Choices and The Tunnel

"Hiro! My dearest Hiro. Why doth thee labor away at thine rectangular enslavement cube. Come hither! Let us depart from these shackles into the great catastrophe that is humanity. We must partake on the throes of history." Jolan was preparing for his next play so the antics were a little higher than usual. During his riveting speech I met the disgruntled eyes of my colleagues. It had to be addressed, loudly. "JOLAN, you can't keep barging in here like this! This is a laboratory you could have startled someone!" I looked towards the apathetic faces surrounding me, no one cared. Jolan reaching in his jacket to fetch a bribe. "Allow me to redress this unwelcomed performance with an offer of TWO complimentary drinks with any ticket purchased to next weeks..." I grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him outside while sincerely pondering. "What is wrong with you?" He dusted himself off as I closed the door behind me.

"Hiro, hear me, hereafter we depart these dreary halls history shall be made. The people are beckoning to our presence in the streets!" A pressure – a deep, deep pressure – between my eyes was growing with each utterance from his mouth.

"Can't you just speak like a normal person?"

He did not. "The people my dear! The people have had enough! This sham of civilization hath no balance! The impoverished are disenfranchised, we must do something!"

"Jolan I AM doing something. I'm finding a way scale non-traditional farming to address a coming population boom. At the very least find a model where it might be possible…"

"Undoubtedly your work will be celebrated across all the lands! Oh, but how it must bring thee great travail! Shout and relinquish these weights from upon thine shoulders my dear Hiro." He tried to stroke my cheek with the back of his hand. I slapped it away but he continued his speech with a spin on his back foot. "March to mend thine weary soul." He leaned against the wall as I chased to slap him. "See to the very population you wish to save my dear!" He dodged backwards as my palm met empty air. "Come we mustn't abode any longer! Merrill and dearest Kimmy await our imminent presence!" He slid forward on his knees towards me. His hands clasped into one another; begging.

"FINE! I'll meet you out front." Jolan leaped into the air. "OH, GREAT DAY! Penia will surely rapture in this moment" Jolan cried out as he skipped down the hall.

We made it to the protest but I struggled to keep up with Jolan as he shifted through the crowds in the street. I could barely hear him but I think he said Merrill and Kim were close by. All I could hear was the crowd chanting. "HEY! HEY! HO! HO! THESE RACIST COPS HAVE GOT TO GO! HEY! HEY! HO! HO! THESE RACIST COPS HAVE GOT TO GO!" I brushed past a man with a cardboard sign listing all the names of people who died from the police. I knew the list was too long, I knew the list was just from this year. My feet grew heavy as the world around me shrunk. This could be me, this could be my father, my friend, it could be any one.

Where was Jolan.

He's never been one to blend in. He was wearing that stupid white fedora and that black trenchcoat. I weaved my way through the crowd to get to the sidewalks where I could climb up on something to find him. I hoped up white marble steps to a boarded-up bank. A statue surrounded by wood boards became my lookout. The crowd stretched out for the entire avenue in both directions. Searching for the white fedora I found a hijab and a yarmulke. I saw people who were white and black. People flying rainbow flags. Everyone chanting and marching together. It was beautiful. I screamed as loud as I could. "NO JUSTICE" and the crowd returned "NO PEACE" Together we cried "NO RACIST POLICE!" I could feel the chant in my chest echoing in my spine. Again, and again until I felt a grip on my ankle. Frightened, I looked down to see Kimmy's bright red hair and her smiling face looking up to me. "There's hope for you yet, H!" Merrill and Jolan followed behind Kimmy "Now get down there from there I made us some sushi!" She reached her tattooed hands into her bag covered in patches and piercings of their own.

Merrill opens up a giant blanket and we begin our urban picnic. "I was so delighted to hear your voice booming overhead. I couldn't believe it was our Hiro up there." Merrill said as she tucked her boots under her jeans to sit cross-legged. "I think this place is almost ready for a real revolution." Kimmy exclaimed as she opened up the first roll. "Well how much more of a revolution do you need than all of this?" Merrill motioned to the crowd still marching and chanting beside us. "Please if you think this will get anything done you're sadly mistaken." Kim paused to pop open and chug a few gulps of her energy drink. "The only thing these pigs know is violence. It's the only way to communicate with this out of touch society." Merrill scoffed as she reached over for a pair of chopsticks. Pointing all around us with them. "THIS is how real lasting change is made. Violence is always temporary." Kim guzzles down another swig and looks at her. "Look I agree that non-violence is preferred but we've been here before. This is the fourth year and granted it's largest it's ever been but nothing is changing..." Merrill interrupts "That's not true we've seen an increase in internal investigation..." Kimmy cuts her off "Investigations are bullshit and you know it! What?! Some asshole kills a kid and they have 6 months paid vacation what the fuck is that?" "TELL EM SISTA!" someone yells from the crowd and bumps fist with Kimmy as they pass. "What these motherfuckers need is a wakeup call. They need to be shown who really has the power here and it's the fucking people!" The crowd riles her on. Kimmy pulls up her facemask and reaches into her bag. She pulls out another bottle, it's got a rag tied to it. "Kimmy!" Merrill shrieks "Don't do this you'll ruin everything." She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a lighter igniting the bottle. "TODAY WE SHOW THE SWINE OF THIS CITY WHAT A PIG TRUELY DESERVES!!" Kimmy hurls the flaming bottle into the banks front doors exploding against the boards. Other masked people emerge from the crowd with crowbars and remove the boards from the opposite side of the building. from the ground.

