by H M Sealey
Diana shakes her head. “It – it won’t work.”
“It will work, because we’re going to stand in the streets and make so much fucking noise that the whole of the island will come to a halt. And what’re you going to do about that? I’ve heard your speeches about listening to grievances, even stupid ones. You going to stop a legal protest? You going to make yourselves look like the totalitarian bastards you are?”
“You need the media on your side!” Diana’s voice becomes stronger. “You must be really stupid! The media won’t side with causes against NuTru! They didn’t side with the anti-abortionists or the pro-Christians or the anti-paedophiles. Come on you stupid ox! When the ESI were burning churches and cathedrals across Europe and torturing Christians to death, did anyone listen to the protests? Did anybody care? No. That’s because I decide what matters! I decide what people are allowed to be outraged about! Me! If you try to do this I swear I’ll spin it so that nobody will listen to a word you have to say!”
“You’re right.” I agree. “You do decide what matters. You decide that Hate Crime is worse than actual violent crime. That racism is terrible but only against people who aren’t white. You decide that sexism towards women is on a par with terrorist attacks, but that sexism against men is perfectly acceptable. You and people like you have broken this land and the people in it. And it stops now. You as good as murdered your daughter Diana. She died in my arms because she wanted to fight you.”
I pause in this painful line of thought. “And she told how to fight you, before she died. River had another name, and that name was Asra. A Muslim name meaning River of Paradise. Her father gave it to her.”
Diana seems shocked, her blue eyes are smeared with mascara and she looks years older. “No….no she was always River.”
“She was called Asra.” I repeat the name loudly because I know what it means. I don’t know if Diana realises yet though. But she will. “So really, you had a Muslim girl branded. You had a Muslim girl raped. You attempted to have a Muslim girl killed. How do you think the authorities in the BSI will take that news Diana? How do you think your own media will react?”
Diana stares at me and I stare back. This is a bluff I think, but I hope it’s a good one.
“There…..there’s no evidence of any of that.” She says. “You couldn’t prove it!”
“He could Diana.” Baraq joins me at my side. “I will testify concerning my daughter.”
That seems to shock Diana more than anything said so far.
“But….you know this isn’t true. I didn’t brand River, and it isn’t my fault my security officers raped her, they were just having fun…..” He voice trailed off. “She was my enemy Baraq, I treated her like an enemy, not as a Muslim.”
Baraq shakes his head sadly. “Which, ironically, is the only genuinely non-racist thing you’ve ever done. But Josh is right. When the authorities in the BSI learn about this they will call for you to be extradited. And then your story will come out and people will know that you faked her death to try and escape a law you helped put in place. You can pretend you did it out of love but the BSI will listen to me. Your testimony, as a woman and as a Kafir, will be worth very little I’m afraid.”
“No!” Diana scrambled towards him. “Don’t you dare do that! Don’t you dare! I’m not racist. I’m tolerant. I’m kind! I’ve supported the BSI ever since it was created. I’m their friend!”
Baraq looks at her with utter disdain.
“You really don’t understand do you? You tried to have one of their own murdered. That’s how they’ll see it. And your own people will see your racism laid bare.” Baraq couldn’t quite find the ability to smile.
“Muslims aren’t a race!” Diana shouted suddenly. “We’ll they’re not, so I can’t be racist, can I?”
“Do you think anyone will bother with the distinction Diana? After all, you never have.”
Diana takes a few shaky steps backwards. “Don’t do this Baraq. I can’t have this sort of controversy over my head. If they extradite me, I won’t go.”
“And so you will forever be known as the woman who began a war with the BSI which you can’t possibly win.”
Diana shoves me out of the way and begins to run, her face scraped and bleeding from the gravel, she races towards the house that is now an inferno, lighting up the whole of the sky. Fortunately, there’s little around it to burn, so it should die down in its own time without spreading.
Diana runs straight to the house. Nobody can stop her, she just keeps on running and running until the heat beats her back. For a moment she falls, shielding her face with her hands, then she turns and regards us all. She’s like a terrified cat escaping a pack of dogs.
She climbs shakily to her feet and with one, last, determined movement, she throws herself into the wall of fire and after that, there’s nothing left to see. The fire continues to burn and Diana Lamont is gone.
~
Elsie
I wait until Josh has finished talking to the leader of the Wolves and even then I don’t approach. The Wolves make me nervous, but without their balaclavas they look a lot less intimidating. Even so, I don’t want to talk to them.
“Are you all right sweetheart?” Hajjah is limping, her calf was scraped by a stray bullet, but she reaches my side anyway and wraps her arms rightly around me.
“I don’t know.”
“Death is never pretty.”
I swallow. “I….I really admired Diana Lamont. I voted for her to be leader of NuTru. She always said such lovely things.” I give a great big anguished sob and fall into her arms. “She seemed to really care about….women’s rights.”
“I know.” Hajjah sighs, without passing judgement.
Dai marches right up to the leader of the Wolves.
“I’m coming with you.” He says. The Wolf eyes him with a half grin.
“You’re a bit skinny, but you’ve got guts.”
“I have to start speaking out.” He says. “I have to do something. If you’re serious about heading for Plas Gwyn then I want to come too.” He glances back to where Alaia’s body has been covered with his jacket. “Alaia was brave. I want to be as brave as she was.”
The Wolf folds his big arms across his chest. “You know we might end up back in prison. Or a Rainbow Centre. If the media puts a bad spin on what we are the rest of NuTru’ll crucify us.”
“But that’s not a reason not to fight. The princess still needs saving, right? Even if the dragon is big.”
The Wolf claps him on the back.
