They could not speak, yet they ran up to Mr. Sunshine and quickly pulled on his sleeve until getting his attention. Trying to get him to follow, the eyes filled with pleas for help, they pointed to where forces of the local CEO government were trying to drag away their children, and their pets. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Content warning for ableist language. Our protagonist has yet to learn better]
It's rare to have what I have and I know it. If I wasn't one of the corporate leader's side-piece's brats, I would have been chained to an assembly line or just removed from the gene pool.
And it's things like that that get the attention of the CRC and Pax Humanis.
The thing about authority is... it works quickly to act on its lessers. Someone loses their influence, and everyone under that influence gets ground down. Often, to powder so they can scatter you in the wind.
I'm flawed. I'm mute. I have the ability to talk, but... there's some kind of wall between me and putting voice to words. It's not what you know or who you know... but who you share blood with. And when they fall a rung or two? Well. Those underneath them fall further and faster.
There wasn't enough time for the paperwork to come to me when the Collections Agents came for my house and my things. Including the family. I was out on the street first, with the word 'GIMP' in big, rude letters stamped onto my forehead. So everyone would know.
They were taking the wife away to a better mate. They would be taking the children away for "genetic assessment" to see if they got my cripple genes or could be functional enough to use somewhere profitable.
All I could think of was that our babies were going to be minced for fertiliser.
It was pure luck that I saw the man in the sweater vest. Those colours. Black and red and yellow. A warning. Deadly person. Pax Humanis. A murderer set loose to make a world a better place with laser-guided deaths.
It takes a certain kind of desperation to run towards a known and branded killer. A certain kind of need to pull on their arm.
No matter how urgent things were... I still could not talk. I pulled at him, pointing to the big black vans. Pointing to the Agents taking everything and everyone away. I risked letting go to put my palms together as if in prayer.
Please. Help me.
The Universe's Executive Manager had never made me speak... but something made this stranger understand. I saw eyes made to see and pick out prey jink from me to my word to the Agents and derive a plan.
He nodded, and proceeded to the Agents.
He got the drivers first. Then picked off others as they separated from their group. I got the keys to free my former wife first. I set her free without a thought. I backed away and opened my arms wide, just like on our first night together. It meant, You can choose, and I left her plenty of room to run away.
Just like our first night together, she chose me.
The next set of keys freed the children from the assessment vans. We shielded the youngest from the blood and bodies as we scurried away. The apartment wasn't our apartment any more. We had nothing but each other. No place to call home. No furniture to keep in it. No toys for the children. No other clothes but that which we wore. And especially no clue regarding how we were to go forward after this.
I could only cling to what little I had. Grateful that they clung back.
The murderer cleared his throat. He was as pristine as the moment I ran to him. He said, "One problem has been eliminated. I am cleared to offer you a solution to the other problem. If you follow me, I can introduce you to helpers. It will not be easy, but it will be better than what you face here and now."
I stole back my babies' favourite toys. We couldn't carry much more than that, as we followed Mr Sunshine towards a place that was the furthest from the world we knew.
They gave me communication boards and taught us all sign language. It's so much less effort to talk to people. They didn't even try to bully me into talking like normal people. Nobody does in this strange new place.
I had no idea how wrong it was, back home. Not just for me, but for all of us.
It's weird... having things right.
[Image from https://boyprintable.com/ ]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [22 remaining prompts!]