"WE HAVE DECLARED THIS AS AN UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY ANYONE IN THE AREA IS TO LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY"

"What the fuck did you just do"

I grabbed Kimmy as she rushed towards the building.

She shook free from my grip and grabbed a rock.

"You should go."

She turned and threw it towards the National Guard.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" I could hear the thuds of the canisters being fired as I watched the tear gas stream and erupt over us. I looked for Merrill she was already gone. Jolan reached over to me "I do believe that's our..." A rubber bullet interrupted his speech as he collapsed to the ground shaking.

"HELP SOMEBODY I NEED HELP!"

A tear gas canister erupted over our heads. Jolan started to cough.

I hooked my arms under Jolan's shoulders and dragged him towards the alley by the bank.

People were jumping over us as I was pushing to stay on my feet.

"This way!" someone wearing a purple and yellow scarf reached down from the concrete opening from a parking garage. "Stand him up!" I hoisted him up by his shoulders as a man in a suit climbed up to help. We lifted him up onto the slab to get him sitting up on the small ledge. The crowd turned into a stampede flowing into the alleyway.

I heard a loud creaking noise followed by and explosion.

Then darkness.

Chu-kun Chu-kun

I heard the sounds of a subway train moving forward. I opened my eyes to see an empty car.

Chu-Kun Chu-Kun

Out the window nothing but darkness. The lights flickered. I turned around as the car went dark. A flash of red from the windows. I turned to see another. This was ring of light surrounding the train car. The lights started to move faster and faster. The color started to shift. Red then yellow, orange, green and blue. It went through the whole spectrum. First slowly, then the flashes picked up until it was colorful strobe encompassing everything around me. I looked to my feet and the train car was no longer there. Just the light all around me. I was floating. In the distance I saw three rectangles. The one on the left was white, the center was red and the right white. Each illuminated by a single light above them. Racing towards them becoming bigger and bigger. I could make out what they were.

They were doors.

The lights stopped and I was standing on a single platform facing them. There was low rumbling sound behind me I looked to see the circle of lights extend as far as I could see until it disappeared into darkness.

I could hear a scratching from behind the black door.

A banging from the white door.

The knob from the red door began to turn.

Fingernails crept up from below the frame of the black door. The banging became louder and louder. The red door creaked open.

Nothing but a red lit hallway.

I jumped inside slammed the door shut and bolted it behind me.

I could feel my breath coming out of my ears. Heaving hard, was I hyperventilating? What's happening? I closed my eyes leaned against the door. The banging shook the door behind me. I opened my eyes. The hallway was gone. Replacing it was two lights illuminating two raised wooden platforms. The one on the left had a large bag. On the right, a leather-bound notebook with a long leather string wrapped around it sealing it.

"Hiro" a voice gently whispered. "Congratulations and do not be afraid. On your left is a bag filled with riches beyond your wildest dreams. They are of the world you know and with them you could acquire a life of royalty. On the right is a notebook and a pen. Within it the secrets of the universe are held. Whoever holds it wields a power unknown to all – but one. Choose wisely."

I walked towards the platforms. The bag was dark red, encrusted with jewels and lined with gold. Etched on the sides were symbols of a language I'd never seen before. The notebook to look like any other notebook. A light brown leather with a holster holding a pen. As I grew closer to the notebook the pages started to glow a deep green. I reached out to touch the pen.

"It has been decided"

"Wait I just wanted to look inside."

I awoke in the hospital. Jolan was in the bed across from me. My head was throbbing and I turned to the rolling stand by my bed. There it was. The notebook.

I reached towards and it flew into my left hand opening at the first page. The ebony pen ejected from the holster and landed in my right palm. The page was blank. I set down the pen and flipped through the pages. They were all blank. I chuckled to myself as I write A pile of cash seems a lot better than this

FRUMP

I lean to see a pile of cash has fallen into the hospital room. I get up and close the door. The notebook shuts glowing red.