Chapter 2
"A few years later, on a Saturday afternoon, Gary, some other guy, and I walked down a hill to some train tracks. I took a bullet from the box and walked into the tunnel. A train was fixing to arrive and I had to act fast. Gary warned me about the train, but I ignored him and placed a bullet on the tracks. I pressed myself against the wall as the train passed. The bullet went off as the train whizzed by."
"It was a prison train, which I didn't know. I saw a car with hands reaching out pass by. Followed by a voice that said, 'You!' Another train car passed with faces looking at me. Another voice erupted out saying 'Yes, you' I looked over to see an old, balding man with a black suit. "Stand still laddy." He faded away with the smoke. He was just an illusion."
"Um that part was random." May said, truly intrigued with the story now.
"Not really, because that reminded me of the school I used to go to before it was closed down." Ash explained.
"I remember hearing about that as a little girl. Wasn't it closed down due to arson?"
"That's just the cover story." Ash said ominously. "Want to hear that story? You will anyway because it has to do with the wall."
"Ok, I guess." May said.
"When we were kids and went to school, there were certain teachers who would hurt the children in any way they could. By pouring empty vision upon everything we did. They were exposing every weakness however carefully hidden by the kid."
"I remember one incident when I was caught writing during class. He said, 'what have we here laddy, mysterious scribbling, a secret code? Oh, poems no less. Poems everybody, he reckons himself a poet.' He read the current poem which said, 'Money get back, I'm alright Jack, get your hands off my stack. New car, caviar, five-star dream. Maybe I'll buy myself a football team.' 'Absolute rubbish, get back to work,' he said as he slapped the table with a ruler. The whole class cracked up."
Ash was screaming now, "But late in home at night their fat, psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives."
"What?" May had said in surprise. She put her hands over her mouth, realizing she had interrupted.
"We all knew it deep down that he was controlled by his wife. That's why he tried to control us. Continuing, the school was constantly in complete order. You moved in a straight, perfect line. You all had to sit the same way and always face forward. The maze like halls all had two lines going in two directions, one on each side. A teacher would be in each hallway, commanding you around. If you stepped out of line, you got a lashing. One day, a large group of kids revolted and chanted the lines, 'We don't need no education. We don't need no force control. The dark sarcasm in the class room, teacher leave us kids alone.'"
"The last line meant the children that were still obedient. Their nose was being put to the grind stone with extra punishment and work. They were suffering and those that couldn't keep up were instead given the ultimate punishment: locked away all day, alone in the dark. When we learned of that from a rebel obedient child, the rest revolted."
"We slammed desks, threw papers, broke chairs, and tore the boards off the walls. We broke into the fire equipment center and broke out axes. We chopped up desks and demolished everything. We discovered sledgehammers in a janitor's closet. We brought down walls, smashed out windows, and eventually set the whole place ablaze."
"We gathered a bonfire outside while continuing the chant. Kids took turns throwing rubble and papers into the blaze. While chanting 'the dark sarcasm in the classroom' we pulled the balding teacher that made fun of us the most to the blaze and pushed him in."
"Oh God!" May had said without control. "That's so terrible!"
"Yeah, soon after that, I lost faith in most things, and turned to my mother. I started asking stupid questions, always wondering if she thought others thought one way or another about me. I remember sleeping in her bed when I got scared, and always worried about getting in trouble at school, not because of a beating, but what would mother think of me now? Would she still love me? I walked up to her and asked one day 'Mother, should I build a wall?' I started asking about the impossible, like running for president. I got sick and asked her 'Mother, am I really dying?' She didn't respond and instead walked out of the room."
"One day, she came to me and said 'Hush now baby, don't you cry. Momma's going to make all of your nightmares come true. Momma's going to put all of her fears into you. Momma's going to keep you under her wing. She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing. Momma's going to keep baby cozy and warm. Oh baby, of course momma's going to help build a wall.'"
"I remember the nightmare of having girlfriend's when I was a kid because she was so clingy and worrisome. I asked about my girlfriends often to her, because I didn't want to displease her. The accelerated construction of the wall was choking me out. I asked questions like, 'Mother is she good enough for me?' Or, 'Mother will she tear your little boy apart?' Or even 'Will she break my heart?'"
"Her response was only to get clingier, checking up on me, checking up on the girls I liked, and always keeping me clean and healthy. She told me I would always be her baby. Then, my girlfriend did break my heart, by cheating on me. We were but kids, but she turned her back on me and spread rumors. For a while, we constantly bit at each other with rumors until she completely crushed me. I just wanted to get rid of it all. I started asking questions to myself, What should I use to fill the empty spaces where waves of hunger belong? How shall we set out across this sea of faces? I decided to box in my memories and hold them away I began to treat myself with simple things at first, then big things. It really improved my feelings."
"It sounds like things were going up for you now." May implored as Ash stopped to catch his breath.
Ash then stated coldly, "Then, I turned ten."
