DECEMBER SEVENTH
ANNIE O’CONNOR
PLANET EARTH
YEAR 2100
Annie didn’t want her mother to come to the announcement.
Maybe she had been feeling well for a day, but there was no reason to believe that it would last two.
Her mum insisted that she was fine, that she was getting better, that she hardly felt tired at all, but Annie didn’t believe her. Still, Annie couldn’t convince her not to go, instead, she prayed - something that her mother had told her people did way back - that nothing bad would happen.
Before they went, Annie opened the 7 in her calendar.
For the first time, it showed something she recognized.
Snow.
Annie and her mum ended up in the back of the crowd.
Hundred of people were already standing impatiently at the plaza, staring at the hydraulic platform in the middle of it all, waiting.
After a little while, The Mayor walked through the crowd, several men surrounding him. He stepped onto the platform, which instantly rose a few meters above the ground.
“Good morning, old London,” he greeted them, with a voice that could be heard all over the plaza thanks to the speakers that had been put up. “I assume that you’ve all seen the news, and are all wondering,”
The plaza had gone all quiet by now, everyone's attention were focused upon the man that was about to speak again. To end their confusion.
“For those of you who haven’t yet heard it: we’re bringing christmas back! And for those of you who are to young to know about christmas: it’s an old tradition that brings people together in happiness.”
He made a slight pause, looked out over the crowd. His crowd.
The machines worked faster, making the snow rain down over them in bigger amounts.
“You might wonder,” the Mayor continued. “Why? Why now? And to that, I say because.”
Someone in the crowd before Annie began whispering to the person standing next to him. Annie couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he sounded upset.
“Because there’s no reason not to.”
The whispering spread through the crowd, words jumping from mouth to mouth.
“It’s a beautiful tradition, and it’s a pure shame that it stopped being celebrated.”
A voice spoke louder than the whispers, saying; “It’s a pure shame that we couldn’t fucking afford it.”
The Mayor had heard it, Annie could easily tell that he had. He licked his lips, seemingly stressed, and tried to ignore it as he carried on.
“The headwoman of NASA and I, have decided that we want to give the young people in our crowd today, a chance of experiencing the magic of the holiday.”
The crowd spoke up louder, talking over each other with words Annie had never heard, but sounded like old swear words.
“I know we’ve been struggling-
“Like you’d know what it’s like!” Someone had yelled right at him, from the very front of the crowd. The Mayor could no longer ignore it, he met the gaze of the middle-aged man who stared back at him.
Annie could feel the adrenaline rushing through her, she turned to her mum, realising first now that she had tears in her eyes.
“Please, just stay here, mum. I’ll be back.”
She turned back again, began elbowing herself through the crowd before her mum could reply. She prayed once again, to Gegus and Virgin Maya and all the others she couldn't remember the name of.
“As I said,” the Mayor continued. “We’ve all been struggling, but things are getting better and we’re all doing our best.”
Now people had begun to climb up the platform. More old words were thrown around, growing more aggressive at every letter.
“Can everyone just calm down, please,” the Mayor was now looking desperate, scared. Just like everyone in the crowd, scared of becoming sick, desperate for food.
The men that had surrounded the Mayor was now around the platform, pushing people away, stopping them from getting too close. But not fast enough. More and more people yelled, pushed back, tried to get to the man at the platform.
“You’ve done nothing for us!” someone screamed over them all.
And Annie found herself agreeing with her. She hated the Mayor, hated him, and now she was… was doing what? Trying to protect him?
She had no idea what she was doing, just kept making her way through the people.
Maybe this is a riot.
By the time she had reached the very front, her panicking prain had made up a plan. A terrible plan. She jumped, filled with adrenaline, and made it up the platform. Annie dragged herself up, stepped in front in the Mayor and reached into her boot.
She pulled up a knife.
She had stolen it years ago, and never let go of it.
“Don’t touch him,” she cried and the crowd went all silent.
All eyes were on her, shocked, confused. She didn’t know what to do. Her brain had been on autopilot, and it was first now starting to hit her what she was doing.
She was just about to open her mouth when a scream came from the back.
“Help me! Help me, a woman fell!” a young woman yelled. “I think she’s dying- please somebody help!”
As in some abstract morbid joke, an old christmas song started playing all over the plaza, coming from already programmed speakers.
And fake snow fell over the crowd.
