Persuasion: Reimagined

I'm checking a customer out, methodically scanning his items as I've done plenty of times before for the last year or so.

"The leader--Dorothy Black--who is presumed to have planned the attacks is currently being investigated for first-degree murder. Her two accomplices--nicknamed Jack Blue, and Tyler Red--are currently being investigated for second-degree murder." She continues.

The customer--whose eyes are fixed on the screen behind me scoffs, then says, "Rotten. All of 'em. They deserve the death penalty if you ask me."

I glance up at him, stare at his rough stubble and the carved scowl on his face, before saying, "I don't know. If you ask me, any one of us could've been in their position."

I see him shift his gaze from the screen to me from my peripheral.

"Huh? What are you talking about? You sympathizing with criminals?" He spits, vexed at my mere suggestion.

I stop scanning and glance up at him with a blank expression on my face.

"I think with enough persuasion we could all be made to do horrible things".

I didn't imagine much for my life, but it definitely was more than this. At 29, I scan items for a living at a corner store by my one bedroom apartment. I make enough to get by, enough to survive. 

I went to school to teach high school. Did the whole education thing. I was promised since very young that if I followed the rules, and worked hard I would be rewarded in the end. I would become an upstanding citizen and a productive member of society. I would live a fulfilling and decent life. Get a 9 to 5 that pays enough to get me by, and maybe even enough for me to go on vacation to Bora Bora once a year. I would find a decent man, settle down, and be married with kids of my own. I would be a good wife, and mother, and a fucking great human being.

But that didn't happen. None of it happened. So then...what was it all for?

1 week later I'm scanning items for yet another customer. She's chatty. Melinda, I think? She works as a hairstylist, she likes pink, and she's on her way to break up with her cheating boyfriend of 3 years.

"I mean can you believe him? Cheating on me?" She continues.

I drown out her voice and focus on the TV behind me.

"Our team was able to get an exclusive interview with Dorothy Black, who is currently preparing to go to trial and face the charges placed against her." The same TV hostess explains.

I listen intently as the interview begins.

"Dorothy, thank you for taking the time to come and sit with us today," an older male voice says.

"Not like I got much else going on," she responds, with what sounds like a smile on her face.

"Right. So how are you feeling about the trial coming up?" He starts.

She doesn't say anything. I picture her shrugging.

"Are you nervous? Scared?" He continues.

"Scared of what?"

"To be prosecuted, found guilty. Maybe even sentenced to death." He says.

A pause. A chuckle.

"Let me ask you something Mr..."

"Kevin. You can call me Kevin," the interviewer responds.

"Kevin, if you were put in a desperate position, would you kill?"

Another pause.

"I do not think I would, no." He replies confidently.

"I assume you have a family? Loved ones?" 

"If you are insinuating that I would kill for those I love, I would not. I have trust in the justice system."

She snickers.

"Yeah maybe for people like you, the justice system works. But for people like me, Kevin, we have no choice but to become the justice we seek."

"And what justice is that?" He asks.

"Freedom."

"Freedom to do what?"

"Human beings were born free, you know? And before the social contract was introduced, and the government was formed, we were truly free."

"So you seek anarchy?"

"I suppose you could call it that," she replies.

"Some would argue that a world with no rules would be a doomed one, rampaged by crime and violence. Systems keep us in place, keep those such as yourself in place." He defends.

"But did you ever ask yourself how these criminals came to be? No one is born evil, evil is bred."

"Let me guess, we should blame society?" He retorts with a condescending snicker.

"Who makes up society? People. Individuals." She says.

"So what you're saying is that because of me, you decided to kill. That you, Jack, and Tyler decided to kill?"

"Hellooo?" 

I was so engrossed in the conversation happening on the TV behind me that I had forgotten about Melinda.

"Sorry. Your total is 45 dollars and 61 cents." 

The moment she checks out and steps out of the store, I turn to face the screen again.

Dorothy is speaking.

"We must all bear the burden of these crimes. Society believes keeping us secluded in cells will abstain them of responsibility, of accountability. But you lie to yourselves. The fact that I am sitting here today is proof of that. You feed off of it."

Kevin is quiet for a few beats then, "Going back on topic. Why did you commit the crimes you did? Why did you kill those people, Dorothy?"

"Do you want me to say that they deserved it? Because they didn't. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time." She explains.

"So you kill innocents?" He taunts.

"Is anyone truly innocent?"

I can tell he's starting to loose his cool judging by the way he shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

"What do you say to the families of the deceased? Do you not feel any remorse?" He continues, attempting to recompose himself but failing miserably.

She pauses, then turn to face the camera.

That night, as I lay in bed, facing my peeling ceiling, I think back to her last words.

"I am sorry. Truly. Your loved ones were sacrificed for a greater purpose. For the new world we aim to create." She had said.

"We?" Kevin retorted dubiously.

"Do you truly think I am the only one who is fed up with the way things are going? This is not a state problem, or even a national problem, this a human problem. Us, the ones at the bottom, the ones society rejects and neglects. We are tired--exhausted of being left behind, exhausted of slaving away just to barely get by. This is not what we were promised, not how we deserve to live." She had continued passionately.

"Don't you think you sound a little pessimistic? We're in America, after all, the land of the free. The land of opportunity. Anyone who works hard enough can make it."

She had let out a mocking loud laugh then.

"You don't believe that. No one believes that. The truth is, money runs the world. Capitalism runs the world. And in this wicked, deprived time, only those at the top live freely. So yes, Kevin, I killed for money. And no, I do not regret it. If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else. They can lock us up, hang us to die, but there will be more of us. Soon, they will have to hear us. Soon, we will reclaim our freedom."

After she had said that, it went to commercial. Looking online, the clip had gone viral, being replayed and reposted over and over again. Some called her a delusional sociopathic criminal. Others, adored her, praised her, called her the leader of the "new world".

Me? I didn't think I would ever hear someone voice my very thoughts, feel how I feel, empathize with my pain.

The next morning, I started planning. Dorothy might be behind bars, and most likely will be sentenced to death, but her will will live on through me.

I will help her create this new world. A fair world where those at the bottom can finally get a slice of this pie they seem to dangle in our faces since we are old enough to walk. Those at the top must die. There will be war, and bloodshed. And in the end, those who survive will carve out the new world. This is the only way we will be free. The only way we will achieve true happiness and fulfillment.