Chapter 36 The Documentary

Chapter 36 The Documentary
Luna POV

Marcus is a filmmaker who got in touch with me six months after the wedding. He was not the same Marcus I had used to know. This was a different one. He was a foreigner and he was going to make my story known to the rest of the world.

Your story must be told, that is what Marcus said. The man was sitting in my bakery, with a coffee cup in his hand and staring at me. "Not just in Pine Ridge. Not only in the places that are aware of the peace movement. The whole world must be informed of what took place here. They should realize that something can be changed.

At first, I didn't want to do it. The focus was uncomfortable to me. Being famous is something I had never aspired to. I had simply wanted to establish a bakery and lead a normal life.

But Ethan convinced me. This would aid in spreading the movement, he said. This may motivate other communities to pursue peace and not violence.

So I agreed. Marcus had three months of filming. He interrogated me dozens of times. He filmed the bakery. He shot human beings and werewolves in collaboration. He shot the schools at which both species were learned together.

However, he filmed the issues as well. He spoke to individuals who were unable to cope with the peace. Individuals were missing out on the old times. Those who feared that their identity as a human being or as a werewolf was being destroyed.

I would like to demonstrate the truth, Marcus said. "Not just the beautiful parts. The hard parts too. That's what will make it real."

The documentary was released in three countries at the same time. It was named as the Runaway Bride and it narrated the events of how a girl who was on the run to marry was used as the emblem of peace between the species.

The reaction was swift and tremendous. Some people loved it. They desired to initiate their own peace movements. They desired to construct societies such as Pine Ridge. But other people were angry. They prepared their videos that the documentary was propaganda. They claimed that there could not be peace between people and the werewolves. According to them I was a traitor to mankind.

David came to me with bad news. Forming organized groups, he said. Those who have already seen the documentary and made their choice that they do not want the peace to spread. They are staging attacks on mixed communities. They are going after peace proponents.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

Bad enough that we have to be more security conscious, said David. Bad enough that Elena believes that we may be in a different form of danger.

There was an emergency meeting that night by Elena. She was older even after we had all the battles.

It was a mistake to shoot a documentary, Elena said bluntly. "It's reached too many people. It gives too many the desire to change. And it drives as many to struggle with that change.

Are you referring to the fact that we should have remained silent? I asked. You mean we shouldn’t have concealed what we have done here?

"No," Elena said. I mean that the world was not prepared to be told this. I mean we have been able to speed up a process that could have taken generations. We have cut a century of transformation into half a year. And human beings do not enjoy change. People fear it."

Within the following weeks, the number of attacks grew. One of the mixed communities in Europe was incinerated. One of the schools in Asia which humans and werewolves attended was burned down. I had a bakery that was almost identical to mine in South America which had been firebombed.

And every assault was told by word. The same message. "Luna Matthews caused this. She created the documentary. She started the movement. And that she should be responsible.

Kieran said: They are going after you. He was collaborating with me to enhance security in the Pine Ridge. "They want revenge. By halting you, they desire to halt the movement.

So yourself, I think I ought to go, I said. Perhaps they will leave it to myself, and the other places would not be attacked.

"You can't hide," Thomas said. He was now a very close advisor to the council as the barrier had been kept. "They won't stop if you run. They will simply consider it as evidence that their strategy is effective.

"So what do I do?" I asked, feeling helpless.

You do the same thing you have always done, Ethan said. He was holding my hand. "You face them. You demonstrate to them that fear is not effective. You demonstrate to them that peace can still exist even when men are in a temper.

I made a decision. I agreed to travel. I had accepted to go to the communities which had been attacked. I agreed to help them rebuild. I accepted to meet the people that despised me.

Nothing was more difficult than this. Not the physical danger. Not the travel. But the emotional burden of realizing that I had caused her such pain. Being aware that I had been killing people because I decided to tell my story.

I encountered the people who survived the burnt village in Europe. They were unpolished and swearing and mourning. But something changed when I spoke to them, when I made them make up again. They ceased to view me as a symbol and began to view me as an individual. A person who understood loss. A person who understood pain.

One girl, a child of about ten years, approached me when I was at work clearing off the burnt ruins. Her parents were burnt in the fire.

"Why did you tell your story?" she asked me.

I didn't have a good answer. None of those that would make sense to a child who lost everything.

I said at last because it seemed to me that it would. But I have been in the wrong to think that. I need to have been more thoughtful of the consequences.

The girl said, "My mom told me that there is never a consequence of telling the truth. She explained that is why you have to be strong when you say it.

The girl's words stayed with me. As I traveled and rebuilt and faced anger and fear, I realized something. The documentary wasn't a mistake. It was a necessary pain. It was the world being forced to face a truth that it didn't want to accept.

But I also realized something else. There was someone behind the attacks. Someone coordinating them. Someone who had a bigger plan than just revenge.

I found out who when I returned to Pine Ridge.