Famous protester, Gabrielle stood at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.
“Open your eyes!” She blared into a bullhorn. “There are no particles in the sky that’s lingering in the air. Free your face and take a deep breath. Embrace those you love. What they want is division between worlds in their own personal battles. Unbounded to us we are stronger as one. What better physical slowly converting to digital is one of their strongest pieces. Give a small portion to you makes your voice weaker.”
She turned to face her cameraman. He gripped his equipment feeling the chills from her words.
Gabrielle stared strong into the lens. “I urge you to remove the mussel and stand up for the human race.”
Cut, edit, shared. With over a million views, Gabrielle became the face of modern awareness. She continued to record motivational videos which soon promoted her watchers to start questioning their leaders. Under an airborne pandemic, the world was ordered to stay indoors. If out in public, the government urged them to wear a mask and stay a couple of feet apart.
It’s all a matter of testing the levels of control by using the ‘monkey see, monkey do’ method. If one panics, they all follow out of fear they’ll be the next body in a hospital bed gasping for air, Gabrielle thought. And that anxiety caused by now following the governments’ orders can now be easily seen through mass media. She raised her cellphone and sighed. I hope somewhere in the noise, my voice gets to them.
Days later, the young woman’s name became known in households. She sat at her computer desk and opened an editing program for her latest video. Her cellphone chimed and the id read her cameraman’s name, Tony.
“Hey. I have good news. Count Magazine wants to do a feature article on us! Our photo will be on the cover.”
“Really!” Gabrielle said feeling an electric rush.
“Yeah. I’m already here at the headquarters. There is a car outside to pick you up now. Get ready. We’re waiting on you!”
With that being said, the young woman quickly threw on an outfit. I’m sure they’ll do my makeup. She grabbed her items and left her apartment. Outside of the building there was a black SUV. A man was leaning against it. When he saw Gabrielle, he called out her name and opened the back door. Throughout the entire ride into the city, she and the driver remained silent. He congratulated her once outside a towering white office building and from there she was escorted through a series of doors and hallways on the fifteenth floor.
Inside of a large room, Gabrielle was greeted by two men standing near a photo studio and a green backdrop.
“Gabrielle.” One male said dashing up to her. His name tag read John. “Thank you for coming and congratulations on your recent media success. The people are really taking heed to your words.”
“I try to help.” She said with a wide smile.
“We’re just going to take a couple of photos before the interview. Your partner is currently being interviewed now.”
John directed the young woman to stand in front of three lighting and a simple camera. The other worker handed her a gold mask with a thick chain for the ear straps.
“Hold up.” Gabrielle said with a nervous laugh. “I dont wear those things. I-I’m sorry but that goes against anything I say. I’m telling people to take those off. Why would I put one on?”
“It’s just a prop.” John said. The mask was beautiful. The way it shined under the lighting, but Gabrielle shook her head and took a step back.
“Even if it is a prop, I believe the government is spraying something on them. That’s why many are getting sick.”
John huffed and shook his head. “We think the same, but wouldn’t do anything like that to you. Put it on and we will take a quick photo if you dont feel comfortable.”
Hesitant, Gabrielle eventually took the mask and placed it on her face. John stood behind her and tied the ear straps tighter around her head. The cotton material felt heavy across her mouth as if it was made from a thin sheet of metal. It was actually making it harder for her to breath.
“I dont like this.” Gabrielle said, but her voice was muffled. She quickly reached for the chain cords and suddenly felt a sharp, painful jolt throughout her body. Her legs went limp and she fell to the floor. The other worker snagged a hold of her hands and swiftly wrapped a white cord around her wrist as John pressed a button on the camera. A red light started to blink.
“You’re becoming a nuisance to our leaders.” John said and pulled out a thin black box from his pocket. Inside was a syringe with a thick long needle. “So they decided to make an example out of you. Move and he shoots you.”
The worker stood behind a camera with a gun aimed at her. Near the trigger shinned another red dot. John keeled behind her and raised her shirt.
“You and your friend should have kept a mask on to void getting sick.” He whispered in her ear. “Look into the camera. I promise you face will be on the cover of a magazine captioned ‘Silence is Golden’.”
