Outcasts and Rebels
3.0
3.0Chapter 1
2481words
“Why does one person need to own a place like this?” Jake asked his father. “There’s people living on the streets, but this guy owns a mansion that could house all of them.”
“The West Wing section is a hotel,” Will said. “People can pay to stay there.”
“Oh, so he profits off of it too.” Jake crinkled his nose. All anyone cared about here was making a profit. It made him miss California, in the Equal States of America, where there were rules and regulations on how much money people and businesses could make. He should have stayed behind, but his father wanted to move his pizza chain here. Jake was supposed to inherit it someday, so his father pressured him into moving with him.
Will opened one of the double doors. “Try not to be rude.”
The foyer was huge. They followed arrows towards a ballroom, where the party was at. The Callahan's weren't celebrating anything special. This party was likely an excuse to show off. Before Jake was born, Will had lived in Gilran, and used to be close friends with them. Once Barry Callahan found out Will had moved back, he sent him an invitation.
The ballroom was obscenely large. Benches and chairs were pushed against the walls, but the middle of the room was free for people to roam and chat. Possibly dance, if there was music playing. The room was filled with the sound of voices instead.
“Will!” a fifty-something year old man appeared with a younger woman on his arm. He had balding gray hair and wore a suit over his plump frame. The woman had long, auburn hair and wore a blue dress with ruffles and frills, along with a bored expression. The man shook Will’s hand. “How have you been?”
“Good,” Will said. “Looks like you’ve been doing well for yourself.”
“Sure have. After inheriting this place, I added in a second restaurant. And I started charging guests to use the pools and tennis courts.”
“I’d say.” The man wrapped his arm around the woman next to him. “This is my wife, Stellaluna. Stella, this is my old friend, Will.”
“Nice to meet you,” the woman said flatly, as though she didn’t care about being there any more than Jake did.
The man finally noticed Jake. “And who is this young man?”
“Jake.” Will clasped his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “My son. Jake, this is Barry Callahan. The owner of the mansion.”
Jake mumbled a “nice to meet you.”
Barry shook his hand. “A pleasure. The last time I saw you, you were a baby. How old are you?”
“20,” Jake answered.
“20!” Barry looked to Will. “Has it really been 20 years since we last saw each other? I could’ve sworn it’s only been 10. I should go back and visit California again. Their government might be run by a bunch of communists, but at least their beaches are nice.”
Jake would rather live in a government run by communists, than a government run by fascists. But he kept his mouth shut.
“It hasn’t been that bad living there,” Will said. “I just hate all the rules and regulations. And now that they've banned additive sugar, my pizza sauce tastes bland. I've lost a lot of customers over it.”
Barry tsked at that. “Isn’t minimum wage going up again too?”
“That, and now we have to give employees another week’s worth of sick time. Like five weeks wasn’t enough. I’d replace them with robots, but then I’ll get hit with even higher taxes. Somehow it’s cheaper to hire people who call in sick every other day.”
“What a shame. Here, I don’t have to give my workers any sick time!”
“What if they get sick?” Jake asked.
“Oh, don’t you worry. I do give them three days of sick time a year. But any more than that, they don’t get paid. And if they get sick too often, well, it’s unfortunate for them. There’s plenty of other people out there who are happy to fill their place.”
Jake checked his watch. He had only been inside the mansion for five minutes and already he wanted to leave.
A woman in a black skirt walked by, carrying a tray of brown, glass bottles with a company logo on it that said “Hendi.” Barry and Stellaluna took one each. Stellaluna tilted her head back, and gulped it down.
“The Henderson brothers gave me crates of this for the party.” Barry said. “They’re testing out a formula for peach flavor.”
Will and Jake grabbed one, and the waitress moved on. The caps had already been removed. Jake peered inside. Whatever it was, fizzled. Was it safe to drink? Stellaluna had no problem downing it.
“It’s soda,” Will said to him. “Try it.”
So this was the mysterious beverage banned in California. His father often talked about how he missed it. Jake took a small sip. The fizzling sensation assaulted his mouth, and it was way too sweet. He nearly spat it out. How much sugar did they put in it?
