Bab 43: Chapter 43
The next day, Saturday of February 8th 2020, Wyatt and Emma left to go see Matilda like they do every weekend. On their way there, they pass by a group of people wearing black hoodies with a red circle spray painted on the backs of the jackets. They wore face masks, had a spray paint can in hand, and carried what looked like a makeshift baton. As Wyatt and Emma pass them, one of them stared at Emma and they continued walking in the direction Wyatt and Emma came from. "Did you see those people?" Emma asks.
"Yeah, this makes me nervous" Wyatt says. "This can't be a good sign".
The two of them continued to Savvy Threads. When they get there, after greeting Matilda, Emma mentions the men in the hoodies. "Did you see any strange people walk past these streets?" Emma asks.
"Strange people?" Matilda asks. "I'm afraid not, dear. I haven't really seen much outside of this store".
"There were these group of people dressed in black hoodies with this red circle painted on their backs" Wyatt says.
"What?" Matilda asks as she seems to drop whatever else she was doing.
"Do you know what that means?" Emma asks.
"Which way were they headed?" Matilda asks.
"Looks like... down the road... maybe towards the school?" Wyatt says.
Matilda pulls out her phone immediately and begins dialing. "What's wrong, Matilda?" Emma asks.
"That sounds like the same people who started those riots" Matilda says. "If they're headed towards the school, then-". Suddenly a connection was made on her phone as she heard the audio cue of a clicking noise from the other end. "Ryan!" Matilda shouts, "get down here now! I think the school is in danger!".
"What!?" Wyatt panics. Wyatt begins to run out of the door immediately. Emma looks back and forth nervously, throws her backpack on the ground in Savvy Threads, then runs after Wyatt.
"Wait!" Matilda shouts at them, but neither of them came back inside of the store. "Shit!" Matilda says as she slams her fists on the desk. "I let Emily sleep in today at home. Hopefully she's still there too!".
As Ryan gets in his car and makes his way down to Harrison University, he calls the police on his cell phone. "Yes, this is Ryan Schafold, Principal of Harrison University! I was calling in regards of a possible riot starting outside of my school!". As Ryan spoke, his voice was loud and shaky from nervousness. "Please send someone immediately!".
A couple minutes pass before Wyatt and Emma make it close to the school. When they get there, they could see that off in the distance, people in black hoodies were spray painting over all of the posters Tina and the others painted. Some were even lighting Molotov Cocktails and throwing them over the gates, catching the grass on fire. Students were gathering inside of the school gates, coming from out of the dorms. They all kept their distance because of the fire that was slowly spreading on this cold day. They could only stand and watch as they were forced to distance themselves from the gates, due to the fire. Other people in black hoods were shaking the gates of the school rigorously, trying to break it open, and it was slowly working. Then, right in front of Emma and Wyatt, was a parked car. Inside that car was none other than Jason Miller, who was on the phone at the time. "Yes, sergeant" Jason says while sitting in the car, "I've heard about this unfortunate false alarm. I'm at the school now and everything here is silent. There's no need to worry, sir. If anything happens, I'll let you know".
Jason then steps out of the car after hanging up his phone. "You..." Emma says while shaking, "why are you doing something like this again!?".
"Oh, gross" Jason says as he looks down at Emma. "You're NEAR me... do me a favor and jump inside of that fire over there... Pesky little laibah".
"What have you done!?" Wyatt shouts as he stands in front of Emma.
"Oh... Oh!" Jason says, feigning surprise, "you're actually going to protect this... thing? I'm afraid actions must be taken to keep this city as clean as possible. Do me a favor, and don't run". Jason reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a gun. He turns off the safety switch and pulls back the slide, loading a bullet in the chamber.
Suddenly, the sound of a car speeding up from behind Wyatt and Emma could be heard. The car comes to an immediately stop as Ryan rushes out of the car. "Stop!" Ryan shouts at Jason.
"I'm afraid you're too late to stop now" Jason says as he aim the gun at Ryan.
"Why are you doing this!?" Ryan asks.
"It's not that I want to, Ryan" Jason says as he slowly turns the gun from being pointed at Ryan, to being pointed at Emma. Wyatt stands in front of Emma with his arms spread out to cover Emma. "It's that I NEED to do it" Jason finally says as he slowly tightens his grip around the trigger.
