Hello everyone and welcome to Writer's Block Scenario 2. In the last scenario, we explored the future, distant planets, aliens and/or artificial intelligence. To
Floyd Looney and
Baati Nagawo thank you both for replying. The both of you definitely have an array of creativity in your writings. Both were original and very interesting to read. In this scenario, we are dialing it down back to Earth and will be using today's issues as a scene. In this scene, I want you to choose any of the issues that plague our world today and use it as a pillar for your scenario. Ok, let's get started.
Scenario 2
Place: Earth, Any Continent, Country, State or City you want to use
Time: Present Time
Main Character(s): One good detective, One kind hearted citizen fighting for peace and a corrupt group leader fighting for power and control over a nation
Topic: Today's controversial issues that plague the world
* Keep in mind these questions:
- What would our world be like if we all attained peace?
- What would the world be like if we had absolutely no control of our own lives?
- Can peace ever beat out power, fear, and control?
- Which side would you choose in this scenario?
In your scene, try to put yourself in each character's shoes (from the detective, the citizen, to the group leader) and try to connect your mind to each of the characters to sense their purpose and why they feel that it's necessary to carry out that purpose by any means. Good luck, have fun, and always open up your mind to the world of imagination!
OK! Challenge accepted
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm working on my rough drafts, probably gonna email this one also. Too many characters
ReplyDeleteWater is thicker than Blood
ReplyDelete“Are you gonna tell me where they are or not?!”
The young man stares at the guard menacingly, waiting for a reaction; waiting for a response, just some sign of acknowledgement. But the guard ignores him, and continues to glance forward. He stands firmly,
“Nothing... Either you are deaf or you’re a special type of stupid. Thinking you could sta-“. The man stops abruptly as he is interrupted by the sound of the soldier party creeping up behind him. He turns around to see a group of soldiers, matching the fatigues and insignias of the guard he was talking to. But at second glance, he notices some familiar faces.
“If anything, she is smart for not entertaining your ignorance” a woman emerges from inside the guard’s circle.
A young woman, wearing hardened battle armor and a commander’s hat comes to the man’s focus. Braids so rugged, like black Onyx’s growing from her scalp. Face dirtied from a mixture of journey and god knows what. As she steps closer, her hazel eyes lock with the man’s identically hazel eyes, and he speaks.
“What’s going on here, Halima? Where’s” but the man is interrupted
“Well hello to you to Jamaal, nice to see you after so long”.
“… Where’s… Father”
“Ah, Jamaal, I guess the city doesn’t teach manners” Halima says mockingly.
“I’m here Jamaal”
An elderly, fatigued man from inside the guards circle steps forward. His face battered and bruised by the Sun, his feet bare and blistered by the rugged Ethiopian terrain, and his hands tied together in front of him, with the rope stained by his blood.
“WHAT IS THIS HALIMA?! IS THIS-“
“Necessary? To me it is obvious. It is for his own good. But that doesn’t matter right now. Because you want answers, so follow me.” Halima says calmly, as her and her gang of soldiers head inside the hut.
Inside the raggedy hut, the guard position themselves around the perimeter, while the father and his children head into the sitting area, and they sit down at the table. As the father and Jamaal slowly sit down, Halima stays standing, and tucks her shirt in revealing her gun.
“Are you going to answer me? Or is that a thing with your group” Jamaal says angrily
Halima turns to her guards and signals them to wait outside. As they evacuate the room, Jamaal looks at the deprived state his father is in, and then turns to his sister. Halima smirks at Jamaal, then sits down with them.
“It’s been a while Jamaal, you can miss a lot in a year. As you can see, we aren’t living la vida loca. Things could be better. Maybe you want to tell him what happened Bashir” Halima says while glaring at her father.
“…Everything... is gone. No one has sent help... Jambo’s family... Emmanuel. The militia... they just” the father struggles with his words, so Halima cuts him off.
ReplyDelete“We lost a lot of people. The main town went from 10,000 to 100, the country side reduced to ruins. Everything just happened so fast. While you were living in your world, we were struggling to survive in ours” Halima states harshly.
Bashir stares off into the distance, but in seconds he drops his head, and tears begin to form and run down his cheek. Halima and Jamaal take a second to look at their dad. Jamaal reaches over, but Halima signals him not too.
“But… here we are. We’re aren’t alone anymore, as you can see. These people found us back in the village, and we have been together for a couple months now. We got a-“
“You’ll build this up and burn it down, that’s what you’ll do” Bashir utters under his breath
Halima looks over at her father, sighs, and shakes her head. Jamaal turns over and looks at his father.
