Political Caresses

We were all invited to the concert by them.  I didn’t want to go, but my friends and family insisted.

So, I went to see what the hubbub was going to be about.

It was about the inventor.

You know the one… he had started out as a small-time, man who didn’t do much but work in his basement and create something tiny and insignificant.  He lived only a few streets from us; and yet, had been snapped up by them...

The government.

The officials…

…the Yes Men of our society…

But there was another reason why I didn’t want to go.  I had heard about these concerts and what they did to the human mind.  These weren’t ordinary concerts.  They used them to hypnotise the public to make us vote for them.

I knew this was one of those concerts… and I didn’t want to be trapped in that auditorium with the orchestra and those politicians who had written the score and that inventor who had figured out this poetic pattern retains inertia… well, until something else changed its tone, its rhythm, its feel.  This was what I didn’t want to happen.  I wanted inertia, I wanted my world to stay the same… I wanted to be able to make up my own mind without being pushed by crooks.

However, when we arrived, I didn’t have a choice! 

The doors were slammed closed.

They were locked from the outside with a loud thud…

I began to panic! 

But as I looked around, I found that nobody else did.  They were sheep being led to slaughter as that sound emanated from the walls, coercing them into the auditorium; and I was being pushed and shoved in the same direction!

I found my way across the crowd to an unguarded stair well that led up to only the Gods knew where and I raced up them!  But all I could hear was that noise… that … I don’t know what to call it, but I hated it with such vigor I didn’t want to be anywhere inside the building!

I ran past door after door and they were all locked… I hated being here… and I hated the fact the orchestra was beginning to tune up as I found myself at the balcony of the dome right at the top of the building, right where I could see the whole auditorium. 

The view was amazing, as I witnessed everybody from my community calmly find a seat and face the stage.  None of them said anything to each other. 

There was no chatter.

There was no noise at all… just the orchestra tuning up.

It was creepy.

Then, I saw something happen… I watched in the wings of the stage, the inventor peer out at the audience.   He smiled as his invention was about to work out… his smugness made me sick to my guts.  Then, from the shadows, a man in shabby clothes turned him around and dug a knife into his gut hard.  Malice was strong on the features of this shabby man as the inventor collapsed and the criminal let him drop, pulling out his blade as he watched him die.  Then, the criminal disappears after the inventor did too… blood and all.  A moment later, a politician walks right where the man died as though nothing had happened, ready to work his ‘magic’ with the audience.

Once the conductor notices the politician, stops the orchestra from tuning and taps the dais, making them at the ready for them to play.  His arms are raised. 

He looks around at his people.

He raises his head, licks his lips…

At the first note the borderlands expire thanks to the hundred violins.  I turned from the immense sound and look through the dome’s curved glass facing outside and watch as the surrounding landscapes of where I used to live collapse in on itself.

Buildings are destroyed in massive explosions.

Fires are started by powerlines being brought down.

Roads buckle and move as parts of multiple buildings crush them.

I watch in horror as the place I’ve known for my whole life is destroyed by the invention by a man who has just been killed.

“Is she with us?” A Paramedic asked.

“I’m not sure.” The inventor muttered looking up, “She began screaming when my invention started up… she was sure that I was dead… that the world was coming to an end.”

The politician tapped him on the shoulder, “Can I see you for a moment?”

He rose to his feet, leaving her for a moment, “Sure.”

The two walked away from the scene and the powerful man whispered, “How could she know of my plans?”

“I’m not sure.” The inventor shook his head, “Unless she’s immune to the Political Caresses you’ve gotten me to invent… we’ll have to do something different.”

“Of course.” He grabbed his shoulder, stabbed him with a long dagger, and let him sit carefully into a nearby chair as he died, “But we can’t let you look at her, now, can we?” he looked over at her; the one who can’t live because of his campaign’s lies and workings that will eventually take over everything and make him out to be a hero when he’s not.  He turned and disappeared into the crowd, soon after, the inventor vanished from his seat too. 

My eyes fluttered.

My neck is sore from being in the same place for a long time.

Slowly, I look up and find I’m tied to a chair in a room.

There’s a man standing in front of me…

…the politician.

“You know what I’m up to… right?” he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“Well, we’ll have to put an end to that.” His smile spreads to a grin as he  presses a button on a cd player and the borderlands within my mind explode and disintegrate as a thousand violins play and echo around the room.