"I didn’t… my late husband did… Kelia's father." Her eyes drifted away as if she couldn’t look at Lunarey and mention him at the same time. "He used to run with Harley Nation, those damn bikers. It was back when they had a strong presence in Brontspil." Harley Nation… I remember reading about them. They're a well-known criminal biker organization in many countries in the United States and Europe, but Alataria only became aware of their power 4 years ago, when they opened their first outpost here. "He was the one who made us live here, and when he died in that gunfight … he left me pregnant and alone."
"So why don’t you just move away?"
"I can't afford it."
"I-I see. I'm sorry, Mrs. Hopewell, I-I didn’t know that."
Cynthia didn’t reply. She got up from her seat and went to the kitchen instead, occupying herself with housework. The gloomy expression on her face remained.
Upon nightfall, Lunarey stared at the ceiling again, just as she had that morning, only, this time, it was on the mattress on Kelia's room floor, and with Kelia lying beside her on her bed. The more she learned and heard about Alataria, the more she felt scared. Between the criminal gangs, the bullies, and the plaguing poverty around, she didn’t feel safe at all.
"Did you have any luck with your friends today? Were you able to search for information about my list?"
"No, Luni, I'm sorry. None of my friends have internet access. It's just too expensive for people in a place like Brontspil."
Lunarey seemed disappointed, but she preferred not to dawdle on that subject any further for now. Instead, she told Kelia about the overweight girl who was picked on today, hoping to receive better input on the matter than what she had received from Cynthia. "I think I know that girl you're talking about. If it’s the one I'm thinking about, then that kind of bullying happens quite a lot at my school," said Kelia.
"Why isn’t someone defending her?"
"Well… let me put it this way, and I'm simply laying out the truth for you: school populations often resemble somewhat of a hunter-hunted situation. There are the hunters, and there are the hunted, and if you're not in one group, then you're in the other. Once someone tries to defend her, he'll immediately put himself in the hunted group, along with her, and nobody wants that."
"But… why? Why is this happening in the first place? Why should anyone be hunting anyone?"
"I don’t know, I guess that it's human nature to try to harm one another, to feel superior to others."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I mean, I know it sounds awful, but… given a situation where you have the upper hand on someone, where he's helpless and you can do whatever you want with him… few people can resist to taking advantage of that."
"You're right. It does sound awful."
Kelia sighed. "Let it go. You're only reacting this way because you're seeing this for the first time. Everyone else sees this all the time and just learns to shrug it off. It’s not like there's anything to do about it, so… why do you make a fuss?"
"They called her 'fat' and 'ugly.' That girl was hurt."
"That girl was weak," she crudely declared. "Weak people always get haunted by their own flaws. Their own identity is the one that makes their life so difficult. It’s nothing new, and it’s not going to change." Kelia’s words flung endlessly through Lunarey’s thoughts. Such a horrible thing… to be haunted by your own self… to have it be the thing that terrorizes you most… how do you make it okay? How do you overcome this? She urged herself to ask Kelia that question, but she could tell by her roommate’s irritated tone that she does not enjoy this topic, so in an effort to remain on her roof-providing friend’s good side, she decided to bid her good night and leave her thoughts for another day.
Though Kelia’s snoring was quick to be heard, Lunarey’s sleep wasn't so hastened to come, as thoughts of that poor girl refused to leave her mind.