“What do you think?” Will asked.
Jake tried, but failed, to find a Nutrition Facts label on it. “It should be illegal.”
“That good, huh?” Barry grinned. “The Henderson’s should be here any minute. They’ve got a little sister your age. She is drop-dead gorgeous. I’d take her for myself if I wasn’t already married to this old thing.”
Stellaluna didn’t even flinch at his words. No frown. No eye roll. No fake smile. No comments. Nothing. It was like she had long stopped caring about anything. Jake looked over at his father and mouthed, I want to go home.
On the other side of town, Sebastian reluctantly followed his parents, Waylon and Celine, towards the front door of their spacious house.
“Do I really have to go?” he asked.
“Yes, you do.” Waylon said as he opened the front door. “I plan on announcing to everyone that I’m running for governor. You being there will make things look better. Especially after that scandal you caused.”
That “scandal” was seven years ago. One would think people would have forgotten about it. But he knew there was truth in his father’s words. Sebastian reluctantly followed him down the front steps, towards the driveway. “Who cares what a bunch of rich snobs think.”
“Those rich snobs will vote for me if they think we’re a loving, happy family.” Waylon made his way towards his car, Celine walking behind him. Sebastian remained stopped.
Waylon turned around, waving his hand. “Come on!”
“But I don’t want to.”
“Stop whining. You sound like a little kid.”
“Because you’re treating me like a little kid! I’m an adult. Legally, I can do what I want.”
“And since you’re an adult, I can legally kick you out. Now move!”
As much as Sebastian wanted to move out, he didn’t have a job to pay rent. So he groaned as he walked over to the car. He climbed into the backseat. Waylon sat in the driver’s seat, and Celine in the passenger’s. Waylon entered the address of Callahan Mansion into the car’s GPS screen, and the car drove off.
They hadn’t even reached the freeway when the car starting thumping, and pulled itself over. Waylon muttered several swear words before getting out of the car to investigate. Then, he opened the driver’s door to give Sebastian and Celine an update.
“It’s definitely a flat. Sebastian, be a man and help me fix it.”
Sebastian knew nothing about cars, but got out to help anyway.
The front passenger tire was completely flat. “There should be a spare in a compartment in the trunk,” Waylon said. He popped the trunk, and they peered inside.
There was a flap at the bottom of the trunk. Waylon lifted it, revealing a large, empty space where a spare tire should be.
“What happened to our spare?” Waylon glared at Sebastian as though he had planned all this.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you steal it? Don’t lie to me.”
“No! Why would I steal a spare tire?”
“Damn it!” Waylon slammed the trunk shut. “We’re gonna have to get it towed to a mechanic, and wait for them to fix it. God knows how long that’ll take.”
Sebastian tried not to smile at his luck. He and his father got back into the car. Waylon tapped a “request tow truck” button on the car’s screen, and followed the instructions. Hopefully it would take a long time to arrive.
“Speak of the devil,” Barry said, “the Henderson’s are here!”
Jake followed Barry’s gaze towards two men and a woman approaching. The men looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties, and had the same short, dark hair. Both were tall and thin. Their faces had a lot of similarities as well, and Jake wouldn’t have been surprised if they were twins. One had a rounder face than the other though.
“Walker! Carter!” Barry shook their hands, and introduced them to Jake and his father. Walker was the one with the thinner face. “We were just talking about you. Will and Jake tried your new Peach Hendi, and Jake says it’s so good, it should be illegal.”
Jake didn’t correct him on why he thought it should be illegal. His eyes were on the woman. She had long brown hair, and was around the same average height and weight as him. Like every woman Jake had seen in Jefferson, she wore a dress. A plain green one that fell past her knees. This was probably the sister Barry had mentioned. And he found himself agreeing with Barry. The woman was nice to look at.
Barry turned to Jake and Will. “And this is the beautiful sister they’ve been trying to marry off.”
