Chapter 2: The Perfect Man

            Chris sat there alone in the room, taping his fingers on the table nervously.  He wasn’t exactly sure where he was or what was taking so long.  But he knew why he was there, he questioned in his mind if he had made the right choices, though at times it didn’t really seem like he had.  The world was changing fast now and he was just trying to keep up.

            I single tear slipped out and ran down his cheek as he thought about the last few days.  Chris had just wanted to be a free man.  He had spent days locked in his basement with his friends, armed with whatever they could find.  It had all happened so fast, when the enemy came and stormed in taking them all down so quickly.  The sights and sounds were haunting Chris.  It had been a stupid plan and he was sorry that he had ever talked the others into it.  It was on a constant replay in his mind as he sat there waiting.  The minutes creped by, then finally a woman entered the room.  She flipped through some papers before tossing them on the table in front of him.  He sat there looking up at her, studying her, wondering what was next and still trying to figure out what had already happened.

            His head was killing him; he couldn’t be sure if it was from all the thinking or the strange new injury to the back of his neck.  He didn’t remember getting hurt in the fight, but it was possible.

            “Where are my friends?” Chris asked softly.  The woman leaned across the table and slapped him across the face as hard as she could.  He recovered from the sudden blow and stared at her confused, still rubbing his cheek.  He hadn’t expecting that.

“First of all, you don’t speak unless spoken to.” The woman rudely explained.  The shock read all over his face. 

“Please just tell me if they are okay?” He begged, bracing himself for another blow.  This time she silenced him by another means; now unable to speak he just sat there and sobbed lightly.  Chris tried to control his emotions after all he didn’t want to upset her further but the tears just rolled down his cheeks.  It was a cross between his fear for his friends and the new fear of wondering why he couldn’t speak any more.

            The woman carefully explained to him where he was and what to expect going forward making little mention of what had already happened, other than to let him know that she had some kind of control over him.  It wasn’t exactly what he had hoped to hear, the woman was brutally honest with him.  This new government was full of corruption just like the last; they hadn’t fixed anything in his eyes.     With women now in complete power, there had been hope for a bright future, but I guess that kind of depended on which side you were on.  Chris suddenly felt like he was on the losing side of things.  Men were the enemy now, but it wasn’t like he had done anything to anyone.  He had always been extra nice to his female fans.

            Options for guys were limited; He was property of the new government, to do with as they saw fit.  His future was now in their hands and that scared him, it was already clear that they didn’t care about him at all.  Of course he had shot at them, which clearly hadn’t gone over well.

            Where he sat now in the Florida state reform center, which specialized in teaching men to accept their new place within society, roughly translated it meant that they would hurt you until you did as you were told.  If you failed to conform you were taken away to work camps or stud farms.  They always had a use for you whether you were willing or not.

            Chris sat there with his hands folded neatly in front of him as the woman continued to yell at him and put him into his place.  He wasn’t sure if it was in his best interest to fight her or to just obey. 

            “Do you have any special skills, Mr. Kirkpatrick?” She asked. Chris thought for a minute he wanted to be sure to answer her correctly, he couldn’t take another round of the unexplained pain they were causing him.  There was no telling what they had done to him, now they could hurt him without even touching him and silence him with the push of a button.  He hardly felt human any more.

            “Yes, I am a singer.  I know a little bit about mixing music as well. Um… I had a clothing company once.  Is that what you mean?” He said softly.  The woman nodded, she already had a pretty good idea who he was and what he was capable of, but she wanted him to confirm it.

When she was done with her questions, two other women came in, and took him away.  He didn’t fight them as they led him down the hall.  They instructed him to remove everything; as property of the state he couldn’t keep any of it.  In the distance he could hear the sound of men calling out in pain.  I thought it might have been some of his friends, but he had never heard them make those sounds before so he couldn’t be sure.  After a cold shower he was examined by a doctor and then allowed to redress in the clothes that they provided.  It was unnerving and an embarrassing experience to say the least. 

He just wanted to go home, if his house was even still standing.  That’s when he thought of something that really upset him.  Where was his mother and why hadn’t she come to save him yet?  She wouldn’t let them treat her only son this way would she?  Was she okay?  He couldn’t take the pain of not knowing.

“Please can I see my Mama?” He burst out suddenly.  The woman just shook her head.

“You made your bed and now you have to sleep in it.  There is no leniency for prisoners of war.  If your mother finds you and can afford to buy you from the state, then you may be in luck.  But I wouldn’t count on it Rock Star.” She explained carefully.  Chris felt his heart sink.  What if he had turned himself in, then could he have seen his mother, could she have saved him?

Nothing was going to be the same as Chris started to take notice of the way the women were treating him, he was trying to keep his nose clean and steer clear of trouble but it was hard to do with the women in charge being so critical of him.  He was expected to be follow orders and not to ask questions.  Making mistakes, although human nature, was frowned upon.  It’s like they expected him to be the perfect man.  He wasn’t sure that he could be perfect and that scared him.

            Once Chris was moved over to the main building, he was assigned to kitchen duty, the work was hard and he thought it was an odd assignment considering his past career, but he guessed that there wasn’t much of a need for musicians in this place, though anything to lighten the mood around there would have been helpful.  He was washing dishes and looked up just in time to see Joey passing through the food line.  Joey looked confused and a little uneasy, Chris assumed that he had recently arrived and had yet to settle into the way things worked around here.  Chris was surprised to see him, Joey had been married and married men were considered property of their wives, He could only guess that Joey much like himself, he had chosen to fight.  The new government didn’t tolerate men misbehaving.  Maybe Kelly though she could get Joey back or maybe Kelly was on the women’s side.  He wasn’t sure if there were any women left in the world that could be trusted.

            Chris wanted to talk to his friend but conversations between men were forbidden here, if he was caught talking to Joey, they both would be punished and Chris found their punishments to be very cruel.  So the only thing he could do was let Joey see him, so that he would know that he wasn’t alone.  Chris hoped Joey would find some comfort in that.  Joey was about to leave the line. Chris made a special trip to drop off clean dishes to the service line, making it a point to walk past Joey’s line of sight.  Joey barely recognized his old friend.

            Joey looked up surprised to see him and opened his mouth as to say something but Chris just put his finger to his lips and motioned for Joey not to speak.  He didn’t want to see them hurt Joey.  Joey nodded and then left the line.  Once the line was gone the women in charge let Chris to get something to eat.  With his tray in hand he searched out Joey and quietly sat down across from him. The two of them didn’t say a word; the lunch room was eerily quiet.  Any noise would have been noticed.  Yet there was some comfort in having a friend.  Some one that knew exactly how you felt.

In the days that followed Chris and Joey would often be on Kitchen duty at the same time, but when Joey dropped a plate and broke it.  Chris felt his heart sink knowing full well what came next.  A woman rushed to Joey and began to yell at him then with a push of a button Joey fell to the ground in pain.  Chris closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth to avoid saying or doing anything to draw attention to himself, he knew if he said something or tried to stop them, they would hurt him too. Chris held tight to the counter, keeping himself in place and tried to hum and drowned out the sounds of Joey’s agony.  After she left Joey lay on the floor for  a minute trying to compose himself enough to get up, when he finally did pick himself up off the floor, he quickly got back to work but was moving a little slower.

“This isn’t right.” Joey sighed under his breath; it had been an honest mistake. 

“Don’t worry you get numb to it after awhile.” Chris whispered. 

“I don’t want to get numb to it.” Joey answered.  Chris could see it in his eyes, Joey wasn’t dumb enough to fight them on the outside but in the inside he had a battle raging.