water

i am blindfolded, unable to see anything but the tiny textures in the velvet over my eyes. because of my blindness, i feel more, hear more, smell more, taste more. i can feel my bare feet hitting the cold marble tile. i can hear the soft thud of each footstep of mine, as well as the constant rough click of the military boots. their uniforms make soft shifting swishing noises, the medals pinned to their chests give a small tinkling every once in a while. i can smell the military men as well, the smell of aftershave, hair gel, and cologne from the brigadier general in front, the faint smell of alcohol and sweat from the warrant officers and lieutenant ushering me down the hall. i can taste mint on my lips from the quick fleeting kiss of my closest friend, my love.

the men roughly turn my body to the right, we all stop walking. i believe we are now facing a door, waiting to go inside. my finely-tuned ears can hear the voices on the other side. it must be a big room to be holding all those people. suddenly, a hush falls over the bodiless voices, and one voice booms out, "Ladies and gentlemen, justice shall be served to the one who enters this room. The killer of innocents will be executed within the hour."

Killer of Innocents? will that be my name in the legends? their twisted version of the story could not be further from the truth.

~~~~

Clad in my very own brand-new high-quality cotton military officer uniform, I sat in the back of the vehicle with all the enlisted men. They eyed me warily-- apparently the patch expertly sewn onto the chest of my uniform that displayed my ranking as manlalaban attracted their curious eyes. I ignored them. They had a high chance of dying anyway.

The huge tan military junker was very jostly-- as the twenty of us bounced around in the back, i caught a glimpse of a small, svelte, open top coupe cutting its way through the desert. One person was standing up in the front, pointing toward the right, saying something unintelligible to the person driving. His long jacket had the same kelley-green patch as mine did. His goggles glinted in the bright sun as his head sharply turned to me. Our eyes met. The left side of his mouth twitched upward in a tight-lipped smile, he didn't want sand in his teeth. I grinned broadly, relishing my ability to smile in the back of the huge junker.

((gah, i'll write more later.))