Chapter 1
Rock’s bar was close to empty with only 2 others being inside, both of them sitting in a booth next to the right-hand wall. So I instead chose to sit straight at the counter where the bartender stood, pouring himself a shot before looking at me when I sat down. He downed the shot and asked what I wanted with a nice charming sound coming from the shot glass being slammed onto the counter. “A beer. Nice and simple.” “Alright, you already know how much.” “Yea…” I reached into my pocket and took out 4 dollars while he walked over to a station of wooden handles with a tall glass. I placed the money onto the table and he pulled down on a lever and a soothing foaming sound began to rise for a short time before the sound of liquid could be heard near the end, where he then stopped. He grunted as he walked over and had the glass filled almost entirely, causing some to spill before he placed it down. I gave him thanks, he said, “Itma job man.” And walked somewhere near to my left, to where a sink was, and he began to wash his shot glass. I admired the wall across me with it being covered with shelves that housed bottles of every color and size. Tall and thin, blue and red all had a red cover on them, which was the only sign of some commonality other than a couple being the same drink as another. At least the same species of drink. The 2 other men stand and begin to leave. They speak of a recent political development though I haven’t had enough care to read about it. The papers call it the “Act of Joinment”, which to me sounds harmless enough and not an action worth resisting. Though people in the streets scream out differently. The 2 men speak of how this treaty will impact our society and future culture. One dramatically said as he left through the door, “This is the erasure of a nation Issacc!”
Me and the bartender looked on with different looks, he looked at me with an agreeing tone in his eyes, I was merely confused. Once the men left I began to ponder how that man came to such a conclusion. But my mind couldn’t piece together the puzzle and I dove into deeper thought as I began to stare at the counter. “Do you truly not know what’s happening?” I look up from the table. “Nope…” “My God! You live in a nation that you know nothing about!? Do you not care for it?” “Not that I don’t care, I simply don’t have time for it. I have work to get down and a body to rest. I don’t have the time nor energy to be concerned with politics. To hell with it!” “Well. (He leans on the table and sighs) I guess that’s reasonable. We have taxes to pay and mouths to feed. But Jack, you have to at least know what’s happening, don’t you agree?” “Just told you I couldn’t? Didn’t ya hear?” “Yes, what I mean is that you gotta at least know what is going to affect you. I mean, if this treaty has our town talking, chances are it’s pretty important.” I sigh and take a small drink from the tall glass of beer. “I guess.” The bartender began to walk to the right, to a blue crate with papers stacked in it, he grabbed one and tossed it to me with a heads up before he tossed it. He tossed me an issue of the Abelian Page that had in bold letters at the top reading, “Us Fools? To Him We Are!” with a moderately sized single paragraph being all that lays under it, breaking the usual format that the paper held and I began to flip to other pages to take glances at their titles. The bartender looked back at me as I was flipping through the pages, “Oi!” He walked briskly to me and stopped me from turning further into the paper. “Read the front page.” I was nervous due to his extreme and confusing behaviors. I wondered why he, a seemingly rational man, was acting rashly and passionately about something. “Alright, alright, relax.” He backed away and I turned to the front and glanced over the paragraph which seemed to be nothing special at first. It reads in a neat font.
“We have limited ourselves to a fickle position that we might as well be licking the boot of a cow. For that is what we now do. Chamberlain, our so-called representative, our so-called “leader”, signed that paper when he wrote HIS name on those dotted lines despite the words above. He signed away his respect and the country’s hope. He is a man without convection, a man filled with senselessness, and never shall he become something again as we saw his judgment in this political trial. He saw our mother country at the stand and looked into its hopefulness and decided that it no longer bears the right to live! But no judge, who judges incorrectly, shall ever be free of the judgment and punishment of the people they supposedly serve. Pelt Chamberlain with your convection, pelt him with snow and rocks, pelt him with fists and thoughts! If he is to complain, then show him the corpse of what was once beautiful. He destroyed it and he holds the knife with her blood dripping from it. But watch him call it Jam! But we are no fools! We Albeians! No longer shall we tolerate his faculty positions and his jagged promises! We are no longer going to behave as pawns! He shall never once again control us as he’s done before, during the times of the Great Fall and The Act of Respiration! You remember, don’t you? His voice was law. And oh, how our sons have suffered. Put in jail as if he were a murderer or rapist, treated as if he was one… Don’t you remember? The sin that was left unclean? We let that seed of anger sprout, yet, never did it show its leaves. But, here comes the water, he shook that man’s hand. You know who… He shook a handful of blood and screamed. Held fingers that pulled triggers at mothers and kin. Chamberlain looked into the beast’s eyes and smiled. We have made a deal with a monster. Chamberlain and Sr. Ithiel shook hands and expected nothing of it. Expecting nothing with us… But no… We won’t lie down and take it anymore! We have for too long bore the consequences of dumbasses. For too long indeed. We are not PAWNS! We are Abelians! Loud and proud to be too! We are no FOOLS! Follow Brothers! Follow Sisters! PUSH BACK! Push back the words of Chamberlain! Push back the horrors of Ithiel! Fight against the beast of Enjoinment! NEVER shall we lose ourselves for the sake of one person! He doesn’t care for our wishes! And shall suffer for it! Never again! Never again shall the few rule the masses. He may try for hundreds of years. Eons and Eons, but never shall he control us easily! I come to you to rally your mind. To agree to resist. You always will have the right to choose. But dear reader, the world is in your hands. Your mind is a vote for a side. There is no longer a compromise to save the country others let die. To compromise is to let those who killed it, continue to go unpunished. Uncleaned of their crimes. Choose wisely, dear reader. For you may let murders loose. And devils run free.”
