last thursday's nightmare. seriously.
i’m not doing this
we have to it has the state seal stamped at the bottom
he was blindsided by the certified envelope that he’d received as he can’t recall ever having to sign for a letter before. the address was that of the state capitol but the department of origin was unusual and unfamiliar.
the department of forced tranquility
the initial meeting as told in the sterile letter was not taking place at under the gold dome in hartford but rather in an obscure location. a vacant business – looking like a long out of business barber shop – in a strip mall in new england suburbia.
at midnight on a wednesday a group began to assemble on folding chairs each person looking more bewildered than the last. there were twenty one people seated drinking lousy coffee from dixie cups and each seemed to connect with and sit next to another person in the room. and then she walked in. he hadn’t told her about the horrifying letter and apparently she’d hid hers from him as well.
to decline is punishable by imprisonment
at least I won’t be dead
as was explained to them this was not a guyana grape kool-aid situation nor were they all going to end up on a comet in an effort to evacuate a soon-to-be cleansed planet wearing sweat pants and nikes. this was simply the first round of a governmental mandate to ‘free good people from the shackles of life’. participants were selected in pairs – father son mother daughter sister brother husband wife lover – so that none of them would feel alone in the journey.
they can’t do this and to be asked is inconceivable
yes but maybe they’re right we’ll be free.
the plan was that this group this team this chosen few would begin to spend time together in communal meals and nondenominational church services in an governmental sponsored team building program that seemed to him to be more of a three month pied piper related forced march into the side of a mountain never to be seen again.
this is nuts i’m not doing it
you have to we have to
they were instructed rather threatened not to tell other family members colleagues neighbors or friends what was to happen as this was to be as hush hush as whatever happened many years ago in the skies above the new mexico desert. if no one knew of the program the handlers would be able to complete a reconnaissance of the success or failure of the mission.
over the next ninety days the group as planned became unified and discussed the benefits of no longer having to worry about depleted savings family quarrels aging parents heating costs kids’ addictions and the like. discussion of walking toward the light possibly hand in hand seemed genuine at times and unnerving at others because who the hell really knows for sure.
you people are fucking nuts he thought but did not say
better to go along willingly and avoid a scene
the finality was to take place after one of the increasingly cult like church services on a sunday in april and the means was to be injection as this was decidedly the most peaceful route to quote freedom unquote.
are you ready
yes very much so are you
not in the least
oh
so after the final rally-slash-service and among the lilies and pastel eggs and baskets a cloud of uncertainly hovered and a stainless steel cart was wheeled in. the participants laid tentatively on their assigned army cots and the handlers double-checked the hypodermic array and the so-called ceremony was about to begin.
he counted and they were to be numbers fifteen and sixteen and as some squirmed and some were still he could not help but wonder what led him here and why she was so willing to go gentle into that good night.
are you ready
i think so
are you sure
yes I’ll see you when we get there
I can’t go he said to himself…
with heart in throat and taught arms and clenched fist his focus was supreme. as he finalized his plan he wondered why they bothered swabbing her arm because an infection would not be an issue in a matter of moments. he did not want to leave her and was unsure that he could go on without her but he did not need the peace that was offered as a half dozen years in fog had taught him. the pain was already an accepted part of him.
one handler joined the participants’ journey and one never walked again and he as thomas said raged against the dying of the light. there was no joy in the resurrection because there was too much work to do.
… i’m needed here
we have to it has the state seal stamped at the bottom
he was blindsided by the certified envelope that he’d received as he can’t recall ever having to sign for a letter before. the address was that of the state capitol but the department of origin was unusual and unfamiliar.
the department of forced tranquility
the initial meeting as told in the sterile letter was not taking place at under the gold dome in hartford but rather in an obscure location. a vacant business – looking like a long out of business barber shop – in a strip mall in new england suburbia.
at midnight on a wednesday a group began to assemble on folding chairs each person looking more bewildered than the last. there were twenty one people seated drinking lousy coffee from dixie cups and each seemed to connect with and sit next to another person in the room. and then she walked in. he hadn’t told her about the horrifying letter and apparently she’d hid hers from him as well.
to decline is punishable by imprisonment
at least I won’t be dead
as was explained to them this was not a guyana grape kool-aid situation nor were they all going to end up on a comet in an effort to evacuate a soon-to-be cleansed planet wearing sweat pants and nikes. this was simply the first round of a governmental mandate to ‘free good people from the shackles of life’. participants were selected in pairs – father son mother daughter sister brother husband wife lover – so that none of them would feel alone in the journey.
they can’t do this and to be asked is inconceivable
yes but maybe they’re right we’ll be free.
the plan was that this group this team this chosen few would begin to spend time together in communal meals and nondenominational church services in an governmental sponsored team building program that seemed to him to be more of a three month pied piper related forced march into the side of a mountain never to be seen again.
this is nuts i’m not doing it
you have to we have to
they were instructed rather threatened not to tell other family members colleagues neighbors or friends what was to happen as this was to be as hush hush as whatever happened many years ago in the skies above the new mexico desert. if no one knew of the program the handlers would be able to complete a reconnaissance of the success or failure of the mission.
over the next ninety days the group as planned became unified and discussed the benefits of no longer having to worry about depleted savings family quarrels aging parents heating costs kids’ addictions and the like. discussion of walking toward the light possibly hand in hand seemed genuine at times and unnerving at others because who the hell really knows for sure.
you people are fucking nuts he thought but did not say
better to go along willingly and avoid a scene
the finality was to take place after one of the increasingly cult like church services on a sunday in april and the means was to be injection as this was decidedly the most peaceful route to quote freedom unquote.
are you ready
yes very much so are you
not in the least
oh
so after the final rally-slash-service and among the lilies and pastel eggs and baskets a cloud of uncertainly hovered and a stainless steel cart was wheeled in. the participants laid tentatively on their assigned army cots and the handlers double-checked the hypodermic array and the so-called ceremony was about to begin.
he counted and they were to be numbers fifteen and sixteen and as some squirmed and some were still he could not help but wonder what led him here and why she was so willing to go gentle into that good night.
are you ready
i think so
are you sure
yes I’ll see you when we get there
I can’t go he said to himself…
with heart in throat and taught arms and clenched fist his focus was supreme. as he finalized his plan he wondered why they bothered swabbing her arm because an infection would not be an issue in a matter of moments. he did not want to leave her and was unsure that he could go on without her but he did not need the peace that was offered as a half dozen years in fog had taught him. the pain was already an accepted part of him.
one handler joined the participants’ journey and one never walked again and he as thomas said raged against the dying of the light. there was no joy in the resurrection because there was too much work to do.
… i’m needed here
posted by Hotwire at 8:40 PM
2 Comments:
Like most lies, told with absolute confidence as well as promises of love and peace...
"...among the lilies and pastel eggs and baskets..."
By the way..
Tag!!
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List 25 things about you..
:)
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