Chemical Poison . Howard Stark

Chapter 37

Diamonds are formed under pressure.

Both scientific and one of literatures most prized symbols or perhaps a metaphor and a simile. Regardless, diamonds formed under pressure.

Wouldn't that mean all things under pressure come out prettier?

Oh, how they shine and sparkle. The gem of America's bustling cities and the most desired accessory for any society woman. To be the diamond of a family, the one that was undeniably the best of the bunch, was what drove so many to undergo such pressures.

The pressure to make money.

The pressure to keep breathing.

The pressure to stop drowning.

Diamonds were made from pressure but humanity was not. That was a fact Anneliese learnt early when she watched the maids of her family home constantly change; none could keep up to the expectations of her parents. It was a sight she remembered when she first arrived in America.

She was a lucky one. Her group had money. Though not a lot at all, but enough to eat, to drink and to learn.

Not all of them were lucky.

She watched them cry for food and beg for work. The sweat rolling down men's foreheads as they worked in the unrelenting sun. The ways their bodies swayed as heatstroke (such a nasty man) claimed them as his own. The women watched as well with tears in their eyes as they grew skinnier... and skinner. 

No diamonds were made. None at all.

It created angry men.

It created staving women.

... and an entire generation of lost children.

Pressure never made diamonds, not with humanity at least.

The next few days in London proved that right. Anneliese watched as so many men and women worked tirelessly to protect their country, their families and anything to end the war by Christmas. It was as if the room moved around her. Howard was busy tinkering with some machines and she sat and watched... always watching.

The secretaries at Stark Industrials never ran as much as they do in London.

The yells between business men were so much louder where she feared if the bombing sirens were to go off she would never hear it.

And so she watched.

Lunches were a thing of the past and history was sure to repeat.

Starving women and angry men, and angry women and starving men.

The saying itself was idiotic, almost ironic. Humans were not made to be put under pressure.

Seated on a stool like every other day since Howard started his work on the machinery required to meet his negotiation from five days earlier, Anneliese grew bored early. She had already read her new copy of a A Doll's House front to back countless times. Adding small annotations after each re-read. She was still bored.

Howard worked tirelessly on whatever machine he was currently drawing up. Blueprints were always a favourite of his as he loved to brag how well he could draw a line without a ruler, that he knew the exact degree an angle was, and that no one was as innovative as he was.

 Unfortunately, only two of those were true.

His lines were awful.

She always looked forward to the afternoon when the other mechanical engineers tried not to cry as they glanced at the blue print that they had to work from. None of them dared say a word against it as it was their job on the line. Not that Anneliese believed Howard would ever fire someone from ruining his ego, but she did know that Howard wasn't kind to those that did.