The not so Wild West

The not so Wild West.

Sorting through the rubble is the hardest part. No one lives in the Outlands anymore, well not since the Great Divide. The East continues to drop bombs here. Being a part of the rescue team is my community service, that’s how I found myself here. At the border, kicking through the rubble, looking for anyone that may have been hurt during the last attacks. A beam of light catches my eye. I kick aside a board and pick up of the source of the reflective light. Using the bottom of my shirt I clean the grime off.

“Hey! Keep moving. We need to clear this area by night fall, and we don’t need you slowing us down.”

“Okay. Ummm, sorry.” I yell back to the captain as I quickly clasp the heart shaped locket around my neck. It immediately felt warm against my chest. I look up and lock eyes with the Captain, giving him a sheepish shrug, I begin kicking the rubble again.

***

“Hey, hey. Take those boots off at the door. You know how I feel about the elements being tracked all around the house.”

I take two large steps back to front door and squat down to untie my shoes. My dad’s large toes come into view. He lends down to whisper, “Now you know your Momma and her elements.”, before giving a kiss on the top of my head. He takes whiff of my hair and steps back.

Through my giggles I tell him, “Yeah, that’ll teach ya to go around sniffin’ our hair. I was in the Outlands today. I bet your nose is full of all that good old sooty air.” He answers me with a fake sneeze and a rustling of my afro. Through his laugher he says, “You need to go wash that and have your Mom braid it down for you until you're done with your service in the Outlands.”

Momma peaks around the corner, “If you wanted your hair braided, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to go roll around in the Outlands first.” I would’ve thought she was mad but the smile playing at her lips told me otherwise.

Following dad, I peeped my head in the kitchen to find my brother Caz and my sister Tabitha already bathed. Momma was braiding Tabitha’s hair while Dad was wrapping Caz’s locs into two loc barrels and fastening the ends with hair ties.

I smiled at my family before running up the stairs two at a time to hit the shower, Dad was right my hair does stink.

***

I was just on the verge of falling asleep when Tabitha whisper yells my name. “Meleyah, are you sleep? Meleyah.”

“I’m almost. Why, what’s up?”

She crosses the room and sits on my bed before saying, “I overheard Momma and Daddy talking again. They said the East won’t stop until we are all gone, until they have poisoned all our waters and taken all our re.. resaur…”

“Resources.”

“Yeah, resources. Is that true? Is that really what they want? To kill all of us?”

I take a deep breath before answering, “I don’t know Bugz.”

She turns to face her bed with her hands in her lap, “We learned about the riots in school and it doesn’t seem like those people wanted to play nice or share.”

“That’s true, but those aren’t the people that are in the East. The people you are learning about lived a long time ago little one. You don’t have to worry about any that stuff. Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Now go to bed, you have school tomorrow and so do I.” I say before tickling her off the side of my bed.

Morning always comes to soon for me. Squinting into the sun light streaming into the window I mentally calculate how much time I have to lay here before either Momma or Tabitha comes to officially wake me.

“Meleyah, I know you are out of that bed, dressed and in the bathroom brushing your teeth.”

“Yes Ma’am.” I call down the stairs as I sprint around my room making-up my bed, grabbing my clothes and running to the bathroom. I think this has to be the fastest I have ever gotten ready for school. I plop down at the table just in time for Momma to place my bowl of oatmeal in front of me and give me a serious side eye.

Dad is like his own alarm, “Alright family we are leaving in T-minus five. If you’re not ready you will be locked in the house… Caz don’t even think about it, you’re going to school even if I have to drag you there myself.” We are all standing at the door looking to the hallway opening, waiting for him to turn the corner. “Whoa, y’all are ready. Well let’s go then.” We all just laugh and shake our heads; he does this every morning.

