Storied By Josh

This story contains some adult content.

It is winter. It is raining hard against the glass. The rain drops that explode onto the window cannot be seen; the blinds are drawn closed. The room is dark. It is where normal people would sit and visit. A living room which by now is rarely lived in. Instead it usually contains a solitary figure after seven pm. He sits in his well-worn leather chair. The light from the kitchen is dulled by the shut door across from him. His bottles of scotch are nearly empty. He bought a new one this evening. He used to always drink in the evenings but not this much. He started drinking this much a year ago when he stopped touching his wife as much. It was because he knew then that she wasn’t right, so he couldn’t be attracted to her anymore. That is something of importance to him.

His name is Ben. His wife is Eleanor. She will not be his wife for much longer.

His hand shakes. It always does around now. Just one more glass. Just until the shaking stops. His wife is upstairs and he can hear her packing a bag. She is quiet and he is lonely. She told him today that she was leaving, but he knew for a month she was going to. She stopped looking at him and they didn’t talk much but he didn’t mind because he realized after their daughter moved out that he didn’t love her. He smiles now as he thinks of his daughter. Her name is Sylvia. She turned into quite an adult. He thinks. She is beautiful. When she turned sixteen they entered her into the Nation’s Cheer. It is a group of comely young women who march in the parades every few months. They are only the most beautiful women the Party can offer. The Grand Marshall picks them from a few finalists himself. They are perfect specimens. He knew Sylvia would be perfect for it. Eleanor was against it from the start but Ben got his way. He usually did. Sylvia became a star in their circle of friends. She has met the Grand Marshall and he was never prouder.

Pictures on their joint social media account never did her justice, he thinks. The account is now inactive. They stopped posting things when they couldn’t fake they were happy anymore. His daughter doesn’t visit. Their friends in the Party know that the marriage is fallen apart. Worse they know why. Eleanor met a man at a Party meeting. She found out that the man loved women and men, and discovered that she did too. They have absconded on weekends together now for six months. At first he didn’t mind. It gave him time alone. But then Eleanor stopped being discreet. Now that the divorce is nearly finalized, they are shunned from the Party. They are undesirables based on the rumours and because of this his daughter cannot afford to affiliate with them. Everything he worked for his entire life has fallen apart.

It wasn’t always like this, obviously. He had met Eleanor seventeen years ago at a Party Rally. It was the early days. The Nation was just starting to wake up to the problems caused by the parasites, the degenerates. Ben had known for years, his father was a war hero and showed him the importance of picking yourself up by the boot straps. Only it had become impossible to do so. There were too many parasites, too many threats to their nation. The first thing the newly elected government had set out to do was to stem the fire hose of immigrants into the country. This was the biggest fight. It went to the courts, millions had marched, or were paid to march, against the government’s order. Eventually the courts ruled that the newly elected President had been given broad powers by the Constitution to inhibit immigration in order to protect “the Homeland.” The left news organizations cried and screamed, more demonstrations followed.

It didn’t matter. Congress decided to instill their own immigration control, but enshrined it in law. With the court’s blessing there was no way to repeal the law, except by Congress itself. The liberals had lost the unions and their support. The working man had long abandoned them. Very quickly the liberal party became fractioned into three different parties. They never held power again. Soon, to be part of the Nation was to be part of the conservative establishment, which was dubbed the Party. Ben had been a member of the Party and had donated money since he was eighteen. By the time he was thirty he was already a veteran in politics. Senators made time for him, he met the Grand Marshall when the Grand Marshall had only been President of the Nation. It was only for a few minutes during a tour of the Residence, but Ben had met him all the same. No one could take that from him.

After the immigration ban the Party became bolder. Whispers of registries for the dangerous religious groups soon became shouts and phone calls to representatives. Within a year Congress had passed a law requiring “any participant of any hate group or religion shall be registered in a known and lawful record, kept public and secure by the Department of Justice.”

Ben had met Eleanor at the Party Rally. He got her drunk and she had gotten him a little drunk. He made love to her that evening in his flat above the city. A month later she told him she was pregnant. He married her three weeks later in a ceremony paid for by the Party.

The Nation began detaining and deporting citizens who were part of the Dangerous List just after Eleanor gave birth to Sylvia. He had been a member of the Catholic Church, which the Party didn’t prefer as a religion, but accepted it. They were never in any danger. After more mass protests the Party voted to allow the President to declare martial law. It gave him even more widened powers. The Party began a list of undesirables, on the list now were atheists, gays, and communists. The Party began to release social science studies linking all three groups to terrorist activities. The mob that had elected the President to power became unruly and began beating the groups in the street. After a few Congressmen were caught at gay bars and communist rallies, they were crucified. The Mob called for investigation into Congress to determine where the traitors were. In a frenzy, the rest of Congress signed laws to give The President more emergency powers. Immediately The President signed an executive order banning Congress from meeting again. Three coups were attempted, but were put down by security forces. Russia and China signed permanent allied treaties with the Nation. The European Union declared war. This was expected and the EU had not stood a chance. The war was over in six months.

With the three most powerful countries in the world allied, there was no more resistance. The President renamed his position “Grand Marshall.” The leaders of China and Russia also became Grand Marshalls.