Ryan rushes after Jason, but didn't stop him before he could pull the trigger. Wyatt winces in fear, but when he opens his eyes, he sees Ryan standing in front of Jason. Ryan took the bullet instead of him, and now had a grip on Jason's shoulder. "Principal Schafold!" Wyatt shouts.
"No!" Emma shouts as she buried her head in Wyatt's arms.
Two more gun shots are heard before Ryan was able to put his finger behind the trigger and stop Jason from pulling it. "This is... all I can do" Ryan says as he breathing gets heavier, his body grows colder, and his head grows lighter. "This is... what I deserve... for what I've done. I'm not... regretting this". Ryan pulls the gun out of Jason's hand and tackles him to the ground with the last of his strength. After the two of them hit the ground, Ryan says "I finally... get the chance... to make up... for what I've done".
"Ryan!" Matilda shouts as she runs down the street. "No! This can't be happening!".
"Get off of me, you waste of space!" Jason shouts as he pushes Ryan off from on top of him. As Jason begins to stand up, Wyatt tackles him back down.
Holding Jason's arms behind his back, Emma walks up to Jason. "You've had this one coming for a long time!" Emma says as she winds up her fist. The excitement of revenge, plus her fear, anger and sadness caused her to rapidly lose her human form. She slipped into her quarter human form, as her hand turned into what looked like a fist formed from a large paw. With all of her might, Emma punched Jason across the left cheek of his face, immediately knocking him unconscious.
"Yes, hello!?" Matilda shouts over the phone. "We need police down at Harrison IMMEDIATELY!... I don't care what you were told a second ago! A man has been shot! Send all the help you can! Please, my friend is dying!".
The police rush to the scene as fast as they could, but they weren't fast enough. "Ryan! Ryan! Can you hear me?" Matilda shouts.
"Principal Schafold!" Wyatt shouts while sitting next to his dying body.
"I'm sorry!" Emma shouts as she kneels over Ryan. "I'm sorry I denied your help, I'm sorry I was rude, I'm sorry I got you into this mess! Please, please be okay! Principal Schafold!".
Ryan slowly raises one hand, and pats Emma gently on the head. He couldn't say any words, because his lungs were filling up with blood. As Emma opens her eyes, tears still flowing, shocked at Ryan's gesture, Ryan simply smiles back at her and gently grabs her hand as if to say "It's not your fault. I've accepted this". As The life slowly drains from his eyes, and as his consciousness fades, he wonders "Will I finally get to see Remi and Franklin again?". As his body finally goes completely limp, he also wonders "I wonder where you've been, Tera...".
Nearly 39 years ago, after Remi and Franklin died, Tera moves out of her parents home and into a place with her husband, Ferris Frey, a descendant of The Amethyst tribe. She and her husband lived south of Genovyra, far away from Terrio, where there was a lot of unclaimed territory. Almost a year had passed since her sister died, yet Tera was still extremely saddened about her death. Her first daughter was born. When her husband, Ferris asked what Tera would like to name her daughter, she said with tears in her eyes "Jasmine... it was my sister's favorite flower. She always loved the jasmines that grew by our mother's garden".
When Jasmine was still a toddler, nearly four years later, she kept wanting to play with her father's necklace. She was always so fixated on his necklace, and grabbed at it anytime she could. Ferris laughs as he looks down at Jasmine and says "You want this necklace? Well... it was given to me by my mother as a wedding gift... buuuut they never said I couldn't give it to you". Ferris takes the necklace off, the round pendant with strange engravings meant to symbolize balance and peace. "It's yours now" Ferris says with a smile. "Make sure you take care of it. It's been in the family for thousands of years".
As Jasmine stares down at the necklace, she slowly reaches for the pendant and lifts it up with her hands as she makes a sound that sounds like "Oooooh". Then Jasmine promptly puts the pendant in her mouth.
Ferris jumps and gently tries to pull the pendant out of her mouth. "Jasmine, no!" He says in panic.
After Jasmine grows into an adult, still wearing the necklace her father gave her, she met another laibah named Anthony. This laibah was orphaned since he was little, and therefor never knew his parents or his last name. He simply went by the name of Anthony, because it was a name he had heard once before. Not knowing what to call himself, he chose that name for himself. Eventually, the two of them, Jasmine and Anthony fell in love and married. Anthony adopted Jasmine's last name instead, making him the newest member of the Frey family. As much as Tera was proud of her daughter growing up, Jasmine one day announced that she and Anthony should move out. They chose to live in a forest on the border of Terrio.
