0001 And Justice For All

In the dark...

In the silence...

A child lost in the dark void...

His ear-length hair was as black as the infinite expanse to the point of blending into nothingness, he is naked and bent over protecting his head with his arms exposing several bruises and scratches spread across his back and limbs...

... For an unknown time he continues to cry and sob, here where no sound can be heard, small tears fall from his face and then disappear into the dark...

... Arms with delicate hands appeared again and again, pointing at him, pointing at nothing, holding sticks made of tree branches, patting his back, patting his arms and legs...

... One hand formed a fist to punch, another hand formed a palm to punish, the more he spanked, the more the child cried, and in his black eyes fear turned to sadness, and sadness to anger...

... Lying in a fetal position in the middle of the dark void, hands with feminine features added more marks on his body...

... His fingers digging deep into his own skin as he tried to shield himself from the attacks around him...

... Between his arms protecting his head, the pair of watery eyes exuded pure hate and their silent screams can never be heard...

In the void, darkness...

In the dark...

Noises...

...

The light sound of rain falling outside and the biting cold of night turning into morning brought peace and tranquility that made it difficult for anyone to get out of bed and start the day.

However, beneath the covers, a pair of closed eyes hid unfamiliar restlessness, pain, and distress, squirming along with the person who can't stay peacefully in their own bed.

In the simple and small room, a closet with an old guitar hanging on its side and some faded posters showing rock and heavy metal bands, a single bed with a table next to it completed the rest of its furniture, leaving some electronics in view, glass of water, as well as papers with drawings and written things.

On the wall shelf above, a picture of three young men sitting around a table drinking and laughing, a large row of books followed by the side, books on biology, genetics, biochemistry, physics, cosmology, astronomy, and various other subjects. of nature study.

At the end, after all the books, another frame with a newspaper and magazine clipping with a photo of one of the three young people with features several years younger than the previous photo.

In the newspaper report, the young student boy receiving an award, the texts said something about a research award in the fields of astronomy and collaboration in the improvement of some theory about space and its behaviors.

The young man was tall compared to the other people in the picture, over 1.80 meters tall, somewhat thin, with wavy shoulder-length hair and a fair olive complexion that contrasted with his dark eyes and hair.

Tum tum dum, tum tum dum dum dum, tum rum rum rum rumm...

A smooth rhythmic touch that starts to speed up showing up as an amazing guitar intro that took shape competing with the noise of the rain.

"Yes...

... And justice for all...”.

A low, sighing voice resounds right after a hand comes out from under the covers and reaches for the cell phone on the table next to the bed.

05:21 was displayed on the screen, and below, an image of the Statue of Liberty being broken and vandalized with a text display running from right to left with the name of the song playing '... and Justice for All'.

When turning off the cell phone alarm, the young man gets up keeping his head down and leans against the wall on the other side of the bed as if he is still sleeping, taking a few minutes in this position.

Picking up the cell phone again, after a few taps on the screen a voice takes over the moment...

~“The death toll from the pandemic in the world passed the 20 million mark this past night...”.~

Hearing the news the young man gets out of bed, walks slowly to the mirror attached to the wardrobe on the other side of the room and as he approaches, he stares at his dark circles and messy beard for a few seconds.

On the cellphone, he sees the screen where an old man was telling the news in an indignant way, showing revolt and pointing out indulgences committed by the country's executive leaders, in the corner of the screen, the time.

“05:39, I think I have time to trim my beard, if can't make it in time, i couldn't do...”.

Talking to himself while rubbing his chin in contemplation of thought and trying to deceive himself.

~“... The increase in the number of deaths per day from the pandemic, the rise in unemployment, in addition to the high price of food and fuel, has led to people's dissatisfaction, mainly the poorest who are the main affected...

... Causing more protests every day, and do you know what the president's response was to all this? Put there Fabian the president's speech...”.~

~“... What can I do? People really die, it's not my fault, if you're feeling bad with me, go hunt down my political opponents, it's their fault okay? Now about the food, look how much food the markets throw away every day just because it's expired and spoiled, In the past, there was no expiration date on food, citizens have to know how to remove the spoiled part and consume the rest, I'm going here to announce here, that I will make a proposal of law, to force markets to sell expired products at a lower price, no throwing out expired food...”.~

Tzuimmm tick... “Fuck!!! What a fucked up guy!!!”.

Putting the shaver aside and now with the beard trimmed, looked once more at the hour while changing the news...

~“Good morning, now continuing our morning news, it's 5:55, and let's go with the introduction of news around the world...

While our court decides to suspend and shelve investigations of corruption and other crimes involving the president and his family, in the middle east a young athlete girl was beheaded last night for wearing sportswear, for it is a crime and sin to their traditions...”.~

Chuuuuuu...