“This is not the same Halima we once knew Jamaal. She let this world change her. Her and her gang of bandits went to the reservoir and murdered all the people that wer-“
“All the soldiers you mean! You can’t murder murderers Bashir. It’s called balancing th-“
“I’m not the only one hearing this, right Jamaal? She’s trying to justify mur-
“AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO MOM, THEY DESERVED IT” Halima screams as she jumps out of her chair.
Silence fills the room. Jamaal sits dumbfounded as he tries to process what he just heard. Halima storms away from the table and goes to a window, but they simultaneously turn to their father as they hear a bang on the table.
“I’m sorry that you had to hear about mom like this… We lost a whole lot of good people...” as she slowly walks back to the table.
“.. We lost a lot of ourselves too” the father says
“But we can’t give up now. Now that we have something worth keeping, like the reservoir. We just have to keep it secure, for the sake of our people”
“Secure, you mean control”
“See he still doesn’t get it Jamaal! Let me ask you, what do you value more; your morals or your life?” Halima asserts
Bashir picks up his head and stares at his daughter in disbelief. Halima sits down and looks over to Jamaal.
“This isn’t something small like who gets the top bunk, or who gets the bigger piece of meat during dinner. We can’t pretend that at times like these, we can stay diplomatic when that’s obviously not the method with others. After all we’ve been through, to believe we can stay who we are, and survive... It’s idiotic. For now, we have to stabilize what we have and make sure it will last for the future. Unlike Bashir, the ladies and I have a plan for the reservoir, and in turn for our town. Do you wanna hear what our father said he would do if it was up to him?” Halima says, then they both shift their glance to their father.
“My plan was to go back to what we were before this all happened. The reservoir, we would not control it but open the reservoir to the community. Can’t hold back on fresh water, especially for the ones who need it. Our people are about community, freedom, and cooperation. The reason this has happened to us is because we lost our way, but it’s not too late. We can slowly come back from this” Bashir says cheerfully to Jamaal, hoping for a smile from his son.
ReplyDelete“You see? He’s living in a fantasy world” Halima says harshly. Bashir turns to his daughter in astonishment.
“What doomed us in the first place was our indulgence in freedom. Don’t you understand Jamaal? It made us not only weak, but vulnerable, and we can’t make that mistake any longer. The reason the militia was able to come in guns a blazing, cutting up our land and resources like a pie, it was because we gave them room to take it. We were so caught in our ways, we didn’t realize that it was killing us. That’s why we lost it all. The house, our town, the reservoir… our people. Mom died because of us. Because instead of securing and stabilizing what was ours, we kept our hearts open and free, just hoping that God would figure it out for us. That’s bullshit and we realized it way too late” Halima asserts, as she sets her eyes on her father. Jamaal, with a blank look on his face, turns his gaze to his father as Halima continues.
“The first step in our survival is for our people to have fresh water, meaning we need to stabilize the reservoir. To maintain for months to come, we mush ration intensely at first. We can’t just give this stuff away anymore. Before we were on our way to strive, but to get out of this mess, we must think to survive. That’s the only way we can get back to what we had before, if that is even possible” Halima states, very calmly this time. Jamaal looks at his sister, then his father, and utters to his father.
“She’s right”
Halima scoffs, but Bashir keeps a depressed look on his face as the two siblings talk.
“I don’t enjoy the killing, the control, the sense of entitlement I find myself feeling, but I’d rather live like this then to see others die”.
“Because morals shouldn’t override ones survival” their father utters in a gloomy tone
“…Exactly” Halima says with a stutter.
Jamaal looks over at his father, at his fathers bruised and bloodied wrists, then back at Halima.
“Why tie him up”
“Oh yeah, that” Halima says as she gets up, grabbing a knife from her sheathe.
“See, at first glance, army fatigues and all, you might think we did this to him. As much as I might have imagined even punching him in the gut for his cowardice, I couldn’t let him suffer. All that you see, this was his free will. He would’ve killed himself if we didn’t find him two days ago” Halima says as she cuts her father free, and walks to the door to signal her group.
“So... what you’re sayin is...”
“He is more of a danger to himself than anyone else, but I didn’t want to allow that. Maybe that makes me the devil he perceives me to be. After mom died, he just wanted to go to the other side with her, but I don’t know. I just won’t allow him to give up”
“And that makes you the good guy?” Bashir questions intensely
“No it makes me the smart one” Halima says
Silence fills the room. Halima goes outside to the rest of her group, while Jamaal stays at the table with his dad. Jamaal stares at his father, seeing the depression overwhelm him, and tries to reach out.
“Just… Just go son” Bashir says softly.
Jamaal recoils, and stares at his father for a couple seconds. Then Jamaal looks back at the door for Halima as she is talking to her group, and she signals for him to come outside. Then Bashir lowers his head into his arms, and utters one more thing to his son.
