Stating the main topic of the meeting, Mark's eyes hardened as his face became serious. Scanning the crowd, he waited for everyone's attention to be on him before he continued.
"First, to fill in those who haven't attended the meeting two days ago and have not been catching up with the news, Alex's body has been confiscated by the government after Andrew's arrest and buried in the cemetery at High street. Fortunately, the MDVA research team has stated that enough data had been collected from Alex's body before she was taken away. Furthermore, the data has been copied and spread to all existing research centers in High street. It would be near impossible, and definitely incredibly impractical, to burn all the research centers to erase the data gathered."
Holding out his hand, Mark pointed his index finger towards the sky to signify this was his first talking point. Then, he flicked up his middle finger to segway to the second point.
"Now, onto the main point of this meeting. This morning, a mere couple hours before his execution, James and I managed to arrange a meeting with Andrew. And it was there that he proposed a ridiculous theory. Of course, since he was arrested earlier than expected, he didn't have the time to write a theory paper about it. But he was confident that the main idea of the theory was at least correct."
Straightening his left hand, Mark gestured to his men waiting in the shadows of the warehouse.
"He called this theory 'MDVA as a Defense Mechanism'."
Mark flattened his hand in the air, and several people pushed a large chalkboard in front of the crowd. On the left side of the board was a drawing depicting a familiar pose. There were two figures, one red and one blue, facing the audience. Red was standing in front of Blue, their posture aggressive yet defensive. Their back was slightly hunched forward, with one hand drawn in front of them, ready to strike, while the other hand was outstretched to push Blue, who was behind them. With one look, I was immediately reminded of the scene where we first met Cale and Jasmine, where Cale had stood in front of Jasmine to protect her, a textbook case of someone suffering from MDVA protecting their precious person.
But this drawing was not the one that caused the whole warehouse to sink into shocked silence before bursting out into a fervent discussion.
On the right side of the chalkboard was a simple but explosive diagram. Following the large black arrow between the drawing on the left and the diagram on the right, the diagram started with a very simple and cute drawing. Enclosed in a circle with a bold '1' drawn on the top left were the two figures in different colors. However, in this drawing, the roles had been switched. Standing in front with their fists balled up in front of their chest, Blue showed a fighting stance as they protected Red, who was behind them. However, unlike the 'passive' Blue in the drawing on the left, Red wasn't huddling in fear behind Blue. Instead, they had one hand on their hip while the other one was pointing towards the front, like they were ordering Red. As if Blue was the strategist and Red was the soldier.
This cute little drawing could be said to be the antithesis of what everyone thought they knew about MDVA. That those suffering from it were the protectors, while the others were being protected. However, that wasn't even the full picture.
Following a smaller black arrow, the scene of the drawing had changed to a tragic one. On the 'floor', 'bleeding', was Blue. And standing alone behind Blue was Red. Big cartoonish tear marks were drawn, gushing down Red's nonexistent eyes as he 'gazed' upon the fallen body of his protector. This was the second drawing of the diagram.
The third drawing then showed Red together with another Blue, except this Blue was obviously smaller than the previous Blue. This new Blue was reaching out a hand to Red, who was on his knees. Red had his head twisted towards the new Blue, and you could feel the sorrowful but touching nature of this drawing.
Then came the fourth and last drawing. This was where the importance, and the most obvious deviation, of the theory came forth. And this drawing was an exact copy of the drawing that was on the left side of the board. However, because of the drawings before it, the drawing now took on a whole new meaning.
MDVA was not a mental illness. It was a response created due to external trauma in the person's environment.
Widening my eyes as the meaning of the diagram surfaced in my mind, I couldn't help the burning fury that seemed to rush out from deep within my chest, clouding my vision blood red. As the diagram disappeared from my view, I could almost see the bright smile my brother had given me a couple days before he had moved on from this world.
The whole reason that the MDVA prevention act could pass with only intense public discourse and not a full-blown riot was because MDVA was thought to be a mental illness that couldn't be cured. The act was supposed to protect the general populace from the violent actions caused by MDVA. If MDVA was not an illness, if MDVA was not something so incredibly horrible, so inhumanly terrible, that those who had it were treated worse than criminals even when all they did was exist, then for what reason did hundreds of children die in cold and lifeless euthanasia centers scattered throughout all the streets?
