In a city in a house on any typical Sycamore Street a man woke up. He tried to get out of bed, but curled around his pillows instead. Like a mother aware of the hazards, the bed’s warmth hugged him completely. He never wanted to get out of bed, especially this morning. Because …Today, he felt different? But, he had to, he had to get out of bed ---he was scared …
And then ---he jumped out of bed to see if it was something physical that made him feel …off. But he landed like a cat and stretched his legs. Everything physical seemed fine. He walked to the bathroom, to the shower and was startled when he turned the water on. To him, it was violent. This was different! He adjusted the temperature and jumped in. He was right ---it was violent! The water felt like needles pushed at a high velocity into every nerve on every square inch of his body.
It was horribly painful. He jumped away from the pain to somewhere dry and felt a viscous fluid dripping down his back. He pulled his arm back, and even with the viscous fluid diluted with water, when he looked at his hand, it still looked red ---Blood-red! He was bleeding. He bandaged it quickly, as dripping water mixed with blood plopped on his shower floor. He looked at himself in the mirror, and tried to dismiss all he saw and felt. He got dressed. The red spot, the blood, quickly swallowed the bandage and started to spread in a circle on his shirt …
He poured himself a cup of coffee, which smelled like ‘usual’, which looked like ‘usual’, but after a sip, he realized it had no taste. Nonetheless, he drank the entire cup. He enjoyed it, he told himself. He sat for half an hour staring at the angles connecting inside his pantry. Now it was gaining momentum: the difference! But: Was the change solely inside him, or was it from outside? To make some sense of this he started to walking …
At the edge of the man’s property another man lay dead. His eyes stared up at the morning sky. As you turned from the grisly scene and followed the dead man’s eyes, you could still see birds circling in the sky. His dog lay dead next to him. He walked closer to the death-scene at his property line. He had to make sure what he saw was really real.
Immediately he was spotted. The communication devices all linked up. Security was alerted ---and excited, “You!-Sir, you know, I know you know Sir, you must come with us!”
“I don’t understand.”
“You can’t be serious.” The interrogator stopped screaming and moved closer, “Are you?-Serious? You don't understand?”
“Sorry, of course I understand.”
“I don’t know how you got here. Unbelievable! How ---Did ---This ---Man get out here?” He looked around the circle at his accompanying platoon. They fidgeted and hid their eyes. He turned his attention back to the Man, “You know the procedure by now!-Come on! If I ever see you again I won’t hesitate. Do you UNDERSTAND me now?” His mouth was an inch away from his ear.
“Yes, of course, I just woke up.”
The interrogator takes several steps back, “Okay then: Wipe the sleep out of your eyes. This is really unbelievable! Could you please escort, private, escort this idiot out of here ---S.T.A.T.”
Five men came running at him, full speed. They stopped and formed a circle. Then, a smiling man came up to him with his hand out-stretched. Did he want to shake his hand? He kept walking with his hand, apparently, waiting for acceptance. He smiled so warmly. The Man felt better. The Smiling Man was close now and squatted as he got leverage to punch the Man in the stomach. He punched! Now ---in the gutter without any further to fall, the Man writhed in horrible pain. Finally ---A breath and another. He vomited, and then he coughed.
“Why?” he screamed, and the Smiling Man quickly answered, “How could you do it?!? Huh?!” The Smiling Man took several steps backwards and then ran at the Man and kicked him exactly where he just punched him. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t do it. Don’t!”
“Do what?"
The men lunged atop him, all five of them. They beat him within an inch of his life. “You did it, you did everything. I know you know!”
Now …Standing with a smoke in his mouth and his eyes blindfolded, the rifles were heard, “clicking” ---“If you just tell us, everything will be okay.” Was heard at the execution!
“I just woke up …I didn’t do anything,”
“We know,” was said. All the men at the FIRING SQUAD hit their target …
The End
