Black and Red

Black and Red

I watch as a thick drop of black ink splashes onto the floor. The man’s hand is dragged over to the paper and smashed against it by the worker in the grey uniform. My eyes follow the man as he slowly makes his way to the next booth to get his picture taken.

It’s been weeks since we’ve had any food. We’re all starving, but the government refuses to acknowledge it. We know where it’s all going, though.

“NEXT!” The fat government worker screams out without looking up.

Before I know it, my right foot lifts. Then my left. Then my right, and my left, and suddenly I am face to face with her. Her plump hand, stained with ink, reaches out for my right.

Why should I be doing this? The government requires it to keep track of and control their citizens. But why should they have control over me? What am I even doing here?

Rebellious thoughts poison my brain. Only a few years ago I had watched my older sister, only 18 years old, undergo this process from behind the chain link fences that surrounded the building. After finding an opening in the fence, I watched her march through the booths, as obedient and elegant as ever, through a window on the side of the building.

“Will you be back soon?” I pleaded on the morning of the registration.

She smiled at me, pulling on a sweater and smoothing over her worried expression with that of reassurance. “Of course, James. I’ll make your favorite lunch for the two of us when I get back, okay?”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise,” were the last words she ever said to me.

The government worker coughs abruptly and finally lifts her head from the papers on the desk to throw me an irritable scowl.  

“Any day now,” she says, each word dripping with contempt and impatience.

I finally place my bony hand in hers, feebly attempting to push down the fiery feelings of disobedience inside me. She dips my forefinger in the dark liquid, and holds it up to let the excess drip off.

I should have let her push it down again. I should have done what they wanted. I should have obeyed, but it felt as though someone had suddenly drenched me in gasoline and lit me ablaze.

The moment is almost unreal; time slows down as I tear viciously through the crowd, shoving my way towards the bright daylight seeping through the crack in the great double doors. I look back only once, only to see the expression of utter shock on her fat face.

I feel my hands press onto the cold metal doors and shove with a strength I haven’t felt in years. I am momentarily blinded by the scorching light of day, but the adrenaline keeps me going.

My eyes fix on the metal gate, but I can still see the towers out of the corner of my eyes. I know my fate. I know what I’ve done.

I’m ten feet from the gate when it hits me. I feel it pierce my left shoulder blade like an explosive parasite. I fall to the ground, waves of pain coursing through my body.

For a few moments, all is black. After a few moments, blurry shapes begin to swim around in front of my eyes and the distant roar of a crowd slowly grows louder.

As my vision comes back, I look over to the building. The officials struggle to contain the citizens as they heave against the doors, screaming and spitting in their faces. A few manage to escape, immediately turning back around to throw an official to the ground. The memory of a smile tickles the corner of my mouth, but it cannot manifest itself. I’m too full of the flames of revenge.

My head drops to the ground once more, having grown too weak to hold itself up. I watch as the black and red liquid seeps the gravel, creating delicate swirls amidst the absolute chaos. The pain and sound begin to die out as I slowly sink into infinity.