MIA

Empower Your Future

It was an innumerable pleasure, to watch him hang, his feet dangling, demeaning him to the appearance of a child once caught in the act. His hands, though limp, remained clenched around the noose that had swallowed his final breath, the futility of his struggles embossed even in death. Crows circled overhead, their agitation distorting their lines of flight as they awaited their prey, wings pulsating as they strayed over the lowest altitude, flitting within arms reach. There was a familiarity in their movements, as though they had grown accustomed to these women, perhaps even dependant on them.

Aveira led the chanting, her words indistinguishable from each other, the bloodlust the only thing communicated. "Look how he bleeds the same colour", she said lowly, the tip of her knife carving slowly into his chest, staining the bruising metal scarlet. His corpse seemed to flinch away from her unforgiving touch and his blood dripped to the floor, lost in the dampness of the soil. "May your blood rot here", she uttered, "We offer your life, for all those who were wrongfully taken, for all who the State forgot. May they share in our grief".

The other  women watched with unapologetic glee, crazed looks of satisfaction warping demure appearances and gentle dispositions. They were woman I recognised, brushed shoulders with and exchanged polite conversation when we passed, women who offered me flowers to braid through my hair. They weren't consumed with fiery anger that compelled them to treasonous act, as the State would paint them on every board. Their every move was calculated, deliberate. 

White roses were lain by the fallen noose, each darkening to scarlet. Every flower was dedicated to someone, commemorating a life that was taken too abruptly and without blessed eulogies. 

An unfamiliar song was sung as the crows flocked, clothing the congregation in blackest silk and their cruel lullaby soaring above the wistful melody. My silence was the beacon of an outsider and Aveira's eyes darted to mine with pinpoint accuracy, settling upon the shrubbery which had been my watchtower. Her eyes were catlike, in both their amber colour and narrowed width, the curiosity that burned through her vision, misplaced only by unwavering distrust. 

"They'd send children to spy on us now?" She muttered in disgust, parting the women as though they were cattle and removing the dark hood from her forehead, "We have broken no laws here". She spoke with barely concealed smugness and the eloquence of one familiar her the lines, her weathered forehead betraying the winters and ailments that had aged her, "You have no ground to take us into custody tonight. The body was hung when we found it and we decline to answer anything more without our attorneys present".

"Please", I interrupted, lowering the bonnet that guised my features, "I did not mean to startle you, nor do I have any intention of apprehending you. Indeed quite the opposite, I wish to join your movement". If any of the other women had heard my request, I wondered would they have laughed, perhaps mocked me for the girlish clothes I donned that portrayed me closer to a seamstress than a soldier. If Aveira had any such opinions, her expression did not waver, her eyes fixated on my own as though searching for a truth that I did not speak.  no inkling of being a soldier. "My name is Emilia Wilbur", I unfastened the purple ribbon from my bodice and lay it at her feet, "Mrs Haversham gave me this. She said that you could help me, I know your initiation begins every Fall and you'll be accepting a new class".  Aveira clutched the cloth, deducing its authenticity by the diluted streams of moonlight.

"Giselle Haversham sent you", She repeated, "To me? I haven't seen her here in a long time".

"Mrs Haversham sends her apologies, the store has been very busy lately". 

"We've all been busy", Aveira snapped, "What do you want, Miss Wilbur?"

"I want to join you, the Equalitists. I lost my best friend when I was sixteen. She went missing and the State did nothing. They didn't file a missing person complaint until two months had passed, declared that she'd run off and she was just classed as an anomaly. I know that she would never run but no one asked for my testimony. They just wanted the problem to disappear and I can't imagine how many others were lost like that. I don't want her death to become one on the many".

"I'm sorry for your loss but we can't help you", Aveira said stiffly. A few ladies glanced towards us as they began to clear the site, removing any trace of their occupancy and rolling the pallid corpse into the tossing river.

"I don't understand", I stuttered, "I brought your ribbon to prove my legitimacy. I swear I share your cause" .

"I have already told you, there is no room for your kind here". Aveira said slowly, "I'll offer you a word of friendly advice, because Giselle is one of us. I sincerely recommend you mind who you speak to, before you find yourself in trouble". As though heralded by her words, the sense of bloodlust hung heavily in the air, rabid and uncontrolled seeking its dilution in the nearest object.