Revisit the atrocities of the past in a story. You can either write it as a historical fiction (i.e. something that happens in the period in which the atrocity was practiced– like slavery, Holocaust, general lack of rights and freedoms) or as something that’s happening in a different form (with obvious corollaries) today, or in a future setting.Think of the novels The Giver and Animal Farm as examples of this. Your story should be a minimum of 1000 words and is due Wednesday. You will have to break up the post into several comments in order to get it to fit.
“I always had problems. I was never happy. I just think that I’m alone in this world. Well I think it’s time to leave my mother. She doesn’t care about me. This is all about her new husband. I’m completely out the picture. You are probably so confused with what I am saying. I don’t think that you understand my story. Well I have a very rough story…..” These were the words that Rebecca (Becca) wrote in her diary the very first years of her life. She learned to cope with her feelings but she hasn’t had the best luck with anything in her life. Everything that she learned to love or loved her back also had to leave her life. Isn’t that quite sad? Well when she was young she believed that her diary would talk to her back. That is the innocence of a little five year old. She was always special but she knew that there was something waiting for her. What was it? She did not know until the year she could no longer stand her mother.
ReplyDeleteBecca’s mother (Rose) got divorced with Becca’s dad (Harry) when she was still in her mother’s womb. Rose found Harry disgusting and couldn’t stare the sight of him. The day she collected her things Harry came back from work with a big smile on his face. He had big news to tell her. He was just told that day in work that he was pushed up to become a higher ranking. When Harry got home he greeted her with a big smile and kissed her on the forehead. Before Harry would swipe another kiss from Rose she pushed him back and wiped her forehead. She looked at him. He was hurt and confused. He was never rejected with any kisses that he wanted from his wife. Harry could already anticipate what the next step was going to be. He didn’t know that it was partially right. He just thought that Rose was not in the mood that day and was going to leave for the night. He was right she was going to leave but more than a night.
“What’s wrong love?” Harry asked.
“You!” Rose screamed.
“What do you mean me?” Harry screamed.
“I don’t love you and I have never been in love with you. The thought of you kissing me is disgusting. I don’t know how I did this the last years of my life. I’m sorry Harry but this is your fault not mine. I regret listening to my parents. Well now I can’t stand the sight of your face. You make me want to die. Yes, that may be overdramatic but I want to get my point out to you. I’m not joking. I’m leaving forever. Maybe in the future we can be friends not now. My stuff is in the car now bye. My lawyer will be sending the divorce papers. Goodbye Harry.” Rose said and walked out.
“I just wanted to say that I got pushed up for our family.” Harry whispered while taking out a piece a paper while it fell to the ground. The paper said:
“We are pregnant love!”
Harry and Rose got divorced shortly after. Harry attempted and attempted to get in touch with Rose but she never answered Harry. Harry finally gave up. Then one day Rose called Harry. This was about a couple of months later. Rose sounded in pain and Harry asked her what was wrong. She then spilled everything. She told Harry that she just met a new man about two months ago. She said that the man and her were in a serious relationship. Harry knew that she was beating around the bush and demanded her to tell him what she needed to say. He didn’t want to hear how good her life was without him. She told Harry that she was pregnant and that she was in labor and she wanted him to be there to see his DAUGHTER born. Harry began to cry and Rose apologized for not telling him sooner. Harry told Rose he already knew that she was pregnant the doctor told him nine months ago. He asked the doctor if there was any abnormalities with the check-ups to contact him. The doctor then told him that she was pregnant. He told her this happened the day she left him; she was silent on the phone. Harry told her that he had great news to tell her. He needed to tell her that he got pushed to a higher position in his job and that they were going to have a child. He said that she never gave him a chance. That was why Harry was trying to contact her. He wanted to be part of Rose’s pregnancy. He wanted to support her and help her with everything. Harry hurried over to the hospital to be part of Rose’s labor moment. Thankfully Rose never thought about leaving the state; it took harry about half an hour to arrive.
DeleteHarry got in the hospital and went to Rose’s room. When he entered Rose had just finished the delivery of Becca. He smiled and walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. Harry asked the nurses to let him go to see his daughter. They brought him over to see his daughter. When he saw her the feeling that he was going to be a father got him emotional and he began to cry. When he was done looking at his precious child he went over to Rose. They talked about who the child was going to stay with. They both agreed that staying with the mother was the best for the child. Harry would get his daughter on the weekends every two weeks. They named their daughter Rebecca. Around when Becca was about seven her mother and her mother’s boyfriend moved away.
DeleteAround when Becca was entering her last year of high school she decided that she couldn’t handle being with her mother so she went to move with Harry. Becca never liked living with her mother but she always felt that she had no choice. It was time that she finally stood up to her mother. Her mother didn’t like the idea but had to agree to it. Even though her daughter was leaving didn’t mean that she was emotionally leaving her. If she would have rejected what Becca wanted then the bond between mother and daughter would have probably been broken. Becca quickly got a plane trip and told her father that she was going to move with him. Harry was excited he always waited for the day that Becca wanted to live with him not Rose. Harry got her the same day that Becca made the decision to move in with him. Harry was the principal of the school and got Becca into school the day she came to live with him. He picked her up from the airport and began to drive back home. Harry had no words to explain his enthusiasm. He always wanted to be with his daughter but she always said that she needed to be with her mother.
“Hey Rebecca how…”
“It’s Becca, dad.”
“Sorry Becca.”
The car became suddenly quiet. Harry looked at the road thinking about how badly he didn’t know his daughter. If he was a good father he would even know her nickname. What a shame; a split up family. This family had; a worried mother, a thoughtful father, and a suicidal daughter. The parents were too busy thinking about how they were feeling they never paid attention to how Becca felt. The divorce always brought tension between Harry, Rose and Rose’s husband (Gabriel). Becca was always stuck in the middle between the parents never picking a side of course, but always hearing the arguments the adults had. Gabriel hated her since Harry was the father. Gabriel was the man that Rose was with while she still was married with Harry and had not told him that she wanted to get divorced. Harry never had a liking for Gabriel either. There was always a tension between Gabriel and Harry.
Harry and Becca finally arrived to the house. Becca admired the house. Her father had told her that ever since her mother moved out he couldn’t bare the thought of leaving the house that gave him so many memories. Some were good while other were bad. Becca walked into her house and went up to where her bedroom would usually be. She noticed that Harry decorated the room for her.
“Hey Becca, tomorrow you have to go to school. Sleep tight kiddo.”
Becca hadn’t noticed that the day had gone by really quickly. The night went by very quickly and it was time for Becca to go into her new school. She didn’t care if it was her first day of school she was going to wear a hoodie and some old pair of jeans. Becca walked downstairs. There was a packet on the end of the stairs that said Becca’s name. She opened it and it said:
Here are your new keys. I’m no longer going to be the principal of your school. My dream has been accomplished and I will now become a cop. Love, Dad.
DeleteBecca smiled grabbed her keys and went out to her new truck. She went to school and got crowded by many guys. She entered her English class and her class had already started. The teacher sat her next a guy that attracted her. He looked at her with mystery but with love. She was strangely drawn to him. His muscles were defined through his shirt. He had a cute little smirk that would drive a girl to go crazy. His eyes were the perfect shade of baby blue. His hair was perfectly cut. This was to drive a girl to go crazy. They both stared at each other. Becca walked over, her eyes stayed on him not making eye contact with anyone else.
“Hey Becca.” A voice said behind her.
She turned and waved at a kid that she met at her school. Compared to the other cute buy this guy lacked in going to the gym. He had the perfect deep voice. It wasn’t too deep and it wasn’t high pitched either. It was a nice sound and it made the heart melt just hearing it. He had a pretty smile that a girl would wish that her boyfriend would have. He was a runner so even though his arms weren’t ripped his stomach was. He had a six pack. Oops! Before I can continue with this story the runner his name is; Jared.
“Hi my name is Becca…short for Rebecca.” Becca said while she finally reached her chair.
The kid glanced over this time beaming hatred out of his precious eyes instead of care. He glanced at her. What happened from when she was standing up to when she sat down next to him. His nose scrunched up, the way your nose will react if someone found a smell disgusting. She grabbed her clothes and slowly brought them up to her nose. She smelled that nothing was wrong. Everything seemed right to her. She brought her chair to the corner of the desk she wanted to be very far away from him. She felt bad that whatever air she was giving off was disgusting him out. There were five minutes before the class ended and the teacher let the class talk. Becca sat awkwardly, the person next to her wouldn’t even look at her and in front of her were empty desks. She had to sit and stay silent until class ended.
“Hi……..my name is Edward…..but some people call me Duke.” He said in an angelic voice.
“Oh hi.” She was shocked that this boy was talking to her. “My name is…”
“Becca. I know.”
“How did you…”
“You told me at the beginning of class.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
The both stared at each other like they knew each other for years. They were strangely drawn to each other. A little smile came onto her face while she glanced at his appearance. She flipped her hair to cover a little of her checks, they were beginning to get red. He extended his body so now he was able to see her body and check her up and down. He smiled satisfied with what he was seeing. He stretched his face over to her. His lips were next to her face and a sensation traveled her body like a chill.
“We should hang out.” He whispered.
He then got up and walked out the classroom for the bell rang at the same exact time. She smiled flipped her hair back to her back and collected her things. She was trying to read her schedule while trying to remember what floor she had to go to. While walking out the class her things dropped all over the floor; for the second time. Jared was waiting by his desk to walk out with Becca. He walked over and collected her things and began to hold onto them. Becca knew him because Jared’s father and Harry were best friends since they were children.
“I’ll hold onto them, before your father left he made sure that we all had the same classes for I could help you. Don’t worry I won’t let anything happen to you.” He said with a wink.
“Oh thanks. Let’s go to class then.” Becca got red and walked away.
I like how this transitions to a feeling of hope. Is this something you are going to continue?
