Dictator [One Direction AU]

1

Date: 01.03.2063

The sky was beginning to turn from grey to blue as a single street cleaner swept the dirt and grime from the road, her face was already dirtied and her hair lay in long, greasy strands down her back. She wasn't there to impress anyone, she knew her place in society. The soles of her shoes were beginning to come off, that was the consequence of walking miles to work every day; her mother couldn't afford a new pair for her, so she would have to make do with the ones she had.

In the distance, the poor girl saw a pair of young ladies wearing their finest clothes; the street sweeper watched them with wide eyes as she admired the designs on their dresses. The hem of the dresses had a lace trim and jewels of all colours had been sewn onto the bodice as well as the skirt. Leaning on her broom, the girl's mouth dropped open as she examined the perfect hairstyles of the women who were being followed by their servants.

The sweeper continued to brush away the dirt as the ladies passed, hoping one of them would toss her a penny for her hard work. The two ladies took no notice of the girl ,who was more bones than muscle, and instead walked past her, engrossed in their own conversations.

"Louis Tomlinson is said to be marrying a pauper, to help close the separation between the social classes. It will never work, they won't find someone worthy of him, those poor people are just pigs," both the ladies laughed heartily, and the city sweeper clenched her fists as she listened in. She hated the way the rich treated her and those that lived near her, she never understood why she was seen as less than someone because she didn't have fancy clothes or a double- barrelled last name.

"Scram, dirty vermin," one of the ladies shouted at the cleaner who looked up at them in a daze, she was not aware that her presence was known.

"I am working here, Lady," the poor girl stammered, scared of the consequence that would follow. She knew she wasn't supposed to speak out against those that had money, she knew that her whole life could be destroyed by a snap of the lady's finger. The lady could get the whole of the sweeper's family deported, or even worse... killed.

"What is your name, little rodent?" The lady wearing an extravagant bonnet asked, pinching the pauper's cheeks patronisingly.

"Jane," the girl said defiantly, narrowing her eyes at the lady's stupid behaviour. Jane knew she should have kept her mouth shut, but there was something inside her that meant she couldn't help herself.

"Well Jane," the lady was having fun annoying the poor girl, "Do you think that our great ruler will want to marry you?"

Jane looked sullenly down at the floor, she knew that the chances of the dictator ever wanting to be in the same room as her were slim let alone him wanting to be her husband!

"That's what I thought," the lady wearing a bonnet pushed Jane down onto the pavement and walked off with her friend cackling loudly, the sound bouncing off the stone walls. The sweeper pulled herself up, tears stinging her eyes which she wiped away quickly. Her broom had been snapped in two because she had landed on it when she had fallen, this meant her only option was to go home- unpaid.

***

"Jane dear, why do you look so forlorn?" The busty, older lady asked when her daughter plodded inside their small house with a frown plastered on her face. The mother always knew when something was troubling her daughter, she could sense it from a mile off.

"Nothing mother, I just broke my broom," the young woman knew that her mother wouldn't shout at her but she knew her mother would be disappointed. The family could barely afford a loaf of bread, let alone a new broom.

"Well dear," the mother tried to hide her dismay, that was yet another paycheck that she wouldn't be receiving; her daughter was one of the main bread winners in the family, "Cheer up ducky! There is much to celebrate about."

Jane looked over at her mother with confusion, she couldn't see what joy could be present in their bleak world.

"The leader is choosing a bride, from a village just like ours. Rumour spreads that he is coming tomorrow at one in the afternoon," the mother held her hands together as she looked at her daughter but Jane couldn't understand why her mother was excited. The leader would never choose her as a bride compared to all the other ladies in nearby villages.

"He will never choose me Mother. Next door's Mary has more chance than I," Jane stared at herself in the mirror as she spoke, looking at her average body and face. She really was a plain Jane, the type of girl that was never destined for anything interesting in life.

Sometime she wished that she had a name that was just as colourful and beautiful as the imagination that lay inside of her; she envied those with names so pretty that the sweetest perfume could be named after them.

"Who would buy a scent called 'Jane'?" The forlorn girl asked aloud and her mother stared at her like she had gone crazy. Jane gave a sheepish smile, realising that she had said her thoughts aloud again- something she did frequently.

Rushing to her bedroom, she pulled out her notebook and pen which her father had given to her as a birthday present when she had turned eighteen. In her neatest handwriting she wrote an account of her day, expressing how much pain the posh ladies had caused her as well as documenting the news about Louis, the leader.

She had only ever seen the illusive man a few times, on the television of her friend and when the man was going around making speeches before the election. She remembered hearing her elder sister swoon over him, trying to explain to Jane what was so perfect about the man who Jane didn't think that highly of. To her, he seemed too self obbessed.

"Tomorrow, someone will marry the most powerful man in England. And that someone will be taken away from a life of poverty, lucky-" Jane was about to curse when she heard her mother's footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Take a bath tonight so your hair can dry for tomorrow," her mother shouted through the door and Jane sighed before tucking her diary away and walking down the stairs to prepare herself for the day to come.

This kind of writing is very different to the writing I usually do, for starters its in third person which I never write in! This chapter was supposed to give a feel for who Jane is as a person but also show the divide between the rich and poor. This is set very much in the future but there is not fancy technology- televisions,phones etc do exist though!