(November '17) Prompt #2 - "Looks like rain..." [Archive]

ArtisticVicu

12-01-2017, 07:20 PM

“It’s done.”

He looked over his shoulder at her, his face expressionless like always. “Thank you.”

He looked back out but she did not leave. It wasn’t as if he had dismissed her after all. Instead, she approached his side, her heart heavy as she took in the peaceful view below. “Do you think they will suffer?”

She knew he glanced at her but she couldn’t meet his gaze, eyes locked onto the tiny specs that were the populous wandering about down below. “If they do, it will be nothing compared to what they will suffer should this fail.”

“But we’ve won, haven’t we?” she challenged, tearing her gaze from the window to look at him. “There’s nothing left to do but wait.”

A smile curled his lips. “Ah, but you seem to forget: the most dangerous thing to any plan is time. Time allows for mistakes and flaws. It allows for others to find a way to counter what you are trying to do.”

“But we’re trying to save the world.”

“Are we, though?” He met her gaze head on. “Are we truly? From another’s perspective, we are killing millions of people for the sake of our purpose, selecting a few to die for the many, and many would be outraged with such an act for who has the power to choose that?”

She didn’t have a response to that but she did have a question. “So are we the villains or are they?”

He shrugged. “Who’s to say? Good and evil is all about perspective. What could be considered good and just by one could be considered evil and unwarranted by another. This world was never meant to be viewed black and white. There are too many variables when it comes to reality to draw a line between good and evil that isn’t a thick shade of gray. It’s similar to moral ambiguity. Do you shoot the child sitting before you simply because it has the potential of becoming a great evil or do you wait till that child has destroyed a specific number of lives before you take them out? How many lives would they have to destroy? What do we mean by destroy? But at what percentage of potential would justify eliminating the child early? What are you using to justify the percentage you mark potential kill worthy? What about the potential of the child changing, of not becoming evil? There are too many variables to justify shooting a child simply because of the potential that child has of becoming something that would ruin life.” He looked at her. “And sometimes a child’s potential of becoming evil is simply an excuse to abandon, to ignore, and to kill.

"This world was built on greed. Towns, cities, countries, and continents were conquered because one person wanted more, believed they needed more, or thought that having more than their enemy would save them from being conquered themself. People are rounded up and killed out of the fear that they will take away something that the other party wants, whether materialistic or not, and as of late, some such events have gotten so massive - the death toll far larger than anything we had seen before, that we created the word genocide to even begin to define what was happening. We go to war with other nations and kill thousands - soldiers and civilians alike - and yet the soldiers that come back are hailed as heroes, not criminals. Yet they were murdering people, taking a life simply because they were told to, but a victim of domestic violence or rape can’t even defend themself without being labeled evil, especially if the attacker died.”

He raised a hand before she could even say her thought. “Yes, I am aware that things are changing, that nations are working on correcting the problem. But how long has it been since this all began? How many times have the nations reverted back to older beliefs simply because it helped a bottom line somewhere? How many times have we seen progress made only to be wiped out because of the ignorance of the masses? No nation is meant to stand alone for long and we’re witnessing that now.”

His words came to a halt and her ears rang from the lack of sound. She searched his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking, what he was feeling, but he simply turned and started for the patio door. “Let us get some fresh air.”

She followed him out to the edge of the patio, leaning on the railing with her arms crossed on top. He rested his forearms on the railing beside her and though he sighed, he said no words to her.

She couldn’t keep quiet forever and her question slipped out when the silence seemed to drag too long.

“So are we the heroes or the villains?”

He chuckled beside her, his gaze beyond his clasped hands. “Who know,” he offered in remark. “Maybe both, maybe neither. It’s hard to tell anymore.”

“Is there any going back from this?”

The smile he wore turned sad and tired. “Probably not. I prayed I would never have to resort to such actions but, now that it’s in motion, I simply can’t seem to bring myself to care anymore.” He leaned heavier on the railing. “I wonder if that is what makes me evil.”

There was a flash of light from below. They were too high to see but she knew immediately what it was.They were too close. She wondered if she even cared. He clearly did not.

“Looks like rain…”

She looked over at him, taking in the tears racing down his cheeks as he looked to the clear sky above. That broke her heart and she swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes watered in sympathy. “Yeah,” she replied, looking out to the horizon. She pretended that neither of them was shedding any tears. “Hopefully it’s a warm rain. I would hate to have to go back inside.”