DeleteIt has been quite a few years since the beginning of the New Age. I mean the new, New Age. The one where the world has been reduced to rubble and nothing makes sense anymore. People don’t care about other people anymore, and I know we used to care about each other, despite what the New Age officials say. That doesn’t matter; people are too concerned with important things such as food, heat and water. Of course, if you have a family then you worry about them but that’s as far as it goes. No one says ‘excuse me’ or ‘thank you’ to strangers anymore, we don’t even say hello. You can’t really trust anyone these days, but even if you could that would be putting yourself at risk. You may only speak to those of your age, gender and race. When you get to be my age, 21, you’ll be appointed a spouse of the same age and race. Sometimes, if you’re a very well-mannered woman and very beautiful, men (same age and race) from important families will bid for you. For those of us who remember the Old Age, we call this racism and sexism (among other colorful metaphors). But the new government calls it keeping the races pure for everyone. I am to move in with my new husband the day before our wedding, during that time he and I will get acquainted and not a moment before. Depending on whom he is and who he knows, I’ll stay home and take up the approved occupation of a mother or I’ll have to find a job and be shamed. When I was younger, before the world declared war on itself, I dreamed of being a working, independent woman much like my mother. She was my idol as she could take care of her children, herself, her house and her career and still be perfectly happy. She was one of the first to be crushed for the “betterment of humanity.” I never forgave the government, although they did allow my brother and me to stay together until he turned eighteen. On his birthday, they dragged me away while he cursed and screamed. We found each other multiple times but they would always take me further and further away. Finally, I was pulled into a different region because travel between regions is rare and limited. Not too long after that I turned eighteen and I have been saving every penny I make to find my way back to him. I went to all girls schools and was at the top of my classes disapproved list. My manners weren’t worth a hog’s tail and my looks “are a waste of time”. None of that matter to me, I just want to live the way my mother would have approved of not like this pathetic excuse for a government.
ReplyDeleteIn two days, I’m going to meet my spouse-to-be and I’m nervous. Women have no say in their marriages anymore. When the world first went to dust, before this government, my brother and I would look among the wreckage of school buildings and libraries. If I found even a single book intact, then I would keep it. From what I read, America took ten steps forwards up until the beginning of the New Age and then they took those ten steps right back. Now, it is legal for a man to beat his wife if she even asks him a silly question. In the Old Age, you couldn’t even hit your dog for barking. My friend, Annemarie, was recently wed. She and I are constantly getting together (with her husband’s permission) and talking. Her spouse beats her whenever his dinner is cold, even if it’s soup. If I were allowed to even look at him, I would give him a taste of his own medicine. Once I’m married, I just might do it but that all depends on my spouse and if he’ll let me out of the house. I knew this girl who I went to school with, and when she got married no one ever saw her. I wasn’t even sure if she was still alive until I saw her in the food market. We have the same shopping days on our schedule, which is handed to us by the government. I asked her where she had been and discovered that her husband had almost killed her so she ran off. She was caught and tossed in jail instantly while her spouse was given a new wife as an apology from the government. There was this song my mother used to listen to while she cooked or had a bad day at work. I don’t remember the name or even the artist but it was all about how this is a man’s world. Well, this is exactly what the world’s come to, completely dominated by men. We are right back at the beginning. Before you know it women will get their heads together and start back up with their riots and protests for equality. I only hope that I am alive when it happens to witness it, if not take part in it. This age is too new for people to get the idea of standing up for what you believe in. When I was first introduced to this New Age, I protested immediately but I was young and I was shoved aside. They just assumed that I was going through a phase and I let them believe that. I stopped throwing fits and just stood there quietly only speaking when spoken to or when something completely ridiculous was said. Now, with my assignment coming up, I am too worried to be my usual rude and sarcastic self. I’m always being monitored, just like every other woman before she meets her husband-to-be. If I do something the officials don’t like, I could completely screw myself over. All I wasn’t to do is get this over with and begin my plans of protests. I refuse to give up and live in this atrocity of a world.
ReplyDeletePowerful stuff. Has an element of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" in it, which is one of my favorite novels. The reference to the song "This is a Man's World" is well executed and I was really captured by how well the main character explained her attitude toward her society. I think this could easily be a longer piece.
DeleteAlternate Assignment (Game Come to Life)
ReplyDelete“Ok what game should we play?” My dad stares at the nine faces looking at the table, the wall a piece of paper and him. Everyone wants to play something but they have no idea what considering there are like a five hundred games downstairs (and that is not an exaggeration, there are about five hundred games in our basement.)
“I vote Wizards!” My cousin shouted. I smile. I always loved that game. It’s one of the best games my father made.
“I second that vote!” I say and saw the smiles creep up on each of my family members faces. Everyone nodded and the game was decided. My dad is always the moderator so we didn’t need to worry about picking one. We passed around a pile of cards upside down. In this game there are three Wizards, two Villagers, one Druid, and one Seer. I flip my card up after I take in and read “Druid”. I don’t show any emotion on my face but I like the Druid because even though you can only use your powers one time I still can actually do stuff unlike when I’m a villager. I literally do nothing the whole game because there is nothing to do but sit, listen, and think. So I looked at my dad and waited for him to settle everyone down before we started the game.
“Ok everyone asleep for the first night.” My dad states to the table. I put my head down and wait for my dad to say the druid. The Wizards go. Then my dad says, “Ok the druid can awake.” I look up and my dad asks if I want to kill anyone. I shake my head and then put my head down.
“Alright everyone awake and no one was killed in the night.” My dad announces and the talking commences. People talk about how this person or this person is this or that, or that we should kill someone to get the game going. Eventually my cousin insults my brother (teasingly) and then my brother immediately wants to kill him, so he votes to. Then someone seconds, I’m not sure who though, and all thumbs go in the middle. The vote is in my brother’s favor and my cousin needs to reveal his card. Luckily he is a Wizard and no more villagers were killed. Now there are only two wizards and we need to go back to sleep. I put my head back down and after the Wizards are called the druid is called to wake up. I look at random people that are in front of me. There is grass under my feet and we are in a forest.
“Well are you going to take a chance and save Damian? We have no idea if he is evil or not,” says the man in front of me.
“Yes I believe he is truthful, he is extremely smart and has a kind heart.” I say. I know that it’s too early in time to tell if he is not part of the Wizard group but the truth is he really doesn’t seem like it.
I nod my head at my dad. I will save him. By the way he was talking in the game it didn’t seem like he was a Wizard at all. Plus he’s not that good at lying. When my dad asks if I want to kill anyone, I shake my head and go back to sleep.
“Ok everyone awake.” My dad says. I lift my head and am in a town surrounded by people I don’t know…or do I?
“Shelda!” Someone shouts. I see Damian running up to me. He gives me a huge hug and takes my hand. “Guess what happened to me last night!”
ReplyDeleteI shake my head even though I know exactly what happened to him last night.
“I was under a spell and had jumped into that raging river but the mystery druid saved my life. Ever since the druid showed up people have been so much safer. The druid used their power to push the water up and take the water out of my lungs and the spell out of me. Then they put me safely on the edge of the river. I owe my life to that person; I only wish I knew who they were.” Damian talked sadly and happily about the druid. I stare sadly at him, what he doesn’t know is that I AM the druid and my life is about to become normal like it was before I acquired this special gift. The druid can only use their power once to heal or save, and once to kill or destroy someone. Once the power is over then they are normal again. The druid does have the power to transfer their power to someone else so that the legacy of the mystery druid continues. I look at Damian in front of me and then at the sky which turned dark real fast.
“Damian I need to tell you some….” But I am interrupted.
“Hold that thought.” He says as Alex, the man who asked me if I was gonna save Damian.
“Guys..” He pants like he ran the mile, “Jared was killed, and he was one of the Wizards which mean there are only two more. I hope the Druid kills one so that the rest of us in the army and village can gang up and easily defeat the last one.” Alex is one of the few people in the village who know my secret. I need to pass my power on to someone else though. I have the perfect person in mind but I don’t know how he would feel.
“Everyone must be in their houses or heading to their houses at this time.” The announcer states on the loud speaker. Ever since the Wizards invaded and started causing havoc there has been a curfew for the time. I hug Damian good-bye and head to my house. I lie on my pillow and fall asleep.
“Ok heads up!” My dad says and everyone picks up their head. I looked at the only person that was revealed and by a lucky guess he was a Wizard. Only one more to get rid of, I think. I look at my families’ faces and I know that my brother want to vote for one person. My cousin. He wants to get him out.
“I vote Tommy.” he says. I see his face go from having a good time to being worried. My other brother seconds his motions and in one quick vote he was voted out…sadly he was a boring old villager, which means there are still two Wizards out there.
“Ok heads down for the night.” My dad says and I put my head down.
“Druid awake.” He says.
I open my eyes and am in my house lying on my bed. I really don’t want to get up but I have to tell Damian the truth AND I have to kill one of the Wizards for the village. This just is what the Druid has to do. I get up and sneak outside. I have to be really careful because of all the guards everywhere. I run to Damian’s house and use some of my power to open the locked door. When I get inside I lock the door back up and head to Damian’s room. I knock on the door. I hear footsteps come near the door. Damian hesitantly opens the door and is about to yelp when he sees me but I cover his mouth.
ReplyDelete“What the heck are you doing her Shelda? You’re supposed to be in bed in YOUR house.”
“Listen there’s something important I need to tell you. But you have to keep it quiet.” I say and he nods. I come into his room and he closes and locks the door behind us. He turns on his lamp.
“What the heck is this about Shelda? You never disobey the curfew.” Damian says has we sit on his bed.
“Listen I know I do but this is extremely important. You know that Druid that everyone is talking about?” I say and he nods his head. “Well I am that druid. I got the power passed down from the last druid, but the power doesn’t last forever, in fact I can’t save anyone anymore because I saved you.” I look into his deep green-blue eyes.
“Wait what?!” He asks in surprise.
“I’m the druid.” I repeat.
“How and why!” He asked.
“Well the last druid was the leader of the Garthar clan. He saw that I was motivated and decided to give me his power. See the druid can only use their power to save and kill only once. I saved you so I cannot save anyone else, but I can kill one of the Wizards. I have a hunch of who it is but I need more proof so I’m waiting a little bit longer. The problem is I need to give someone my power so that after I’m done the druid legacy will still live on.”
“Wow…who are you giving it to?” Damian asks.
“I want to give it to you. You are so motivated it practically says it on your arm. You also love your village and have courage. I think you are the best. I want to give my power to you now but you won’t be able to activate it until I’m done using the rest of the energy I have left. Will you be willing?”
“Shelda,” Damian’s face softens, “Of course I’d be willing.”
“Even if the procedure includes cutting your arm?” I ask.
“Yes anything for the village.” He says and rolls up his sleeves and puts out his arm. I practically tear up. “Plus it’ll heal and I can help the village like how you have.” I smile and pull out a knife from my back pocket.
“Ready?” I ask. He nods and looks straight to my eyes.
“Do it.” He says. I take the knife and poke his skin. I only make I tiny cut, just enough to put the energy in his body. As I cut the blood drips onto the bed and I hear a small yelp from Damian who is still looking at me. Once the cut is made I put the knife away and put my hand over the cut. I feel energy being split and going into him. Slowly but surely the cut heals as the energy flows in Damian.
