FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #5

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. This was just one miserable sight which would hold my eye on my trip to work. he seemed so ragged and scruffy, so beaten and bruised, that when he saw the train coming, i saw a brief smile touch his lips. i looked away. the driver of the train made no attempt to stop. after all, he was one of the shattered. he deserved to be run down. and no none would care. for he was as useless as the democracy that had been destroyed.

the shattered had it tough. Back when there was democracy, they had been the elected rulers. then, after the war, where disease had wiped out the majority of humans, there had been a coup. and norway, oh sweet norway had become a autocracy. there were some rules, yes, and the monarchs had been mostly benevolent. until yesterday's election.

Lawrence Willis was a cruel man. one whose very essence had become malign and corrupted by a sea of malevlent blood in his soul. he stood, smiling at the podium as the votes were tallied up. votes, that held no importance. for unknown to us, his competitor and his family were all dead, shot to pieces. his oldest son was on the run, as he had beaten the assailant who had accosted him to death. lacerations from ceramics were found all over the body, as well as his finger prints. but no matter. the election was slowly tipping towards Lawrence Willis. And i was bored into a state of incredibe enhui. and finally, the last votes tallied in. he had won by a landslide. and as Lawrence paced to the stage to make his speech, i felt it. a ripple of shadow, hitting me like a salvo of bullets. and when he reached the microphne, these are the words he spoke

"the old democracy must die!"

  

 and the champions of liberty had been left to die. to be butchered by whomever felt like it, marked out by the parrot on their shoulder. but this wasn't the time to dwell on it. I exited the train on the 45th sector. it was only then that i noticed the parrot flying above my head. it's long wings were spread like a drape over the clouds, its sharp beak open wide in a caw. it was following me. why? oslo was crowded at this time. which meant it was time for me to get to work. i pick up my automatic shotgun, to stand by my laconic workers. i buzzer turns red, and we walk out, our government uniforms draping us in a menacing fashion, like a cloud of pestilence. the throng takes but a minute to realize the threat, then, they scatter.

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not all of the last shattered had run and hid. some had tried to fight us, others bribe of seduce us. all had failed, but atleast some failed with honor. I sat down,laying the gun across my knees. then the parrot landed on my shoulder. this thing again. i waved my hand at it in an attempt to shoo it. then, it spoke.

"squawk, pull the trigger!" is quacked. i was stunned.

"wha...what?"

"it would be better to just die, squawk, then to live through this. just give up, squawk."

and suddenly, parrots surrounded me, all the companions of all the dead shattered, squawking in my ears, the same grizzly command.

kill yourself

and i realized they were right. i held the gun under my chin.

and fired. 

back to Contest #5