Centre (MWBB)

Today’s the day.  I see you in the distance, in my mind’s eye.  Centre.  We’re near, though still at a distance.  Left of Centre.  Great name for it, incidentally.  Guess they couldn’t come up with anything better.  That, or simply ego.  Centre must be – and is – central to everything and all that.  Truthfully, I suspect they had other priorities in the aftermath.  As They would.  You wouldn’t know, unfortunately.  Not now.  You certainly didn’t then.  I tried to convince you but you were stubborn.  Had to have it your own way, for all the good it did you.  So now you’re stuck there, me out here.  Separated by time, space and a god awful row, built up by pressure and circumstance. 

Though I want to, I can’t take the words back.  They’re out there, freer than you are.  Now.  For me to regret, at least.  I would recant them if I could, though you won’t recall them.  Not now.  Not at the centre of Centre, right in the hub.  Now it’s up to me to sort things.  To try to get you out by getting in.  Crazy idea, really, though I feel I owe it – not just to you – to try.  You’d laugh if you knew.  About the suggestion of kamikaze behaviour; being one of the revolutionaries.  We’re outlawed for what we did - simply by leaving, for failing to submit to testing; for product processing.  Terrorists.  If caught, what they’ll do to us is worse than what they’ve done to you.  Worse still, if we fail, you won’t even know it; safely slumbering mind hive, deep amidst the grounds of Centre.

I wish I’d tried harder, to get you to leave.  It got too late to convince you.  You didn’t believe - the rumours, a casual whispered word here and there.  Too casual to carry weight, for you.  I heard; I listened.  I ran, to stay safe.  For the chance to stay awake, not to be drugged and dumbed down; to sink into silence.  That subtly induced sleep.

They said it was about species survival; ensuring we came through things safely.  Thus - the trials and testing.  Coma subjects for comparison.  At the end, whenever that was.  Who knew.  No-one ever said where the “they” had found out from – or who they were.  Perhaps the chain of whispers was its own protection.  For the “them”.  For us.  We had realised there were disappearances, of course.  Officially, people had simply had enough; gone over the community walls, to seek new life.  Though no-one knew what lay beyond Centre.  Not really.  Not now.  Nor whether it was actually possible to leave.  We knew no-one who’d tried.  Just what was said.

It was a sheltered existence post-Breakdown in Centre.  The scavengers brought food; the committee took control.  There were few questions.  Sustenance and shelter bought grateful goodwill.  From most.  I kept quiet.  You didn’t comment.  The non-conversation lay between us.  I knew.  One too many coincidental “disappearances”.  You disregarded.  Until the day.  The day They came.  For me.  For us.  Our turn.

We had some warning.  Not much.  The “them” sent word through whisper.  I moved, straight off.  My family; friends too.  You took the time to hesitate.  Too much, with too little left to us.  Harsh words, spoken in haste, whilst seeking to persuade.  I remember.  You don’t.  I hate that you don’t.

Still, they tell me there is hope, those whispers.  Their networks run outside, through secret means.  The who and how scarcely matters.  You are there - deep at the heart of Centre, where my thoughts stray most.  Waiting, though you don’t know it; can’t see it.  Not your turn.  Not yet.  Not ever, if I am able.  If we are lucky, though it will take much more than that.

We plan here, left of Centre.  We’ll find a way to break you out somehow.  To do that, we’re breaking in.  Aiming right for the heart of Centre.  To break the systems down; to wake the sleepers.   To grant the choice to take a chance on what lies left or right of Centre.  The outside.  The unknown. 

Now.  Today’s the day.  We are coming.  Towards the heart of Centre.

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Another piece for Mid-Week Blues-Buster (Week 2-5) - this week's prompt was Suzanne Vega's "Left of Center".  This turned into a dystopian closed community-type tale...

Edit to add - this placed second for this week's challenge