ReplyDelete“There it’s done.” I say and he looks at his cut in surprise. “Now before you are finished with your power you must do the same thing I did to someone you think is fit for the job.” He nods and I get up.
“Thank you so much for doing this.” I say, “I really appreciate it.” Before I leave he wraps me in his arms.
“Keep this village safe ok Damian?” I say and he nods into my hair. He lets go and I go off back to my home.” I look at the midnight paper and figured out that Kyle was killed in the night. I frown he was the one that could see into the souls of the people and determine if they were good or evil. He was so helpful I’m upset that he’s gone. But this also narrows down to only a couple people. I know who to kill.
“Ok everyone awake.” My dad says, “During the night Danny was killed.” Danny flips his card over and he was the Seer. I try not to get upset. But I know who the Wizards are so I’m ready for the night to kill the one. That round nothing happens and it’s finally night time. As soon as my dad tells the druid to wake up, I lift my head up.
“Ok listen I know that what I’m about to do could kill me but I’m ready to take that list. I can’t tell you who the Wizard is but I can tell you that they will be gone tonight. And I’ve passed my powers down to a great successor.” I explain to the selected people who know about my power. The nod and put a blessing on me before I get up and leave. As I walk out the door I get a gut feeling, like the feeling when you’re about to jump into the river from the top of the cliff. You’re scared but yet thrilled at the same time. I walk up to the house where that second to last Wizard is. I would have never guessed that this girl was the Wizard that caused all this panic in the village. I stare at the door. My own sister is the Wizard, the trust worthy, sweetheart and I have to kill her. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I open the door and it shuts automatically behind me.
“I’ve been expecting you to come sis.” Her voice seems evil and dark. I shiver at the sound.
“Well you won’t get any mercy just because you’re my sister.” I run at her and a fight ensues. The battle is tense and ah harsh. I feel blood drip down my side when one of my sisters spells cut my side open. I use my power and pinned her to the ground. I see fear in her eyes, and the realization hits. I have to kill my sister. I pull up my fist for the last blow that will end her life. But my tears and will stop me.
“WHY! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! YOU WERE MY SISTER!!! I TRUSTED YOU!!! So why?” I yell at her, the tears falling on her blood stained face.
“You wouldn’t understand if I told you.” She said in a voice like I told you so. I close my eyes and deliver the final blow, with my heart heavy and my tears flowing. I step off of her and can’t look at her dying form. Because the Wizards were connected, when the two were killed off the third one dies almost immediately. I sit on the floor crying. I can’t believe that a person of my same blood was the killer of dozens of people. For the first time I look at my sisters deceased form. I stare through my tear glossed eyes. I hear the door open. Damian practically runs up to me since he lives next door he must have heard us fighting. I take some of the fabric from the floor and wrap my side.
ReplyDelete“What the heck happened Shelda?” he asks as he looks at my sister.
“Sh-she,” I try to say through my cries, “She was the Wizard, I had to kill her.” Damian looks at me with surprise, and sadness. He hugs me.
“At least the village is safe.” I say into his shoulder. I can’t bring myself to move so I just sit there as he hugs me. “Why her? Damian? She was amazing and everything I was striving towards. So why did she have to become a Wizard.” I ask frustrated. There is a long silence. Damian didn’t have an answer for me but eventually he did answer.
“I don’t have an answer for that but I can tell you that no matter what your sister would not have been able to change. Once someone becomes a Wizard it’s extremely hard to back down and change.” I nod my head when Damian says that though I don’t really believe it. “Come on you should go to bed. I have to head back before anyone finds out I was gone.” I nod as he get up and holds out a helping hand. I take it and hug him so tightly like he’s all I have left in life.
“Ok ok. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says as I nod and let go. I look at my stairwell and slowly ascend the steps to my room. I plop down on my bed and close my eyes. Before I know it I’m fast asleep.
“Ok everyone open your eyes.” My dad says. I open my eyes and smile. Sarah was the Wizard and that means that when I chose her to die the villagers win! “Sarah was killed in the night.” When Sarah flips her card over the villagers smile and slap fives. And the game is finally over. I wonder if each game could have its own plot line? I must tell you that’d be so cool. Maybe is should write one? Any way after the Wizards game the day progresses as it usually does. Fun and action packed.
My name is Ana and I was abandoned by my mother. Maya told me I was left in a garbage can and apparently it is common for mothers like mine to do that. She said that mothers like mine would get killed and knowing so made them hide. With a crying baby, hiding was impossible. “You have to be cruel to survive in a cruel world,” she would always tell me to excuse my mother. I never had a mother or father but over the years I have come to the conclusion that to have one must feel like the bond Maya and I had. She had always looked out for me, for as long as I can remember. I am only sixteen years old and not much has happened these past years. Everything that I know, the few words and overall knowledge was all taught to me by Maya’s wisdom. She said she went to school and described to me how it was. No one where we lived went to school so I guess I was not missing out on much. Maya never really spoke to me unless it was to teach me something. She would do it in a serious manner and the only times I heard her laugh was when I tripped or bumped my head into something. She would quickly stop though and turn the other way. I would be in pain, but it would go away as soon I heard her laughter. It warmed my heart for some reason even though she seemed to never care if I was ok or not. She never allowed me to call her mom or anything but her first name; she said she did not want to get attached. She said getting attached to someone is the worst thing one can do now in days, and I did not understand why. She never allowed to me to leave the house, unless it was to get some food from the only active building there was in our block. We would have to run through and it had to be sometime in the afternoon when the block was almost empty. I had to wear a hoodie and a whole bunch of clothing. I loved the winter time because it was the only time I got a glimpse of what it felt like to leave the room. Only those building owners were allowed to know about my existence and thanks to them Maya and I have survived and have been fed throughout the years. They did not demonstrate kindness towards me with words but their provision proved to me they must have cared. Usually Maya would get the food and I would have to stay home and wait. She said it was too dangerous out there for a girl like me.
ReplyDeleteMaya was colored, had black hair, dark eyes and easily blended in with everyone else but I always stood out because of my pale skin, blond hair and light blue eyes. I never found out where I was from and Maya was too afraid to ever report me because the things they did to abandoned children was terrible; there were too many too keep. She named me Ana, after her daughter that died and we lived in California but that is all she would tell me about my “background”. Maya told me she would only teach me the common sense I needed to survive and the rules I should never break. She said talking about what happened to the world around us was too depressing and she never wanted to cry again. Maya conserved me out of the bit of benevolence there was in her heart. I never met another person but her, since I had to live hidden my whole entire life. I would peek outside and see a few people sometimes but never anyone who had any of the features I have. The nicest thing Maya told me was that “back in her days” I would have been considered beautiful. Now that I’m sixteen I’m taller than Maya and I feel like I don’t fit in therefore I always thought I was ugly, but Maya told me she still thinks I’m a pretty girl. She said that in other times I’d be considered perfect. I always wore the same clothes because I never did anything so I never smelled like she did after her job…that was her excuse for smelling funny. She worked for the people who own the building but never told me what she did. I just know that all day I would be alone and even though everything remained in silence, knowing Maya was near me made me feel complete. I never felt love. I never felt hate. I know for a fact though, that I felt fear. My biggest fear was life without Maya; she was everything to me and even though she told me not too, I became attached to her. I learned a couple days ago that she became attached to me too.
DeleteA couple days ago I made the worse mistake possible. I decided that I was sick of being enclosed in a room. I wanted to find out what the big deal about going out was. I waited for Maya to fall asleep like she would always do in the afternoon and I snuck out. I never disobeyed her but the adrenaline I felt as I opened the door quietly was actually satisfying. I could not resist my desire to leave. When I walked out, everything was black and dark like it usually was. Smoke filled the air everywhere and it was quite hard to see. Breathing becomes difficult to do, even during the winter when you’re outside. There was hardly anybody on my street but I always knew that past my block there was actually movement. Maya always told me and not even she went down there. I swallowed every bit of fear I had of breaking Maya’s rules and continued to go down the street. There was so much commotion. Crime was in every corner. Everybody’s clothing was worn out and ripped. There were two men fighting for a roll of bread. A child snatched a lady’s basket of bread too and ran along as the old lady was cursing him out and throwing rocks at him. They were all darker than Maya and some just the same as her. There was no peace to be seen like the calmness that was found in our room. I was hiding behind a garbage can and I started to feel distressed, so as I tried to weasel back, something terrible occurred. Three men and a lady saw me, they started yelling and saying atrocious things to me. I started running away without turning back and I made my way back to Maya—I didn’t know what they planned on doing to me, I just know they were enraged and full of hate towards me. I finally got to my room and abruptly shut my door. I lost them, I knew I did. Maya was standing in front of me and had a very disappointed look on her face. To my surprise, she was crying. The one thing she never wanted to do, I made her do. I felt a sense of guilt overtake my being and I embraced her. I felt her hug me back but quickly she pushed me away. She became angry and in an outburst said I was a burden to her. She told me that she regretted rescuing me and that I overtook her life like my “kind” at one point over took the world. She said that because of the overtaking my “kind” had done, people of color decided to come together and eliminate my “kind” from this planet, for all the harm that it had done. Because of her outburst, she explained to me everything I need to understand why I have grown in these circumstances. She said that this world has become so cruel that there is no government or police that could take control of it. To survive you have to get rid of anything in your way. Humans have stopped caring. Children have stopped being made and if they ever were they were killed. She said that humans are killing each other and that soon humanity will come to its end. She confessed that she would soon die and that the reason for her death was because she cared about me. She embraced me. The doors were being banged and we knew that they were looking for me. I told her to escape and to let me die like the consequences for my actions were originally supposed to be. “I refuse to leave you. I refuse to become evil like the rest. You have given me a reason to live all these years. If you have to die, so will I Ana,” she reassured me.
Delete***
Right now, I am in another part of the world…definitely not California. It’s full of people of my kind. We are tortured daily and it’s a complete nightmare. Maya was executed because she had hidden me for so many years. That blocked I lived in apparently was unknown to everyone past it. No wonder there was hardly anybody outside. They all got their punishment, all because of my curiosity. Remember the building owned by those people who provided us with food? They were slaughtered. Maya always told me I was too nice to survive in a cruel world, but she was wrong. I’m evil and caused nothing but cruelty to anyone around me. All she did was to be good to me. Me? I caused her to die and caused the lives of the very few who did not want to become evil like the rest to get ruined. There comes a time when all of us white people are executed. Once I turn 20 I will be executed, just for being white and to be honest…I cannot wait.
