Writer's Cramp Entries

Apathy

Written for the "Invalid Item"  Contest
Prompt: Apathy

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Push aside the curtain of torrid sandstorms, revealing faces behind veils, the bearded ones, innocent visages of children running past men with rifles. Hollers, screams, cries of terror. Gunshots. An occasional explosion rips through the air. A bloodbath unlike anything we have ever seen. There are bodies now, sprawled all over the streets like a grotesque work of art. There are the wailing women over their dead husbands, the sobbing children clinging to what’s left of their sanity. Men in uniforms, nod in satisfaction at a job well done. They are only fighting for our freedom after all. They are pleased that the public will appreciate their efforts.

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The public walks past the images, on cell phones making deals at a mile-a-minute. The public wonders what movies will be playing at the latest Cineplex at seven-fifty p.m. They can’t afford to get horrible seats at the next basketball game. Dinner’s not yet prepared and the children are getting irritated, driving mothers crazy with last minute shopping, hoping to get things ready before fathers come home. The public needs the latest gadgets, the hottest trends, the in-things. Too many things to do, so little time.

With a collective sigh, the public finally picks up the remote control and changes the channel. The whole war thing was beginning to get boring anyway.