Chapter Forty One: Week 11 Annalise and the protest

 Wake up. Go to school. Don’t socialize. Go back home. This was Annalise’s everyday life. She had never known anything different, or she didn’t remember it at least. It wasn’t very free, or fun for that matter. She felt trapped, stuck in a never ending cycle of days that grew more gray than the last. She didn’t know if anyone else felt this way as she couldn’t communicate with them.  

As she walked home from school one day she saw a flier with a bunch of words that made no sense. She was about to throw it away, but she thought better of it and put it in her bag. She went about her day as she normally would. She had dinner with her parents and finished her homework. As she put her work back in her bag, she saw the flier she picked up earlier. “How odd”, she thought to herself. “I wonder why they would print a bunch of random words on here, isn’t that a waste?” As she continued reading it, she realized that in the midst of all the randomness was a hidden message, “628 Lincoln Memorial Circle-9:00 pm”. This peaked her interest. Had people been meeting in secret? What did they talk about? How did they not get caught? For a second she thought of going. “No”, she thought, “ I should stay home, what if this is a way to get people caught attempting to do something they shouldn’t?” But she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to talk to other people, maybe they were thinking what she was thinking; she had to find a way out of this place. Anywhere would do, literally anywhere. As second turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours, the thought of going to this possible meeting grew more and more appealing. She looked at her clock, it said 8:30. “It’s now or never”, she thought. Quickly, she got ready and snuck out her window. Her parents wouldn’t notice, they hardly notice her anyway. There were a few times as she was walking that she thought of turning around, but she remained determine to go to this meeting. As she was about to turn a corner she spots an armed guard. “Curfew! I forgot”, she whispered to herself. Quietly, she snuck around the back and made her way. 

 

She finally made it to Lincoln Memorial Circle, and for what felt like the millionth time, second guessed her decision. Nevertheless, she knocked on the door. “Flier”, a voice said. She searched around her pockets for the flier and handed it to the person at the door. It shut and then opened again after a few minutes. “Welcome”, a lady said, “I’m Ida, who are you?” “My name is Annalise.” “Well, Annalise, how’d you find out about this meeting?” “I found a flier. It didn’t make sense at first, but it didn’t take me too long to decipher it.” “So, what is everyone doing here anyway”, Annalise asked. “We’re planning a protest”, Ida said. “A protest. For what”, Annalise asked. “A protest against the way we are being told to live our life. We should be able to do what we want, study what we want, work where we want, and live without fear”, Ida said. Annalise questioned what she was doing there once more. She knew if they were caught they’d be jailed. There were so many laws broken already. “You’re more than free to go, I’ve seen that face before. This isn’t for everyone, if it were, we wouldn’t have to meet about it.” Was Annalise scared? Sure she was, but she found people who were just as tired as she. “No, I’ll stay”, Annalise stated. The members of this group were passionate about changing the way things were, it made her more passionate, too. Annalise continued to attend meetings, soaking up all of the information and planning for their protest. Months went by, and it was almost time to do everything they talked about. 

 

People were making sure everything was set. It was chaotic. This had to go exactly to plan, or all their hard work would be for not. This made Annalise uneasy. “Don’t worry”, Ida said, “Everything will be fine, all you have to do is be there. The more people we have, the less likely they’ll be able to control us.” This made Annalise feel better. The time finally came. She thought back to months ago, before she was so invested in this group. “It’s now or never”, she thought again. So, she took a deep breath, grabbed her sign, opened the door letting the light hit her face and took a step out. 

(Image titled Ida B. Wells uploaded to Flickr by GPA Photo Archive)

 

*Author’s Note: 

I was incredibly inspired by the stories that I wrote about yesterday, The Giant Crab, The Pious Wolf, and The Hypocritical Cat, written by W. H. D. Rouse. I loved the message of fighting against someone who was doing everyone wrong. I wanted this story to mirror that in a way, but I wanted it to be deeper than that. I took inspiration from dystopian novels like The Hunger Games and The Giver and applied that plot to my story as well. It might not be obvious to some people, but I sprinkled some Easter eggs of different revolutionary people, places and dates within the story. I figured since I was writing about a protest/revolution that I’d include some of the most influential figures in my story. For my ending, I wanted the person reading it to infer how the members of the group ended up. We ideally would like to know if they were successful or not, but I prefer for people to come to their own conclusions.