DeleteI love this. What a great idea. And the last line makes the whole thing. Great job.
DeleteIt was mid-March in the year of 1795. I was bringing a ship full of African American slaves over to the United States. Although I never thought slavery was right or should be accepted by society, this was my job, and believe it or not, it paid well. I did not have much of a choice, if it was going to feed my family and take care of them; I was going to stay with it.
ReplyDeleteOne morning after a restless night of no sleep, I was manning the wheel at approximately 6:45 am. Everyone was yelling and moaning. All of the sudden, I hear a voice roaring over everyone else’s. It was the captain of the ship, the man who was in charge of every single slave on the ship. All I could tell from his screams was that he was not happy. He was treating the slaves so terribly, even worse than he usually does. This really did not make much sense to me because if you are bringing slaves to another country, I would think that you would want to preserve them as much as you possibly could. We know that you cannot save them from being sick, or dying of disease, but you do not want to torture them if they are just going to be to your benefit later on. Regardless, I was not pleased with how he was acting. I knew it was not my place, nor would it ever be my place to say something, so I kept quiet. However, while my mouth was closed, my mind was open. I was brewing up a plan to help these slaves, somehow, someway.
About a week or so later, I had come up with a plan. I was going to wait until everyone was asleep, so around 3 a.m. Once I was certain that the ship was in bed for the night, I was going to use the captain’s keys that I had “borrowed” earlier to unlock something in the basement. What he did not know was that I was going to keep the keys and help the slaves escape. I was going to steer the boat as close to a shoreline as I could so that they would be able to jump off the edge of the boat and swim ashore safely. Then, to make sure I could not be blamed for it, I snuck the keys back into the captain’s cabin, and pretend to fall asleep at the wheel.
That night my plan began to unfold. I had retrieved the keys and now all I had to do was wait for the place to be silent. I waited a few hours and began phase two. I crept into the section where we stored all of the slaves.
Very quietly I motioned to the closest one and said, “I am here to help you. Today is the day you will all be free.”
He looked confused, perhaps he did not understand. Then he began to piece words together and spoke. “You are good?” he asked with a stutter.
With a smile I replied, “Yes, you can trust me. You are safe now.”
This man seemed as though he had just found a pot of gold. The next phase took place and I found myself steering the ship wide left to the closest shoreline. I made sure the slaves stayed in their cells so it seemed that they were still chained up. Once I had the boat in position, I brought the slaves out onto the deck and started instructing them to jump over the edge of the boat and swim as fast as the possibly could to the shore. I was amazed that they understood, as simple as the instructions were. I met up with the slave I had spoken to earlier that night. We both looked at each other for a few seconds and then he spoke. “Thank you this. It means so much that you would risk everything you have for us, who mean nothing to you.”
With difficulty, I figured out what he was saying and responded, “You do not have to thank me. I am just trying to do what is right.”
Pain, love, hate, envy, guilt, excitement, sorrow I live in a world where none of those things exist. There is no such thing as feelings. Feelings are native to this world I live in. In a past life, to not have any feelings was extremely abnormal. In this life that I live in now, I’m the abnormal one because I have feelings. I’m living sort of a double life; a life where I have to act like a robot to the world and keep my feelings a secret. I wouldn’t dare tell a living soul that I was able to feel things. No one understands how hard it is too hide what I’m feeling inside. Every day a million emotions are thrown upon me and I can’t express a single one. My biggest fear is that I will soon lose my so called magically power of how to feel because I’m hiding my feelings so often. Even though these feeling put me through pain sometimes I wouldn’t dare wish for them to ever go away. I actually look at having feelings as some sort of an odd blessing.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t always like this. There was a time when I was just as heartless as everyone around me. What they call normal as well did I. It was as if I was living in black and white. Everything was so boring and there was no excitement. Amazing things would happen but there would be no reaction. Now that I look at it, it’s a very strange way to live. But I once lived like that as well. It’s very strange, because when someone would pass away, we would have a funeral, and do all of those things one would normally do when someone passes, but nobody felt the sorrow. We all act upon things, but don’t feel. It was if we were living robots. We could care less if a person died, that was just one less person in our life. We didn’t think of the happy times together and the fact that they are gone makes us want to cry. We had blank expressions. There was no such thing as a smile or frown. Yes, we did them, we had facial expressions, but they had no meaning. If one were to laugh at a funeral no one would think anything of it. We would cry from time to time, I mean it’s only natural to cry however there was no meaning behind that either.
To explain this all to one who lives in a life of feelings is extremely hard. The world revolves around feelings, believe it or not. So to explain this, it’s very challenging. I feel that the life I live in is unbelievable to some. It’s just so unnatural; a concept hard to grasp. I mean I will say, it has its benefits but I rather pick living a life of feelings. Feeling pain is something no one wants to feel, so in this life it’s a benefit to not feel it. However, many learn from pain so in this life there is no true full learning experience that one gets from themself. We learn from what we are taught by teachers and parents. Therefore, we are just book smart in this life; we aren’t “street” smart. In a life where there were once feelings everyone learned from experiences, those experiences revolve around feelings. Those feelings are what made others realize what made them happy, and what brought them pain. Off of those results it makes them learn and they build upon that and create their own unique personality. Here in this time I’m living; no one truly has a personality. It’s just a name and some simple facts, no preferences.
The day that I received feelings is unforgettable. From that moment on I knew that my life was going to change. And I was right. The first feeling that I experienced was disappointment. Of course, I would get one of the worst feelings one could possible feel. I felt this the day that my dad left my family and I. I was devastated; I just didn’t understand why he did that. To this day I still don’t understand. To be honest I know that he didn’t understand because the man has no feelings. I guess one day he just deceived to leave. It doesn’t make sense to why he would do it. I will never forget when I walked in the house that day. The words that my mother said are now drilled into my head.
Delete“Carrey, I wanted to let you know that your father has left us. You will no longer be seeing him in this house. Is that fully understood?”
“Ok, Mother. I’m going to my room now.”
I went up to my room and just sat on my bed. I was going to proceed in my normal daily routine but something just felt strange. I was confused, and scared. I couldn’t pinpoint what was bothering me so much. I just sat there and started crying. My head felt like it was going to explode because it was so filled with different thoughts. It was strange because these tears that were rolling off my face were followed by emotion. It was as if each tear gave me a different emotion of devastation. With the knowledge that I was provide with in school after I put together all the pieces to this mystery I realized that I was experiencing feelings. At that moment I felt as if I was the chosen one. I was a bit puzzled as to why it was me that was chosen but I looked at it as a gift. My feelings immediately changed to happy ones. Those happy feelings made me love what was happening to me. I never wanted to lose this power. I wanted to tell someone but I knew I couldn’t. They just wouldn’t understand nor would they believe me. So I just decided that I was going to keep this a secret.
When I picked to keep this a secret I had no idea how hard it was actually going to be. It just sucks that I have love for people in my life that I know will never be able to love me back. Sometimes I just want to run into my mother’s arms and cry because of things that are going on in my life but I can’t. It’s unfortunate that no one around me will ever be able to feel what I feel. Despite the down side of this all there are still many good things that I wish I could share with others. Sometimes I wonder to myself if anyone else is like me. I truly believe that there is at least one other person out there that is able to feel but is hiding it as well. I mean it just doesn’t seem realistic that I would be the only one. I have hopes that I will one day meet this person. Even though they will be hiding it I know that I will be able to see through them. However, what I wish for the most is that one day everyone will be able to feel again.
It was mid-March in the year of 1795. I was bringing a ship full of African American slaves over to the United States. Although I never thought slavery was right or should be accepted by society, this was my job, and believe it or not, it paid well. I did not have much of a choice, if it was going to feed my family and take care of them; I was going to stay with it.
ReplyDeleteOne morning after a restless night of no sleep, I was manning the wheel at approximately 6:45 am. Everyone was yelling and moaning. All of the sudden, I hear a voice roaring over everyone else’s. It was the captain of the ship, the man who was in charge of every single slave on the ship. All I could tell from his screams was that he was not happy. He was treating the slaves so terribly, even worse than he usually does. This really did not make much sense to me because if you are bringing slaves to another country, I would think that you would want to preserve them as much as you possibly could. We know that you cannot save them from being sick, or dying of disease, but you do not want to torture them if they are just going to be to your benefit later on. Regardless, I was not pleased with how he was acting. I knew it was not my place, nor would it ever be my place to say something, so I kept quiet. However, while my mouth was closed, my mind was open. I was brewing up a plan to help these slaves, somehow, someway.
About a week or so later, I had come up with a plan. I was going to wait until everyone was asleep, so around 3 a.m. Once I was certain that the ship was in bed for the night, I was going to use the captain’s keys that I had “borrowed” earlier to unlock something in the basement. What he did not know was that I was going to keep the keys and help the slaves escape. I was going to steer the boat as close to a shoreline as I could so that they would be able to jump off the edge of the boat and swim ashore safely. Then, to make sure I could not be blamed for it, I snuck the keys back into the captain’s cabin, and pretend to fall asleep at the wheel.
That night my plan began to unfold. I had retrieved the keys and now all I had to do was wait for the place to be silent. I waited a few hours and began phase two. I crept into the section where we stored all of the slaves.
Very quietly I motioned to the closest one and said, “I am here to help you. Today is the day you will all be free.”
He looked confused, perhaps he did not understand. Then he began to piece words together and spoke. “You are good?” he asked with a stutter.
With a smile I replied, “Yes, you can trust me. You are safe now.”
This man seemed as though he had just found a pot of gold. The next phase took place and I found myself steering the ship wide left to the closest shoreline. I made sure the slaves stayed in their cells so it seemed that they were still chained up. Once I had the boat in position, I brought the slaves out onto the deck and started instructing them to jump over the edge of the boat and swim as fast as the possibly could to the shore. I was amazed that they understood, as simple as the instructions were. I met up with the slave I had spoken to earlier that night. We both looked at each other for a few seconds and then he spoke. “Thank you this. It means so much that you would risk everything you have for us, who mean nothing to you.”
With difficulty, I figured out what he was saying and responded, “You do not have to thank me. I am just trying to do what is right.”
ReplyDeleteWith that, he dove into the icy water, swimming for his life. I watched him go into the fog for a few minutes and then went back to steering the ship back onto its original course. By the time everyone had woken from their slumber, it was around 8:45 am. Surprisingly, nobody had said anything about the missing slaves all day. I was extremely puzzled as to why there has not been any reaction to the situation. The entire crew, with the exception of me, went the entire day without saying a word. Making the assumption that they had not yet realized what had happened, I let it go and waited for someone to figure it out.
