The Commoners

Light rain performed a steady staccato on the tin roofs of the gathering of misshapen houses, identical in it’s ramshackle design as so many other slums along the hills in the area. Emerela looked out of the cracked window in the kitchen, barely able to see the high, oppressing towers of the city walls through the rain and fog blanketing them so heavily. She sighed before putting away the plate in her hand. “Three days now, when is it going to let up?” she thought wearily. “It’s always raining now, it’s miserable.”

Emerela continued about her daily work while her little brother, Samuel, played quietly with some hand carved toys off to the side of the table. The house, small as it was, stayed in shape thanks to the efforts of Emerela, her mother Annice, and her father, Gordon, both of whom were out gathering what supplies they could. It wasn’t easy to keep the small, run down building, and family, successfully together at times. The constant, varying rain was no help in this matter, as it seemed to only worsen the larger issues the family saw. Emerela opened the small root cellar door and felt a familiar lump in her throat. "Low on food again, I hope the ration trucks come soon.” She muttered miserably, sorting through the canned food they had remaining. A few days supply at most remained in the cellar.

Emerela ascended back to the kitchen and sealed the cellar with the makeshift trap door her father had made from an old, broken door of a nearby house. “Hopefully we can keep my age a secret for a little while longer.” She thought bleakly. At the age of eighteen, commoners no longer receive what little rations they did from The Board’s relief centers. She had turned eighteen several years ago but due to how young she looked, it was easy to hide this fact when the officials came to do the census. This year was to be the last year of this, however. They needed food, even if lying to the census official was illegal. She moved to the far side of the room, looking out again at the city. The fog, still present, had lifted enough that more of the imposing walls were visible. Emerela stood for a moment, glaring at the walls. “I bet their cellars are stocked enough to last a century or more. If only they knew. Or maybe they do, and they simply don’t give a damn.” She crossed her thin arms, stomach gurgling.

Outside, the sun had begun to set. The door opened, creaking with age. In strode a large figure, with a dark beard and long, almost black hair in a neat ponytail. “Daddy!” Samuel exclaimed, launching his small form from the floor in a half a heartbeat and bounding to Gordon.

“Sammy! C'mere, kiddo.” Gordon boomed out, his deep voice a stark contrast to Samuel’s high pitched squeals. Samuel, despite being so small next to Gordon, was nearly identical in all ways. From the dark hair to the wide jaw and large nose, no one would ever believe Samuel was not Gordon’s son. A light, tinkling laugh washed over Samuel’s laughter as Annice strode in after. She cut a striking figure, proud even in the ragged clothes they could make themselves. Her short, red hair caught the flames of the fireplace, adorning her in a fiery crown.

“Emerela! I’m glad to see you didn’t burn the place down this time!” Gordon chuckled, a mischievous gleam in his bright, green eyes.

“Dad, come on, that was ONE time when I was twelve!” Emerela sighed dramatically, a smile forming on her gaunt face. “Find anything good while hunting?”

Gordon’s smile faltered, his eyes downcast. “A few rabbit that weren’t afflicted, but… not much else. Not enough”

“No way! I didn’t even think those still existed!” Emerela stood shocked as Gordon produced the harvested rabbit meat from the pack. “This is incredible.” she continued, breathlessly. Her stomach gurgled again loudly. “Even if it wasn’t much, they hadn’t had meat in so long.” She thought ravenously.

“I think we may be able to fix that problem!” Gordon teased playfully, reassured by Emerela’s excitement and pointing to her growling stomach.

“Gordon, love, go clean yourself up. You look like you’ve been rolling on a slaughterhouse floor.” Annice interrupted Gordon with a playful shove. “Go on, I’ll start preparing something to eat.” Gordon chuckled and exited into the bathroom, the only private room in the house besides the shared bedroom. Emerela, a new spring in her step, began to gather dishes to set the table and help parents prepare something of the rabbit her father had caught. Faintly, through the kitchen window, she saw something that made her stop for a moment. Several miles off to the walls between them, she swore she saw light moving away from the walls through neighboring settlements. Emerela’s heart dropped briefly. “Lights mean patrols. Patrols mean they’re looking for someone… maybe an escaped prisoner, that happens at the work camp often…” Emerela stopped her thought short. Annice returned, distracting Emerela back to the kitchen again.

Dinner came and went with laughter and stories. Annice, who had been to the market just outside the city walls to trade, told stories of the circus troupe that had been there performing for free for the passing citizens. She had been able to see part of the acts before a soldier had ushered her along. Annice looked down a little, sadness coloring her features. “Well, we may be only commoners but at least I was able to see it. I wish I had brought you two along!” Annice looked back up and smiled wide, disguising her hurt at what had occurred. Dinner finished soon after as the family happily retired to the bedroom with comfortably full bellies and long awaited content.