"Why move closer to humans!?" Tera asks.
"Mom..." Jasmine says, "you know I love you, and I could never be mad at you for not liking the humans... but we see the humans differently. You know that".
"The humans are nothing but danger, Jasmine!" Tera warns.
"We don't know that for sure" Jasmine says calmly. "Don't worry! If you ever feel too lonely without us, you can always come by to visit. You and dad are welcome anytime".
Tera sighs and says "Just... just please promise me one thing, okay?".
"Yeah?" Jasmine asks.
"Don't go into the city..." Tera says.
"Hm... well I don't see any reason I'd have to visit the city frequently" Jasmine says. "However, I don't make any promises that I'm not sure I can keep, mom".
"And you!" Tera says as she looks sternly at Anthony. "You keep my daughter safe, ya got that!? Do whatever you can to keep her protected!".
"Y-Yeah, sure" Anthony says nervously. Tera then squints at Anthony, and Anthony says "I-I-I mean, yes ma'am! I promise! Anything!".
After about another year, Emma was born. Although Emma loved nothing more than to just sit with her mother and learn how to make clothing with her by the pond, her mother pressed her to go to school. "You're grandma stopped visiting" Jasmine says, "and no one else here will be mad at you for interacting with the humans, Emma".
"Grandma?" Emma asks, "who's grandma?". At the time, Emma was only 3 years old, and couldn't remember what her grandmother looked like.
"She's your mother's mother" Jasmine says. "She would disagree, but I don't want you to be held back by the same burden as I was. I love my mother, but I want you to go out and do whatever it is that YOU love. Find something you enjoy, and do it better than anyone else! Besides, lots of laibah these days have been hiding in the cities. You should be fine, sweetie".
"But I've never talked to a human before" Emma says. "What if they hate me?".
"Emma, everyone needs a friend" Jasmine says. "Eventually, someone will see you as that friend they need. Just... try to hide your ears and tail the very best you can. Don't tell them you're a laibah at any cost, and I'm sure you'll make some great friends".
"I don't think I like humans..." Emma says as she puffs up her cheeks and pouts.
Now, here Emma stands in front of the man who burned down her home and killed her parents. As Wyatt, Emma and Matilda watch this man being cuffed and lifted into the back of a police car, Emma couldn't help but to continue crying. She still felt the heavy emotions of Ryan's death, but at the same time, felt a weight from her heart being lifted. Wyatt throws his right arm over her shoulders and holds onto her tightly. "I'm sorry, Emma" he says softly, "I couldn't... I couldn't stop him from doing anything! I can't-".
Emma interrupts Wyatt by planting her face into his chest and holding onto him. Emma then looks up at Wyatt's face and says gently "There's nothing either of us could've done... it's not our fault... Jason... he knew what he was doing. Please don't blame yourself".
Feeling at a loss of words, Wyatt simply replies by saying "I love you".
"I love you too" Emma says as the tears continue to flow from her face.
The police started arresting all the people in black hoodies that they could catch. The ones that ran off down the street got caught off guard by a riot control force, police with riot shields and heavy armor. Everyone of the rioters were eventually caught and put in cuffs. The fire was put out, and the gate had nearly been busted open. The only thing they couldn't stop was Ryan's death. Matilda watched with tears in her eyes as Ryan was carried off by paramedics. Matilda, Wyatt and Emma felt a heaviness draw over them as the paramedics put their hands on his neck to check for a pulse, then promptly zipped a body bag over him.
The news didn't spread out well over the school, both over the student body and staff, of Ryan's death. Lots of grief was pulled over the school as classes were even cancelled the next week. Many people showed up for Ryan's funeral, none of them being family, but all considered Ryan to be like family. Rose, Sarah, Matilda, Emily, Jay, Lyra, even Refus and many more showed up. The next weekend came, and as Emma and Wyatt were returning from Savvy Threads again, they saw an old woman stopped in front of the recently wrecked school gates.
"Tera?" Emma asks as the two of them gently approach from behind.
"Oh... hey" Tera says without moving even an inch, or turning her head. "I heard that bill passed after all. I never thought the old fool could really pull it off".