For what reason did Leo have to give his life, which was full of potential and happiness, for an early grave?
Opening my mouth, I sucked in a breath of cold warehouse air as the red slowly bled out of my sight. My mind was still whirling from thoughts relating to the theory, but the only thing I could feel right now was a hot yet cold flame of rage that seemed to burn me from the inside, engulfing my soul into it's unbearably hot core.
Everything now felt so ... wrong.
Shifting my shaking eyes in Oliver's direction, I could see that he was faring no better than I was. His eyes were wide with shock and disbelief, his mouth slightly open as his face slowly contorted to a look of pure, cold fury. However, just as the anger and madness reached their peak, something weird happened that caused it all to disappear into thin air. It was as if someone had just doused him with cold water, putting out the fire that was burning in him. In no time at all, Oliver's face returned to his usual calm mask, with the only physical sign that betrayed that calmness was the small tear that was forming at the corner of his eye.
"Attention! Attention!"
Mark's loud voice reverberated throughout the warehouse as he drew everyone's attention towards him. Facing a whole crowd of eyes burning with anger, he nevertheless didn't flinch but instead gave a serious look towards all of us.
"As said before, this theory has not been accepted yet since it hasn't been written. So we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves."
With one sentence, Mark managed to silence the entire warehouse. Sneaking a look at Oliver, I observed his reaction. Just now, he obviously showed shock towards the 'MDVA as a Defense Mechanism' theory, so Andrew hadn't discussed that with him. However, at Mark's current words, his gaze didn't even waver. It was fixed on Mark, with his eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.
"I know that currently, everyone is outraged that the government would pass and enforce such an act. Even if those old foxes had hearts of stone, they wouldn't commit such an act of atrocity without any benefit. We should know this better than anyone. So what we all need to do is remain calm and use this knowledge to our advantage. We currently have the first move. Let's make the best of it."
Nodding his head, Mark panned his gaze across the warehouse, as if he was looking each member present in the eye. Encouraguing them. Then, with a final fist pump to the air, he officially called the meeting to a close.
Stepping down from the stage, I saw Mark raise his hand in a friendly wave to Jasme as the latter stood up from his seat to meet Mark halfway. Raising his hand as well, when the two men met, they gave an enthusiastic high five to each other. Then, they both pivoted and started heading towards us.
"Elaine! I'm glad you could join us for today's meeting."
Smiling, Mark approached my mother with open arms, and the two had a quick embrace.
"It's my pleasure to come to today's meeting."
Separating from their embrace, the two adults smiled at each other. Mark then turned towards us and squated down to meet our eye level.
"It's a little surprising that you would bring your precious baby, as well as Oliver, to this sort of event."
Slowly looking into each of our eyes as he said our 'names', his eyes seemed to gleam with a calculative light as he stared at each of us.
"Mark."
Speaking with a warning tone, I saw my mother narrow her eyes as she put both hands on her hips.
"Oliver is also my precious son now. You should watch your mouth, in case it lands you into deeper trouble."
My mother put on a face of fake anger as Mark gave a light chuckle and turned his head to face her.
"Then could the great Elaine find it in her benevolent heart to forgive this poor man of his sins?"
Shifting his face back to us, he put a hand on Oliver's head and gave it a soft rub.
"Sorry for that, Oliver."
Standing up, Mark then headed towards my father, and the two men exchanged some polite words with each other.
"Even though so many years have passed, I see that Mark's big mouth hasn't changed."
My mother sighed with a smile as she walked towards the two of us.
"Thank you for not taking his words too seriously. I swear that he's gotten a better hold of that mouth of his. It's just that seeing Elaine brings out the child in him."
Hearing James' calm voice, the three of us turned our heads to face the man who was giving my mother a sweet smile.
"Don't you cover for him. The two of us know that nothing you just said is true."
Shjaking her head as James showed a slightly crooked smile, the two adults continued to talk in front of us. However, listening to their conversation, they just seemed to be catching up on trivial events that happened in the past 7 years, so I switched my attention to Oliver.
Clutching the top of his head, Oliver had a frown on his face as he stared at Mark. His near obsidian eyes were serious but not hostile, as he calmly observed the man before noticing I was looking at him.
