Michael is thirty-nine and gay. Like his little niece, Kim, who has a learning disability, he is considered a non-citizen under the draconian Normalcy Laws. Kim’s parents quietly arrange to flee to New Zealand, where the Normalcy Laws haven’t been implemented. As Michael has a good job and has been careful to hide his homosexuality, he doesn’t consider going with them. Instead, he remains behind and goes about his business as normal until one morning when he is confronted by two Black Guards. Hooded, Michael is taken to what he assumes is the Department of Law. Once people are taken there, they never see the light of day again. Elimination is the only punishment in the New World Order. There he is interrogated by The Man, a handsome officer of the Black Guards. In a desperately hopeless situation, is there any hope of surviving elimination? No one ever has in the past, but Michael discovers something about The Man that hints at his situation not being as bleak as it appears. Can he dare to hope there is a way out? Or is he so delusional that his fantasies of freedom have clouded his judgment? Under the oppressive Normalcy Laws, nothing is certain.

Forbidden

“I understand,” he said, his voice low, almost tender. “You’re a busy man. These things can slip your mind. How about I leave you for a while so you can clear your head and perhaps the name of that town will come to you.”


He smiled. His perfect teeth on full display. Then he turned and walked back into the pitch.


Michael waited until he heard the door close and then breathed a sigh of relief.


He was left alone for a few hours. Time enough to become hungry, and tired. He could no longer feel his arms. He was also desperate to urinate. He did his best to hold it in, but for all he knew The Man could have gone home for the day. In the end he had to let it go. Small splashes of piss spotted his feet and ankles. He dreaded to think what would happen when the urge to poop became too strong to ignore.


It must have been late at night when The Man returned.


“Oh Michael,” he said noticing the large pool of mildly smelling urine on the floor. “You’re not an animal.”


Chapter 10