"Yeah..." Emma says as she and Wyatt look down.
"I heard about what happened..." Tera says. "No need to fill me in".
"Did you... know Principal Schafold?" Wyatt asks.
"You could say that..." Tera says. "I've met him briefly, though I never took the time to actually know him. I really hated him... like REALLY hated him back then, but who knows?... maybe if I just took the time, we could've gotten along at least a little. I guess this was his was of trying to tell me that he's sorry".
As Emma steps forward a little to look up at Tera's face, she could see a single tear draining from her eye. "Are you the one he wanted to apologize so badly to?" Emma asks.
"Yeah, I think" Tera says. "Now I guess it is I who is the old fool...". As Tera lightly glances over at Emma, she could see Emma's necklace reflecting light from the sunlight. Tera's eyes immediately shoot open in surprise. "Where did you get that!?" She asks as she points at the necklace.
"T-this!?" Emma asks as she pulls the rest of the necklace out from under her shirt. "I-I got it from my mom...".
"Where'd your mother get it!?" Tera demanded.
"S-She told me she got it from her father once" Emma says.
Tera pauses and says "Who ARE you?".
"E-Emma!" Emma says. "Emma Frey! M-my mom's name is Jasmine Frey!".
"Emma Frey?" Tera says and she freezes. Tera then suddenly collapses to her knees and hugs Emma "I can't believe you're still alive! I thought you died with Jasmine! I'm so happy!".
As Emma looks up, she could see Tera was crying uncontrollably. "Y-you knew my mom?" She asks.
"Knew her?" Tera asks with a short laugh, "I'm your grandmother!".
"What?..." Emma asks at first in surprise, then in disbelief.
"Emma still has family then?" Wyatt asks.
"You can't be..." Emma says.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Tera says as she cries. "I'm sorry I didn't keep visiting you guys, my mother died and I had to bury her, then take over the family garden. Through it all, I was so full of grief that I couldn't bring myself to face my own daughter! I'm sorry I'm a terrible grandmother! Please forgive me!".
Emma couldn't think of any words to say. She was shocked, yet didn't want her own grandmother to feel like she's somehow to blame for what happened. All Emma could do, was hold onto her grandmother until she stopped crying. When Tera was finished, Emma looked up and says "I never blamed you to begin with. I'm sorry I never recognized you... so I guess we're even".
"I feel like I should say something" Wyatt says. "But I'm afraid I'll make this awkward".
"Just... get over here" Emma says as she opens her arms and hugs Wyatt.
"Is this your boyfriend then?" Tera asks as she wipes away her tears.
"Y-Yeah..." Emma says.
"I'm a human" Wyatt says, "sorry if that... isn't what you'd-".
Tera shakes her head and says "Huh-uh, I think that's fine".
"Really?" Emma asks. "I-I thought... from the last time we talked, that you hated humans".
"I've been wrong before" Tera says, still wiping away tears. "At this point, I really am just an old fool. If it's what you really want, I don't have a right to stop you anymore".
"You mean it?" Wyatt asks.
Tera nods her head and says "I don't even have the right to ask for forgiveness. What right would I have anyways to tell my granddaughter no?".
"Don't be like that..." Emma says. "Everyone has their reasons".
"And everyone's different, I know" Tera says with a smile. "That's the excuse my daughter gave me when she married". Tera stands up and says "I'll be going now. I'm sorry for wasting your time".
"You never wasted my time!" Emma shouts. "Please, don't think we blame you for anything... and please come see us from time to time? You'll be safe in this city now. No one can stop you from coming and going just because you're a laibah anymore!".
Tera looks back and nods her head. "Thank you" She says, "I think... I think I will come to the city from time to time. Just for you".
A wise man used to say that the universe works in mysterious ways. That man has now passed, but he brought about with his passing a change that slowly rippled throughout the world. One by one, cities were slowly changing their laws, as laibah began to get closer to humans. No longer would they have to lie to themselves to avoid conflict, as now they could be who they really are, and nothing less. The world and its views were rapidly changing. However, the question of if whether people saw their previous views as wrong is hard to answer, the world did however become an easier place for the laibah to live. This marked the end of an era, the end of people being forced to wear a mask, wear a persona over who they really are. No longer, would they have to wear. The end.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone