Thursday, June 12, 2014

CHAPTER 19

Chapter 19

*Debbie Dong*
As Leo and I make our way back to Town Hall, a figure comes darting towards us. It’s Suchet.
He nearly barrels into me, stopping himself just in time. But I forget about this quickly once I see the look on his face.
“A traitor,” he gasps. “Plans have to change. Your group leaves in an hour.”
“Wh-- what?” Leo sputters.
“Someone informed Christy of our plan. The fortress is in turmoil at the moment. We may not get another chance, so they have to go now.”
“Who was it?” I ask, a sense of dread building in my chest.
“I don’t know,” he replies defeatedly.
“Just one second,” I tell Leo. “I need to go talk to someone.”

“JAYCE!” I yell, running in the direction he’d taken after we first met. “Where are you?”
A head pops out of a shop window. “Oh, hi, Debbie.” Jayce doesn’t look fazed in the least. “Come on in.”
“You... you told them.” I snarl at him once I’m in the shop.
“And so I did,” he responds, running a hand through his hair. “So?”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? People might die now because of you!” I shout, livid with anger.
Jayce just sighs and motions for me to sit down. “Hear me out, Debbie.”
I cross my arms and glare at him, unwilling to comply.
With another sigh, he stands up and walks over to me. “Christy visited me one night.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. She showed me my little sister’s bracelet and told me that she’d kidnapped her, and that my sister would die if I didn’t do what she said. That if I obeyed her, she’d let me have my sister back.”
“So you agreed.”
“I did. She told me to come here and find the survivors, listen in on their plans. And report back to her.”
“How could you?” I demand, horrified. “You knew we might die!”
Jayce closes his eyes for a moment before continuing. “Do you know what the trolley problem is?”
I’m familiar with the problem: A trolley is hurtling down a track and there are five people tied to the track, unable to move. If the trolley keeps going, it will run them over and kill them all. A passerby is standing at the side of the tracks, next to a lever. When pressed, the lever will divert the trolley onto another set of tracks, sparing the five people. However, there is a single person tied to this track, and if the trolley is diverted onto this track, it will run over and kill the person. What should the passerby do: use the death of the one person to save the five, or let the five people die and allow the one person to live? It’s a philosophy and ethics question that has been unanswered for decades.
“Yeah,” I say.
“Well, I had to face this problem. And you know just as well as I do that there is no correct answer. Neither of the choices is ‘right.’ So I made my choice to save the one person, my sister; I chose to not divert the trolley. You can’t blame me and you can’t say that what I did was wrong. Because in the end, when faced with two bad options, you pick the one that is less wrong -- to you.”
I don’t say anything.
Jayce looks me in the eye. “Don’t be angry. Please. I didn’t want to do this.”
Finally, I nod. “Okay. I get you.”
Jayce’s face floods with relief. “I’m leaving now to find my sister. I won’t come back and if Christy asks me to do this again, I won’t.”
“A good choice,” I say in a monotone. “I won’t stop you.”
He extends his hand again, just like time we first met. I shake it, and we go our separate ways.
That first time we shook, it had been a soldier and a soldier.
This time, it’s a soldier and a traitor.

*Leo Qi*
“I have to leave,” Debbie tells me. “Now.”
It’s been an hour since we ran into Suchet -- the hour we say our goodbyes.
Debbie and I are standing on a hill overlooking the forest in front of Christy’s fortress. Alex allowed me to escort her this far, but this is where we must separate.
“You have to come back,” I say, my voice becoming frantic. “If you-- if anything happened-- I-- I wouldn’t be able to...”
“It will be all right,” Debbie consoles me gently.
She pulls me into a hug and I start to shake uncontrollably. Finally, the tears make their way past my eyelashes and spill out onto my cheeks. “Debbie... you can’t leave me, okay? Promise me you won’t. Promise me you’ll be okay.”
Debbie pulls away from me, holding my shoulders, and looks me in the eye. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”
Nearby, Chris calls, “Time to go!”
I let go of Debbie. “You promised. Remember that.”
She nods and walks over to join Chris and Sophia. “Don’t worry, Leo. I’ll be okay. I’ll keep my promise.”
I watch her run down the hill and towards the forest, the three of them -- Debbie, Chris, Sophia -- getting smaller and smaller.
Then, like a lion swallowing a mouse, the dark forest engulfs them.
She’ll be okay, right?

She promised.

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