POWER

Chapter One

Faith Moore's journey to power was both unexpected and controversial - she was running as the first female president. By 2015, the United States had been governed by forty four presidents, all of which were men. With only a year left before the next presidential election, Faith was ready to change history.

Faith was sat in her new office filling in forms for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) when her husband Joseph walked in. The couple had been married for twenty three years and had two daughters : Kendall and Taylor. They both had a degree in law and Faith had decided to run for the election when she was very young. Now it was finally happening. Registering with the FEC was just step one for Faith. There were many more challenges in her future. She filled in the basic details : legal name, date of birth, address etc. Then she had to sign to the terms and conditions ; 'Are you originally from America?' Yes. Faith was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ''Have you been an American resident for the previous fourteen year?'' Yes. She had been living in New York since she was twenty.

There were many requirements for entering. The FEC also needed to know how much money you were spending on political campaigns and other aspects of your professional life. So far, the Moore's (who were running as a third party) had spent $7,000 in the last month.

At around half past three, Faith took a break from work to pick up her daughter from school. Taylor was in her Senior Year and was very academic. She too was hoping to study law. Seventeen year old Taylor had very ambitious goals and wished to be Judge in the Supreme Court. Faith arrived to pick up Taylor, she was the only one waiting outside the school. ''This is why I need my own car.''

The Moore's were very wealthy but even the income of two lawyers couldn't handle a mortgage, Kendall's college tuition, three cars and a holiday villa on top the campaign funds. Faith found it hard to talk about money issues with her daughters. She wanted to give them everything they needed and felt they deserved, after all, they had never known anything other than money and wealth. However Faith did.

Faith had a very different up-bringing. She was a self-accomplished woman and her drive came from her first family. The small cottage in Philadelphia appeared to be from some sort of fairytale. In reality : it was a living hell. Faith's father, Paul Smith, worked very high up in the bank industry and was a very entitled man. He saw himself as a very important citizen. Paul married Faith's mother Amira in 1972 and Faith was born in 1975. By this point, women had been granted the same rights as men for over half a century. However some people such as Paul saw women as slaves and inferior.

Faith was raised in a very anti-feminist environment and both her and her mother were forced to endure slave labour and were often beaten.

When Faith turned nineteen, her mother died. This naturally was heart breaking for Faith but it gave her an opportunity. She had suffered depression under the influence of her fathers cruelty and things went even worse when she lost her mother, but it freed her. Faith had wanted to leave, to escape her father's wrath but refused to leave her mother. Now there was nothing holding her back, she was free.

Faith and Taylor arrived back to the house to meet with Joseph and Kendall.

Kendall was three years older than Taylor. She was tall and size two skinny. Both girls had dreams of following their parent's foot steps in law. Kendall was focussing on criminology and was living in a studio apartment. She had come home to go for a meal with her family.

Faith straightened her brown, highlighted hair and they set off to a restaurant in the heart of the city. The restaurant was fairly busy as the Moore's took their seats. The family always stood out, even before rumours of Faith's candidacy. Faith wore a black-suit jacket with her Prada suit, both daughters held themselves high as they carried their Jimmy Choo purses and Joseph always looked smart in his Ralph Lauren suit. They presented themselves as very 'held-together' people.

A waitress came to take their order as people whispered about how close they were sitting to a possible presidential candidate. It was a chicken salad for Faith and Kendall, a vegan salad for Taylor and a jacket potato for Joseph.

''How are you getting on with your criminology course Kendall?'' asked her father. He liked to insure both the girls were doing well in school.

'' It's going really well. The teacher's wonderful, really knows what he's talking about''

'' That's always good, I'm sure you'll get top marks''

If there was one thing the two daughters knew, it was how to win. They had been raised to be competitive. What's the point of doing anything if you're not going to excel at it?

After finishing eating their meals and refusing desert menus (''doesn't she know I'm on a sugar-free diet?'' said Kendall in disgust), they politely left the restaurant and drove home.

The Moore's arrived home at ten o'clock. Kendall left almost immediately with some friends and Taylor went up to her room to revise for an upcoming exam. Taylor spent much of her time studying. How else would she keep up with all of her extra classes? She was already participating in a college course on top of everything else.

Meanwhile, Faith was in her office going over her speech. The next day, she would be announcing her candidacy officially in front of the press. After a couple of hours of delivering the speech repeatedly to Joseph and correcting it, there was only one thing left to do: Faith needed an outfit.

Her and Joseph's room had two walk-in wardrobes. Faith's was full of black, royal navy blazers, suits and skirts which she wore only the finest, highest heels. After much deliberation (after all, this was the beginning of her political career, she would be remembered by this outfit) she settled for a black pantsuit along with a pair of red Prada heels.

By midnight, Faith and her spouse were both getting cosy in bed. The nerves were suddenly settling in. Faith had quarter of an hour. Only fifteen minutes to address the public in an event so publicised. Not only would she have to begin the process of gaining voters but it was time for her to show other parties who their rivalry was.