Trapped in Persecution

II

Calliope

"I'm sorry but your mother, sister, and friend are dead." the police officer said tion, no feeling, no anything like they were just there and then not there and it didn't matter to him. He lied straight to my face, "I'm sorry" You're not sorry, you're not sad, you don't feel pity. For all I know you feel nothing at all, it's what your tone says.
I couldn't believe the words that had been thrown at me, bruising me, not on the outside but on the in, and what I really couldn't fathom was what he said next:

"It only happened because they were protesting your sister's unwillingness to have sex with that guy. If they didn't do that then it wouldn't have happened."

People outside the Dome think that inside is the best. Sure we have flowers, birds, blue sky, houses, jobs, but we don't have freedom. There is homophobia: a guy was beat up and shot for being gay. Transphobia: a trans girl was also beat up and shot for being trans and "going against the rules of nature". Racism: a black guy was shot for "stealing" a bag of wires, a Hispanic guy was hung because he "touched" a rich white man's daughter. Sexism: a woman has two jobs, those are to find a husband and take care of the home. We have a social pyramid. First is the ruler, he is the most important, respected person who makes the rules and keeps everyone following the rules. Next there is the defense. Defense is split into two sections, normal and electronic. Normal is the police, the army, the navy, and so on. Electronic is the one that takes down any rebellious posts on the Space. The Space is what we communicate on, what we watch movies and shows on, what tells us what time it is. The Space tells us all announcements, all news, all going ons of our wonderful Dome. The electronic defense finds out if anything rebellious is posted, they figure out who did it and how to hurt them. They make sure that no ideas get out that the government is a sexist, homophobic, racist bunch of assholes. They make us feel trapped, caged in, always watched yet somehow lonely and forgotten. After defense comes high standing business men. Then marketers who sell and buy products to give to the people. Then normal men. Then women and children. Then all of the people who came up from the Outside.

My mother, sister, and friend are dead and no one seems to care, least of all the judge who didn't bat an eye and just said, "Such a shame that happened. Now why don't you come and give me a kiss?" In my head I was screaming out of frustration, I can't say I'm gay or I'll be hanged for my "sins" and I can't call him out on his sexual assault attempt because sexism thrives in a society that profits on women's insecurities and fear, and I can't refuse his attempt for he would only then do much worse than ask for a kiss. I am scared, everyday, for my life and my safety, I don't want to get raped, I don't want to get beaten, I don't want to be hanged, I want to be me, without persecution.

My mother, sister, and friend are only dead because they spoke out against my sister's rape. Rape isn't a word that we are allowed to use, instead we say "her unwillingness to have sex with that man but she gave in..." or "It's sad that she didn't want to have sex with that man but she shouldn't have...". My sister, Iphigenia, who we call Iphi... called, past tense, was raped on her way home from her singing class wearing a long skirt and a loose t-shirt, nothing "showy" or "suggestive" as the men say. "She shouldn't have been wearing that, she was basically asking him to. It doesn't matter if she said no, she wore suggestive clothing." My sister didn't do anything and my mom normally went along but that was the last straw.  Iphi was her first child and the sun of my mom's life. Iphigenia could sing, dance, sew, and paint. She was the perfect lady. I however could only figure out how to use technology which is "boy's work". If I sang the Dome's super strong glass would break, if I danced I would have trampled my partner's toes to mush. I'm all tangled in thread if I try to sew and when I paint there is always more paint on me and the room than the canvas. Iphigenia was my mom's favorite and she loved her so much. She had blond hair that didn't turn brown like mine, it flowed perfectly down from her scalp, unlike mine, which seems to always be a frizzy mess, blue eyes instead of a swamp green, and a mouth that knew how to keep what it said under control. My best friend, Juliet, also found her amazing. Juliet was a smart, no fuss kind of girl. She liked to read and could have trash talked anyone to pieces if she was allowed. Juliet's family was the kind of uptight that nothing you did met their standards. Juliet had chocolate skin and  brown eyes that glittered like someone threw diamonds in the dirt hoping that no one would notice how bright they are. Juliet beyond intelligent, she could debate any topic, argue any point, tell you any fact, and write any paper. In the Dome's eyes she was too bright, too strong, too ready to fight for what she believes, it didn't help that she was black and a girl. If she wasn't a girl and was white then she would be praised because of how bright she was.

Normal defense killed them. They were speaking out at the scene of the crime. I didn't know about what they were doing till I saw it on the hologram screen in my house's tech room which I use as a hide out to use for technology, it's the only way I can avoid the sexist bastards that continue to tell technology is "man's work". I was horrified, I had no idea what was to come. And in case you didn't know; hearing from your town's news reporter that your mother, sister and best friend are dead is quite jarring.

When I heard about the deaths of my loved ones I was devastated, but it was difficult to focus on that when right before my eyes, the newscaster was informing me that they had been doing these rallies for months. I was so blinded by my own, insignificant problems that I had failed to take Amy interest in the lives of those around me. My selfishness and self absorbance could not go on, I decided I should stand up, speak out and try to take part in this battle. It started with me using computers, hacking into government files, finding out how many people were killed or raped or beaten. Turns out there are a lot. I kept on hacking, covering up my trace was hard and the technological defense caught wind of it but for a while they thought I was a virus. I couldn't help but laugh, me, a girl, doing "man's work" and I had done it so well they didn't even know who I was. I did more research and found out that a top lawyer, who is quite sexist by the way, has been cheating on his wife with multiple other girls. (I only know this cause he uses The Space to message them, anything not on The Space is out of my reach but since everything is on The Space I win! *evil laughter*) I exposed him sending it out onto The Space in the form of a note with the end of the message saying "Love, Virus". The name made me feel powerful, like I was something the average human couldn't control, so reckless, yet completely under control, I knew what I was doing, I knew why I was doing it, but no one else did.

That night The Space was chaos, I had to keep re-posting the screenshots of the messages cause they kept on being taken down but I also loaded a virus onto the links so that anyone who opened my link would have the virus in their technology and the virus would send me updates on any private conversation and also block the user from knowing who it is. I knew that the tech defense would need to open the links to make sure these were real messages and because they did bam, they couldn't track me but I knew their secrets.  It's become a once a week thing were every Wednesday I would ruin someone else or put out a long rant about how unfair this shit is but I also created a bug were it won't let you re-post my posts or "like" my posts or comment on them to keep others safe. The original virus that covered up my tracks has had modifications and new parts added, covering up my traces is hard but you can bet that every Thursday morning the electronic paper will have a bit about what the, and I quote "the hacker known as Virus has taken over The Space" (dramatic much? I didn't take it over I just used it)

The authorities are offering a reward to anyone who can find this hacker. We are suspecting it is a man of around twenty years old so please keep your eyes out."

Ha! Sexism backfires! They don't think it's a girl 'cause girls can't do tech, to be truthful I couldn't really until I found this tech room and taught myself over ten years.At least they got my age almost right, but I'm 18 not 20, my father keeps telling me it's time to "find a man and settle down" and in my head all I want to say is fuck you, you and your misogynistic ways. But alas, I wish to stay alive, so I keep my mouth shut and I move my fingers instead.