Late in the afternoon the next day, all of a sudden I heard a loud shriek. I went down into the basement only to find the captain staring into the cells that used to contain hundreds of slaves but was now barren with only dust on the wooden boards underneath our feet.
“Where are they?!?” My captain shouted in my face.
I responded as if I were completely clueless, “I have no idea what you are talking about Sir. I have not been down here since last week. At that time they were still locked up.”
The captain was fuming! He had the entire crew searching all over the ship to try and find at least one slave. Nobody had any luck in the search. Now, losing slaves like this could result in a very severe punishment, so the Captain was starting to panic. He did not know what to do! Apparently he settled on something because some of the other crew members along with me found him dead in his cabin late one night. We performed the proper burial at sea to honor this man for everything he has done and all that he stood for. When we finally arrived at the port in which we were ordered to deliver the slaves, we did not wait for anyone to say a word to us. We were off that ship in the blink of an eye. As I began my journey to a new place I felt a sense of joy deep inside. For I knew what I did was right. As I figure out where I am going to bring my family, I regret nothing that I have done. Those men and women are free now. Much like myself and the entire population, that is what they deserved to be all along.
The red white and black flags on each corner of the barracks fluttered in the frigid mountain wind, peppering the grounds and rows of soldiers with white specks of snow. Gathered on the makeshift stage that had been assembled in the center of the grounds were three chairs, the presence of those sitting in them was enough to leave every soldier’s jaw on the dirt.
ReplyDeleteOn the far left was Sergeant Wallace, the man that each and every one of the soldiers gathered there that day had come to know as their friend, brother, and father. He’d overseen their training at the barracks and could call each soldier by name along with his weapon of choice. They’d lucked out with getting him as their Sergeant, as he was the most personal and morale focused of the four that had taken on a new group of recruits. His technique was mostly due to the fact that he’d just come out of retirement and was much more relaxed about things than his freshly promoted contemporaries. His bleach blond hair was tied back, and a pearly white smile of pride was spread across his face that exaggerated his wrinkles and disrupted his blond-gray stubble.
To the right side sat the High Overseer. Her long auburn hair hung down below her shoulders, her beautiful topaz colored eyes set in contrast to her stern face. She was the head of the armies of the Syndicate, and as far as command went, the only one whose word was over hers was the King. She came to very few promotion ceremonies that were held anywhere other than the barracks that was at the capital, which was why her presence had the men so on edge. She added an extra, darker chill in the air. She was very young for a High Overseer, though, no more than thirty. With that came a slew of conspiracy theories, however, so she was in no way the favorite.
“You ready for today Paul?” asked Charles, the Deacon of our church, giving me a grin.
ReplyDeleteThe whole church was abuzz with excitement over today’s baptism. St. Johns Church has administered many baptisms, but never one like this.
Only about a week ago I had received a call to book an appointment for this baptism.
“And what is the name and age of the child?” I asked, grabbing a pen and paper.
Disregarding the fact that I’d said child, he answered, “My name is William Harrison and I just turned eighty last Tuesday.”
As I was about to write down this information I paused. “Excuse me sir, did you say eighty?”
“Yep, as of last Tuesday,” he repeated.
“Oh,” I said momentarily confused. “And Mr. Harrison this baptism is for you?” I was having some trouble understanding.
“Yes,” he replied. “And I’d really appreciate it if we could get it done within the next week or so, I’m getting older by the second you know. I don’t have a whole lot of time to waste.”
I chuckled, though I wasn’t entirely sure the man was joking. “Alright Mr. Harrison. Does Thursday at noon sound good to you?”
“That would be fine,” Mr. Harrison said. “See you then,” and before I could reply he hung up the phone.
I sat praying while I waited for people to arrive for the baptism. At about minutes after the clock struck noon, an old man arrived all by himself.
I walked to up to greet him,” Mr. Harrison,” I said sticking my hand out towards him.
He grabbed my hand with his, more firmly than I had expected. “Father,” he replied.
In description of his physical appearance he looked like any stereotypical old man ought to. He was a shortish man with a slight gut, a wrinkled face and thin greyish white hair. But there was something about him that was different, not just from any old men I’d ever seen, but from all men in general. I’d noticed it when he first walked in. Something about the way he walked, with a confidence, as if the floor were laying itself out with every step the man took, just for him. And when I took his hand, my eye caught his, and I couldn’t help but notice the depth that they held. He seemed, without having spoken hardly any words to me, to be the wisest old man I’d ever met.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I said as we released each other’s hands. “I have to admit I’ve been very curious to meet you.”
“Oh,” he said,” and why is that?” he asked as we walked up onto the alter.
We stopped on either side of the podium and face one another. “Well it’s just that,” I paused, unsure what to say for a moment. “I mean, I’ve probably done a hundred baptisms before, but this would be my first with a man of your age. But, better late than never I guess,” I said chuckling.
“Yes,” Mr. Harrison said, his face unchanging. “Shall we start this then?”
“Oh, is no one else coming?” I asked, looking around the church to see if anyone else had entered.
“No, just me,” he said and coughed. “Can’t imagine why anyone would want to see an old man get water splashed on his face.”
Eureka! The finds of the dig were astounding! There was more than they ever could have hoped to find. The apocalyptic rubble seemed too deep to pierce through, but after days and days of digging, something crucial was unearthed. Something monumental.
ReplyDeleteAether was brimming with enthusiasm when he rushed back to base camp to present his findings to the head of the expedition. He struggled to determine which things to carry and which to leave because everything was so relevant! So real! So important! He tried to narrow down his selection of salvage, but all was in vain when he thought he could carry everything in his arms. As he was running as fast as his legs could carry him, he somehow to sloppily carried everything in his hands. Just imagine the looks on their faces, he thought.
The tent was in sight. He began to fantasize how the upcoming interaction would play out. He pictured the leader of the dig, Princeps, to applaud him. Glorify him. Tell the news and the rest of the people how great of a job he had done. When he reached the tent, he excitedly yanked open the zipper door and burst in.
“Princeps! Look! I’ve found something!” Aether exclaimed breathlessly.
Princeps turned around and glanced at Aether before turning back and politely dismissing other members of the expedition who were conversing with her. Princeps was a tall, dignified woman with a deep, sultry, but warm voice. She was wearing the same standard gear as the Aether and all the others on the site: tight, navy blue leggings with white metal, almost robotic-looking kneepads, similar-looking boots with accents matching the color of the leggings, a white cloth tunic made of a durable fabric and gloves with rough palms with detachable fingers. Hers had a special badge embroidered on it near the breast indicating her authority over the project. She set down her clipboard on a table behind her and walked over to Aether without another word to examine his findings, astounded and somewhat overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity of what he had presented before her.
“Where did you find these?” She asked, after a moment of examining the first artifact, a stack of innumerable sheets of a thin, cloth-like substance with somewhat denser, darker-colored plates on either side, connected by a rigid strip of the same material and color of the plates, to which the other pieces of cloth were attached. She looked so deeply into his eyes that he became even more flustered than he already was.
“B-back over—uhm—there. Yeah, over there.” He let out anxiously, trying to point behind him from whence he had come, but unable to escape his superior’s subtly powerful gaze.
Aether was a young, up-and-coming student of pre-Purgo history. The Purgo was the name that scholars had given to the ultimate purge of all life before their societies came to be. No one knew what happened, or why it happened, just that it did, and it was up to people like Aether and Princeps to find out. He was a rare combination of gifted, eager, and respectful. His short, dark hair and pale skin was just the same as everyone else’s. Diversity was uncommon in their society.
Princeps took the artifact and carried it over to the equipment, and motioned Aether to follow her, and place the other findings on a table.
The technology they had at their disposal was the only the latest and greatest. It could decipher words and characters of far gone languages and even determine when an artifact originated in relation to the current time. Princeps took the artifact and placed it in the chamber to be analyzed. The amount of information the machine recovered was astounding. The screens filled in seconds with words and images presumably contained at some point in time on the pieces of cloth. She took a step back to take in all the flashing images. They stood, their eyes moving rapidly.
“I’ve seen one of these before,” Princeps began, aloofly. “It’s called a ‘book.’ The people before the Purgo used them to store information. Remarkable, really, how much they could store without the advanced technology we have.”
“I can see that.” Aether said, marveling at how fast the images on the screens were moving, making sense of the ancient languages and images.
DeletePrinceps stepped forward to the operation center of the massive computer system and began to examine the information contracted from the book.
“It tells of a place called ‘Geneva,’” she said inquisitively. “It seems a number of important things happened there; apparently, the most powerful nations in the world convened there and created a set of rules for war.”
“What exactly are some of those rules?” Aether asked, drawing closer to her.
“Well, it dictates how to treat prisoners of war, and which weapons to use and which not to.” She paused. “It’s interesting how so many people could come together and agree on so many different things.”
Aether was obviously not as interested in the specifics of what was stored in this magical, pre-society “book” thing. He was occupied by his delusions of grandeur, of what the authorities on pre-Purgo history or the Syndicate (the governing council of the society) would give him. Perhaps the more riches than he could ever imagine, or a position in the highest order of intellectuals and innovators that was so prestigious, he didn’t even know it existed. He tried to get Princeps’ attention, which was clearly full of fascination with the findings.
“So, uhm, when are you going to show this to the authorities?” Aether asked impatiently, trying his hardest not to come off as rude.
It took time for Princeps to grasp the fact that she was now engaged in conversation. “Hm? Oh, yes. Them. Perhaps I will at the end of the day tomorrow.” She answered, distantly, not taking her eyes off the screens.
“Why so long from now?!” Aether interjected. “What if we lose it, or someone else finds something better?”
