🏆 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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Hours needed to pass before the scratchy feeling in my throat vanished and my eyes stopped tearing up. What happened yesterday wasn't something I'd like to experience again. I really hope Jessa and the people who were with her were alright. Still, we were ordered to go out just a few hours from now to do the same thing we attempted to do yesterday. Just from the news me and a couple of other officers with me were listening to on the radio, it's not going well with the country's politics.
Sir Danny's sentiment about defections was founded as I listened to the broadcast relaying several factions already refusing to obey the government's orders. The crowds were still increasing and the military armaments out in the streets were doing the same. It was only a matter of time before those tanks were ordered to shoot and slaughter the citizens.
And for what?
My footsteps echoed through the empty halls of the office on my way to the summons with the rest of the infantrymen. The bustle of soldiers and other officers around the camp was loud from the building's open windows as I joined Garcia in going down the flight of stairs towards the lobby. When we got to the courtyard and joined the line of soldiers formed, a decorated officer stepped into the dais with a forlorn look on his face and brought a megaphone to his lips.
"Do not shoot anyone today," came the amplified but garbled string of words. "That's an order relayed from the president. I repeat: do not shoot anyone today."
A wave of relief passed among the soldiers noticeable only from the amount of shoulders relaxing amidst rigid stances from the ones around me. I, myself, felt like there's a huge weight taken off my shoulders just from hearing that. We're not supposed to shoot anyone. We're not going to hurt anyone.
When the meeting adjourned, the soldiers peeled off from the formation, trudging to all possible directions, each to their own agenda before we were deployed out into the chaotic streets. I was left there, staring up against the morning sunlight blasting my face and making it hard to look up at the flag waving with the weak breeze blowing through the camp.
Red, blue, and white, accented by a little bit of yellow from the sun and the stars, fluttered here and there, almost like someone was dusting it off. I gave it a quick salute before lowering my arm to my side. This flag in front of me and this country I was standing on have been through so much. We have sifted through eras of wars and rebellion, of driving out oppressors and reclaiming our own. Through times of hardship and suffering, we have fought long and hard for this country just so the children of the future could have a country to fight for as well.
This time wasn't so different.
When people have reached the point where they could no longer deny the ugly truth of their oppression in front of them, when they could no longer distance themselves from the ails of society driven by those in power, they would have to scream. And they have to scream because whispers against the coldness of the night would get lost in the wind. What we needed were a thousand whispers, a million voices shouting for justice and it was bound to be heard. These people...they didn't even need to scream.
