three hours till the commencement and most people were heading home, ready for lock up.
ashton, a man in his mid-twenties, sat on his bed looking into the mirror before him. for twelve months, he knew exactly what he was going to do when it turned into the night of the purge. on his wall, there were a couple of tacked up pictures from news articles about a man who got away without charges.
he stared at them for a few minutes, a gun in his hand that he needed to load.
once he had loaded the bullets in his final gun, he filled his black bag with all the weapons he had brought over the past year.
he didn't want to purge. he didn't believe that this night cleansed anyone's soul. and, even though he was angry at the man that got away, he didn't want to kill him. all he wanted to do was protest against the purge.
knowingly, he wasn't going to gain anyone's support on any other night but when people were scared, being attacked, they would help. if he saved people from being purged on then surely they would help him.
he had a machine gun, two pistols, a sawed off shot gun and an assault rifle. for good measure, he had brought two machete's, three cans of spray paint, three knifes and tons of extra bullets which he all packed away apart from a pistol in his back pocket and the shotgun.
his eyes travelled to the picture frame sitting on his bedside table. he was sitting on the edge of an armchair, his arm around a beautiful brunette that was holding a newborn baby girl. in front of her sat a young boy who was grinning, a donut in his hand. it had only been taken four years ago. he was doing this for them.
ashton sighed, zipping his bag closed and headed out of his door. one of his neighbours had just returned home and raised his eyebrow.
if someone was leaving their home now then there was always a reason. but his neighbour's idea was wrong.
~
michael, having recently hit his thirty first birthday, had gone through his fair share of purge nights. and now, his boy of fifteen knew the drill too. michael watched as marcel boarded up the last window as he thought back to when he was sixteen years of age.
he remembered well when his high school girlfriend had told him that she was pregnant. she was crying, distraught at the idea of messing up her life and almost sure that she wanted to get rid of it. he remembered begging her to have it and swearing he would do everything he could to support her.
then, once she had had their child, she ran. leaving michael with their child and moving to the other side of america.
"dad, we going to cook some pizza?" marcel was waving his hand in front of his dad's face, grinning.
"huh? oh oh yeah buddy. we'll have some pizza and after commencement we'll play a game, yeah?" he patted his son on his back and grinned, getting ready to their usual night.
after putting the pizza in the oven, he placed two pistols on the table with marcel watching him careful.
"just in case. i don't want to see you with this in your hand unless you're fighting for your life." michael was barely serious with marcel, them acting more like brothers or best friends rather than father and son.
"what about yours, dad?" michael contemplated it for a second before shaking his head. he grabbed marcel by his head, pulling him in for a hug.
"i can look after myself, son. i need you to be okay tomorrow." marcel wrapped his arms around his dad, squeezing his dad slightly.
they pulled away as the timer dinged and smiled at each other, their serious moment broken.
~
luke and his girlfriend, clem were on their way to the shop by their home, hoping to stock up before the night began. they weren't believers of the purge and were happy that they had recently installed some of the best protection their house could get.
the only reason they had it was because of clem's parents. she came from a rich family that had a lot to spare. luke on the other hand, was born and raised in downtown chicago, in some of the poorest apartments there was.
he wasn't use to having money and his unwillingness to randomly spend it on things they didn't need usually ended up as the main reason that they fought.
"i just want to buy the best food there is. why can't we go to that organic shop, luke?" clem was using her whiny voice, again. trying to get what she wanted.
"clem, that's further away and we don't have the time. do you not realise what tonight is?" luke's grip on the steering wheel was increasing as his anger at the girl sitting beside him.
