13 – History (1)

On a Friday afternoon, Sebastian and his parents arrived at their cabin with Ellie and Tibby. It was only an hour away. Before Camp Hope, he and his parents would visit there every summer. Oftentimes, he’d be allowed to bring a friend or two.

After Camp Hope, Sebastian vowed to never set foot there again.

Not much had changed. The cabin had a large deck with patio furniture. There were no fences, and no other buildings in sight- aside from a shed. Sebastian followed his parents inside with Tibby. The place still had that musky scent with the same cabin-style furniture. A moose head hung on one of the walls. It reminded Sebastian of the one in the cafeteria at Camp Hope.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” Waylon said, setting his suitcase on the floor. “You two are allowed to share one of the rooms.”

Celine raised an eyebrow but didn’t protest. Sebastian tried to avoid Ellie’s eager gaze. “We don’t need to share a room. This place has four of them.”

“But I’ll get scared. All alone in the woods.” Ellie wrapped her arms around Sebastian’s.

Tibby’s claws clicked on the hardwood floor as he walked over to sniff the fireplace.

Waylon pointed at him. “And that thing can sleep outside!”

Sebastian gaped at him. Sleep outside? "He can't sleep outside!" He'd be cold, and scared. And what if a bear or something came out and attacked him? "That's cruel."

"Dogs sleep outside all the time."

"But-"

“He can sleep on the floor out here,” Celine said to Waylon.

“Fine. But he spends the rest of his time outside! I don't want no dog messing up the place. Filthy mutt has already stunk up our own home..." Grumbling something about fur and drool, Waylon yanked the leash from Sebastian’s hand, and pulled Tibby out the door.

Sebastian followed him out to watch him tie Tibby to the nearest tree. Waylon pointed at Tibby. “Stay!”

Waylon marched back inside. Sebastian made a mental note to visit Tibby first chance he’d get.

“Come on” Ellie took Sebastian’s hand. “Let’s see our room.”

Maple sat in her last class for the day, watching her history teacher hand back their tests from the previous week. Her past several tests averaged to a C. Although grades and her future in academics meant nothing, she studied harder than usual for this one. Walker had promised to return her watch and phone if she got a good grade on it. And she had nothing better to do, given she didn't have her watch or phone.

“How do you think you did?” Maple asked Kyra, who sat next to her.

Kyra shrugged. “Does it matter? I don’t know why we bother coming to school. It’s useless.”

Mr. Eaves walked over to Maple and Kyra. He handed them their tests, then moved on.

Maple’s eyes widened at the red A- at the top of the paper. She actually pulled off an A?

“How’d you get an A?” Kyra asked. Even she was surprised.

“I studied more than usual.” Maple took a peek at Kyra’s, which had a D written on it.

Kyra noticed her looking. “I didn’t bother studying. I was too busy cleaning up after Ethan. Husbands are good at keeping you busy. You’ll understand once you’re married.”

“Uh-huh.”

The bell rang. Maple slipped her test inside her history folder, and packed up her belongings. She stood up alongside Kyra. “I’m thinking of stopping by Pieway as a reward. Wanna come?”

“Are you sure you’re not only going to see a certain someone?” Kyra smiled teasingly.

Maple didn’t know Jake’s work schedule, but was secretly hoping he’d be there. She wanted to show off her test score. “That’s not the only reason.”

Kyra laughed. “I’d go, but Ethan’s expecting me. Have fun.”

Maple arrived at Pieway to find Jake working the end of his shift. He took her order, and made an order for himself. Once both their orders were done, Jake clocked out. They sat across from each other at a small table.

“So tell me more about this A that has you treating yourself,” Jake said, finishing off his first slice.

“I got an A on my history test last week. I never get A’s.” Maple wiped her fingers with a napkin before digging through her backpack, and pulling out her history folder. She showed him her test. “See.”

“That’s not an A. That’s an A minus.”

“Close enough.”

“Hold on.” Jake squinted at the paper. “That’s not right…”

“What’s not right.”

“Your answer to the first question…" He continued staring at the paper. "And the second.”

“What do you mean?” Maple frowned. “He marked them as right.”

“Well they’re wrong. The Equal States didn’t start The War of 2080 with the Free States. The Free States started the war with the Equal States.”

“What are you talking about?” Maple asked. “Of course the ESA started the war. And that’s why Jefferson became its own state. The people here thought what the ESA did was horrible. So they voted to break away from California and Oregon, and joined the FSA.”

“No. Jefferson became a state because the people there hated how far-left California and Oregon had become. The FSA did too. They started the war to root out all leftism, and people in the Jefferson area joined the FSA’s side out of agreement.”

“That’s not what our textbooks say.”

“It’s what our textbooks say.” Jake rubbed his jaw as he looked at her. “They’re purposely teaching you the wrong stuff, aren’t they?”

“Or maybe they’re teaching you the wrong stuff.”

Jake took the test from Maple, and read more of it. “Jesus. All of this is wrong!”

“What do you mean?”

“Leftists started The US Collapse?”

Maple nodded. “The US government took away people’s rights to free speech because the left kept getting offended by what the right would say. The right were tired of their voices being suppressed. So they felt they had to revolt to get their rights back.

“Close. But wrong. The US government took away people’s rights to free speech because the right kept getting offended by what the left would say. The left were tired of their voices being suppressed so they started a revolt to take back their rights.”

“Well I got the answer right, so I must be right.”

“You got that answer right because that’s what your teacher is teaching you. But they’re teaching you everything all wrong.”

“How do you know you’re not being taught wrong?”

“Because back before the US Collapse, politicians in red states were upset that children were being taught about some of the bad things the US and white people did. So they revised history.”

Bad things the US and white people did? Maple chewed on a bite of pizza, wondering what he meant by that. “What are you talking about?”

“You know. Slavery. Trail of Tears. 9/11.”

Maple hadn’t heard of Trail of Tears, but she knew slavery and 9/11. But why were white people to blame for it? “Slavery and 9/11 have nothing to do with white people.”

Jake let out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? White people owned black people as property.”

“No they didn’t. Both black people and white people owned each other as property.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

“It wasn’t bad either,” Maple continued. “The owned person got free food and a room, in exchange for working. They just didn’t get paid for it.”

“Are you sure you’re not getting slavery mixed up with indentured servitude?” Jake asked. He moved onto another slice of pizza while he flipped the test over to the next page. “What the hell is the Gulf of America?”

How had he not heard of the Gulf of America? There couldn’t possibly be any conflicting information on that. It was just a body of water. “You know. That area of the ocean between Texas and where Florida used to be.”

“You mean the Gulf of Mexico?”

They even had different names for places? Maple folded her arms. She just wanted to show off her good grade. She hadn't expected Jake to launch into how her answers were incorrect, insisting everything she studied was "wrong."

Jake must've sensed her disappointment in his behavior. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a downer. I'm just... shocked at how we're being taught different versions. But I'm glad you got a good grade."

Maple nodded in agreement as she took her test back from Jake. But she couldn't shake away the fact that only one version could be right. That one of them had been taught misinformation, and there was no way of knowing who.