The room is dark always dark. Curtains over the windows and never can open them. Soldiers march the streets looking for anyone to capture. When I got to the house to hide I was 10 now I’m going to be 12. Two years I have been stuck in a small dark room with nothing to do except read and write about my days here, I cannot go outside, I cannot look out the window, and I cannot do anything, but sit in the room. I was the only one in my family to make it from our house to the house of the people hiding us without getting caught. My mom, dad, brother, and sister were all caught and taken to a concentration camp, I do not know if they are alive or not, but I guess we will find out once this ends,if it ever ends. The people hiding me have one child of their own that is the same age as me and take care of me to. Their son visits me every day because he knows how lonely it gets. His parents only visit me when they need to hide me or bring me food, something to drink and water for me to wash myself with, they do not visit me much because they have to keep a watchful eye on the streets so if they see a soldier coming they can come and hide me. Life is lonely, my family is gone, no contact with the outside world, and nothing to do anymore. Tonight is a special night for the family's son it is his birthday and they have a few family members over to celebrate. They cannot see me until everyone is gone because no one knows they are hiding me. They feed me before everyone gets there so I do not get to hungry because they do not know when everyone will leave. I can hear the family downstairs laughing, talking, and enjoying the moment, it brings tears to my eyes. That use to be my family laughing, talking, and enjoying every moment we had together, I never thought I would be siting in a small dark room by myself and not knowing if my family is still alive. Tears run down my face as I lay on the bed listening to the family downstairs, I hold it in so no one hears me, but tears still fall. I cried myself to sleep. That morning the family came to check on me and bring me my breakfast. They knew not to talk about the birthday party because they knew it would hurt me knowing I lost my family. After the family left and taking my empty plate, I could hear foot steps running up the stairs. The boy came rushing into the room yelling at me to get in the small cabinet. I climbed into the cabinet my heart was pounding, heavy foot steps came up the stairs, and the soldiers sung open the door. They ransacked through the room I herd the foot steps getting closer and closer to the cabinet my heart started beating faster and faster, but I stayed as quiet as I could. The foot steps stopped right in front of the cabinet. My only thought was that this was this is my last time in this house hopefully I will be with my family. The soldier moved the foot steps sounded farther and farther away.
ReplyDeleteMy heart slowly went back to beating normal. Another set of foot steps came up the stairs and a voice said they are gone. I climbed out of the cabinet and sat on the floor taking a deep breath and realizing how lucky I was I did not get caught. I got up and sat on the bed and started thinking why am I living like this, no family left, no freedom, no nothing. I just wanted to be caught so in hope I might be with my family again, or at least be taken from this place even though life won't be better. I lied in bed all day not moving just thinking, and crying. The boy's mom came upstairs to comfort me after her son told her I was crying. I told her all I was feeling and she told me she knows it is hard, but just to hang in because it will all be over soon. Days and days went by same thing everyday just sitting in a room doing nothing and no outside. Everyday life gets worse, more people getting captured, more people getting killed, and I still do not know anything about my family. I have been crying myself to sleep almost every night with thoughts running through my head. One being what happens if my family is not alive with these people be kind enough to take me in and love me like they do their own child or will they get rid of me, and not want anything to do with me. One day the family went out for the day running around shopping. They of course took care of me before leaving. They told me to stay in the room and if I herd foot steps hide. When the family was out it gave me time to think about things. I walked over to the door and opened it and looked down the stairs thinking this would be the perfect time to at least go downstairs because I have not seen anything for 2 years. I shut the door thinking it was a bad idea. I walked from one end of the room to the other several times thinking of what I should do. Finally, I opened the door and walked down the stairs onto the second floor and then walked down into the kitchen and walked over to the door. I just wanted to outside I have not seen the outside in 2 years and this was my perfect chance to see the outside again. I opened the door and walked outside. It was exactly how I remember it.
DeleteI like the ending - what happens to her? Are the troubles over?
DeleteAt the time I had no idea what was going on. I can remember some things vividly like it just happened. Other memories flash by my mind. Sometimes the memories come out of nowhere, filling me with grief. I try not to think about the past but it’s hard when everywhere you turn something reminds you of them. Like a persons laugh, or the way they say something, or the way they look. Last week while I was at a cafe, I saw a young girl who had eyes bluer than the sky above.When i saw those eyes all I could think about was mum, and her blue eyes. As a child I always wondered what grief felt like, for I had never experienced it. The pain is unlike any other. It rips your heart, your soul apart with no mercy. For others, there is no pain, no emotion, no nothing. I rather be in pain than feel absolutely nothing. I remember the day it happened, the day that changed everything.It was early in the morning, Papa and I were the only ones up.I layed there awake, and just lisetned to Papa. He tiptoed down the stairs or at least he tried to. A loud clang rang up the stairs, followed by Papa cussing. I laughed and then got up carefully, making sure not to wake mum. I watched him from the steps as he made his coffee and whistled his favourite tune. Papa then grabbed his coffee and paper, and plopped himself onto the couch. I loved it when we were home. At home no one could judge us or classify us because of what we believed in. Papa didn't even look up,but he told me to come sit next to him. I sat there for awhile wondering how he knew I was there, when I finally asked him. He told me with a smile “A father always knows.”. I was about to ask him another question when I loud bang came from the door. Papa froze, then got up slowly and looked out the window. I could see that it was two soldiers,they banged on the door again harder this time. Mum came rushing down the stairs in her robe and asked Papa who it was. He gave her a grave look and turned his head to the banging. I was so scared. What was going on? Why were there soldiers at our door? My mother took a deep breath and opened the door. The men looked furious and demanded to talk to my father. Mum turned to me and told me to go to my room. I ran upstairs and slammed by door shut. I wanted to cry, I could tell that something bad was going to happen. I remember I wondered why bad things always happened to us. A lot of people lived peacefully and were allowed to do the things they wanted. Why were we only allowed to do certain things and only when the soldiers told us to? I sat there frustrated not understanding the world I lived in.--
ReplyDeleteMum and Papa came in a few minutes later and hugged me. We just sat there hugging each other,it made me sad;it made me feel like we were saying goodbye. In fact we were but I didn't know. Finally, Papa released me and looked me right in the eye. He told me that the next morning we would have to leave our home, to go on a train that would take us somewhere. I asked him why. He told me the soldiers said so. It was always “the soldiers said so”. My mum began to cry so Papa held her tight against his chest, as I held her pinky. Mum cried for a long time but Papa and I didn’t say anything; I don’t think we knew what to say anyway. Papa rocked her back and forth, like a child. He began to whistle a song that I never heard before;it was a slow song, one you would waltz to. Mum’s crying began to stop, she gave Papa a weak smile and then squeezed my pinky. Papa got up and then bowed down to her with his hand out and said very charmingly “Could I have this dance, Suzanna?” My mother giggled and answered “Why of course Henry!” He swooped her into his arms and then he began to whistle the song again. I watched in awe as my parents danced around the room,laughing and smiling. Papa then stopped and picked me up and now I was dancing around the room with them,laughing and smiling. We danced all the way downstairs into the kitchen. Papa set me down on the counter and told mother and I to close our eyes. So we did. I could hear him opening the fridge and the cabinets where the cup and bowls were. Finally, all the noise stopped and he told us to open our eyes. I couldn’t believe it! Papa had made three bowls of ice cream for us, I thanked him a million times and gave him a great big hug. Mum and Papa looked at me and gave me a sad smile. Mum said that I could sleep with them that night too. I thought that,that night was the best ever until the next morning came. Mum and Papa were so sad, it looked like all the life they had in them the night before was taken away. We walked to the train station hand in hand, each carrying a suitcase. There was a lot of people on the platform and soldiers yelling orders at us. Soldiers began to push people on board, so close that it looked like they were glued together. I didn’t want to go next all those people I told mum. She said “me too”. It was our turn next, the soldiers ordered us to get on board. Papa gave them the meanest look and held my hand tighter. We climbed onto the train until we were squished like everyone else. Papa and Mum made sure that I was in between them. I squeezed their hands in fear as the train doors closed shut. They squeezed them even tighter. The train began to move on its way to bring us somewhere. Oddly enough I smiled, for I knew that we would come home again one day.
ReplyDeleteblah i messed up a little bit
DeleteI thought the part with the dancing was very touching in the situation.
DeleteEverything was perfect in the new land of Zegata. Zegata was a small planet found near Pluto in the year 2020. After the discovery, it was found that human life was able to inhabit the land. No other creators lived here so humans were able to take it over. Plants and animals could also live on this new planet. It didn’t take long for earth to become desolate. Only the rich and famous were able to go. It was created to be “the perfect society”.
ReplyDeleteThe year was 2374; people have been living on Zegata for hundreds of years. Some of the people have never lived or been to Earth. On Zegata they had all the cures; no one had cancer and no one ever good sick. Everyone on Zegata was healthy,young and beautiful. Only a certain number of babies could be born each year and once a person reached 100 years old there were killed by an injection. These rules were in place so Zegata would not become over populated because no one dies.
Back on Earth the world was a different place. People were very poor, sick and dying every day. They didn't have the cures to all the deceases like Zegata. Everyone left on earth dreamed of one day being able to go to Zegata, but sadly no one would. Most people from Earth could never go to Zegata unless they were one of the selected ones. Only the selected ones are allowed to go to Zegata they do not make any exceptions. Of course people have tried and failed to leave earth and make it to Zegata but the journey is much too long without the special spaceship and if they did make it all the way to Zegata they would be killed by the leader of Zegata.
Earth was a horrible place to live. It had run out of most of the natural resources like oil and metals such as gold and silver. Every part of Earth was extremely hot because of global warming. The only way for the people to get around was by walking. People lived in tiny house no matter how big their family was.
In a small area were The United Sates used to be lived a sixteen year old girl named Raya. She lived in a tiny house with her mother and baby brother. Her father was killed about a year ago when a space ship fell out of the shy and killed him and all the men he was working with. This devastated Raya and her family. Her family was extremely poor now that her father was gone. Raya’s mother worked all day to barley make enough to get by. Raya babysat her brother all day. She didn’t go to school because they didn’t have school after elementary school on Earth anymore it was pointless. Raya dreamed everyday of being able to live on Zegata from what she has heard it sounds amazing. She thought that it was perfect no one had to work and you would never get sick.
Each year The Zegata Leader select 5 girl and 5 boys under the age of 18 to go live on Zegata and leave their families behind. They watch Earth to make sure they pick the right people then they come down at the same time every year and all the kids of the town gather together and the selected ones are taken. If you are over 18 there is no hope of you very going to Zegata.
It was that time of ever again and Raya was really nervous 16 years have passed and she had never been selected maybe it was her lucky year she thought. She got her brother ready and left to go to the towns meeting center. All the kids were gathered talking about how excited they were and how much they wanted to get selected. Raya just stood in the corner with her brother. She wasn’t friends with any of the other kids she never really left her house. And she barley remembered the kids she went to school with it was too long ago. The door opened and in walked The Zegata Leaders all five of them stood in the front of the room wearing there space gear because they were not accustomed to Earth.
ReplyDeleteThey began calling out the names Gater, Zoomo, Yayesta, Dayleta, Collow, Keyelei, Magnum, Tiberius, Narthiea and finally....Raya. Those are the Selected Ones, you must decide by tomorrow morning if you would like to come.
