Inveigle

Chapter Twenty: Preparations

The glow from the computer screen lit up my face with an eerie blue. I'm going to put my face out there. Again. They'll come for me. Again. At least this time it will be purposeful. My choice, unlike the coffee shop video. Part of me just wanted to slip beneath the radar. To skip town to another city and start over again. It wasn't like I had too much keeping me here. But then I saw Pam's face in the back of my head. I wondered where Nathan and Ava were.

Snake, or as I knew him, Robert, flipped on the recording lights in the bedroom. He had a nice set up in his room; he was a real tech geek. When I first walked into his room to make a plan about recording a video I was stunned, the screens glowed with programs that I could not fathom their use. He had turned them away from me at first, as if I would spill his secrets, but now he leaves them where I can see. I don't know if this is because he trusts me or has come to the conclusion that I don't understand what he does. The only thing Boss and Robert had told me was that he made most of the money for the gang.

"Tell me when, and we'll go live," he said.

I took a deep breath and nodded. The bottom of the screen began counting.

3.2.1.

"Good evening, some of you may recognize my face, others may not. I spoke out of turn and President Persim did not appreciate that. Allow me, a nobody, a low level citizen, to tell you the truth. It is power and greed that motivates our President. A desire to fit the world into the landscaping of her twisted mind, and if you are a weed like me, like so many of us are to her, then she pulls you out by the roots and tosses you aside to shrivel up in the sun, or in the case of many of our citizens to freeze to death in the cold."

"I walk the streets of the poorer end of town. I see no benefit to the Volunteer Tax, only harm. I see corpses frozen with their eyes still open, looking into the cold air for someone to care. I see mothers being turned away at the door, with their arms holding a barely moving child. If the Tax works, it works only in favor of the rich. Yes, there will be more money for schools because the schools for the average citizen and below will be gone. Their students will be a distant memory of a country that did not want to care for those in need. I say this to you now, in hopes the message will get shared. This is a call to action. Stand up against tyranny, and be the citizens I know you are. I hope I will be there to see a country I am proud of, but I can't be sure. My last comments were taken unkindly, and I was taken to a Speakeasy to be murdered under no one else's command except President Persim." I paused for effect.

"There is a branch of these that are run by the government. I've seen the roots of the government weave throughout the poverty stricken when they are desperate. They have been planting the seed of suicide in their minds."

I leaned forward and tapped the space bar to stop the message.

I leaned back in the metal folding chair. "I'm a dead woman," I muttered.

"Not yet," said Robert. He moved from behind the computer to step beside me and give me a side hug. I had the feeling that this "cold hearted" gang member was very flamboyant underneath.

It was a warm day for February. I pulled the faded gray hoodie over my head anyways. It reeked. Robert had been kind enough to give it to me, and it had felt rude to ask if it was clean. I had less than 15 dollars in my pocket. Twelve of them had come from Sam.

We were watching a movie to kill time. The thick blankets over the windows let in very little light, making the perfect theater atmosphere. I sat on a faded blue and green plaid couch when my stomach began rumbling. It did it again, and a third time. Sam paused the movie and looked over at me. His stomach let out a return growl. We didn't think there was any food in the house, and didn't dare ask if there was.