It Could Be A Step

Twinkle drove Katelyn to the Social Unity Party’s headquarters. Brittney sat at the front desk tapping her pen on the paper. “Twinkle!” she exclaimed brightening. “I haven’t seen you since college.”

Twinkle shrugged. “I don’t think Joelle would have liked having me around, but now that they’re in jail, Lewis begged me to come back.” Twinkle leant against Brittney’s desk. Katelyn was confused. Her aunt knew the secretary of the Social Unity Party. “So, what’s up?”

“Sylvan won the leadership of the Party,” Brittney explained. Katelyn felt a rush of apprehension because she knew that Sylvan did not like her. She was not certain why this bothered Brittney, though, considering that Brittney was not in favour of the mentorship program. Brittney brushed her hand through her hair.

“It’s a small party. It won’t make much difference anyway, and besides Zara and Kristyn will still be there,” Twinkle replied as she examined the walls and layout of the room. “Isn’t the priority still on the trial regardless?”

Brittney muttered in acknowledgement and returned to scribbling on the paper with her pen. A stack of forms sat on the desk next to her.

“Surely, there is not much that the Party can do even if there is an election,” Twinkle pondered. “Naji said you had your paperwork filed by now, and with the Conservatives embroiled in a scandal, the Liberals will probably take power again.”

“Yes, well, they have a new unpredictable leader,” Brittney elaborated, “who claims to be interested in ‘addressing inequality’ without directly claiming to support witches. Sylvan wants us to find a way to influence her, given her desire to discredit the Conservatives on the trial. Sylvan thinks that she will open an inquiry into The Constant.”

Katelyn was beginning to wonder if Brittney was friends with Twinkle, perhaps from college. Twinkle seemed to be willing to support the Party now, even if she did not believe the Party could accomplish much. Katelyn decided to accept that Twinkle supported witches, even if her brother clearly did not. Katelyn had already made the mistake of thinking that Hanna was not the same girl as in Kindergarten, because she was so intent on idealizing Hanna’s good character that she ignored the obvious. Hanna probably thought Katelyn knew who she was all along. She probably had not had any friends because she was a witch. They may not have known that the others were witches, but Hanna, Ki, and Katelyn had probably felt at odds with the other students, because they could not support the oppression of witches, and they had become friends because of that. Twinkle could be a witch for all Katelyn knew. Katelyn did not want to ignore the obvious anymore.

Katelyn walked down the hallway, glancing to the sides where party volunteers worked hard on what seemed to be paperwork. They were probably getting ready to collect more volunteers to advertise their message across the city, even if it was a city that hated them. The Party would do anything to bring publicity to the trial of Katelyn’s parents, and they would probably also do anything to keep the Conservatives from taking power. They might not support the Liberals, but they certainly did not want the Conservatives in power for another term. The Conservatives had been in power for most of Katelyn’s life, even if the Liberals had been in power more overall.

She remembered Victoria leading her to this building and walking through it. She remembered Victoria’s passion in every step she took. Katelyn wished that she could be that committed to improving the lives of the disadvantaged that she could even be willing to dedicate her life to it, literally until the end. Tears sparked at the corners of her eyes again, but she pushed them back. She missed Victoria. She felt a horrid sob pushing against her, threatening to fall out, but she could not let it out, not here, not now. She had finally begun to feel better, but how could she ever really feel better now that Victoria was gone? She was a fool to be happy for those few moments, to be stirred by that party convention. The reality was that the Social Unity Party would never achieve anything. It was not even a third party like the Social Democrats where it could pressure the other parties to accept its proposals. It was literally a fringe party that many people would probably dismiss as irrelevant.

Katelyn was an official member of the Party because it aligned with her values, but she had never officially volunteered for the Party. She had not been with the Party for long, after all. She just came here with Victoria. Suddenly, all her sadness was replaced by a feeling of emptiness and pointlessness. What did it matter what she did at this point? The Party was relatively meaningless, and she was even more useless. She felt a burning panic rising in her chest. No one was near her, even though there were volunteers in all the rooms down the hallway. They would never understand. They could not save her from her own thoughts. No, no, no, she thought, struggling to take a deep breath. The Party is not meaningless. It brought Victoria’s death to light. Now the Conservatives are no longer in the lead trying to promote harder restrictions on witches. The Liberals are in control now. They will investigate this. Something will change. It will be okay. It will be okay. It will be okay.

