The Sidekick.

cinque

Harry stood in the break room, stirring coffee, surprisingly. Many of my co-workers were shocked to see him out of his office at regular hours. They greeted him kindly, but ignored the tall boy. I refused to speak to him after our exchange of strange words the other night. Though, deep down I knew what he spoke of.

I sat down in my chair, laying out my work to begin the long day ahead. I would spending my day looking for errors, that could cause chaos in The Government, in a sixty-page document on all the trade and exchanges through out the shortest month. To most, this was dreadful work, reading such a long document and catching every mistake, but I enjoyed it very much.

Within a few minutes my blue pen was already rolling around on the first page of the mountain of paper.

I had difficulty tuning out the noises that swarmed the office floor, whispers of Harry walking around the office, observing everybody's work.

I had just reached the third page when a loud knock on my outer-cubical caught my attention. I swiftly turns to find Harry nonchalantly leaning on the wall's side.

"Would you mind following me to my office, Miss Windser?" His words are cocky and confident just like he is. I roll my eyes, leaving my precious papers to follow the brunette to his larger office. The lock clicks once we enter, per usual.

His hand sets down the coffee cup that he was sipping. He moves to his window-screen. This time there was no blue dot, but digitally projected documents displayed across the large window. Harry tapped away some of the documents to reveal an image of a small blue box, perhaps the size of a rubix cube we would be given in grade school to solve. In it's skin were deep carvings, they could be an ancient language.

"I have talked of this before." I nod in response, this was the crystal box he talked of. The Government's most valuable item.

"Are you a rebel, Harry?" I ask, parting from the box topic.

"Perhaps, I am not okay with how The Government is being run." He shrugs as though his words are just another sentence. If Government officials heard his words, he would become a castaway and be taken under custody.

"What does The Government do that is so wrong to you?" I huff, almost upset. "They raise us to have good and simple lives. The Government had eliminated poverty. The Government saves us from the heartbreak, and pairs us with a perfect other. We are fed three meals a day, kept busy and entertained at all costs, how could The Government be doing something wrong?"

"Oh Sandrine, you have so much to learn. You are simply a child. You believe that we live good lives, but they have brainwashed you. We are living in crisis. Poverty has not been eliminated, just removed from your sight. 2.4% of relationships fail, and that is a little amount. Yet, do you know how many people are acting for The Government? Pretending their match is all well? The LGBT+ community is suffering, but they live on with a life that should not be their's. We are shoved a sexuality and a way of life down our throats. We are distracted from sexism, racism, and everything going on outside our city walls. That's what The Government is doing."

There was silence for a while. Harry eventually moved and pulls up more documents to his screen. Not a word leaves my trembling lips. He was probably correct, because he was brilliant. I believed his attitude towards The Government was the reason his floor was so diverse from any other working place in Ostten.

As my mind pondered it all for more time, it made sense. I was disgusted with myself for letting my mind be fooled by the act The Government had been putting on for years. I shouldn't be so embarrassed though, 19 million people were falling for it too.