Ask Why

Chapter VII: Rorke

Time drags on with the speed and grace of a sack of potatoes when you’re sitting in an Ethics class with a surprise guest lecture by the dictator himself: Mr Edey. It took all my strength not to point out any of the illogic in his statements, but I managed to bite my tongue and keep quiet for my sake.

‘…for the sake of the people. You need to look past the short term, even if it means that the people will have to suffer reduced rations for a couple of months. The decisions you make need to make sure that you can reap the maximum benefit in the long term from minimum resource expenditure in the short term. The whole poi-’ Mr Edey was cut off by a freckled hand that shot up in the front of the class, it was Tom Crutchley. ‘Yes Mr Crutchley, what would you like to add?’

‘Well sir,’ Tom began in a matter-of-fact tone, ‘Surely long term won’t matter if you kill off all of your citizens with poor decisions in relation to the short term? Surely the stigma that comes with all of this completely marginalises the people in respect to their rights.’ Tom was the type of person who opened their mouth in an attempt to sound smart before their brain can catch up with them, often panting and berating them for making and long or short term decisions without consulting it first.

Mr Edey looked intently at him. You could have cut the silence with a relatively sharp knife, everybody knew that Tom had not only chosen his words poorly, but also his actions. He had disobeyed the first unspoken rule of the Authority: sit down, shut up, and accept all that is told to you without challenge. And he didn’t even do it anonymously, he did it openly and straight in the face of one of the highest powers of the school. Mr Edey turned and whispered something to the guard stationed at the door of our class. The guard strode over to Tom, picked him up by the arm, and dragged him unceremoniously out of the class room, with Mr Edey following behind. Off to the sanatorium to be brainwashed, we all saw it coming.

The class was still sitting in shocked silence when the loud-speakers crackled to life and a uniform form voice spoke out.

‘Will all students please report to the clock tower immediately. Any students caught elsewhere on campus will be punished severely.’

We filed out of the classroom and joined the wave of students heading toward the clock tower. Whispers drifted around as we all tried to figure out what was going on. Only my class knew that it had something to do with Tom. As we filtered onto the lawn and quad surrounding the clock tower I noticed a figure kneeling before a guard with a sack over its head. A lump rose in my throat as a terrible thought popped into my head. The thought was confirmed when the guard pulled the sack off of the figure’s head, revealing the bright red hidden beneath.

Mr Edey stepped out from behind the guard. His presence could silence a drunken uncle; a crowd of students was child’s play to him. ‘Students,’ he began in a tone that could send a leopard skulking off in search of a clean change of underpants, ‘defiance is not taken lightly at this institution. This boy seems to have missed the memo and has blatantly spoken out against the better judgement of his superiors. And as you all know: actions must have consequences, and master Crutchley over here is going to suffer greatly for his idiocracy. I hope you all realise that I do not make threats, I give warnings.’ With that he turned and walked off to his office, leaving us to watch as the guard slowly lifted the gun in his hands toward the back of Tom’s head.

Tom stared ahead. Too afraid to do anything. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on the flagstone ground before him. His eyes drifted downward and he stared at the ground, silently giving up hope and admitting defeat. There was a click as a round was loaded into the barrel. Everyone wanted to look away, to avert their eyes from the travesty about to take place. But we, unlike Tom, knew better. We knew the guards were more than happy to punish anyone they caught trying to avoid bearing witness to the execution. So we watched, we watched as a life was taken away without mercy, without a second thought. And we did the citizenly thing and stopped at nothing not to get in the way and meddle in affairs that were our own.