My friend

"Dad, there's something I wanna talk to you about," said Ryan Verlice to his father, while they were having breakfast at the dining table. 

"Yeah, what is it?," his father, Isaiah Verlice, a man with a trimmed beard and jet-black hair, asked. 

"I'll ask you later. Would that be fine?," he asked. 

"Yeah, absolutely. Though, I have something to do today," his father said. 

"This might seem really weird to ask and it might seem shocking to you, too, considering I'm gonna ask about a friend of yours, but...can you tell me about John Mason?," Ryan asked his father, while they were drinking coffee in the evening. His eyes widened. 

"What? How do you remember him?!," Mr. Verlice asked. 

"Actually, one of the house members in the young residency are involved in a really bad case of a runaway. And, John Mason might be involved," he said. 

"That is why I told you that the job of a house checker is quite stressing because you always have this drama," his Dad said. 

"You mean girls usually run away?!," Ryan asked. 

"No, I didn't mean that. I mean there's a lot of things happening usually. Black Monday's usually behind them," his Dad said. "Shoot! Sorry, shouldn't have mentioned them," his dad quickly added. 

"I know about them. So, you don't need to hide the fact that one of your friends is a Black Monday member, too. And John Mason is his name," said Ryan. 

"So you actually know him?," Mr. Verlice asked. 

"I don't know him. That is why I'm here to ask you about him," Ryan answered. 

"Why do you think I'll tell you about him? You know me. You know I'd never let out a friend's secret. Plus, aren't you helping the members of this  house a bit too much?," his Dad said. 

"You know I'd never want to help some girls from the young residency this much. But, there's this girl I really like and the girl who ran away is from her house. That is why I've just been a bit too involved with this case," he answered, a blush on his cheeks. 

His Dad smiled. 

"So you've gotten big enough to like someone, huh?," his Dad asked, laughing. 

He laughed. 

"What is she like?," Mr. Verlice asked. 

"Not now, Dad. Later. Tell me about John Mason," he said. 

"So, you're still gonna ask me about him even though you know I'm not gonna tell you," Mr. Verlice said. 

"What? Do you have such bad friends that you can't even talk about them?," Ryan asked. 

"Oh, you think that. It's not my fault you're smart and have a good reputation. You're saying that to me without knowing anything, son. Why are you so curious about John?," he asked. 

"Dad, as I said, he has something to do with that runaway girl!," Ryan said. 

"So, the girl you like ran away?! God, I didn't think you'd have a thing for rebellious girls," his Dad said, laughing. 

"No, it's not her! It's the other girl," he said. 

"Fine, then. You tell me about this girl you like and I tell you about John. How's that sound?," Mr. Verlice asked. 

"Fine," he said, rolling his eyes. 

"So, umm, her name's Tina Thorne and she's really pretty....I met her at the mart some days ago... and...and...she was so attractive. I mean, there was this.....there was this charm to her that I couldn't resist. So, I went to talk to her... and..and she invited me to have breakfast with her and her housemates," he said, blushing. 

"Oh, interesting. But why are you stuttering? You usually don't stutter. You're very confident all the time. Did Tina had another type of effect on you that you can't stop stuttering while you're telling me about her?," Mr. Verlice said, laughing. 

He blushed and looked away. 

"My son's started to like someone so much that it's taking him all of himself to not blush? Aww, that's so cute," his Dad said, laughing. 

"Stop, Dad. I've told you enough about her. You tell me about John Mason, now," he said. 

"Now, now. What's the rush? Tell me more about this girl of yours. Does she like you back? Why did you like her out of all the other girls in the world? Did she see you as something else other than a rich boy?," Mr. Verlice said, smirking. 

"What?! What do you mean by that?," he asked. 

"Look, Ryan. A lot of my friends praise your good looks and you know that a lot of them have daughters the same age as yours. They're quite into you. But, ever since you started working as a house checker, they've lost interest in you because you chose a public service job. As a son of the Verlice family, you shouldn't have done that. And, now you've gone and fallen in love with a common girl that lives in a house that the government has given to her?!," Mr. Verlice said, angry. 

"Dad, don't you dare say that about her! When did you even started caring about my life? And, I didn't know that you thought that I'd ever date any of those brats! I mean, have you ever thought about anything other than money?! Have you ever paid attention to what is important?! No, you haven't! If you would've ever paid attention to important things, you wouldn't have been asking me about Tina right now but you would've been telling me about John Mason right now! Because that man is very important because people's lives are at stake here!," Ryan said. 