Emerela laid in bed for several hours, gently rolling her heart shaped locket in her hand. It was a gift from her late grandmother, a strong woman who had been taken far before her time. She thought of the world, how disease and pollution had destroyed so much of it and had taken her away, how reliant they were on the city and its board of leaders to supply them with rations that hardly even came. How they could act with impunity, creating laws as they saw fit. She turned to the side, anger rising in her chest. Her musings, however, were interrupted as she heard someone move and the patter of small feet depart the room.

Emerela looked up from her bed and saw Samuel leave. She sighed and sat up, sliding her boots on to follow after him. Emerela left the room quietly and walked down the short hall after him. As she drew close to the living room, she saw Samuel approaching the door. Emerela stopped short as she saw a figure in armor standing in view of the window. “Who-” Emerela began before stopping abruptly with a sharp breath. “SAMMY, N-”

The front door blasted inwards with a bang that rendered Emerela temporarily deafened and blinded. Emerela blinked and gasped for air, dust choking her. She blinked again and faintly made out the shape of her father, rifle in hand, charging down the hallway as her mother followed to try and save her children. Soldiers rushed in, rifles raised. Emerela reached towards her father and tried to warn him, but was too late. Gordon had rounded the corner in a rage and was immediately struck. He collapsed forward and was placed in energy cuffs. Gordon squirmed in pain as the cuffs administered subduing shocks.

A tall man in a suit entered the room. The ringing in Emerela’s ears stopped, returning some hearing. Faintly, she could hear her mother crying and saying her brother’s name over and over in shock. She could see her father writhing as the cuffs reacted to his every move. A soldier struck Emerela flat to the ground and cuffed her. The shocks began immediately, causing her to writhe as well.

“Good evening.” The man in the suit addressed the family with barely disguised disgust as he glanced around the room and wiped dust from his finely tailored jacket. “I am Investigator Greene. Under Code 3, Section 8 of The Board’s policies, you are suspected of theft and impedance of a government official. The punishment for this crime is forcible return of The Boards profits by a legal representative through monetary collection or labor.” Investigator Greene stopped and smiled thinly. “That's me.”

Investigator Greene dismissively kicked debris away from himself before continuing, “This person has been omitting their true age for and doing so to gain more rations. As you know, this is illegal.” His tone was hard and mocking, with soulless eyes that pierced Emerela. “Now, of course, I will need a confession. Innocent until proven guilty, of course, unfortunately. So...?” Investigator Greene looked down pointedly at Emerela, hands spread towards her expectedly.

“Y… yes.” She gasped in pain, “We ha-have, it… it was my idea!” Emerela lied desperately, terrified that her family would suffer any more for their choice. Annice, unable to speak, continued to hold Samuel’s body and shake uncontrollably.

“Very kind of you." He looked around, seemingly disappointed at the quick confession. His gaze wandered across the family photos above the small fireplace, moving down to look across all the members of the family; the father and oldest sister cuffed and painfully avoiding moving, the mother and youngest son lying in shocked silence, one of which will never speak again. He breathed deeply before motioning to the soldiers.

The soldiers, without another word, grabbed both Emerela and Gordon from the ground and dragged them outside. Another one grabbed Annice, who silently struggled to hold onto Samuel. The soldier, in frustration, struck Annice and stunned her briefly, leaving blood dripping from her bright, red hair. Emerela and Gordon watched in pain and fear as Annice was dragged unceremoniously from the house to the waiting truck. Two soldiers prodded and shoved Emerela and Gordon onto the truck while another two retrieved several small, metal devices from inside the truck cabin.

The soldiers passed their comrade dragging Annice along, tossing the items into the house through the windows. With multiple muffled bangs, flames sprang to life within the small home, bursting windows and beams from the pressure. Annice, slowly recovering, saw this happening and screamed uncontrollably for Samuel. The soldier struggled against her as she viciously fought to escape back to her son. Emerela and Gordon called out, but Annice paid them no heed in her desperate struggle.

Annice broke free, pushing the soldier to the ground and dashing back to the house again with reckless abandon. Emerela and Gordon watched in horror as she shoved her way through the doorway that had collapsed from the flames, not stopping for the inferno ahead of her. As she pushed inwards, the small house fell apart around her as the flames rose higher.

“Sir, the woman, she-” the embarrassed soldier began to explain himself but cut short when Investigator Greene raised his hand dismissively.

“Let her have what she wants. These two meet our quota for laborers on this run anyhow.” Investigator Greene stopped and looked over Emerela and Gordon briefly before entering the truck cabin. The soldiers entered the truck, with two riding alongside them in the bed. Both Emerela and Gordon remained silent, tears streaming down their faces as the bright glow of their life burned away behind them. The engine roared to life, carrying them along the dirty roads to the city.

“All this… all for an innocent lie.” Emerela thought frigidly. “We... I did this.” She turned back again to watch her house collapse in the fading distance. Dust choked her as the truck trundled along, leaving everything she had known in dust and blackened smoke. “They did this.”