Despite never having even cared for such politics, the paper paints it as such an urgent matter to the point that I grew slightly weary of our future. Though, the paragraph didn’t leash me to the idea of fighting against the treaty. A strong sense of patriotism still flooded my system despite all of that, with it clicking in my head, why people had a strong urge to flood their words with opinions surrounding it. I fold the paper in half and toss it to the side of me while Rock leans on a wall drinking a new mix with a towel over his shoulder. He looked at me smugly, with a smile that expected me to agree with his sentiments, and asked, “Whatcha think?”. I looked at him for a second or 2 blankly. “I don’t know.” “You don’t know!” He stood sharply and walked over and a small fear built in my mind but my face didn’t express it and looked on with curiosity as Rock walked up to me and I looked up at him. “Look, I try to be a reasonable man But Christ! (He shot up his arms in frustration) You are one annoying thing.” I was confused at it, “How annoying! I was just introduced to this thing! Apologize for not knowing what I don’t!” “Yeah-yeah, my bad, didn’t mean to get all upset with ya. Just something that is very ‘hot’” He sighed and walked over to his shelf of drinks and grabbed a blue, round bottle. I saw this and took a drink of my beer and read that the label said Tescia, then I looked at the back of his head and questioned him, “Really? That?” He looked back quickly with the bottle in his hand and the red wrapper on the lid coming loose. “What!? It’s a perfectly fine drink! Nothing bad!” “Yeah, other than being good!” “Oh, piss off, drink your beer!” “Glady!” He looked at me with some spite as I began to gulp down chunks of beer. “Jeez. Just relax” I stopped drinking and the beer foamed and floated only to the halfway point of the large glass. Rock peeled open his eyes in surprise and said sarcastically, “You gonna be having a good time” I smiled, “For sure.” Then burped for a while as Rock poured himself a shot of Tescia.
Me and Rock spoke of nothing, by that I mean nothing of usefulness. It was useless banter of anything we thought of on the spot. “Don’t you have a home to get to?” Rock looked at me with some alarm being able to be seen, which ultimately reminded me that I arrived at the bar after I left work. “Shit!” “Oi, don’t say that kind of stuff! But, yeah get your ass home.” I stood from the counter which was now covered with tall glasses, shots, and some crumbs of bread. I stumbled through the bar as it was full of people as night approached and the drunkards finally begged for enough money. “See ya Rock!” “See ya man!”
The streets were dimly lit with lanterns and lamps, and the evening showers sparkled on the ground. It would’ve been a peaceful walk with the night’s light breeze and the soft glow of the moon, but a group was across the bar, loitering at a general store. They kept yelling, jumping, stomping, and generally being nuisances to the world. They yelled for the sake of yelling, saying much of nothing and stomping out of joy. But I was in no state to do much of anything. I was only able to lean on the bar’s wall and watch them till I grew tired of having to listen to them and started to stumble away into the night holding a spot close to the buildings to my right. While I was walking I passed by a newspaper stand that was overactive, especially for the time, with around 20 people who were shouting at one another pointing to the newspaper every so often as evidence of whatever point they were making. I simply watched them while I sat on the sidewalk with my head drooping from my tiredness till the thought of my wife lying alone in our bed struck me causing an unusual amount of dread and regret to consume me forcing me to walk again.
Eventually, I got to my fence and leaned on it hearing it softly creak from its loose screws before I opened the gate and walked toward the door feeling for the keys in my pocket nearly tripping because of the uneven stone walkway. A nearby lamp dimly lit the front door and I leaned on the door with my head on it, admiring the slight grooves in it. I held the keys in my hand and after a few seconds I opened the door, stumbling into the darkness of the house. Right, left, right, left, one foot after the other and I focused on that. I walked unevenly in total darkness, my mind slowly rotting further as I took a right, then a left, a right, then another right, and the whole house started to spin all around me. I could do nothing to stop it, confusion and fear consumed me as I felt the ground under me spin and spin with my own person standing leaning against a wall. I attempted to take another step in front of me but I felt that if I did the ground would surely break and reveal some world underneath and I would fall hundreds of feet to the ground. I was stuck on an island, confused and unaware of where I was. I could do nothing on this island except feel the world turn faster and faster and feel the floor around me crack and weaken, I slipped down onto the only floor I knew was safe and curled into a ball, my head softly resting on my knees as I began to close my eyes and clench my teeth. I didn’t even notice that I was crying.