Raya was in disbelief she was finally picked but would have to leave her brother and mother behind. It was an exteremly difficult choose. it was the chance of a life time for her she had to take it. no one had ever refused the chance to go to Zegata. So Raya chose to go.
The next morning she had to get on the special space ship with the others selected. She said goodbye to her mother and brother it was one of the hardest things she had ever done.
It was that time of ever again and Raya was really nervous 16 years have passed and she had never been selected maybe it was her lucky year she thought. She got her brother ready and left to go to the towns meeting center. All the kids were gathered talking about how excited they were and how much they wanted to get selected. Raya just stood in the corner with her brother. She wasn’t friends with any of the other kids she never really left her house. And she barley remembered the kids she went to school with it was too long ago. The door opened and in walked The Zegata Leaders all five of them stood in the front of the room wearing there space gear because they were not accustomed to Earth.
They began calling out the names Gater, Zoomo, Yayesta, Dayleta, Collow, Keyelei, Magnum, Tiberius, Narthiea and finally....Raya. Those are the Selected Ones, you must decide by tomorrow morning if you would like to come.
Raya was in disbelief she was finally picked but would have to leave her brother and mother behind. It was an exteremly difficult choose. it was the chance of a life time for her she had to take it. no one had ever refused the chance to go to Zegata. So Raya chose to go.
The next morning she had to get on the special space ship with the others selected. She said goodbye to her mother and brother it was one of the hardest things she had ever done.
Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Nothing but darkness. “For how long?” I wondered out loud. “Shh!” My mother quickly silenced me. I heard a noise outside and automatically jumped up, filled with curiosity. My older sister, Elizabeth instantly grabbed me and stopped me halfway up. She pulled me down and carried me as far from the window as we could get in our small new home. I had so much to say at the moment, but these people never let me do what I wanted! At thirteen years old I was already a young man. My grandpa would always tell me, “Someday you will be in charge of your family.” He was always right, and although he had passed away, I knew it was time for me to step up. My sister took me into the bedroom, where I was sleeping with her and my grandma. “Go to sleep,” she demanded. I refused, it wasn’t even past nine! But she ignored me and simply shut the creaking door as she walked out. I still heard the noise outside, but there were no windows in the room and soon I fell asleep.
ReplyDeleteWhen I woke up the next morning, I was crammed between the wall and my grandma. I hated this arrangement. Why couldn’t I have my own bed like before? I jumped over my grandma to get breakfast in the kitchen. My mom and dad sat drinking their coffee. I waited for Eli to serve my food. It was a slice and a half of bread and a small cup of coffee. The same as the past few days. When I took my first sip it wouldn’t flow down my throat. It tasted like dirty water. I looked up to my sister staring at me. I knew I had to drink it with no complaints. I didn’t understand why. I gulped the drink down and ate my small bread quietly. Mom and dad where whispering about something behind a newspaper. “What’s happening?” I couldn’t take it anymore. I missed my old house, my delicious food, and my best friends. “When can we go back home?” Everyone ignored me. I ran into my room angrily, but it wasn’t much of a run. My grandma was just getting up. There was no privacy in this house! It wasn’t even a house, just a small apartment on the fourth floor. When she finally left the room, I shut the door. There was nothing to do here. We had brought everything we could carry. What had happened to the rest of my stuff? All I could do was wonder. After a shower with cold water, I sat dressed on a seat.
“Today, you have to go look for work with Eli”, my mother informed me. I stared at her, amused. Work? My parents had a million times convinced me that there was no reason for me to want to work at my age. Now, they were sending me to work? Couldn’t someone just simply explain to me what was going on? I happily skipped outside with my sister. It had been days since we had gone out! “Your Star of David, ma’am?” A uniformed officer stopped my sister. She politely answered that she was on her way to get one. “Hurry along!” he commanded. Eli grabbed my arm and walked ten times more quickly as before. “Slow down!” I struggled to keep up.
We reached an area with people making lines. Eli left me in a line where they would assign me a job. I don’t even have to go around asking for somewhere to work, they’ll just hand it to me! She made line to receive what the officer had been talking about. I saw everyone walking around with the Star of David on their arm, it made me want one of my own but Eli said I didn’t’ need one until I was even older. The really old people rarely came out. Once I reached the front of the line, there was a table with more officers. I felt like I was in an interview with all they asked us! They gave me a paper and sent me on my way to work. Other kids and I had to carry heavy potato bags and then separate them into small groups to distribute to the families. I over heard some of the older children saying they "hated living in the ghetto". I didn't understand I thought we all lived here.
ReplyDeleteMaking my way home I realized it was getting dark out. Officers starting lining up at each corner of every street. The sun was going down and curiosity filled me. I would be able to see what all the noise at night was! All the officers probably had fun. I chose to hide behind a big trash can where no one would be able to see me. Other civilians in the community also walked around, probably going home after work as well. Suddenly, a big truck drove by filled with many more officers. These carried large guns. As it began to grow darker and darker, I grew scared. What was going on? a whistle blew. All the men marched along the truck. They saw someone running past them, more than five shots where fired at the person. I was in shock. I didn't understand. The person hadn't done anything. Why had the shot him? I stayed hidden until the men had marched far enough where I could no longer hear their horrific voices, singing happily while killing others.
When I finally made it home, my mother and sister almost beat me. Where were you? They questioned. I was supposed to meet Eli on my way home from work but it had slipped my mind. You could easily see how worried everyone had been. Today had been such a strange day. I assured everyone I was fine. It was time they answered my questions. "Mom, what's a ghetto? I heard it at work. I saw officers kill men. Tell me mom, what's happening?"
The future, a scary thing to think about right? Most people just want to live in the now moment and not want to think about how their actions can pile up. How some of the simplest of things could affect you in the long run. Take for instance the ‘intricate ink’ or what they used to be called in the old text “Tattoos”. They went from being ways to express yourself into being something that can determine your whole future. Makes you think twice before getting one huh? Well not for everyone I just wish-
ReplyDelete“Elizabeth what are you doing?” And of course I get interrupted.
“Nothing mom” I yelled through my door.
“Well then come on we have to go see your Uncle John and Aunt Katherine.” She yelled up the stairs and then I could hear her footsteps going away from the staircase. I saved my work and grabbed my hoodie. Here’s to another day of boredom. I descended the stairs and met my family at the front door. “Come on your father is waiting in the car.” She said while putting a jacket on my younger brother, Adam, and sister, Eve. Yeah my mother is kind of biblical. We followed her out to the car and I hopped into backseat putting on my seat belt.
“So” I started while we pulled out on to the main street.
“What is it Elizabeth?” My father asked glancing back at me from the mirror.
“I was just wondering. Since you guys are such amazing parents and I’m an equally amazing daughter. Well actually you guys are ten times more awesome than me so that first statement was sort of untrue. Also that you guys love me so much.”
“Spit it out Liza.” My father said again in an amused tone slightly chuckling.
“Well I just wanted to know if I could” I looked over at the window to avoid any unintentional eye contact. “If I could get a tattoo” I rushed out the last part.
“A what?” My mother asked turning in her seat. “Elizabeth look at me! What do you want?” I slowly turned around and looked at my mother with a sheepish grin.
“You know an uh tattoo.” I said in a low voice.
“Dear god” my father groaned “You don’t mean an intricate ink do you?”
“No she can’t be talking about that.” My mother said shaking her head at my father then looked at me again.
“Actually…” I said glancing down at my hands.
“Not this again.” My mother muttered then let out a sigh. “Honey you just aren’t old enough yet to get one.”
“Technically I am. Nana told me that Great Gam had one at 16.” I said looking at the window again. And here goes the same lecture as last time.
“Elizabeth we went over this before.” My mother started “We can’t determine when you get it. Nor can you or anyone else. It’s in the hands of the elders.”
“Yeah those dusty bats” I muttered under my breath.
“They know when you’re ready and will reach out to you when the time has come.” She turned back around in her seat. “Don’t think about to too much honey.”
“Great Gam didn’t have to wait. Nana didn’t have to wait. Why do I have to wait?” I muttered again.
“What was that?” She asked glancing at me through the mirror.
“I said Nana and Great Gam didn’t have to wait so why do I?" I repeated louder.
They lived in a different time Elizabeth. Things have changed, for the better, since then.” My mother responded glancing at my reflection again.
ReplyDelete“Are you sure about that?” I muttered looking back to the window.
“Yes I am very sure Elizabeth!” She exclaimed in an irritated tone. “Do you want to live like they did? With all the pollution, wars, destruction, persecution, and sadness! Why are you being so difficult about this? Do you want to walk around looking like a marked up subway tunnel?”
“You think Great Granddaddy was a marked up subway tunnel?” I asked locking eyes with her.
“You know what I meant Elizabeth.” She snapped.
“I think how society was back then was pretty nice. There was more expression of self. Now I can’t even get a simple tattoo without having to get it certified by the official windbags.”
“Elizabeth! Stop it right now! Thanks to those wise people we have order. Things were given a purpose!”
“And what exactly is the purpose of tattoos? I’m sorry the intricate inks!” I yelled glaring at her.
“To determine who you are best matched for!” The car fell into a deafening silence. “The inks are meant for the elders to figure out who you should be with for life.” My mother finished in her regular voice.
“What?” I asked in close to a whisper. We finally pulled up in front of my aunt and uncle’s house.
“Your father will explain it to you.” My mother said and then got out of the car. She came around and unbuckled my siblings taking them into the house. My father let out a loud breath of air and wiped his face with his hand.
“Oh Liza why did you get her riled up like that?” He asked turning to face me fully.
“I didn't do it intentionally." I mumbled under my breath.
"Well you know how she is." He let out a sigh "The Elders believe that outlining our lives is best. You know we are closely watched and this is to maintain the peace. One of the ways to keep the peace is determining our futures. The inks are to make sure we have eternal happiness with someone. Every ink is chosen and matched out with your 'quote on quote' soul mate."
"So there is no such thing as expressing yourself?" I asked irritated.
"Not in that form. They believe too many people made mistakes out of the markings they obtained over time. They've done this so you'll be happy with the ink on you forever."
"Wow well I guess count me out then huh!" I said with a grunt while opening the car door.
"Liza wait! Don't think everyone is like your mother and The Elders. I wish things were like how they were before I wish I could've done what mom or Gram did. Maybe I will one day without The Elders knowing. For now just go with the flow we all don't like it but it's life now." My dad said giving me a sorry look.
I grinned back at him. "Okay daddy but could I ever get my own tattoo? Not a marking a real tattoo."
