2085

It was 2085. What a horrible year all around. It was filled with killing, discrimination, racism and at the root of it all, the corrupted mayor. The man at power, J.W. Oswald was about as power hungry as they came and made it felt by almost all of the middle and lower class people.
I was a general at the time. I helped him make all the calls and I helped him plan how he was going to take over our neighbouring countries. It was wrong in every way possible, and yet I was all for it. I don't know why what so ever other than maybe became it mean and safety and a good life. Maybe it was sheer stupidity.


It was 6:30am on January 18, 2085. We had just our votes tallied for the new mayor and J.W. Oswald had won. This was a shock to some but it was what it was. I was woken by a man knocking on my front door. There was a man standing there, he almost looked like a hobo from. He was 6' tall, blond hair, blue eyes and was very mean looking. He said to me "There will be a town meeting in the town square at 4:00." I didn't even know what to think, what would this be about was my first question? Why would we all gather there? It was a mystery to me and I didn't know how to go about it. As 4:00 neared I began to get nervous. There was this town meeting being held by this new mayor about something and I had no idea what it was. As I left I said "Shut down." I had just moved into a new house where everything was voice activated. My house would shut down and lock behind me no matter what.
I arrived at town square at about 5 to 4 and I could tell people were getting nervous. They were splitting up the women and children and men from boys. Now I was put into the line of men even though I was only 20. This seemed almost like that war way back in the 1900's where the Nazis' killed the Jews. As the Mayer stepped onto the stage, you could feel the tension in the air.
"Hello citizens of Jobi. I have called you all here today because it is time for some charge." he said this in a very solid, stern voice, "From right now you are all fired from your jobs and evicted from your houses." The crowd erupted with boos and yelling, but it didn't help. He continued.
"This may seem like an unjust or unfair thing but it is for the greater good. As of right now all men and boys are on the army and all women and children will be separated from one another. There are many bunks set up and you will be sleeping with your own kind. Please go home now, pack up your clothes and necessities and be back here at 10:00.
The crowd was now screaming and yelling families were saying their goodbyes and many people were just stunned. There was a couple of men patrolling trying to find people that were planning on fighting this movement or running town.
As i walked away i didn't know what to think. I was a hard working, tax paying citizen and they just up an ruined my entire life. I didn't want to be a soldier forced to kill fellow man in any way what so ever. I also didn't want to be dead. There were many questions that also ran through my head. What was the purpose of this? Who were we fighting and what were we fighting for? I wanted answers but i knew that only time would tell.
As i walked in my front door i said boot up. this was supposed to be the command for the house to start up, but there was nothing. I repeated myself many many times and yet nothing was happening. This struck me as very very strange due tot he fact that these systems were never supposed to malfunction or cause any problems. I walked over to the circuit box where everything was ran out of and took a look. There i saw that someone had cut all of the wires out of the box and this was the problem. Anger washed over me like a tsunami. " Son of a bitch," i yelled as loud as i could. I could not believe this chain of events. What was happening to our happy little town? Just yesterday i was as happy as could be. My job was good i had lots and lots of money, i had many friends and i had just met a girl. It was the perfect life all around and now it was nothing.

It was ten to ten and i decided i should probably get going. It was really beginning to sink in as i left. As i got up and started to walk outta the house i turned around and gazed upon it one more time. So many good memories were going to be lost when they did whatever to this house. I had had many good parties and celebrations here for my fellow workers, family and friends. I began to remember that Christmas party about 10 years ago. There was so much joy and happiness in the air and everyone was having such a fantastic time and now, as i left my house, it really hurt me to know that all those good times would never happen again due to the is drastic change.

10 o'clock. The moment everyone was fearing. The time when we would be finding out what our lives were going to be for a long time. Oswald stepped onto the stage with a sort of cocky swagger to him.

"As we speak now all of your homes are being ripped down and demolished. I hope all of you folks got what you needed because that is all you are going to get for quite a while. Some of you might be wondering why i am doing this to all of you and the answer is because we need to prepare. We are going to go and raid our neighbours, China. I am going to be building a huge army base where all of your houses used to stand and you will all be forced to train to become a soldier. I need a general to work beside me, is anyone going to be a volunteer?" there was no movement at all. I did however mumble something to one of the near by men, which was apparently perceived wrong by the mayor due to his glare right at me, "so we do have someone. Come up here please sir." As i started to make my way through the crowd i was not sure what was going to happen next. Something inside me told me that i should run but i knew i would be killed instantly.
"What is your name sir?"
"Ugh Eugene Cactopolis"
"Well Eugene you are officially our new general. I will give you instruction and you will follow them. You are also responsible for making sure that the folks stay in line and that they are not trying to fight or run, understand?
"Yes sir, i do"
"Good. Now everyone please go and find a tent, and do not do anything that will cost you your life." With those closing words everyone started to leave and clear out. I began to walk away before a man said stop.
"Hello Eugene. I am Tommy Scott and i will be training you on how to do your job effectively. Now if you hear someone talking about leaving or trying to run, you shoot them, no hesitation. When the mayor tells you something listen and listen well because he does not like when he must repeat himself."
"OK," I said in a confident voice.



Months went on with me being the general. I got to mainly sit around with he mayor and listen to his schemes. I still had not killed anyone due to the fact that everyone was too scared to talk about anything to do with this situation, and i was happy about it. The training that they were making the men go through was intense. They had to run so much and do weight training and they barely fed them anything at all. And as for the army base that was being built, well it was coming along too well. It was the most amazing piece of architecture i had ever seen in my life. It had over 1000 rooms along with 60 or 70 kitchens. It was all digital so once it was done, it would be in penetrable. It is going to be nice, and to think it is going to be breeding evil.

As time passed i began to realize just how wrong this was. I needed to stop this someway. But how was the question? I needed to get a letter out to another country or at least get some men together that were not scared to die for their town. That's when it struck me. I would simply write a letter and put the mayors name on it. Since i had some power over the people i should be able to get a group of men together that knew what was happening and together we could over run the mayor. I was aloud to send mail in and out with out it being monitored because it was in my job that i was supposed to get other countries to rival with us. OK i had the plan now all i had to do was ex acute it.
Over the next few weeks i worked on getting the letter written and sealed. Many times i almost got caught but i was able to talk my way out of it. I had been getting some men together slowly and we were having meetings which i pretended to be warnings about running. Slowly but surely my plan was coming together. Now all i had to do was get this letter sent to the Pakistani government requesting an army to help us. Then it would be all over for all the Innocent citizens.
August 23, 2085 was the date. This was the day when i hoped many army trucks would be heard in the distance and the Pakistani flag would be visible. As i sat in my bunk i was thinking about what would happen if the mayor did get overran. How happy all the women and children would be to see their families and be able to live a normal life again. My thoughts were int erupted by the sound of yelling and screaming. I ran down the elevator to see what was causing the ruckus and as i hit the bottom of the building i saw the most relieving sight ever. There were at least 1000 trucks full of men and many tanks as well. My letter had been received! This meant no more training, no more of the killing and most of all, it meant being able to go back to our old lives.



That was 2085 for you. It is now 2137 and i still live in the same town. It is completely restored and i have my job back. I guess that year was a true eye opener, make sure you never take your life for granted because at any given time it can change so drastically.

Hear this author's views on his piece: