[Lauchenoiria]

Side Effects - Part 2

“WHAT is going on here!?” a voice thundered and a woman exited the building. The boys all fell silent and stood in lines, eyes on the ground.

Except for the one in front of the pair of girls, who turned to face her.

“My sister,” he pointed at Amma. “Again.”

“Amma Grant. Typical. And you are…?” the woman glared at Emily, who was half-hiding behind Amma.

“Um… my name is Emily Keller, ma’am,” she stammered.

“Foreigner, by the accent. Go back to your tour group, this is a dangerous place.”

“I’m not… I…” she took out her ID card and presented it where the woman could see.

“A Kerlian citizen with a foreign accent. Well, immigrants ought to learn that girls are not allowed on the premises of boys’ schools.”

“She’s Stephany Keller’s daughter,” Amma interjected. “The Aurora.”

“There’s no such thing as Auroras,” snapped the teacher. “And if there was, a good Kerlian would know not to mention them. I don’t rightly care who her mother is, a broken rule is a broken rule regardless of who you are. Inside, now! I’m calling the police.”

Emily, Amma and Amma’s brother were ushered inside by the angry teacher. Emily hesitated for a second, afraid, and the teacher responded by grabbing her arm hard, and pulling her along. She yelped in pain and tears came to her eyes. Amma took her hand and squeezed it, trying to reassure Emily. The trio were deposited inside a small room containing some uncomfortable chairs and the door slammed behind them. Emily heard a key turn.

“Amma…” she said, her voice shaking. “What are they going to do to us?”

“I’m sorry,” Amma grimaced. “I thought she’d hear your name, freak out and let you go. I was trying to prove you’re fine.”

“Amma, you need to stop dragging people into your mess,” her brother said, then he turned to Emily. “Hi, I’m Amma’s brother Chris. Don’t worry, they won’t do anything much to you if you’re new to Kerlile. She’s done this before, dragged people into her mess.”

“You seem less… frightened than the other boys,” Emily noted.

“My mum’s a dissident, they try to hurt me anyway regardless of how I act,” he shrugged. “Same as Amma. I’m guessing you’ve seen how the other girls treat her?”

Emily looked away. She had. But they treated her badly too.

“Did Amma tell you that you’re immune from everything?” Chris said as Amma glared at him. “She’s not wrong, but she’s not right either. When the police get here, they’ll give you a warning and if you ignore them too often it won’t matter who your mum is.”

“Are they going to arrest us?” Emily whispered.

“Maybe, probably,” Chris sighed. “But it’s not as bad as they tell you in other countries. They don’t torture everyone.”

“I heard they imprison kids here,” Emily shivered. “They lock up little two-year-old boys because they make eye contact with women.”

Amma began to laugh hysterically, and even Chris couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Oh, Emily!” cried Amma. “You’re hilarious!”

“… they don’t actually do that then?” asked Emily.

“No, they don’t lock up two-year-olds,” chuckled Chris. “And it’s not a crime for a male to make eye contact with a woman, it’s just considered rude by some. As for locking up kids, do you mean the alt-ed centres? They’re not prisons, they’re like… boarding schools but with lots of propaganda.”

“But you’re not allowed to leave, so what’s the difference between those and prisons?” asked Emily.

“Kids aren’t meant to leave their school during the day regardless of which school they go to,” pointed out Chris. “What’s the difference between them and prisons?”

“Not much, in Kerlile,” Emily replied, rattling the locked door handle of the room they’d been left in to draw attention to it, then she looked Chris in the eyes.

“You… may have a point,” he blushed and looked away.

“Okay, so when the police get here,” Amma turned to Emily, “tell them I made you follow me and you didn’t know where we were going. It’ll make things better for you, and I’ll be in trouble whatever happens. I get in trouble even when I don’t do anything.”

“Because of your mum?” Emily asked. “That’s not right. Won’t they hurt you if I tell them that?”

“Maybe,” Amma shrugged. “I’m used to it now.”

“I’ll tell them I made you bring me here,” Emily replied. “You say they won’t do anything to me, but I don’t want them to hurt you either.”

“Don’t, Emily,” Chris shook his head. “If you tell them that in your accent, they’ll say it’s patriarchal influence. And then you will get sent to alt-ed.”

“Eek,” Emily shuddered. “Okay, no. But, Amma, I don’t want you to get hurt because of me!”

“Em, the last time my mum went to prison, they tried to have me sent to alt-ed but I was seven and girls can’t be sent there before eight. So, they lobbied the Council to change the law! They hate our family in this town, even if I hadn’t come here today, they’d have found some way to get me sooner or later.”

“You’re only seven?” Emily asked incredulously.

“No, I was seven then, I’m almost nine now.”

“But you’re over eight, then,” Emily pointed out.

“Yeah, they might lock me up this time,” Amma said, “but it can’t be worse than that school. I think I’d prefer it. Then I’d get normal rations, they keep refusing to give our family enough food.”

“You want to be sent to the brainwashing children’s prison because they’re trying to starve your family!? Amma, you’re just scaring me more with every word that comes out of your mouth!”

Before Amma could respond, the door was unlocked, and the angry teacher from earlier appeared, next to two police officers. Emily yelped and pushed herself against the wall, unable to get the association between Kerlian police and torture out of her head.

“Saffron Grant’s children, again. And an immigrant, Emily Keller,” the teacher informed the police. “Decided to wander around the boys’ playground.”

“I see,” one of the police officers said, glancing in at the three children. “What did they do to make you call us?”

“They were in the boys’ playground, girls!”

“Ma’am, you are aware the it is not against the law for girls to set foot in the grounds of the boys’ school?”

“Yes, it is!” the teacher yelled. “It has always been.”

“Ma’am,” the second police officer said, “that is incorrect. It is a custom, not a law. We cannot arrest children for breaching societal customs.”

“These children,” the angry teacher spat, “are attempting to subvert the authority of the Matriarchy! If left unchecked, they will destroy the very fabric of our society. They will become traitors, and they will die by the firing squad. It is for their own good that you must detain them now!”

At the mention of a firing squad, Emily had buried her head in Amma’s shoulder, shaking in fear. Both Amma and Chris had their arms around her, trying to comfort her, whispering reassurances.

“Ma’am,” the first police officer said, sounding frustrated, “we cannot arrest people who have not committed a crime.”

“Since when?” the teacher shouted. The two police officers glanced at each other.

“Ma’am, we will be leaving now, we will return the two girls to their school, and…”

“No!” the teacher hissed, glaring at the officers. “If you won’t punish them, I will. They can stay in there until the end of the day without lunch.”

Emily flinched. Amma whispered reassurances once more.

“Ma’am, you cannot lock children up for no reason,” the second officer sighed.

“This is my school, and I can do what I want!”

With that, the teacher attempted to slam the door back on the three children, but one of the police officers caught it and looked in, addressing the kids.

“Are you three all right? She’s not allowed to lock you in here, we’ll take you home, don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble.”

“Yes, they damn well are, and I am entitled to…” the teacher began to shout, but was interrupted by the second officer.

“Ma’am, you are under arrest for the false imprisonment of minors, you…”

“What!?” she yelled. “This is an outrage, I…”
The teacher and the two police officers began shouting over each other, and Emily untangled herself from the two Grant siblings. She looked at them both, one after the other, staring in disbelief.

“Did the Kerlian police actually just refuse to give us into trouble?”

“See, I told you, things aren’t nearly as bad here as they tell you in the patriarchal countries,” grinned Amma.