Soaked Tyrants

Soaked Tyrants - Part One

Simon walked down the damp English streets. The buildings towering around him, enclosing him into a small cage to be watched by malicious overseers' eyes. Rain fell from the sky like bombs from the war we once lost. When they hit the wet cement it made a sound as if there were miniature soldiers being tormented by the wet explosives. Simon's polished leather shoes soaked in the liquid that covered the water-filled roads. Droplets trickled down his coddled face. He held his Northern European Order Police uniform around his arm, getting soaked along with the rest of his clothes from the rain.

Simon then passed a colorful billboard praising the Nazi Party and their beliefs. It contained a small boy and girl working together to hold a large bronze swastika with a globe in the center. The billboard's propaganda reading, "Leading your kids the right way!" Simon ignored it as he always saw it on his walk home.

Simon turned the corner and his eyes caught sight of the brightly lit monorail platform. His pace began to quicken as the train was to arrive soon. It started to rain more industrious as if the clouds was right against him. The street gutters were almost full. Luckily, Simon reached the platform with minutes to spare. He punched in his laminated monorail pass into the turn gates. The small multi-colored light turned green and the turn able gate was freed from its lock. Simon pushed the gate and walked through the empty station entrance. A boisterous voice went through the intercom speakers, "Attention all passengers: The A-11 high-speed monorail will arrive in three minutes at 8:00 PM. Repeat: Attention all passengers: The A-11 high-speed monorail will arrive in three minutes at 8:00 PM."

Simon was relieved that he had not missed the monorail. Simon began to walk upward towards the elevated platform. Slight waterfalls were cascading down toward the street gutters like rivers beginning at the summit of a peak. When Simon reached the top of the platform he glanced around the waiting area, no one in sight. He was the only one, alone. Simon peered down the mountainous platform. He estimated he was at least 100 feet above the slick, dangerous roads. The intercom blasted again, "Attention all passengers: The A-11 high-speed monorail is now arriving. Repeat: Attention all passengers: The A-11 high-speed monorail is now arriving."

Simon heard the roaring jets of the monorail in the distance. Its loud venomous hiss echoed through the empty cityscape. The snake-like vehicle approached the elevated platform, and the doors of the great anaconda separated and left a wide entry way. Then the snake made a slight, high-pitched, bell sound. A small compartment opened on the side of the monorail, splitting the crisp, black, A-11 printed on the vehicle. Inside the compartment was a screen printed with the number 30. It changed each second 29, 28, 27, 26. Simon hastily boarded the reptile, silently waiting for the countdown to finish. Suddenly, seconds before the countdown finished. Then, figure entered the adjacent car. "Now heading to the pantheon. Now heading to the pantheon," the intercom chimed.

Simon sat down on one of the padded seats, the cushions tightly, but comfortably, held his body in place. The monorail slowly began to speed. Then Simon heard the quiet sound of one doors opening in the other car. The entrance door to the car he was riding then opened. Out came a girl in her twenties to thirties, wearing a puffy coat and holding a soaked umbrella. Simon then looked at the ceiling as he did not want to make eye-contact. He began to enter his own bubble filled with his thoughts and feelings. He began to think, wonder, and ponder. Then the girl came with her own needle and popped Simon's private bubble. "Hello," she said.

Simon's brain suddenly fell from the floating bubble and landed on the ground called reality. "Oh... Hello," Simon said, wishing that to be the last of the conversation.

"Um... this is a strange question, but do you ever wonder?"

"Wonder what?" Simon responded. "Everyone wonders."