The Ladies of Horror
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When He Goes, I Go
by Melissa R. Mendelson 

My husband was not a bad man.  He treated me with respect and talked with me as if I were his equal.  Only when we had company over or we were out in public did we have to follow the normal routine, and if he hit me, I allowed him.  If anyone knew different, they would take me away, and I was past the age of remarry.  I would go to a camp instead, and I’ve heard the horrible stories of what happens to the women there.

I looked in the mirror, seeing my mother hunched over behind me in a chair.  She was a relic, tongueless and broken.  Her hands laid awkwardly in her lap, but her eyes were sharp, watching my every move.  I wished I could hear the stories from yesterday, but those like her still left alive were seen as a threat.  After they were done with her and those like her, the relics became reminders of what we women could no longer be.

My daughter was nearing the age of thirteen.  Soon, she would be married to the next available man, and most men today unlike my husband were cold and cruel.  They wanted sons, and if they had a daughter, she would disappear or end up dead.  Only some were allowed to live, so this way, society could continue, their society.  I knew that Sophie was afraid.  Her future was bleak, and I could not save her.  My mother could not save her.  My husband won’t save her.  This was the way that things had to be, but they were different once.  But that was a long time ago.

I stared at myself in the mirror.  I looked like I was ready for a funeral, and I was.  I heard the commotion outside, and I was asked to join.  But I refused.  I wanted to stay here, and part of me wanted my mother to be spared from what comes next.  But it was her fault that this was happening.  She allowed it, and she wasn’t the only one.  And I paid the price, so did Sophie.  Having her should have been the happiest day of my life, but instead, I was drenched in fear.

Still, I was curious.  I walked over to the window and pushed the blinds aside.  There was a mob of people out there, screaming, men and women, but the teenagers refused to listen.  They were done listening, and some men were on the stage with them, tied to a pole.  They were surrounded by teen-aged girls including Sophie, and each girl held a gun in their hand.

My mother was lucky.  When the new law set in, she was already deemed a relic.  She was spared the procedure that I had to endure.  I rubbed the base of my neck, feeling the rough scar beneath my fingers.  I belonged to him, but my husband did not belong to me.  That still wouldn’t change things or de-activate the kill switch.

Each girl raised their weapon, aiming it at the men before them.  Sophie pointed hers at her father.  Her hand was steady.  She always hated him.  She hated me, and in these last few weeks, we barely spoke.  But I knew this was coming.  I heard the rumors, and the men did everything they could to stop them.  But they were deceived, and this was happening around the country like a vicious storm, a freeing wave to not return us to yesterday but to wipe the slate clean for a better, safer future.  But not for the men.  For the women.

Gunshots rang out.  The men slumped forward, dead.  My husband with them, and he was a good man.  But that wouldn’t change anything, and a chill raced down my spine.  I turned quickly, staring at my mother to see the tears coursing down her face.  I smiled as my own tears fell, my body shuddered.  A thud followed, and as my vision darkened, I watched the blinds fall back into place.

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Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

About Author Melissa R. Mendelson:

Melissa R. Mendelson is the author of the Sci-Fi Novella, Waken.  She also has a prose poetry collection called, This Will Remain With Us published by Wild Ink Publishing.  Her short story collections, Better Off Here and Name’s Keeper can be found on Amazon/Amazon Kindle.

If you’d like to learn more about Melissa, you can visit her accounts here: www.MelissaMendelson.com