The Second American Revolution

Ear splitting sirens shrieked through the night. My little girl, frightened, shot up out of our bed of pallets. Bright lights flashed in unpredictable series, blinding when they exploded and again after they vanished, swallowed by the ever present dark. Every night was chaos. Soldiers moved during the day. No one knew what was happening anywhere. Ever since the power was turned off in our area, it was hard to get any news at all. Last we heard Russia and China had come to some agreement to watch us burn. I think between the two of them, they armed both sides of the war. The tyrants had more money but we had more people, Most of what I knew came from direct experience: racist groups were using the cover of revolution to murder, martial law blanketed the whole of the United States, food was scarce; death was common.

She looked at me, her hands covering her ears, and pleaded, "Daddy, make it stop. Make it stop!"

I pulled her close and wrapped the blanket around both of us. I wasn't sure if it would ever stop.