Bands: A Short Story
Page 2
Angie backed towards the door. She unconsciously shook her wrist, as if shaking the Band would somehow wake it to communicate with Arden.
It suddenly buzzed out repulsion. Yes, she felt repulsed talking with him like this. It just wasn’t natural to talk with someone and have no idea what they were feeling.
“Don’t leave,” Arden tensed up. “I miss you. I,” he paused, a puzzled look on his face for a moment, “I feel sad at the thought of you leaving.”
Angie eased towards the door. “You can’t know what you are feeling.” Her band buzzed anger and she spoke louder. “By doing this you are destroying everything we have built together.” Rage buzzed. It buzzed again more furiously. She felt it rise upon her wrist. “How dare you! You selfish man!”
“Wait, what?” Arden asked incredulously. “Just listen to me. I, I love you. I want to be with you. I just don’t want to wear a Band anymore. I want to feel life from the inside, as it is meant to be.”
Uncertainty buzzed. Did he mean it? Could he really feel without the Bands? Or was he toying with her? Wait, she thought to herself, was he making fun of her? Anger buzzed. He was making fun of her. To him this was some sort of sick game.
Her mother was right. Arden wasn’t normal. Shame buzzed. She should’ve listened to her. Regret buzzed. She would apologize to her mother. As for Arden… Her wrist buzzed. She frowned. It buzzed again. She gave her band a shake, disbelieving. It buzzed again. Surely that is not what she felt. It buzzed even stronger. It was hate. Hate buzzed. She hated Arden now. She felt sick. She couldn’t believe she hated him. She thought of the sign downstairs. Bands don’t lie.
She hated Arden. Without his Band she hated him. Fear buzzed. She was afraid her Band was right. OF COURSE it was right. It was always right. It always knew what she felt. She looked right at Arden.
He stood before her his sandy blonde hair a mess, his glasses crooked. Oh, how she loved his boyish face and goofy grin. Her wrist buzzed harder. No. She hated him. She felt the world was spinning beneath her.
“I love you,” Arden whispered. “Trust me, take this chance, take off your Band. I love you more than anything. I wouldn’t ask this if I didn’t love you.”
Hate buzzed. Her wristband suddenly came alive with energy. It was mockery. Arden was playing with her. The pattern snapped over to rage. How dare he! How dare he toy with her like this. He was making her feel so much anger! Her wrist buzzed with such fury it hurt up into her elbow.
“Please, take this chance with me,” Arden took a step towards her.
“Don’t touch me!” Angie screamed. Fear buzzed. Anger buzzed. Danger buzzed. Revulsion buzzed. The bones in her wrist throbbed with pain from so much emotion.
She took one long last look into his eyes. How she had fallen for him. He was so gentle and kind. She wanted more than anything to run into his arms, to feel his heart beating against hers, to smell him, to touch him, to taste him. Everything about him she had thought she loved.
Hate buzzed. She sobbed. She didn’t understand how she hated him. Hate buzzed again stronger. But there could be no other explanation.
“Goodbye Arden.”
“Angie no! It’s a lie! Tear it off your wrists! It’s a goddamn lie! That’s what I found out! It’s not what we’re feeling! It’s what they want us to feel. The Spiders, they control our emotions with the Bands, and we let them!” He was screaming like madman. “It’s why they ended the war! They found a way to control us, to keep us divided, to keep us afraid!”
He took another step towards her. A tear ran down his face. “Please Angie, you have to believe me. Tear off the Band. Tear off the Band if you don’t believe me and find out for yourself…”
A sob wracked Angie’s body. She turned and ran. The doctor opened the door as she approached. A group of Spiders stood with the doctor, their high pitched clicking filling the room. They had been watching.
Angie ran past without stopping. Her wrist buzzed with the doctor’s approval as she fled by. The Spiders poured into the room past her. On she ran.
A scream rang out behind her. She covered her ears in horror. She knew it was Arden, but she did not stop.
She ran as fast as she could across the hospital grounds. The same patient who had been raking stood in the dirt, watching her pass. The Spiders who had been watching him were gone. She felt his buzz. He approved.
She felt like she was suffocating. She gasped for breath. But her Band buzzed happiness. Maximum happiness. Over and over and over again.
She flung herself into her car. The hot leather of the seat where it had been in the sun burned the back of her legs but she did not care.
Happy
She was shaking so violently it took both hands to get the keys into the ignition. With a twist the engine roared to life.
Happy
With a desperate stomp she slammed the gas pedal all the way to the floor, the tires squealing out a cloud of white smoke in the hospital parking lot. In an instant her car tore down the road like a runaway train, away from the strange hospital, away from… Arden.
Happy
Another sob wretched her body. Maybe if she said the words out loud. Sometimes that helped. Isn’t that what the public service announcements said to do in a situation like this? She tried to remember.
Happy
The words formed on her lips but wouldn’t come. She punched the steering wheel. She punched it harder. Still they would not come. She punched the wheel over and over and over until blood dripped from her knuckles onto the hot leather below. Finally, the words poured out and she screamed them aloud to the empty car.
“I am feeling happy!”
Gasp.
“I am feeling happy!”
Choke.
“I am feeling happy!”
Sob.
“THE BANDS DON’T LIE!”