“Ah.”
Bastion nodded, his fingers tightening around the microphone, “The news said that the Ferris wheel virus was a ghetto virus, that it came after we left the island, and when Sister Paige picked us up from the island, we each got a lot of tests done, and we do have a lot of illnesses, I’m malnourished and anemic, Uncle Artie has hepatitis and osteoporosis, Amanda grows a lot of lice, Amanda’s mom had stomach cancer, Grandma Shelley had a stroke and Grandpa Callum had a brain tumor …”
The skinny teenager in front of him named their illnesses one by one in an extremely matter-of-fact tone.
The reporters went crazy taking pictures and videos.
Bastion scratched his hair and said with some bewilderment, “We have so many diseases, so I don’t know, is the Ferris wheel virus made by us or not? Sister Cynthia said it’s none of our business, but the news said that it was Brother Alfredo who made it. Brother Alfredo is a good person, he usually takes care of us so well, how could he harm people? it, I don’t get it either.”
They all thought that the more than 3, 000 people in the slums had come out onto the streets today to sell their misery, but when the teenager, who was obviously not tall due to malnutrition, said these words with a blank face, the confusion in his eyes made the crowd grow quieter and quieter.
The crowd looked at him fixedly, and some of the provocative ones wanted to say something, but they were pressed down by the people on the side.
What had they become if they couldn’t even tolerate the words of a child.
The sun was blinding.
The long highway was jammed with people.
“I don’t get it, but everyone says it’s our fault, so we’re probably wrong.”
Bastion finished with the tweeter in his hand raised in seriousness, looking back a bit as the crowd nodded to him.
Bastion receives it, squares his face to the populace in front of him, and says, word for word, “I’m sorry!”
When he finished, he bent his knee caps and straightened to the ground.
Behind him, more than three thousand people without any hesitation knelt down one by one, and both knees fell to the ground like waves, the scene was shocking.
This kneeling, shedding all dignity.
“…”
At the scene, the crows were silent.
The crowd stared at them dumbfounded, not expecting, at all, that they would act like this.
“We’re willing to go back to Wind Island, we’re willing to put our locking rings back on, we just hope that you guys don’t blame Sister Paige, aka Paige Clarke, anymore, she didn’t know that bringing us out here would cause the virus to break out, she really didn’t know.”
Bastion dropped to his knees, desperately trying to clear Paige’s name in his own way, the words sounding absurd, and one could pick out a whole lot of questions if they had to.
But there wasn’t another questioning voice in the room.
Paige stood in the crowd holding Gabriel’s hand, her eyes very sore, water misting before her eyes.
Fools.
Every single one of them was a fool.
“Sister Paige.” Bastion kneeled in the front, a pair of eyes in the dense crowd looked around, and could not find Paige, so he looked to the side of the reporter’s camera, grinning at the camera, “Sister Paige, you do not feel bad, we are used to staying on the island, not afraid of it, Callum grandpa and they all said that it is better not to come out yet, because not to come out wouldn’t be able to find out what’s wrong, and it’s better to die in confusion than to live to treat and suffer.”
“…”
Paige listened, tears slipping into her mask.
“I’m used to it on the island too, and I don’t like to read, not at all.”
Bastion laughed and couldn’t stop laughing, his eyes were red, he raised his hand and rubbed his eyes hard before continuing, “Be well Sister Paige, get well soon and stop worrying about us.”
Bastion didn’t know if he would ever see Paige again, and couldn’t help but talk more to the camera.
Behind him, more than three thousand people are so directly kneeling on the ground, they are all thin, emaciated description, generally not tall, look at it is suffering from the ordeal …
Looking at such a scene, many people in the crowd lowered their heads, with embarrassment, remorse, and sighs.
Suddenly, another extremist shouted, “You can’t pay for Paige’s sins if you go back to the ghetto! What do you mean now, Paige pushed you guys out to save herself?”
There are many things that, said positively and negatively, become different meanings.
Bastion, kneeling on the floor, was instantly annoyed at hearing this, and pointing at the man, he said angrily, “You’re not allowed to say anything bad about my Sister Paige!”
“Bastion!” called Uncle Artie, kneeling behind him.
“…”
At the sound of his voice, Bastion had to hold back.
Uncle Artie had said that if they Wind Islanders came out today with a better posture, confessed everything, and went back to their Wind Island for the rest of their lives, everyone would leave Sister Paige alone.
“You fools, you’ve been set up by Paige and don’t even realize it, she used you for fame and fortune and something happened to push you back!” The extremist continued to yell through the crowd.
“No, we were the ones who wanted to go back!”
Bastion, his face red with anxiety, shouted into the speaker, his voice shaking, “We wanted to go back ourselves, we wanted to go back!”
He wanted to argue, but Uncle Artie had said to be nice and humble to take away the anger of the public.
He couldn’t argue, couldn’t get angry.
But the man kept accusing Sister Paige, kept going on and on.
Bastion was so anxious that his breathing was unsteady, and looking at the man with red eyes, he suddenly kowtowed to the ground, heavily, one after the other, “It was us who wanted it back, it really wasn’t Sister Paige who said it, please don’t blame Sister Paige, please don’t blame Sister Paige… …”
The whole thing humbled itself into the bottom of the mud.
The extremists were dumbfounded, and were ripped off by the person next to them, “What are you shouting at a child for?”
“Don’t kneel, don’t you kowtow.”
“Child, don’t you kowtow.”
In the crowd, one after another, intolerant voices rang out.
But the teenager in front of them just kowtowed to the ground regardless, begging them over and over again.
Suddenly, a white hand directly affixed to his reddened forehead, blocking his maddeningly humble behavior.
Bastion couldn’t kowtow any longer, and raised his head in bewilderment to meet Paige’s reddened eyes.
Paige stood in front of him and reached up to remove the mask from her face, looking at him coldly, “What I taught you, you’ve forgotten it all haven’t you, what did you do wrong or are you one step below who has to kneel here?”
“Sister Paige …,” Bastion looked at her dumbfounded.
“Get up.” Paige’s eyes were cool, but her tone was stern.
“Sister Cynthia said you were sick.” Bastion said, tears falling out of her eyes all at once, “It’s Brother Alfredo, we’re the ones who gave you trouble, aren’t we?”
Her face didn’t look good at all.
“I was sick because there was something I couldn’t figure out, and now I’ve figured it out, you or I, we didn’t mean to hurt anyone, we’re not guilty, we don’t have to kneel down for anyone.”
Paige said as she looked at him word for word, then raised her eyes to the crowd kneeling before her, “Get up, all of you!”
That’s what Enrico wanted her to see, she thought.
He was asking her to realize something, if what she had been doing all along was all wrong, then what were all these people who had stood by her in spite of themselves up until now?