Reforming Society •• OneRepublic {2}

Red X

Anonymous middle class woman's P.O.V.

April was one day away from ending, but this only meant that since the April Cleansing had yet to come, every middle and lower class neighborhood across the nation was on edge. Protests sprung out in random places against the safety of the upper class. Riots filled with nervous and fearful citizens littered the streets, and at these it was a matter of time before every pair of feet on the ground was replaced with a pool of blood.

It was only a matter of time before today came, and what was today? The April Cleansing, the second Cleansing to hit the United States, smacking them all to the ground while their shaking backs were turned.

Yet since the last one, they changed some of the rules. Once the Cleansing siren hit, every middle and lower class citizen in targeted neighborhoods no longer had to fall to their knees for certain death. No, now they hid in their houses and were still on edge. Why? Well, the government realized that killing whole neighborhoods would spark a heavy decline in population, especially since deporting almost fifty million people to home countries as well as other killings. The population of the United States went from three hundred and nineteen million in October to about two hundred and seventy now.

So the Cleansings were changed and instead of killing whole neighborhoods, they were ordered to only take out a quarter, or half for the smaller ones. So instead of awaiting certain death, they all waited for footsteps at their doors instead of the neighbors'.

When the Cleansing siren sounded out in the late night air, at eleven, the woman, eight months pregnant, and her husband were just pulling into their driveway.

"Shit," She heard him mutter as he got out, "Come on, honey, let's get inside. You know the procedure."

Ah, yes, the procedure. There was an opening he carved out in the wall, the wall sliding back to reveal the spot where one person could fit comfortably, even so largely pregnant like her. It was where she went every time the Cleansings hit. Her husband went up to the attic with a shotgun and hoped they did not find him (if they didn't kill him, he'd be arrested for owning a gun). He was convinced they didn't thoroughly search houses, and would only kill people if they were easy to find.

She followed him inside and they got ready for twenty minutes - taking care of themselves and getting their own food to keep with them since the Cleansing was about twelve hours - before a knock came at their door. Or rather several footsteps on concrete and an angry fist pounding on their door.

Her husband inhaled sharply, picked up his shotgun from its place leaning on the wall, and urged her to the hallway. It took him a second to pull the wall back, but then she was left with the small space. She stepped in quickly, clutching her stomach and the bag of food and water. As her husband closed the wall and she was left with only the light from a crack at the opening, she also saw the bucket in case she had to use the restroom. With a baby pressing on her bladder, this was likely.

Then she heard the front door banging open at the exact same time as the attic's stairs came down in the hallway. She moved over to the crack to see her husband climbing up them, and then she heard the shouting and rustling around of a few men in the living room. Her husband was quiet, but she feared he would not get up in time and her heart pounded. It seemed as if he took forever getting the stairs back up and the latch closed, when he was really quite quick, only because the armed men with guns would shoot at any movement they saw.

Yet he made it, and it wasn't long after that the police came rushing down the hallway, their guns and heavy armor even louder than their boots on the creaky floorboards. She held her breath as they passed and ducked further into the shadows, hoping desperately that they would not realize that the wall could move or someone was in the attic. It was unlikely that they would check for such things as the wall, of course - it was the very reason her husband installed it after they were nearly killed during the March Cleansing. But the attic? That was more likely, and it was terrifying. She knew the procedure in and out, but this was the first time they ever did it.