“The Biggest Tree”

“The Biggest Tree”

“Shoot slow down will you?!” I yelled as I ran down the streets of the small town.  

The man I was chasing was smaller than me but he was lean and had great stamina. I’d never had trouble chasing people down as a child but this guy was something else. He cleared about 3 fences and then side stepped past several civilians who were confused by the entire situation. Eventually he ran into an old abandoned building and ran up the stairs.

“Dammit!!” I yelled.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out my amphetamines. This was the first time that I had ever pulled them out and at the Academy they told officers in training to only pull them out in dire situations.

“There is no point in running!” I screamed trying to sound as intimidating as possible.

A few seconds after taking the drugs things got very clear. After climbing to the top of the building I shortened the gap between us in half. The criminal jumped from the current building we were in to the next but I was able to jump at the same time and in midair I tackled him right to the ground.

“GRC (Governmental Resistance Control) bitch” I yelled into his ear.

The guy was still struggling trying to wriggle his way out and get out so I picked him up off the ground punched him in the gut knocking him out. Officers stopped getting issued handcuffs standard a long time ago and the reasoning behind it was that handcuffs were not needed when there was no reason to commit crime. I did however have a standard issue pistol which I was guess was for shooting at pigeons but for now it was a means of keeping this guy in place for when he woke up. I carried the guy back to my car in discretion as to not alert any civilians and drove off to the station on my way.

“Did anyone see you apprehend him?” the Señor Custodian officer asked.

“People saw me chasing him but for all they knew I could have been trying to ask him a couple of questions is all.” I retorted

“Did you use your firearm?” He asked.

“No sir I used it to suppress him incase he tried to get away.” I replied.

Without asking further questions walked away talking to someone on his police walkie talkie but I couldn’t make it out. The drugs had weared off and all my senses began to deteriorate. All I could remember was a few Guard Officers all surrounding the patient who had just woke up and everything else after that went black.

I woke up the next day at my house. I was still feeling bad and couldn’t seem to get my vision back in check. I really should stay away from those drugs, the after effect is just too much. I slapped my work uniform back on and I went back down to the station and addressed the clerk.

“Where is the man I captured yesterday?” I asked.

“Yesterday? What are you talking about, you weren’t hear yesterday…” the lady said back to me.

“Check your damn files,” I angrily retorted.

“Alright officer” she said is a calm but patronizing voice.

She busily checked her computer and got back to me relatively fast.

“There is no record of any such events happening on our system records” she said.

“That contraption is full of shit, I very clearly chased down a man and apprehended him” I angrily said.

“Sorry I don’t have it...” she replied.

I left after that and began talking to my fellow officers in the building.

“Excuse you do you remember me capturing a criminal yesterday?”

“Sorry I didn’t see anything”

Again and again I asked everyone and anyone if they saw anything and I got nothing. I ran down to the Chief Officer’s office and bribed some security guards to let me in.

“Sir I caught a criminal yesterday why are their no records? Officers I know saw me capture the criminal are denying seeing anything.” I said.

“Do you know what we do for living?” He asked?

“We suppress any incoming threats to society?” I replied.

“Suppress… That is the key word, we seize, detain and erase and threats, anything that ever so slightly alters the morale of our fair people is a threat.” He said.

“What are you trying to say sir?”

“I’m not trying to say anything. I can’t talk that which no longer can be deemed a threat.”

“But all threats are erased how can we learn and grow?”

“Why grow when we are the largest tree in the forest?”

“The tallest tree is the most likely to fall” I retorted.

“Good bye Officer Kelly.”

“But wait!” I yelled.

Armed guards came and roughly escorted me out. So many questions erupted in me. What is my government? What is crime? Can we exist in a world where crime isn’t addressed as crime? My head began to hurt. My vision began to get blurry again. I tried my best to get my grip back on reality. I remembered the wallet I picked up that the suspect dropped. 4556 North Spooner St. I had something left of this mystery man.

The cab driver refused to drop me off directly at house. The area was too high class. Each house was a stand alone and was at least four stories high. They paint of each house glistened in the sunlight and the lawns were lush and green. The house of the mystery man was very nice just like the others. I carefull knocked on the door. Someone quickly responded. It was a woman at least 35-40 years old.

“Excuse me Madam how are you today?” I asked.

“I’m doing fine, may I ask why you are here?” She replied.

“Well I’m here on behalf of the GRC now don’t get alarmed I was just wondering if anyone you know has gone missing?”

She gave me a very blank stare and didn’t respond.

“I know talking when your back is against the wall is hard but its time like these when words are the only express yourself.”

“Why are you here?” she finally said.

“To find what shouldn’t be findable. I’m guessing this man was your husband?” I said as I showed her the wallet with the ID.

“He is my husband, he died 12 years ago why are you bringing him up now?”

“The expiration date on the drivers license expires next year, no point in lying now”

“Why should I tell you anything?”

“Because people seek closure, and it seems that I’m the only man who is trying to get it for you at the moment”

“Can I trust you?”

“Who else can you trust?”

“Come inside.”

I sat down on a couch in the living room as she brought forth some coffee and some papers.

“My husband was a doctor, specifically a surgeon. He cared deeply for his fellow man and it pained him to see that they were dying. Lack of organs for transplant was a rampant problem. So he began dabbling with the wrong people, they supplied him with organs for transplants. He saved many lives… There was a rat who sold him out. And then the GRC “dealt” with him.”

“Do you have any idea who the Rat was?”

“A coroner who worked at the morgue, only person with the evidence against him.”

She exchanged what little information she had for me and I was off on my way. I grew up trusting the government and the GRC. They were keeping us away from anarchy. Keeping us safe from chaos and allowed children to have a safe bright future. I still had faith in them. I arrived back at the station and I proceeded to confront the Chief Officer. I made it down to his office. But something hit me on the back of the head and everything went dark again.

I woke up in a poorly lit small room. I was tied down to a chair and there was something metal slapped across my wrists. Probably handcuffs. Two men walked in the room. One of them started punching me in the face presumably leaving my face swollen as I could barely open my eyes.

“When Adam and Eve ate the apples from the garden of eden do you know what happened?”

“Pigs started shitting gold bricks?” I said trying to be smart.

The man punched me in the face. He was wearing a gold ring making things all the better.

“They were cast out from paradise. What we have here is paradise. No crime, no hate, no disdain for anything.” He said.

“Utopia’s are not real” I quickly said.

“Well I can tell you that we are as close to a utopia as humanly possible, what holds us back is people like you. Words are mans most powerful tool. A single man could an uprising. You never truly believe in the GRC, you believed in the image they posed of a society where everyone could co exist.” said the Chief Officer as he looked me in the eye.

“Isn’t that a world everyone wants to live in?” I asked.

“But its unattainable, someone is gonna mess up the perfect society no matter what we do. I’m trying to suppress those people, that is the GRC’s goal, to ensure that peace stays” He replied.

“Well then I don’t want to live in this word anymore, But just remember that for everyone of us naysayers that dies two more of us will rise to fight your cause,” I said as my final words.

“Duly noted, we shall see if your beliefs out survive mine”

Even though I didn’t live to make as much of a difference as I wished I could have I’d like to believe that others will inherit my will and try to abolish dystopian thinking and establish true peace between all men and women.