FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #4

For a long time they said we didn't need one, but then something changed and they said that we did. but buying one was a hastle. it always was. and bribes and threats could only get you so far. eventually, they would give you the test. a test that, if you failed, you lost all chances of getting one. the test i was taking now.

it was five questions long.

question one: why do you need this?

well, that was simple. the government made us. my wife had done it, and so had my son. now it was my turn. if i didn't get one, then there would be trouble. in court.

question two: do you understand the consciquences of this action?

what a stupid question! of course i did. but, after what i found out, after the horrible secrets i'd learned, it was necessary. I mean, most of the 'nam vets wanted to forget what hapened, but i had learned... terrible things. about humans. and the world.

question three: do you have government authorization?

yes. well, for this, anyway. i didn't in 'nam.i came there, toting guns of every sort, set to kill commys. i had entered the palace of ho chi mi. and he had showed me... oh, what he had shown me. and i had been part of it. every commy that died. meaningless. truly, meaningless.

question four: what do you wish to be done with you after the event.

simple. i wanted them to send me to armenia. my home. where i could be my true self.

question five: are you ready to proceed?

hell, yeah.

i put down the pen, and walked forward. i entered the doctor's office , and waited. they would erase my memory. i would forget th war, my family, everything. but i din't care.

all of those things only got in the way.

then the window burst in.

Red gaurds. three of them, came plowing though. here to make sure he information doesn't get erased. erased, and copied into american hard drives. they didn't know the secret. they just knew it would be bad if others knew. and they didn't want bad things to happen. and as one points his gun at me, i laugh, and repeat the words of ho chi mihn, be fore he told me. before i killed him. "oh, don't kill me yet. i can tell you secrets. secrets that will change your life, the lives of the world."

"what speak of, you," says one gaurd, in a gruff, rusian accent.

i smile. "I Can tell you the meaning of life."

back to Contest #4