"so you expect me to just eat the scum you like to buy?" luke didn't bother replying to her as he parked the car, even though she kept complaining that he was ignoring her.
all round the shop, she complained at every last thing he picked up and by the time they had managed to even get to the check out there was only one or two people left in there - including the cashier.
luke was stressing out by the time they had both gotten back into the car and he swerved backwards to get out of the car park as fast as he could. he needed to get home or else they weren't going to be home in time for the commencement.
he paused, changing the gear from reverse to normal. his foot pressed on the accelerator before he had to stamp again on the brake again. luke gasped at the man that had popped up in front of their car.
he had on a simple white mask you would give to kids to paint with the word 'god' scrawled onto the forehead. his lips were painted, as well as his cheeks and eyebrows.
although the mask itself wasn't terrifying, the lack of expression made it creepy.
the man lifted up his arm and waved slightly, wiggling his fingers at the couple. neither of them spoke, just stared as the man moved to the side. he tilted his head and waved them on and luke didn't think twice before slamming his foot down and screeching out of the car park.
~
calum was already dressed up in his black suit, coated with bullet-proof armour and his machine gun in his hand. there were six to seven others, dressed just like him and in a line. none of them spoke, none of them knew each other.
the only reason calum had even signed up for this stupid job was because it basically promised protection from the purgers and he didn't want to die.
wood was hardly a good baricade to keep people out of his home and his neighbours were attacked last year. the only reason he was saved was due to the end of the purge bell.
"now listen here. you signed a contract on this shit dedicating your lives to making sure that the purge kills enough civilians every year."
calum had already heard this speech and spaced out, thinking of ways he could avoid killing anyone. he was planning to break into an apartment by himself and shoot, at nothing, telling the people that were in there to hide.
if he had a chance of not killing anyone but staying safe, staying alive, he was going to take it.
~
alyssa was quick to rush home as soon as her boss let her off of work. she was worried that she wouldn' have enough time at first but was defnitely proved wrong when her boss let her go as soon as the last man left the cafe.
they mumbled a 'stay safe' as a good bye as she pulled on her coat and left. walking through downtown chicago on this day consisted of seeing all shop owners closing up shop, all people running as fast as they could to get home.
"can i offer you a gun, love?" a man had moved right in front of her, stopping her from moving any further along the pavement. "something to protect yourself."
she didn't reply and shoved him out of the way, desperate to get home in time. anyway, alyssa already had a gun to protect herself.
being a poor, african american young woman living in downtown chicago, she was a prime target for anyone that wanted to purge on the 'less fortunate'. everyone who didn't completely agree with the purge knew that it was, in reality, a way to rid of the poorer.
the purge was just a way to get the wealth of the country higher.
"alyssa my sweet, sweet baby. need someone to protect you tonight?" alyssa had walked into her apartment building, straight into carl from the floor below.
he was a drunk, a slob that wasn't worth her time at all. he had been annoying her since she moved in a couple of years back and all she tried to do was ignore him. if she pretended that he didn't exist then she hoped that he would just forget about her.
she weaved around him, making her way to the stairs as he called out after her.
"you can't ignore me forever, sweetie!" she shivered at his slur and quickened her pace up the stairs. all she wanted to do was lock herself away for the night.
~
blair and alex were two thirds of triplets, tied together at the hip since birth. they acted like the bestest friends and stuck up for each other in everything.
and, after being attacked the year before in the purge, they were out for revenge. revenge for their sister.
they had managed to survive till the bell when the people that were attempting to kill them had to give up. luckily for the girls, they had managed to pull off one of the guy's masks and knew exactly who he was.
proceeding to watch him for the next year, they learnt where he lived and his friends and they were ready this year to take him down.
they had brought gun each and a blade behind their parents back.
"mum, dad, we just want to sleep through this year." blair started, laying on the upset innocent act.
"after last year... just want to ignore that tonight is happening." alex sniffed slightly, rubbing at her nose.
their parents exchanged looks before wrapping their arms around their daughters. they mumbled agreements before pushing the daughters slightly in encouragement and turned their backs to set up for commencement.
the two girls grinned at each and made their way into alex's room and quickly changing into all black clothes. they grabbed up their weapons before climbing out of her window down the fire escape. obviously not before boardering their window back up.
they high fived once their feet dropped to the ground and set off.
i was excited and had to post it.
age wise, michael is the oldest at 31.
ashton is 26.
luke is 23 and clem 22.
calum is 21.
alyssa is 20.
blair and alex are 19.
marcel is 15.