The Grand Marshall threw a week long Party Celebration. Ben had been invited by the Grand Marshall’s administration. He accepted and brought his daughter along. She was two. His posturing in the Party landed him an excellent position in the government as a Supervisor of Legality. His job was to ensure any group in public had the correct paperwork and permits submitted to the government. If they were arrested it was his job to ensure they were hate groups. Mostly he showed up at nine and left at noon. His continued monetary contribution to the Party was his actual job.

With the power effectively taken away from the parasites and given to the people who actually mattered, the balance of safety and freedom was established. The Party consolidated its power and Ben was on the forefront of recruiting members and ensuring the security of the Nation. Until his wife was caught in a threesome in a broom closet at a Party Rally with two anarchist men. It may have been ignored if it was with another woman…but men fucking men were unacceptable. Thanks to his contacts the news was squashed and the incident was brushed under the rug. But he was never asked to come back to another Party Rally. His daughter cut all ties. He didn’t blame her. After a while his wife began seeing another man she met at a Rally. When her betrayal stopped being one in secret, the Party cut ties with her, and Ben was ignored for being her husband.

He had tried to throw dinners after the badness. The first two held very few people. The last party no one showed up, so he became drunk and threw his wife around the room a little bit. He never held another dinner, he was never invited to another and then he was told he was being transferred from his position. He quit instead and became an accountant. There he met a man named Messala, who was his own rising star in the Party.

He wonders what Messala at work will say. Messala is a Jew. Ben doesn’t hold it against him. His race seems to have helped him, in fact: clever as the Jews are with numbers. It allowed him to buy expensive suits and an expensive car. He drives a car made here in the Nation, and it is luxurious. Ben tries to emulate him as much as possible. He fears what Messala will think of him. His chest quickens and Ben reminds himself that he must not become so worked up. The doctors told him his heart couldn’t take it. He closes his eyes and thinks of the Flag. But that makes him think of the Party and that in turn reminds him of his wife’s betrayal to him with that faggot. Those faggots who ruin it all. And this country too.

His head heats up and he feels the hot worrisome feeling he must quell. Anger boils and he drinks from his glass deeply. He reaches to the table, grabs his heart pills and pours himself another glass. His hand shakes a little and some scotch spills in the same spot it always spills.

Light floods into the room and he squints. His wife stands there and she looks likes she glows but he cannot stand it.

If I take this bottle, I can smash it against her head now, he thinks. I can destroy her and the City Watch will understand. I will tell them she was a faggot who tried to kill me. Then I will tell them of her faggot lover and they will say some sad things and tell me I had no choice because those Snowflakes are mental and we know it, this is why they are outlawed and given therapy to revert to normality. This is why we switch off their perverted genes.

She looks at him. She says nothing at first. He sips from his glass.
“I am taking the cat on Monday.” He sips. “I will have Teddy come by with Angela to help with the rest.” She fucking calls that shit stuffer “Teddy.” He sips again. She walks over to him. She puts her hand on his hand but he pulls it away. “It will be fine for you with the Party in the end.” He looks at her and wishes his look conveys the murder he feels. She frowns and pulls away, a little in fear and this makes him a little happy. “I’m sorry Ben.” He thinks to himself, Messala will help me find a conclusion to her. To this situation. Wait till I tell Messala about her stupid perversion. Her lust and fornication. He wants to shout at her to get the hell out you fucking faggot lover, but he sips because it is warming him and his hand still shakes.

Eleanor turns and walks away. Her bag is heavy but he will not help her. If she chooses this form of social suicide he will not help her with it. He knows as soon as she leaves it is over for her and eventually she will be hunted like the others. They helped bring this Nation to its knees with their demonstrations that always turned into riots…they brought us down with their AIDS infection. Messala has told him the only thing worse than a Gay is a Mexican or a Muslim. And he knows if she could she would be a Gay Muslim Mexican, probably. He chuckles to himself but Eleanor doesn’t notice. She is gone already in her mind.

There is a soft knock at their front door and she leaves him. She shuts the kitchen door and he is shrouded in darkness again. He sees the light through the crack and she answers the door without saying anything and he hears it close.

Sylvia will be marching by his building tomorrow. And He thinks of her. He realizes he hasn’t taken his heart pills yet and puts two in his mouth. He washes it down with more of his premium drink. He can’t hear the car leave because the rain is so loud. He should go down there and tell this Teddy just what he’s doing to this country. He should go right now to Messala and maybe Messala will let him cry. Maybe Messala will hold him. He will only cry a little like a man can only cry a little. His tears will splash hard against Messala’s perfect suit and Messala will offer him a glass of Super Premium Scotch. “Maybe, Just a little,” Ben will say and Messala will drink it slowly and softly with him. They will drink the scotch without water as men are supposed to, then Messala will offer him some food and he will eat meat with his mentor as men do. Then Messala will create a plan together with him and they will set it in motion. They will be partners too and maybe Messala will ask him to move in and…
His heart begins to thump again and he pulls from the glass. His room is starting to tilt a little and his breath is quick so he must stop thinking so much about this unfortunate thing.

He slows his breathing. He will watch Sylvia, if only from the window tomorrow. Maybe she will look up and her beautiful eyes will see him trying for the Party for the Nation. She will visit me then. Yes.

His bottle is almost empty and he drains the rest of it. Just to stop my hand from shaking, he thinks. Just until then. To him, it is of importance.