With the shower noise, the man stay under the water, letting it fall all over his body while he thinks about his life and the recurring news.

“How nice it would be to live in a country that didn't look like an open-air hospice...

... Though anywhere there may be a sick fanatic lurking...

... Should I find a way to make a difference or run away to a more civilized place?

... Right, if it were easy...

But I still have to submit to almost slave labor and try not to stop living only to end up getting nowhere, not that I wasn't already in this nowhere place, hah...”.

Smiling slightly and self-deprecating, the young man starts to rinse his hair and rub the soap to wash it.

~“... With more than 4 years of this new virus killing millions of people, some senators still argue about the effectiveness of certain drugs and point out that some scientists and doctors are persecuted by the large pharmacy and vaccine market, just like the proud scientists who don't accept being thwarted, such as those of large organizations and large magazines, Is that right senator?”.~

~“Yes, what is currently happening is a movement to politicize science, they don't want to hear both sides, for them science is done in a single way,and ignore the work of illustrious scientists just for not following the scientific method that they so impose, their demand is almost religious...”.~

“Cool, so I say the earth is shaped like an ass, because there are scientists who defend this idea without any experiments or serious evidence, and automatically the earth completely deforms to look like an ass...

... Oh right, maybe it's true, after all, where else would so many shitty people come from to ruin the world?”.

~“... The rate of violence against the poor and black rose once again compared to last month...

... This morning two young black men were killed by the local police, witnesses guarantee that the young people were returning from a family member's birthday party when they were approached by the police...

... Police say the youths were armed, but an anonymous recording posted on the internet a few hours ago made with the cell phone of one of the witnesses caught the whole act...

... Until the exact moment where the police plant guns at the scene of the incident to incriminate the teenagers under the age of 18...

... But so far, such images have not yet been verified, and nothing is known about the veracity of the content or if it really is about the same thing that happened...

... The whole case will be investigated, and the polices involved were removed from their posts...”.~

Revolted, the young man throws himself on the bed, now in dark blue pants, black sneakers, a white dress shirt and a black jacket, with hair still wet, and looked at the ceiling which is painted black with paintings of nebulae and stars of all shapes.

"Come on son! We have to go to the bakery yet, if you take longer we miss the bus!...".

There on the street, his neighbor's female voice yelling at her son made him lean over looking at her bookshelf full of science books.

"I'm going mom! I'm going!”.

The teen's answering screams made him smile along with memories of helping the child at various times during his growing up in school life with homework.

In a scene, a black pre teen with tears in his eyes and a runny nose ran up to him showing several exams with low grades, he asked for help in a scandalous way and behind him his mother running with a slipper in her hand making the whole scene comical.

“Maybe I'll make some educational science videos to help people in general better understand science, studies and everything else...

Damn it!

... I spent the last few years studying and saving dozens of virtual books to make something like this, a series of videos, or maybe animations...

... Or something with just my voice speaking...

... But it is very difficult to get real time to dedicate...

... Jobs, more work, lack of money, colleges, hours stuck on public transport going from one place to another, antisocial social life, terrible food and...

... Just thinking about the gigs of memory used on my phone with this, I think it would scare anyone, but even so, it was very helpful for me to understand many things and become a better person...".

His mind wandered back to memories of him teaching classes to help the boy, as well as having conversations about all the interesting and random things about the world, the universe, and humanity.

So, filled with nostalgia for past moments of peace and fun, your cell phone rings bringing him back to the present.

~“Have you left home?!

Look at the time! It's already 6:50, your test starts at 7:40!!!

If you miss the test, I'll kick you out of the house!!!

Do you understand me Lucius Krauss!?!?".~

The exaggerated screams on the other end of the line made it sound like a loudspeaker was plugged in next to her ear.

“Yea! Yea! I am leaving now, you're holding me talking here!

Bye, I'm gone!...

Shiiit!”

When getting up again, Lucius looked at his cell phone screen, where it clearly showed the time 6:25 and a message received icon.

“Fuuck...

... Or I could give up all this shit and go live directly under a bridge...

... Being threatened by the family over and over again causes more discouragement than feelings of being supported.”.

Opening the message, the image of one of the other two guys in the photo of the three drinking appeared in one corner of the screen, your friend saying he's going to the bus stop to wait for him.

Both were about to take the same test at the same place.

Getting up from the bed, walked to the window to watch the time and the street, out there, the mother and son pair walked with hurried steps holding umbrellas as they dodged puddles and holes in the sidewalk floor, fading with the distance.

The direction looked the same as where he would take his bus.

Checking his clothes and belongings one last time, he soon sent a reply to his friend.

_“I am arriving...”_