"Do you even know what you're saying?! You're just babbling nonsense nonstop because you are in some stupid love with a stupid girl!," Mr. Verlice said. 

"So what if I'm in love?! What're you gonna do about it? You can just run that mouth of yours, Dad. Nothing else! And now, you're gonna say that I wasn't raised up well and it's all my fault that I've gotten myself involved with common people that I've started yelling like crazy. But, don't forget, Dad. You are my father and I learnt the way of the world from you. You taught me to become a go getter and get everything I want just the way I want it. So, if you're not gonna tell me about John Mason at all, I'll just have to drive to district six myself to find him!," he said. 

"Wait!," Mr. Verlice said, when Ryan was about to leave the room.

He turned around to look at his father. 

"Sit. I'll tell you about him," he said. 

So, he sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace. 

"God, I didn't know you had this much passion in you," his Dad said, smiling. 

Ryan stared at the fireplace and smiled. 

"I did say you're my Dad," he said. 

His Dad sighed. 

"You remember that guy that used to come around a lot when you were a kid? He had a goatee and he got you a videogame to which you got addicted. Remember him?," Mr. Verlice asked.

Ryan nodded. 

"That was Paul Mason, John's brother. That guy, he had a girlfriend, Serena Kim. She was a Black Monday member. You know about Black Monday, right?," he asked. 

Ryan nodded. 

"Well, Paul was so in love with that woman. She was an assassin for Black Monday. What he didn't know about her was that ever since he had found out about Black Monday's warehouse in the commercial area of district four, the gang had him marked on their kill list and Serena was the assassin that was gonna kill him. She got his sympathy, telling him that her parents were killed because she didn't wanna leave home and now that she had gotten big enough to go back home, she didn't had one. He let him stay at his house, eventually falling for her. She wasn't in love with Paul, though. Just acted like it. Later, she got the order from Black Monday to move to district six because hardly any common person can go to that place. Even for just a tour. And, it would be best to kill Paul there because even bringing a body back from that place requires a lot of money. 

When Paul was killed and Serena told John about that, he was devastated because Paul was his only family in this world. John fortunately had enough money to go to district six to get his brother's body back. He had to wait for a whole week for the postmortem to be done so that the hospital could confirm that it was his brother that actually died because Serena had killed Paul in a really bad way," Mr. Verlice said. 

"When did he die, Dad? When did Paul die?," Ryan asked. 

"Three weeks ago," he answered. 

"But, if she was an assassin, how do you know about all of this?," Ryan asked. 

"John told me. When he reached district six, Serena told him everything," he said. 

"But, why? Wasn't it all supposed to be a secret? I mean, doesn't Black Monday work in the shadows?," Ryan asked. 

"Oh, aren't you so unaware. Ryan, Black Monday rules the US!" Mr. Verlice said. 

"What?! But, there's a government that governs this country, right? How can a gang like that possibly rule over the people?! And, what about the president? We have a president in the United States. What about him?!," Ryan asked. 

"God, son. I never thought I'd ever tell you all of this. You know the US is divided into six districts, right? And, there are fourteen vacant states which are under the government?," Mr. Verlice asked. 

Ryan nodded. 

"It's actually not the government that has control of those states. It's Black Monday. They have the authority to those empty states. They have the most power in the US," he said. 

"But, if you're talking about power according to the geographical area, wouldn't the president and the legal government be more superior?," Ryan asked. 

"Ryan, have you heard the story of the British?," Mr. Verlice asked. 

"Which one? There are so many of them," he answered. 

"The British took over one third of the world. When the countries they ruled over got independence, the British left a lot of their culture in those places. Just like that, when the pandemic was ending, Black Monday's leader, G. Blanc, earned a lot of people's trust because he helped the US' districts develop and grow again through his wealth. You know there are Black Monday warehouses everywhere in the commercial area in every district and people think that the things that are stored in them are food and rations. But other people, who actually know about the real stuff, they know that there's loads of marijuana, heroin and cocaine in there. 

Paul found out that the warehouse in the commercial area of district four had all of that in there and he told the police. The two officers he told about the warehouse, they were killed later, too. People think that G. Blanc is a hero of the pandemic, and that is why they respect him even more than the legal government and the president but that man is a total asshole!," Mr. Verlice said. 

"So, you mean that G. Blanc is actually the one who controls the country?," Ryan asked. 

His Dad nodded. 

"This is so weird, you know. Okay, putting G. Blanc aside, did John had a girlfriend?," Ryan asked. 

"Yes, he did. Her name was Amy Elle," Mr. Verlice answered.