Behind the Last Window

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. She’s heard the horror stories of how life is so much worse down there. People living with sickness and starvation. They can’t afford to go to the doctors and even if they did have the means, it’s not like there are any doctors down there available for them to see. All the high end jobs are saved for the Upper Class residents, the residents of the New World. The Lower Class, or the Old World, are left down in the Wasteland, fending for themselves.

She’s also heard the stories of how this all came to be. She’s heard it first hand actually, from the man himself. The man whose single handedly changed the entire world into the place it is today.

Crypto Credit has become the mandatory currency for paying for things. The old government flooded the country and the world really, with too much money and within years it was worthless. So, one man went ahead and hired a team of computer programmers and within months they obtained trillions of dollars’ worth of Crypto Credit’s. And in the blink of an eye, he became the wealthiest person in the world.

Over the next few years many have tried to mimic his success, but they just couldn’t, and within a couple of years, he bought into all the major industries. He slowly worked his way into control of each of them. It didn’t take long before he was running the entire country. The one thing he didn’t anticipate was the jealousy that other people would have for him. Actually, he knew there would be jealousy and envoy towards him, but he figured he had the means to handle anything that came his way. And for the most part he was right.

As the years went on and he became more and more powerful some of the rest of the world leaders joined together to try and take him down. But in the end, he was able to with withstand everything they threw at him. The world itself, however, was not. Parts of the world turned into a nuclear wasteland. The parts that weren’t destroyed by the bombs got overran with people and chaos in sued. With the lack of authority, the people started to take matters into their own hands, and it didn’t take long for those parts of the world to turn almost unlivable.

So, he decided to start a new society, one away from all the lesser people and the anarchy of the Old World. He hired the world’s greatest engineers and built the New World in the sky. Over the next few years while the new world was getting built, he handpicked people to come and live up there with him. He made sure to only pick the most essential people, the ones that were at the top of their fields. And as the years went on, he populated the New World with the best and brightest minds possible. The New World started to flourish, while the Old World down below fell deeper into shambles.

But that wasn’t enough for him. Eventually he got bored, and his people got bored. They all wanted some type of entertainment. The Old World forms of entertainment no longer existed, at least not in the way they used to. So how do the wealthiest people in the world entertain themselves? They use their money and power to create their own form at the expense of the less fortunate. Every year they held a contest and the person that come out victorious got moved up to the New World. Every contest is different, and they range from all sorts of different challenges. But they all still end the same way. Innocent people who are just trying to get a better life for themselves and their family end up dying at the hands of each other while the privileged watch on in entertainment from above.

“So, what type of deprived game are you coming up with this year?” She asks her father sarcastically. The man whose single handedly changed the entire world.

“Don’t act like that. You know why we do this. We are giving these people a chance at a better life for them and their families.” His daughter looks at him and rolls her eyes in disgust.

“Don’t give me that look. This year will be different. I’m doing something that I’ve never done before. This year will be the first ever team event. That means all four members of the winning team and their families will be moved up here.”

“Or that just means that you can kill even more innocent people than usual.” She turns to walk away. He reaches out forcefully grabs her arm.

“Don’t walk away from me!” His grip tightens around his daughters arm.

“Everything I do I do it for my family. I do it for you.”

“I never asked you to kill people for your entertainment.” She tugs her arm from her father’s grip and storms out of the room, slamming the giant oak door behind her. She walks down the long hallway and bumps into her longtime friend Sam.

“Are you ok?” He asks, noticing the look of frustration on her face and tears running down her cheeks. The two step into the adjacent bedroom where Sam is staying.

“No! I’m sick of my father pretending like there is nothing wrong with what he’s doing. He’s taking advantage of peoples misfortunes and killing them for our entertainment. This has to stop.” She walks over to the window and looks down at the Old World. Those people didn’t choose that life. Their lives were taken from them the day her father changed the world. They were just innocent bystanders in the war for control. They were collateral damage.

“But what can you do?” Sam asks.

“I don’t know yet. But I have to do something.” She turns to walk away but stops suddenly in her tracks.

“What’s that?” She asks, picking up a small bracelet from the table sitting next to the window.

“It’s nothing, a gift from my mom.” Sam exclaims, ripping the bracelet from her hands and throwing back on the table. She knows better, she has seen those bracelets before.

“Why do you have that?” She asks, ignoring Sam’s earlier response. Anger takes over Sam’s face and he lets out a frustrated tone.

“Those people down there, they aren’t the only ones trying to better themselves. Some of us up here need money too.”

“Those people down there struggle everyday just for food and shelter. You live up here with everything you could possibly need, every advantage and you still find a way to ruin your life. What was it this time Sam, gambling, drugs? Or let me guess, prostitutes, right? I mean that would be the only way you could get anyone to love you, pay them too.” She says, grinning and laughing to herself. Sam turns red with anger and embarrassment. He knows that she is right.

“Don’t you ever talk to me like that again.” Sam says, slapping her in the face.

She turns away from Sam to look out the window again. She’s looking down at the Old World. The world she never knew but knows she has to help. Now she knows how to do it, but she’ll need some help.

She turns back to Sam, her grin widens. She quickly thrusts forward towards Sam plunging her hand into his stomach. She twists her hand and Sam gurgles, struggling to speak. Red liquid runs down from the sides of his mouth. He places his hand on hers as it rests against his stomach. He tries to pull her hand away be he can’t. He’s lost all strength and his grip on her hand starts to weaken. She pulls back from Sam and a small blade pulls out from his tanned skin. Blood runs down onto the Persian rug laying on the hard wood floor of his bedroom. Sam falls on the blood soaked rug as his body goes limp.

She reaches over to the table and grabs the bracelet. She turns it over and engraved on the back is the invitation to this year’s contest. She puts the bracelet on and rolls her sleeve down to cover the jewelry.