[SHORT STORY] The Rationing: Part VI of VI
by Frances Rey
“They won’t stop screaming… they said it was going to be a quick death.” A voice says, horror-stricken.
“Better them than us.” A second voice speaks. “They’ll be collected and recycled into the usual condensed protein bars. With the higher-ups hogging food rations, there won’t be any food left for the rest of the country. That’s why the military has been receiving orders to exterminate these smaller villages.”
“The new residents will be transferred here in a week to occupy these homes. It would be a waste to leave a large village uninhabited.”
A strangled scream escapes my throat before I could realize that I’ve made myself visible to them. The Peace Officers alert the other men and come to take me, but they don’t know the slums the way I do. I swing under a loose metal ceiling and slip into one of the houses. When I go around corners and squeeze through gaps, I see flashes of Theresa coming to greet me with her little one. I see the little children through the rickety windows playing patintero and luksong-tinik. Then I see Mama, washing the food scraps we scavenged earlier. The deadly gas is messing with my head.
I wedge myself through a narrow passage between two slum settlements and stumble into the busy streets of Roosevelt, narrowly missing their shots that chased the soles of my bare feet. The losses of today weighed heavily on my heart as my mind, but I can’t stop to grieve. I duck into a dim alley and cast my gaze upon the high-rise buildings. I wanted to scream — at all of the sin and corruption that has taken everything from me — but I bite down on my tongue; until I choke on my own tears. This world was rotten. All of it.
One day, they will rue Rationing Day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am Frances Pia Alexy C. Rey. I think of myself as an optimistic and passionate writer who likes to challenge and further develop my writing prowess.
I won the 2018 Essay Writing Contest of APEC Grace Park West, composed the graduation song of APEC Grace Park West for the batch of S.Y. 2018–2019, and have written fictional short stories and poems that focus on the human nature and condition.
I also enjoy watching and evaluating movies; listening and singing along to music; and experimenting with poems and narratives.
