“Pascal, hey, Pascal, stop that already! You’re a detective. Have you forgotten?” Pascal shouted at himself.
“Yes. I’m a detective. Where were we?”
Pascal didn’t move from the mirror, as though his image was the counterpart forcing him to investigate.
“Think, Pascal. Who among the important individuals in the state, among the persons who could build themselves such a shelter, who has three children. Two boys and a girl?”
“Well, I understand what you’re trying to say, OK… President Xing has two children…”
“That’s right,” the counterpart from the mirror responded.
“Erivan is alone. He doesn’t have anyone. In the top of the Inspectorate…”
“Leave the top of the Inspectorate. Erivan is the top of the Inspectorate.”
“Yes… In the Company… by sectors…”
“Leave the sectors. Who is the Company, Pascal?”
“Kaella… he only has Prince… Well of course! Prince has two boys and a girl. But they are students. They don’t need pink covers… the bunk beds, that I understand, the rooms are small… but the light blue covers for adult men…”
Pascal turned around and once again took a look at the bathroom accessories… the tiles…
“But ten… fifteen… twenty years ago, Prince’s children were little. And it’s… it’s Prince Kaella’s shelter!”
“It can’t be… Raul and Seneca would not hand me over to Prince. Perhaps Seneca, if he was scared… but if he was in cahoots with Prince all this time, if it was all just a ploy, pretend… if they waited for the right moment before the elections… to instill fear.”
“No, no… Raul injected me in the arm. Raul would never be on their side. That’s for sure. Don’t even think about that…”
“Oh my God, Prince killed them! He killed both Raul and Seneca! And he abducted me from them! And now I’m in his shelter… beneath the palace… in Capital City. That’s got to be it. I slept through the flight to Capital City. And Prince is holding me. He has some plans for me… Raul! My Friend! My best and only friend! And your people… and our people… you’re all dead! All of you!”
Pascal covered his face with his hands and trembled. “And you Seneca. You are dead because of me too. Because of me you too lost your life.”
Pascal opened his eyes wide and screamed. He ran out of the bathroom, ran to the exit, the locked door, and pounded on it with his fists and feet, screaming
“Don’t you dare touch her, you scoundrels! Don’t you dare touch her! Or even look at her! Not even the children! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all! All of you!!!”
YOU ARE READING
The Grasshopper
Science FictionImagine living in a world where Consumerism is the constitutional order, and where the Inspectorate is in charge of destroying goods whose season has passed, so as to maintain the Balance. In this world you can survive only if you work and buy goods...