“Now kids, what do we say?” in unison we say, “Keep our eyes open, pay attention, protect each other and if we have to kill do it as quickly and as painlessly as possible.” I have said this so many times that I no longer hear it in my sleep but for some reason watching Tabitha say it didn’t sit right with me. She’s only seven and she already knows six ways to quickly kill a full-grown man. My dad must feel my hesitation this morning, he places one of his heavy arms around my shoulders and kisses my temple before we walk out the door. We all hug each other bye because we don’t know if we will make it back tonight. My parents do a good job of shielding my brother and sister from most of the craziness our country has become but I hear the news playing after they think we are all asleep. I know we are not okay, the East is planning something, something big.

I wave to Tabitha and Caz as they enter their respective schools. Lucky for them, they are right next to each other. I still have a couple of blocks before I get to mine. After tightening up the straps on my backpack I prepare to sprint the distance.

Turning the corner into my school yard I almost ran into someone, but they moved just in time. I yelled a rushed “Sorry”, before running through the open double doors of our school. I didn’t stop until I got to my locker. I pull out my Bio and Algebra books for my first and second periods when the locket starts to warm-up again. I suddenly need to sit down, so I do, with my back to the lockers. I think to myself, maybe if I close my eyes for second and catch my breath, I will be alright.

Opening my eyes, I instantly know I am not in school anymore. What auditorium is this?

“I don’t care if you have to go street by street. I need to know how many there are. I excepted the Marine Corp to be able to handle this simple task.”

“Yes Madam President.”

Madam President? Our President is a man. She turns the corner way to fast, I curl in a ball and brace for the impact of stilettos, but it never comes. I look up to find she has walked right past me.

“I swear, I have to do everything myself. There is no doubt in my mind they will expect me to cross the border and fight this war myself.” Was the last thing I heard before, “Meleyah, Meleyah. Are you with us? If you can hear me squeeze my hand.”

“Mrs. Johnson?”

“Oh Meleyah, girl you scared us half to pieces. Someone, grab her a bottle of water. How are you feeling?”

“I think I’m okay, but my butt really hurts.” I say opening my eyes slowly. Yep, this is my school. I glance over to my right and there they are, my textbooks. Someone closed my locker already. I try one of dad's many grounding techniques and count the tiles. I count to twenty before Mrs. Johnson is finish talking and holds out her hand to help me up.

“Are you okay to go to class Dear? Do you need me to call your parents?”

“No Ma’am. I think I’m okay enough to go to class.” I say cracking my back.

With three quick claps of her hands she announces, “There's no more to see here, go to your respective classes. To your classes please.”

After picking up my books I quickly scan the crowd for Ivy. I have to tell her what happened.

“Yoooo, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all day?” I say setting my tray down. I’m starving so it takes me a few seconds to hear the sniffles. “Hey…” I say taking her hand and sliding closer to her on the bench. “… whats wrong? What happened?”

“I just came from the watch headquarters.”

“Like West Nation, the watch headquarters or neighborhood watch headquarters?”

“Mel be serious for once. I’m not laughing.”

“Okay, okay. I’m serious tell me what happened.”

“I was doing the morning Outlands detail when these men came out of nowhere and grabbed us. It had to be about twenty of us. We were bounded and gaged, and they put earmuffs on us so we couldn’t hear anything, but the guy who put mine on must’ve been in a hurry because I heard it all Mel.” Fresh tears began to stream down her face, I handed her a napkin and rubbed her back urging her to continue. “You were right. You are always going on about how the East is a whole different set of people and how they have something big planned, that’s why they keep bombing the Outlands. Big doesn’t even begin to describe it. They want it all, they want the whole country, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

“Wait, you know their plan? They told you their plan and let you live?”

“No, I escaped, but not all of us made it.” We sit in silence for a few minutes before she breaks it. “I had to go tell the West Nation’s Secretary of Defense what I heard.”

“Yeah, I kinda gathered as much… but what if I told you there was a way we could spy on the East from our very own home.”

“What? What are you talking about?” she says wiping the remaining tears from her face.

“I’m talking about this.” I pull the locket from inside my shirt. As soon as she laid eyes on it, she knew I was telling the truth.

“Where did you get that?”

“I found it in the Outlands, it’s a…”

“I know what it is, who’s inside?”

I wait until her eyes move for the locket to mine; I mouth…Madam President.