“Come and welcome.”
“Are we going to pay a visit to the other Slave Traders?”
“I thought we might. The more evidence we have against this rotten regime the better. Hundreds of branded girls can’t be ignored.”
“I want to come too!” Asim pulls himself up to his full height which is about an inch shorter than me. The Wolf laughs.
“Go home kid.”
“I want to come.”
“Asim, no.” Baraq takes him by the arm and pulls him away. “Your parents have lost Alaia. They’ll be devastated to lose you too.”
Asim sets his jaw. “I want to fight Uncle Baraq. This broken land, it should belong to all of us who love it, wherever we come from. I want the people on this side of the Border to know that the people in the BSI aren’t like the men they saw destroying Europe. I want them to know I care about them. I can’t just go home. I can’t be where Alaia was. I can’t look in her bedroom every day and see her bed and her clothes and….” Asim breaks down and begins to cry in Baraq’s arms, his face buried against his Uncle’s still bleeding chest.
“Asim. Wait. Come home for a while. Help me carry on running Family Matters. If the Wolves can change things in Old Britain then we’ll need men like you to stand up and reach out to the other side of this land.”
Asim nods and continues to cry. I’m crying too.
“You always were a crybaby.”
Missy kisses my cheek and I s
mile back at her.
“You okay?”
“Thanks to your brother. He’s pretty cool.”
“Yes.” I pause. “I haven’t talked to him yet.”
Missy shoves me in the back. “Well, come on then! Stop being so shy.”
Missy pushes me forwards to where Josh and Baraq stand together. My brother and my stepfather. She’s right, I am shy, I haven’t seen Josh since he was nine. I don’t know what to say.
But by the time I reach him, Josh’s entire attention is on me.
“Hi El.” He says in a small, timid voice. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but I think he might be blushing. “You look like mum.”
“Do I?”
He nods and I nod back politely. As if we’re strangers at a party and soon we’ll part company and forget we ever met.
And then I’m in his arms, misremembered moments of childhood burst up like bubbles from wherever they live within me. My brother Josh. The boy who never complained when I wanted to play with him. Who never shouted when I borrowed his toys and accidentally broke them. Who held my hand on walks and helped me climb trees. Who let me decorate him with daisy chains and who told me stories in the dark. Josh made me feel safe.
And right now, I feel safe again. No matter what happens, no matter where I go in the future, I’m not on my own. I’m not in a dark lonely place any more. Family Matters. And I know beyond doubt that it does. If anything can bring sanity back to this country it won’t be men in trucks with guns, it will be people who love each-other.
“I love you Josh.” I mumble.
“I love you El.”
And I have a sudden, glorious hope that, one day, both sides of Britain will be reunited and simple, human love will heal everything that is broken.
~
~ Epilogue ~
Josh
The boat cuts through the dirty-white foam, sending a fine spray up into my face. I lean over the railings and watch the coast of the BSI fade away into the mist. Beside me Elsie’s face is damp too, but she’s smiling. In my dreams she was never smiling.
“I wonder what it’s like in the USA?” Elsie asks, dangling a hand down towards the water.
“Free.” I answer. “Or, more free than in Old Britain at the moment. Baraq says there are movements to bring the same authoritarianism into the country, but their constitution makes it harder to crush free speech quite as easily.”
“I can’t believe I won’t have to spend every evening going through all my conversations to make sure I haven’t said anything offensive.” She says. “That was exhausting.”
“I’ll miss Baraq.”
“Me too. But he needs to be with the rest of his family. Alaia’s death hit them hard.” Then Elsie looks at me with thoughtful eyes. “You miss River, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I admit. “Yes I do.”
I don’t really want to talk about River and how lost I feel without her. I don’t want to talk about how I see that terrible explosion in my dreams every night.
Elsie rests her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head to clear it and hunt for a more comfortable topic of conversation.
“Did you see the news? Huge riots in Plas Gwyn, and in some of the major cities. People are listening to the Wolves. Not everyone, but enough.”
Elsie shudders. “It makes everything feel more divided, not less.”
“I think it’s always been that divided, it’s just half the population kept their mouths shut because they were scared of violence, or being smeared as racists or sexists. At least there’s an open dialogue beginning. I just hope the country can find some sort of balance.”
“What about the Border?”
“It goes on making money I suppose. But there have been some big, anti-slavery protests in Old Britain, that’s got to be a start. The Wolves freed enough slaves to cast a lot of doubt over NuTru’s protestations of innocence.”
I smile. “River made Diana confess everything about the Juliet drug and then she put it on the internet. Diana denied it all, but now she’s dead it keeps resurfacing. It fits in nicely with all those stories about slavery.” I shrug. “Maybe some good will come of that after all.”
I curl my arm around her shoulders.
“So, big question. Do we stay in the USA for the rest of our lives, or do we come back to this little piece of land in the future?”
“We come back.” Elsie says at once. “I’ll miss Missy too much.”
“She’s brave to stay.”
“She’s part of Family Matters, she and Hajjah together.” She grins. “Now Missy and Hajjah are the very definition of strong, powerful women.”
“I agree, and neither of them have ever said a derogatory world about men. I admire them both, I really do. Strong people love others unconditionally.” I say. “They don’t feel threatened by other opinions, they just get on with the business of loving their neighbour.”
Elsie gives me a friendly punch.
“That sounds almost Christian. I should have you arrested.”
“It’s not a bad tenet to live your life by.”
“No.” Elsie agrees, cuddling close again just as she used to when she would crawl into my bed in the small hours and beg me to whisper stories to her. “It’s really not.”
~ End ~
