🏆 LONGLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2022
Vincent Pareja longs for the day when his family won't worry about money and his siblings can go to school without skipping a meal. With his choices limited and with the wage, however small, promises to help h...
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I stared at the details of the new assignment given to me through Garcia. The thin paper used in printing the words blinked back at me and unlike the first time I received paperwork such as this, only fear greeted me. What were they going to make me do, this time? Arrest more rebels who were just ordinary citizens? Raid harmless neighborhoods?
Whatever this assignment was, I hope my intuition was wrong.
By the time the van we've traveled in pulled up in front of a nondescript building in a well-populated neighborhood, I almost breathed out a sigh of relief. Perhaps, I could go home earlier than normal and be on time with the funeral of Jessa's parents. She still needed me to be there and I tried to join her when I wasn't burdened with work.
"Move out," the soldier from the driver's seat called to us. The doors slid open with a sharp hiss, almost blinding me with the sunlight blasting past the tinted windows. At least three more soldiers dressed in the same uniform as me stepped down. Rifles clicked against legs as feet stomped down the new shoots of grass carpeting the front yard.
I followed suit but without any weapon. I just had my handgun stuck at the back of my belt and I had no intention of firing or even drawing it unless I had to. Which, judging from the atmosphere, wouldn't need to happen at all.
The other soldiers as well as someone who I knew to be the leader for this operation headed into the compound after giving each other brief nods. Our footsteps echoed through the rough concrete and finally against the quiet corridors of the building. Empty gray walls closed in on us and wooden doors void of any varnish flanked each and every one of our steps. Then, without much ceremony, the leader twisted the knob of the door he chose and strutted inside. We all piled in and waited for our briefing.
The summon told me we're here to do administrative work so I assumed I was just here to do the same thing I was used to doing back at the camp. I stood still, though, as protocol would mandate, and kept my eyes on a fixed spot on the gray wall behind the leader.
"De Vega, you handle the prisoner at Room 3," the leader was saying, calling each and everyone of the surnames of the soldiers around me. "Pareja, you will have Room 8."
I gave a salute and went to where they usually keep the records regarding the criminal offenses but a hand swept into my periphery and laid upon my shoulder, effectively stopping me in place. The leader's eyes flashed in a dangerous glint that I knew all too well. "No need for the documents, Pareja," he said, smirking ever so lightly. "We all know they're rebels planning to stage a coup against the government. We're just going to find out where and how."
"Do you have evidence these people are involved this time?" I said, careful of letting too much acid drip into my voice. "I have had enough of this."
The leader shrugged. We were almost the same height but for some reason, his presence was bigger...and more oppressive. "What do you mean 'this time'?" He tilted his head to one side. "We always gather evidence before making an arrest. You, of all people, know that."