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Realistically, Katelyn knew that the Liberals would not change much. They were always the type of party that would claim to bring change and outline their progressive ambitions only to abandon those claims and act exactly like the Conservatives once they got into power. The Liberals would probably not make the situation worse for witches, though. They would want to capitalize on the scandal, and that would require them to at least look into The Constant. Katelyn remembered the quote from To Kill a Mockingbird, “We’re making a step—it’s just a baby step, but it’s a step.” She repeated the quote over and over in her head. It did not matter if it was true or not. She desperately needed something to hold onto and believe in. One step forward, two steps back, the critical voice in the back of her head retorted.

Victoria died, and she had finally found the courage to tell the police. Her friends had helped her. Her parents had admitted their role, but they still insisted on pleading not guilty and having a trial, which Brittney seemed to delight in publicizing. It never would have made it that far if they had just accepted their guilt. They could have hidden the crime and kept it out of public view. It was probably ironically better for the state of witches that her parents had decided to claim that they were not guilty, the problem being that this required them to blame her for the magic. The Court could decide that her parents were not guilty, and then the police could decide that she was responsible and try her. Alternatively, her parents could be charged, and then she might never really see them again. Her breaths were becoming more rapid as she began to panic.

Life had changed for the worse, and she did not see any way out of it. There was nothing that she could do now to get her parents back, although she could not help but thinking that if she had acted differently before that they would never have done it, and Victoria would still be alive. If she had never run away, her father would not have hired a witch to find her. That had to be why he did it. She only made everything worse. What could she even do? How could she even help anyone? Hanna Jean had healed her, and all she had done was hate Hanna for how indifferent she seemed as if the personal risk Hanna faced was not good enough. Hanna probably hated her, and she deserved it.

“Katelyn Valedette.” Katelyn shivered as she turned around to face the woman who had spoken. Kristyn Marshadow had a ghostly presence, almost seeming to blend in with the shadows in the hallway. She stood at the entrance to the door at the end of the hall. Sylvan Ecclestie scoffed from behind her. Katelyn had a feeling that Sylvan blamed Katelyn for Victoria’s death, because she had been the one that Victoria was looking after.

Katelyn felt the tears in her eyes that Sylvan’s resentment was bringing forwards. She never should have run away. Why did she run outside, anyway? She was always so selfish. She hated that she always ran away, and yet she desperately wanted to run away again. She did not want to watch Sylvan get upset with her, and she did not want Kristyn to judge her now that she had no reason to gain Katelyn’s trust. Katelyn did not think that she had a reason to run away back then. There had been little for her to run away from, except her own lack of accomplishments. Running from Kristyn would make her look like a coward who could not stand of to any sort of pressure, and that would only make all the things that were said of her as a child true. It would only prove how useless she really was.

“How are you?” Katelyn was caught off-guard by Kristyn’s question. It irked her slightly that Kristyn thought naming Katelyn was more important than a greeting. Katelyn was not famous, even if Sylvan would make it appear that way. Brittney and Kristyn clearly knew who the conservative families were. They may have been aware of all the last names, but to even know Katelyn’s first name from her face, it was odd. The Valedettes were not that well-known. They really were an ordinary family. Perhaps, it was because they had known Aunt Twinkle, and she had meant to say that the Valedettes were well-known among the leaders of the witch party. If that were the case, though, it would be especially odd that Katelyn’s parents did not seem to know these leaders, and they could not know the leaders that well or they would not have killed Victoria.

“How do you even know me?” Katelyn asked, worrying later that it would come across as rude.

“Victoria,” Kristyn replied as if it were obvious. Katelyn supposed that she really should have known, although she still had the feeling that Kristyn had other reasons that she was not about to share. Kristyn had an air of secrecy to her like she was accustomed to collecting information that she would not share. “She would have liked for you to volunteer for us.”

Katelyn felt the doubt rise in response. She was certain that she could never truly help the party. Nothing she could do would be good enough. Then, she felt a different kind of tears. Kristyn believed that Katelyn could be useful, just like Miss Corinne had believed that Katelyn could be a good Carrie. Whether it was a good idea or not, it meant something that they would believe in her.

Kristyn smiled at her, and Katelyn agreed.

“Ok, we will set you up for a few times next week and the week after,” Kristyn decided. Her determination to spread awareness shone through her words, and Katelyn found herself trusting Kristyn and believing that Kristyn would help her figure out how to be of service to others. Maybe, her life really was not that bad.