"Did he do something?"
Gesturing to his hand on top of his head, I asked as Oliver shook his head.
"No. Not yet."
Retrieving his hand, Oliver then crossed them as he gave the warehouse a quick glance. Following him, I saw that very few people had left, even though the meeting had 'officially' come to an end. Most people seemed to be gathering in small groups, whispering to each other with serious faces. In fact, our group seemed to be the most relaxed out of all of them.
"What do you mean by not yet?"
Lowering my voice, I leaned closer to Oliver and whispered into his ears. Eyes flickering to me, Oliver slightly narrowed them as he listened to my question. However, instead of answering, he diverted my question with his own as his gaze went back to Mark.
"Why do you think the faction would announce such a groundbreaking theory when it doesn't even have a proper theory paper written about it?"
Racking my head, I observed Mark's smiling face. The friendly grin, those cresent eyes—at first glance, he seemed like a naive and upright young man. However, remembering that calculative gleam in his eyes as he looked at us, the 'naive young man' aura was probably a facade. However, even if I knew that, I couldn't' tell what the ulterior motive was that Oliver was asking about.
Upon seeing my confused face, I heard Oliver give a soft sigh, his lips lifting up at the corners, and his eyes seemed to hold affectionate envy at my ignorance. Leaning in closer, he used his hand to block the sight of his mouth as he whispered into my ear.
"It's to force the government to suspend the MDVA prevention act."
Whipping my head towards him, I raised my eyebrow at Oliver's words, and he gave a small smile.
"By announcing this theory, regardless of whether it is true or not, it'll cause widespread outrage among the public. Then there will be pressure from the public for the MDVA prevention act to be suspended. This, and if the faction members in the euthanasia centers spread this theory and staged a strike, the government would be forced to stop the MDVA prevention act."
Oliver's eyes flickered to a group of people gathered near us. His eyes seemed fixed on a particular woman from the group. She had a serious face on, and her eyes burned with rage and passion as she talked to the other members of the group. She also seemed to be someone with a high status among them, as the other members of the group were nodding their heads at her words.
"That woman—I remember her face. Two years ago, she was the nurse who was going to administer euthanasia to my sister. I used to think that if Andrew and I hadn't made it there in time, she would have gone ahead with the euthanasia, and I would have lost her."
Tearing my eyes away from the woman, I noticed that Oliver's eyes seemed to deepen, becoming a deep, deep abyss that sucked in all light and would never let it go.
"I've replayed that fateful scene in my nightmares every night, over and over again, where Andrew and I were one step too late, and all that was left lying on that chair was my sister's freezing, cold body."
Oliver closed his eyes, his breathing picking up as if he was dragged back to that day once more. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he was taking deep breaths and calming himself down. And after a couple minutes, those eyes opened again. They were no longer endless, but instead looked like the inside of a tunnel. As if after a couple steps, a small light would shine through and the end would be visible.
"But seeing her here, she must have gotten the information that Andrew was coming to the euthanasia center that day."
His voice drifted off as he turned his back on the woman. On his face was an indescribable amount of relief, as if a heavy burden had been dropped from his shoulders.
"Thank god."
Breathing out a long and deep sigh, Oliver reigned in his smile as he continued speculating on what Mark's and James' plans were.
"Dead men can't talk, and there will be no way to ascertain whether the theory is correct in such a short time. Once the MDVA prevention act is suspended, we'll probably have a couple of months, at least, before the euthanasia centers start accepting MDVA victims again. The faction probably plans to use these couple months to either extend the suspension or permanently shut down the act. I've no idea how they plan to do this, though."
Nodding my head to Oliver's words, I found my eyes gravitating toward both Mark and James. The suspension of the MDVA act—what sweet words to hear! This was something that I thought I would only hear in my dreams, and yet here it was, occurring right in front of my eyes! Unable to stop the smile that was blooming on my face, I used both hands to cover my mouth as I turned back to Oliver.
Seeing my sparkling eyes, Oliver gave a soft smile and reached out a hand. Placing it above mine, he then leaned forward, and the two of us hugged. The act was going to be abolished. Things were finally going to change.
If only Leo and Alex were here to see it.