HELTER SKELTER

 

HELTER SKELTER 2020

 

The woods were dark, and a little scary. They told me I would find an answer here. I didn’t believe them. But, I wanted to know the truth.

I hiked under the moonlight, through moist moss and towering tree canopies. But, not a sound could be heard, not a bird, not an insect, not a wisp of wind.

After hours of searching I saw a glowing light. I kept making for it, seeing a halo of pale blue.

Though I feared the words she was going to say, I had to know. I walked up to her slowly. She sat in peace, in stillness. I saw no shade to her skin, nor color to her eye.

“I was told you know the answers, “I whispered, chills running down my spine, “How do you know the truth?”

“I know because I am a seer,” she said.

“Tell me what you see,” I asked, crouching before her. The heat coming from her misty aura warmed my skin.

After a moment her eye narrowed and her voice was like the whistling of a breeze through harp strings.

“I see the men at the top. They are ordering the peace officers to kill men of color. I see their symbols of hate, I hear their toxic rhetoric. These aren’t the peace officers we used to know. These are infiltrators. These are the extreme fringe. They wear their racism in pride. They don’t care who knows. They murder black men in cold blood to incite. They have become the infantry, the foot soldiers. These rogue officers want the footage of their deeds to go viral. Then the reaction will be brutal. The people of color and their allies will rally with peaceful protests.”

Shivers came to my spine as the fog that was once over my eyes began to lift.

 “Next, the peaceful protests are raided by outsiders. They create the violence, the destruction. This provides the news footage to the right-wing voice. The extremist voices thrive on the chaos. They then justify the new army of border patrol, known for being close to the man at the top. These men quell the protest in the name of peace and justice. They feed the right-wing voices with proof to their viewers that the left side of the country is creating riots and should be scorned.”

“Why is this happening?” I ask, growing sick and angry.

She replies, “It has nothing to do with their political party. It has to do with money. Greed. The men at the top want it. They want so much money, more than any human being can ever need or use. Then, they can do as they wish. Once they take absolute power, democracy will be over, and these few at the top can pollute the environment, exploit workers, not pay taxes, kill with impunity, take over the press, murder rare wildlife as trophies and remove healthcare so the ones they rule are weak, sick, and poor.”

“Is this why I should vote?”

She vanished before my eyes.