“You can’t save everyone, Jamaal”.
I didn't really get any good ideas. So here is a terribly thin story:
ReplyDeleteTotal Equality
“What is your definition of Utopia?” the detective asked the candidate as he inspected the vandalised office front. Since the candidate was running on the platform of creating utopia, he thought it might have a bearing on the case.
The detective was running a scan for any residue that could pin-point the chemicals used to melt the large transparent aluminum window. Nothing obvious had been used or it would have been detected by the responding officers of the National Benevolence Police.
“I think Utopia can be said to exist when all humans are equal in all ways” the candidate answered while picking up some cleared items off the floor.
The detective shook his head “How would they ever be possible? Will the President and Congress get paid the same wage as everyone else? Will they surrender their benefits?”
The candidate shook his head “In the long-term”.
The detective just thought this guy needed to read a history book. It won't work because it cannot work because human beings are not inter-replaceable cogs in a machine. It had been tried so many times throughout history and has never been shown to truly work, even in small groups.
Even in voluntary communes there were leaders who worked less and took more than a regular share. Plus they held power that others did not have. That's not equality. In terms of country it was much more pronounced and obvious. Leaders of “egalitarian” societies skimming billions for themselves even as their people struggle for food.
This is human nature. The very idea of “Utopia” is against human nature. Without the violent suppression of human nature and nature, it would never even get off the ground. First you have to force it on people against their will, which violates the stated ideals of nearly all egalitarians. Using force is not peace, it is the opposite of peace. Even if you do this in the name of “peace' or “equality” it just makes you a hypocrite.
All of the digital evidence scrubbed from the online world was at his virtual fingertips and appeared on his retinal display. There were social media posts, e-mails, phone calls and forum posts between a small group of local high-school students that might be suspects. One of these kids, Malcolm Joyner, was the son of a chemist who probably knew how to concoct a formula to melt the transparent aluminum.
DeleteJoyner was once arrested, last year, but made a deal to avoid prison. He apparently tried to smuggle banned food items into the school for profiteering motives.
“I think I might have found a suspect but there needs to be more evidence before I can state that officially” he said tapping in mid-air. “I can only think of one place where enforced egalitarian even comes close to working, more or less”
“Oh” the candidate said absentmindedly, reading something on his own retinal display.
“Prison” the detective answered, not really expecting a response “And the Warden and the guards are not forced to abide by the same rules as everyone else. A real Utopia on Earth is a prison I guess.”
Finally the candidate turned to look at him “But the world isn't fair for some people. It should be fair to all people”. “Fair” was not a very well-defined term in politics and government. Why was it “fair” for one man who worked hard to have half his income taken away and given to those who refused to work.
Yes, they passed that law. If you legally registered that working for a living was “offensive” you could soon be receiving lifetime government benefits.
The detective tried not to laugh “Reality is not fair. That doesn't mean we should withdraw from it and hide in caves. It doesn't mean we ignore reality and fight reality at every step and build a fictional world. That way will require violent repression, it always does”
There were security cameras all over the place and the detective tapped into these using his credentials and was able to track Malcolm Joyner from his home to the vandalized campaign office. He had brought several friends with him and they all rode bicycles to avoid the traffic and traffic enforcement.
“Well, I have the suspect and his associates” the detective said standing up and stretching “I guess your new window will be delivered by tomorrow?”
“Yes” the candidate said “Have you alerted the Benevolence Police about the suspect?”
The detective nodded, that was just part of the job. This Malcolm Joyner youth was going to be arrested within minutes for dissident activities, which came with heavy penalties. You see, politicians had made themselves a higher class than everyone else, if your office was attacked the perp would likely be facing an easy vandalism charge.
These “egalitarians” really thought they were better and smarter than everyone else and that they were entitled to rule over everyone else. Thus: hypocrites, as the detective saw it. True egalitarianism is an utter impossibility. Sort of like taxing your way to prosperity or spending your way out of debt or just filling up the shallow end of the pool.
Giving people the freedom to sink or swim is much more likely to result in growing wealth than tying anchors to everyone's legs to make it “equal”.
From the communes of early America to the Soviet Union and North Korea the idea of “pure equality” has been shown to be a farce. Real equality is setting the rules that gave the best chance for the most people to succeed instead of tying them all together so that nobody moves forward.
“What is the vandals name?” the candidate finally thought to ask as the detective was leaving.
“Malcolm Joyner, 18” the detective said “132 Cross Pines”
The candidate was a little stunned. “I know that kid! He interned for me last summer. I knew he was too smart. This is the kind of thing that happens when some are allowed to be smarter than others, I have proposals for reforming education because of this”
The detective left, shaking his head.