Tucker Wren {{ District Nine (FINNA)

Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die.


Words, words are a powerful thing.

That's what I've learned during the past months. That the words we speak, through clenched teeth and through a roaring voice affect everyone, everything in so many more ways than Lester or I could have ever imagined.

If one were to listen, for only a second or two, to the people around them, and I mean truly listen, clean the gunk out of their ears and close their eyes and tilt their head back and listen, they'd hear so many things.

They'd hear cuts being opened, and cuts being closed.

They'd hear a pat on the back, a slap in the face.

A hug, a kiss, love, hate.

They'd hear two boys stumbling upon an object that would take their life into it's grimy hands and flip it upside down, twist it, turn it, rip it, destroy it.


And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.


Our ignorance was our crime, and our voices were our weapons.

I was filled to the brim with stupidity and pride, with the book tucked under my arm with as much delicateness as I could manage. We had found the book dressed in dirt and dust the week prior, brushing away the grime it had been buried in with even dirtier fingers and bouts of breath. Lester had been all over it, clinging to every word and phrase, and as much as I tried to maintain the older brother front that I so desperately put up, eventually cracks started to show. And with each turn of the page, each spoken word it would hammer away at my false reluctance.

I cracked, and that was my first mistake.

I should have known, that a book that came at us with so much difference, that opened our eyes and our ears and whispered to us that we should spread the word of God, that people wanted to hear the word of our Lord and savior would only carry a horrifying consequence. But somewhere between tucking the Bible under my arm and the walk to the Town Square I developed a tunnel vision unlike any other, and when I cupped my hands around my mouth and roared with the word of the Lord I had no idea that we'd be punished for such a thing.

The butt of a gun cut our words in half, stopped the voices in our throats. And, with each blow that the men in white landed on us it only filled me not with the stupidity and pride I had once possessed, but with regret and sorrow. I watched Lester fall next to me, and for the second time in my life I shattered, only this time it was because I had failed both of them. Not just Lester, my little brother, the one I was supposed to protect from pain, the one who was supposed to look up to me, not look down while I'm knocked to the ground.

But I failed him.

The one the book speaks of, the one who gave us life, who gave us direction, the one who we are supposed to tell others of and the one we are supposed to praise, to love. We're supposed to speak words of the wisdom of Christ, and as I read that cursed yet sacred book I thought that others might want to join us, that all we had to do was give them our words and give him our worship and they would join us.

I was wrong.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon them that love him, he is their mighty protection and strong stay, a defence from heat, and a cover from the sun at noon, a preservation from stumbling, and an help from falling.

The Peacekeepers called the beating they gave us a slap on the wrist, a warning. But it was so much more, it was an eye-opener, a realization, a slap in the face, a punch in the stomach, a broken foot and a bruised ego. It was supposed to show us that what we did, what we were trying to do wouldn't be tolerated, that bullet would meet skin if we did it again. it was supposed to be our downfall, a squashed hope.

But we can't stop, we can't quit.

I'm stuck between wanting to stop Lester from getting hurt and wanting to do the Lord's bidding. I'm lost, but I know he'll help me find my way. And if I follow him, I know he'll protect not only Lester, but I as well. Every night we read a little bit more of the Bible, and every night we continue to follow his words, to plan our next outbreak.

I just pray to Ripred God that it'll all turn out okay.