He glanced at the house and then looked back to me. "How about this? When I get my tattoo you can get yours with me. Sounds like a deal love?" He stuck out his hand smiling at me.
I hesitated and looked back at his hand,but smiled back. "You've got your self a deal!"
We shook hands and made our way into the house. I know getting this is a final decision and it wil not be a mistake. I know I'll have to live with this forever and that is fine by me. Though everyone else may like to live in this monitored society I think other wise. Getting a tattoo of my own will finally be me making my own decision.
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ReplyDeleteThe Beginning
DeleteThe year is 2357. Everything had changed from how our ancestors lived. The earth was nearly dead. The Great War had ransacked civilization. Hopefully there are other pockets of civilization out there. But as far as the Citizens of the Great Cities knew, as far as they would probably ever know, the Great Cities were the only form of civilization in existence.
The Great Cities
The Great Cities are comprised of five cities. Four of them make up the outskirts of our main city called Naiad. Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, and Larissa are the names of the outer cities. Each city has a business. The northern city, Despina, supplies clothing and fabric. The southern city, Thalassa, harvests fresh crops. The western city, Galatea, makes and repairs machines for all of the other cities. The eastern city, Larissa, drills oil and mines for coal.
The Government
The central city, Naiad, is the government. The citizens of that city are all relatives of either ambassadors to the outer cities or they are relatives of government officials in the parliament. The Parliament is made up of thirty two members. All of the members are also executive members of a city’s business. The Governor of one city reports to the eight members of Parliament that are in charge of that city’s business. The twelve Ambassadors are the investors.
In each of the outer cities, there is a Governor and a city parliament. Each city has their own rules in terms of how they run their work force and schooling. As long as the business of that city is run smoothly, the city of Naiad is happy. The others in the City of Naiad are in charge of distribution. They each have a job that makes sure the supplies are sent to the right places. Some of the people are train conductors that take the supplies to the cities. Some are businessmen and women who assign the shipments to a city and a train route. Healthy young adults can get part time jobs as people who load the supplies onto the trains. The City of Naiad’s citizens attend school until they are twenty four. The City of Naiad is values education and they have the luxury of exploiting it.
The Education of Youth
The other cities cannot afford to school their children since they have low budgets and they need older children to work in that city’s business. In Despina and Thalassa children only attend school until they are thirteen. Some of the more prosperous citizens are able to afford home schooling after that, but that is rare. After school children are sent to work. In Despina children start of as runners in the clothing factories. The boys load up shipments and the girls collect scraps. As they get older they move onto other jobs, since they have learned their way around the factory. Those that are homeschooled usually are able to get a job in the Cities government. In Thalassa, the children start the jobs they will have for the rest of their lives right when they graduate from school. They usually start off with shorter days when they are younger but when they turn eighteen they are required to work the whole day. Those that are very poor usually have to have their children, who can be as young as ten, to work part time after school. Galatea and Larissa are different than the north and south cities. Since their business requires skills, they stop schooling at age fourteen, and the children are then required to attend trade school until they are eighteen. No matter what outlying city is evaluated, there is not much room for education.
The Monitor
DeleteAfter that, they begin the jobs that they will continue for the rest of their lives. The citizens of the four outlying cities have no options. They cannot run away because every object, floor, ground and building in the cities is equipped with a motion detection monitor. The monitor is connected to a computer that alerts authorities of a vogue resident. Everything is controlled by the business of that city. Nothing can be done without it having the ultimate goal of helping that cities business.
The City of Naiad
The residents of the City of Naiad are in charge of distributing what each city needs. Given that authority, they are not always honest about who gets what materials.
We have been starving for what seems to be weeks, but we do not grow gaunt or weak. That’s because we aren’t starving from lack of food. We’re starving for the truth and for any sort of normalcy. Our lives have been uprooted and we are forced to live on the edge of our seats with complete hatred towards the government that had once promised to protect us.
ReplyDeleteI constantly ask myself what type of person had come up with the idea of turning on his people. Who had agreed to follow and what were their rationalizations for betraying hundreds of millions of innocent citizens? The media itself has been destroyed not to protect us, but to imprison us—keep a very close eye on our actions and thoughts. That means there are no newspapers, no radio, no television, no advertisements, and therefore no awareness. We do not know what is going on anywhere, and that is just how they prefer it.
It all began four months ago when a story broke out in the news mentioning the complete corruption of the Central Intelligence Agency. People grew skeptical immediately and they panicked because if the clandestine services of our nation—whose sole purpose is to secretly and effectively protect the people of America—failed to do their job, and actually do just the opposite of that job, then where does that put the safety of the country?
I remember exactly where I was when I heard about this. I was sitting in geometry class and the teacher stopped teaching entirely, deciding that it was more important to turn on the news and stare at the screen with the fear of God in her eyes. The room of sophomores was able to understand most of what the reporter was saying, so we were just as shocked. The reaction that my town had was similar to the reaction that followed the incident on September 11th, 2001. Now, fourteen years later, the school is dumbfounded yet again. One would think that we would have a book by now on dealing with unprecedented, terrorizing events. We actually do, but this one wasn’t included because it’s just so farfetched. The administration ended up sending us home early and closing up the school in a way that I have never seen before. Papers were shredded and printers smashed. The students left in the form of an anxious mob—both excited to be released from school early and nervous for the actual reason for the mania.
The news was running all day long and the CIA headquarters at Langley was crowded with newscasters. Behind a reporter from CBS, you would see four other reporters from different networks doing the same and making the same gestures towards the large government building. The story went like this: some kind “patriot” leaked that there was a secret operation currently involving the director of domestic affairs and a major terrorist group in Bagdad. There were paper trails and phone calls and bank accounts all linking the two, which I found ridiculously suspicious. The director of domestic affairs of the CIA would surely cover his trail if he were to commit utter treason and fund a terrorist group from another country—especially one that was so closely monitored as this one. What my parents and I have concluded is that the corporate officials of the major businesses in this country have colluded in order to rake in more money—which I think they already have enough of. It’s a major nationwide scheme that has put my parents out of their jobs and into utter misery, and it changed the way we look at constitutionally protected republics, which we are supposed to be residing under.
ReplyDeleteLater that night, the CBS news building was bombed, and the NBC building was next. Within an hour, two hundred innocent people had perished with paperwork and cameras in hand. It was followed by the FOX news building and literally every other news station you could think of. Even the major magazines and radio stations were hit, and it took about thirty eight of these tragedies for people to get the idea. The government was giving us a message: if you talk, we’ll find you, and then we’ll bomb the whole place. No one was feeling rebellious enough to report and distribute their own news against the wishes of this evil, brutal force, but people still found out about the latest attacks by the mere sound of the nearby explosions. Many houses that just happened to be in proximity of these explosions had caught on fire, but there were no firefighters to put them out. Coincidentally, all emergency response programs and organizations were shut down. The hospitals were set on fire and the workers inside perished as well. Families suffered and the nation had fallen into the deepest hole it had ever seen. Chaos followed immediately, as anyone would predict. The guns were brought out and people turned barbaric.
Living in a world of savages is not easy and every day I brood over the changes that need to be made. I am fully aware of the necessary sacrifice in order to put the wheels in motion—the wheels that will bring us out of this disparity and into a world that is at least fair again. However, I know that the price of the sacrifice will be my life. The first person to stick their neck out of the cage is always the first person to be decapitated, although it does melt that image into the minds of his fellow cage-mates, thereby provoking change.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I also ponder the possible motives of the Director—since he took over the White House, killed the president and every other soul in that house, and as he took over the position of ruler in the Americas, he demanded that we refer to him as the Director of the American States. I can only imagine money being the issue, and as it is rumored that he lives like a Godforsaken king, it sounds about right. I cannot live like this any longer, working instead of attending school, without television, Internet, or fun. If you thought the Great Depression was bad, then take a better look at the way we are living now, because it is many times worse. The nation is going mad, I tell you, and I think I am, too. If something does not happen soon, I just might internally combust like all of the buildings that have been bombed so far.
The idea of the “Final Solution” enforced by the Nazi party defiantly went wrong. Only because of the thought that the Germans were superior over everyone else was absurd. Therefore the last choice they had was to kill every European Jew, Slavs, Gypsies, and Homosexuals, the mentally ill and disabled people. That really wasn’t the smartest idea Adolf Hitler and the germens had. It was an Idea for them that seemed good in their minds. However it was really an idea gone wrong. They were killing many innocent people just for not being like them. The Nazis were marking everyone with symbols and numbers so they would know who they are and what was “wrong” with them. Also before they were brutally killed in gas chambers or shot and then burn the dead bodies. They would make them slaves doing stuff for the Nazi. They were so cruel they would dig ditches and after they were done digging they were shot and dumped in the ditches they dug themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt is another day for a prisoner to the Germans in Auschwitz. They have heard that the camp they are in is the last concentration camp they will be at. After this one it is the end of the road their life, they put to an end to it. Therefore one prisoner that survived is telling a story about his experiences.
“Everyone get up!” the leader of the camp yelled at the poor prisoners who barely sleep a couple hours. However nobody can do anything because if one word of tiredness comes out of their mouth a gunshot puts those words back in to their mouth. Most of our jobs were to do the dirty work for the Germans. For example fix things that were broken. Another was to dig up our own ditches and then be buried by the next prisoners. But unlucky of me I still have to do other things not digging up my own ditch. Some of the things I thought about was if those people who are going to die if they were happy it was going to happen. This is because I see that as an opportunity to end my misery. Although I could have just attack one of the Nazi officers right there but what if I was not supposed to die right there and then. I always said I will not go until god chooses for me to go. But for now I just have to live on doing my daily routine. Which was wake up early every single day and work hard until late. Some of the good things were that I was in the same concentration camp as my family so I knew they were there with me. Plus being in a concentration camp for a long time you meet new friends to talk to while you worked from dawn to dusk. But I also learned not to get too attached to friends because they came and then they could leave at any time or even me. People around me were dying it could have been an illness that never got treated because we were always last. Another was just the exhaustion of working all most 24 hours. Moreover also if any of the Nazis were just bored and felt like killing just because of the slightest movement one made incorrectly
ReplyDeleteI will never forget the day a man begged for his life and asked repeatedly, “Why are you people doing this”. And the officer just responded, “It is the final solution”. Shortly after that happened more officers arrived and cried, “Leave no evidence of this camp kill everyone. They are here already.” Once I heard that I knew that the Germans were losing the war and it was over for them. So that day was the wildest day I ever experienced. However despite all the bad things I went through I am glad I survived.