Dystopic political fiction

Chosen

part 1: Identification & Review

Identification

"You have been selected as Chosen."

That was all that was said. That was all that was ever said. All that need be said. She arose from her work and followed the foreman as she was expected to do.

Review

She sat facing one of the few bare spots on the wall near the only window. A small window that looked out on the nearly empty street. The walls of the room were surrounded by words in large lettering. Words of the Council. Words she had heard spoken as far back as she could remember. What little she could remember with any clarity.

She had lost track of time presently, but assumed it to be mid afternoon. The streets were empty because the People were at work. An orator continued to read from the 'Book of the People's Council' from his kneeling posture on the other side of the door in the opposite wall.

"The will of the Council is the will of the People.
The will of the People is to do what is right on behalf of the People.
To do right is to do good.
It is the will of the Council to do good for the People...."

He continued to read on as all orators had always done. His voice blended in with the faint voices of the orators crossing below in the street.

"The desire of the People is to do the will of the Council.
The will of the Council is to do the will of the People.
The will of the People is to do right.
To do right is to do good on behalf of the People..."

The words seemed to echo through her head more than usual, but she seemed to hear the words even less than when she was at her job – a job that was assigned by the direction of the Council. She heard the sounds now. When she was working, it was background noise.

'The orator reads from the Book of the People's Council to re-enforce the will of the Council. The will of the Council is to do the will of the People. The will of the People is...'

These words came to her thoughts now, even though they were not the words being read by any of the orators she could currently hear. They came to her from memory. Something she had heard once at a Council gathering. Occasionally the Council held such gatherings to elaborate further from the non-orated texts of the rules of the People's Council.

"To question the will of the Council is to question the will of the People.
The will of the People is to do what is good and right.
To question the People is to question the right."

She wasn't sure if she was hearing the words as read by the Orator at the door or echoing through her thoughts. 'One was not to question the good and the right," she thought to herself.

'Thinking to herself!' She blushed and hung her head. 'They were right to have selected me as Chosen,' she thought. 'Community members do not "think for one's self."'

"To do good is to do on behalf of the People.
A member of the Community must do on behalf of the People.
A member of the Community must do as directed by the Council."

These words did not come from the door but a voice she could hear in workshop across the street. These particular words were no longer necessary to be read for the 'Chosen'. She was no longer directed to 'do'. She could only sit and think. People did not think in the Community– People simply 'did'. 'A member of the Community does on behalf of the People,' she found herself recalling out of habit.