Death at Knight.

6| After The Mess

John circled his fellow party members.

"I already asked. Why is Lola crying?"

Lola immediately got up and a stream of vomit flew at John's feet. John moved away in disgust.

"Actually", facing his cleverly placed hidden camera, "there's no need of me asking. That's why I have these bad boys", he boasted his cameras at his peers. He turned to Maria, "I always knew you people had problems. You couldn't even behave and show respects to Our Royal Highness."

"Royal Highness!? You don't need to say that anymore he's dead. Get that into your damn brain." Maria tutted.

"Attitude was unnecessary. You've made yourself comfortable in the Blue Party. One day that'll change. When you refuse yet again to follow the demands of your new superior that will be the day you'll be kicked out of our party. So I suggest you behave."

John walked off smiling.

Maria turned to the rest of her friends, "If he sees the footage then he'll just see hours of Hannah sobbing. There's not enough storage in those things to record the entire funeral."

Ina nodded in agreement, "She's right. John's wasting his time. Let's just get out here."

-

John confined himself in a small room away from his peers to open the cameras he secretly placed. He mischievously smiled, until he saw Hannah giving the speech. He felt uneasy as though he was witnessing a crime. Someone is watching. He turned his back skimming the room. He's dead.

He's dead. Dead. Dead.

He skipped the beginning of Hannah's speech to the part where she cried. He didn't care about Hannah's well-being ; she was too soft to be a good leader, he thought, a bad Vice President already. As John studied the clip, something caught his eye.

Behind the main stage of the ceremony was a flight of stairs. Not just any flight of stairs, it was the exact-

Before John could register any thoughts a familiar voice whispered in his ear.

He's dead. Dead. Dead.

Worry was written all over his sunken face. He again checked to see if he wasn't alone.

He was.

John needed to conquer the demons haunting his mind - he desperately needed to cast his mind elsewhere. The memory of his first day as Co-Vice President of the Blue Party was enough to comfort him.

"First day in office. Congrats. I can't wait to work with you."

"Yes President Knight, I'm honoured to be here," the nervous yet confident John replied.

"No need to call me President. Matthew will do", Mr Knight smiled, "Also you'll be working with my other deputy Hannah. She's over here", he gestured to the young woman sitting on his right. "Since you'll be working together a lot I thought what better way of discussing my new development plans than with my new deputies." His all too friendly tone comforted John but frightened Hannah. "I'll be back, I have an important meeting."

Whilst Knight stumbled towards the door, John tried conversing with the scared woman.

"I never knew he appointed another deputy. He seems really nice and-"

"Shut it. Jacob, or whoever you are", the woman hissed at John.

"Woah. No need to be disrespectful. It's a privilege you're here too. Anger issues, or who ever you are", John asserted himself.

Conversations like this happened all too often with his partner Hannah in Vice Presidency. Hannah made it clear she disliked John's presence. It hurt him, knowing nobody, not even Mr Knight, would listen to his ideas. He started to become disrespectful towards his party members in hope that they'd at least listen to him. John didn't want to be worshipped, he just wanted people to listen to him. By insulting and intimidating as many of his peers as possible, he somehow gained respect in the Blue Party. He also agreed with everything Mr Knight said in hopes of changes in policies for the poor.

Did he agree with everything Mr Knight proposed? No. John secretly despised Mr Knight. A spoilt brat who lived off generational wealth and through the exploitation of poor factory workers. How could he like him? The worst part was pretending. At first he knew he was lying to himself. But as time progressed, the line between what he wanted to believe and what he actually believed blurred. John constantly reminded himself of the true goal - become President of the United Earth and help the less fortunate. How could he achieve his goal when he was forced to work with the likes of Hannah?

Hannah didn't matter now Knight was dead. John remembered that fateful day in detail. The ambulance failing to resuscitate Knight. The Secret Service knocking on his door. The accusations. All of this pain to then find out that Hannah wasn't questioned at all. He kicked his leg at the door in frustration at the thought of it. How could they question him and then forget about everyone else in the Blue Party? John wasn't a murderer, and he wanted everyone else to know that too. So when he discovered Sally the Leader of the Red Party was booked in for an execution he sighed in relief ; until something else came to light.

John snapped out of the distraction to find his camera was dead. "You know what else is dead?", the voice asked menacingly.

He's dead. Dead. Dead.