“Marry off?” Jake’s eyes widened. Did he hear that right? Did that phrase mean something different here? He hoped so.
Barry patted Jake’s back. “We’ll leave you kids to it.”
Barry, Stellaluna, his father, and the brothers all walked away, leaving Jake alone with the woman. Jake adjusted his glasses while the woman rubbed her arm. After several seconds of an awkward silence, Jake held out his hand. “I’m Jake.” He almost added his pronouns, but remembered his father had warned him he’d get laughed at if he did. That everyone here assumed genders.
The girl shook his hand. “Maple.”
“Like the leaf?”
No. Like the syrup.”
Jake chuckled. “Funny. I’ll have to remember that one.”
“Yeah.” Maple looked down at her silver sandals.
Jake fiddled with his bottle of Hendi. He had grown tired of holding it, and didn’t even want it. Not knowing what else to say, he raised it up. “Do you want the rest of this? I only took one sip. I kind of hate it.”
“My brothers own Hendi.”
“Oh.” Of course they did. “Sorry. Um, it wasn’t that bad.”
“It’s okay. I hate it too.”
“Good. I was beginning to think I’m weird. Do you know where I can dump this? I’d throw it in the garbage, but I don’t want it to spill everywhere.”
“Maybe the bathroom sink.”
“Do you know where there is one?”
“Yeah. Come on.”
Maple led Jake to the restrooms. Jake stared at the two doors for a few seconds. One said men’s, and the other said women’s. So these were the segregated bathrooms he’d heard so much about. He pushed on the door that said “Men’s” but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked.”
“You forgot to put your finger on the reader.”
“You know. The fingerprint reader.” Maple pointed to the small, black object below the door handle.
How soon he had forgotten that ridiculous step. He’d come across one outside the dressing rooms of the clothing store he went to the other day. It was the reason he had to go through that embarrassing genital check when he crossed the border into the FSA. They took his fingerprints too, saying he needed to be registered into their database.
“You’ve never used one?” Maple asked.
“I have. I just forgot about it. I’ve only been here a few days.”
“Oh. Are fingerprint readers not a thing where you’re from?”
“Not to get in a damn bathroom.” Jake hesitantly put his finger on the reader. The reader turned green, and something clicked. He pushed the door open, and went inside.
There were a few stalls, a couple of urinals, and a couple of sinks. No different than the typical public bathrooms at home, aside from being a lot cleaner. He poured his drink down the sink, and tossed the bottle in the garbage bin on his way out the door.
“What do you want to do now?” Maple asked.
“I want to know what happens if I put my finger on the one for women’s.”
Jake had only said it as a joke, but Maple grinned. “I dare you.”
It would probably only deny him entry. Jake placed his finger on the women’s reader anyway. It flashed red, and a high-pitched beep pierced the air. Maple covered her ears. Jake pulled at her arm, and ran.
They continued running through a hall, past the foyer, until they reached a wall with a closed door. There, they stopped.
Jake leaned against the door, panting. “That was a close one.”
“Nobody was even chasing us.”
“But someone could have been.” Jake studied the door. It was plain and beige, and matched the equally beige wall. “Where do you suppose this goes?”
“Maybe there’s a secret behind it of some sort.”
Jake was expecting a small closet. “What makes you think that?”
“It’s the only thing in this mansion that’s plain and boring. Everything else is all fancy décor and stylized.”
“Clever observation,” Jake said with a smile. “I bet you’re right.” He turned the knob, but nothing happened. “It’s locked. Now we know there’s secrets behind this door.”
Maple pulled a clip out of her hair. “Step aside. I got this.”
It took her a few tries, but eventually there was a click, and the door creaked open.
Jake found himself impressed. He’d never been able to figure out lock-picking. “You know how to do that?”
“I taught myself.” Maple opened the door all the way. Jake peered over her shoulder to see an old, wooden set of stairs. “Is it a basement?”
“Either that or a dungeon.” Maple smiled at him. “Want to find out?”
“Sounds a lot more exciting than whatever the hell is going on at the party. Let’s go.”
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