“We are fighting to maintain peace! Think wisely, my dear countrymen, think wisely. Do you wish to give your country away to people who have previously had transactions with the terrorists? The terrorists who vowed to kill you. The terrorists who wanted your land.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, SA was no ordinary Army General. He was scandalous, his whole existence I’m sure is scandalous!”
I was in deep sleep when I heard a glass break. I opened an eye to look at my dad’s reddened face. He was yelling at my mom who was listening calmly, she seemed to be more worried about the broken glass than about my dad’s banter. It took me a while to realise that my dad was yelling to my mom instead of yelling at her.
‘This is outrageous!’ he yelled. ‘How could they say something like this?!’
‘What’s outrageous?’ I sat up to have a better view of my dad, and when I did, I noticed the broken glass and right next to it was a news paper soaked in coffee which read “The SA scandal” in big bold letters.
‘What’s the matter dad?’ I asked, now knowing the source of the problem.
‘PA has told such lies about General Siripala Amarapala! How could they?! He won the war for us! He could have easily spent another two years doing nothing, but he stepped down refusing all the promised wealth. He is now running for president only to give our country the change it really needs!’My dad has always been a ANP (Active National Party), fanatic, a party which is now represented by Former General Siripala Amarapala for the presidential elections.
‘Nah, this whole issue… I don’t think it will have any impact on peoples’ minds, and anyways SA can rebut the statement in today’s campaign’.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought at first, but you see son, if the GA do manage to convince the people, then I don’t think SA will be able to change anything.’
‘Hmm... .’
“‘Good morning, you are with Sirasa TV News 1st. We have just received another election result.’
‘In the Ampara district, President Eshan Hettiaracci has secured a majority of eighty five percent of the votes while Former General Siripala Amamrapala has secured just fifteen percent of the votes.’
‘Stay tuned for more election updates, this is News 1st, Pollanca TV.’”
‘Hello?’
‘Hey mom, how’s dad?’
‘Oh, so you heard the news… Well, he’s taking it better than I expected.’
‘Cool, I’ll be home around at four ok? I’m off…’
‘Wait!’
‘Huh?’
‘What exactly do you know about the results so far?’
‘I know that Siripala has lost… and… I think that’s about it.’
‘Hmm.. ok, there is more to it. I’ll tell you the rest later ok? Be safe!’
Click!
What else could possibly go wrong? GA (General Alliance), wins the elections and continues to ruin the country. That’s what was predicted, but considering the amount of inaccurate predictions given so far, I don’t think I should be relying on them anymore.
I was in an overly packed bus, passengers were nearly spilling out of the foot board while the bus conductor squeezed through the narrow gaps between people issuing tickets and yelling the names of all the stops at the top of his voice. The radio was turned on. It played a soft, slow voice singing to a relatively loud backing track; a weird combination even for native music.
The music stopped abruptly and was replaced by a rhythmic, monotonous voice.
“Good evening, this is 24.9,Gamey FM. We’ve just had breaking news. Former General Siripala Amarapala is currently surrounded by armed troops at the Inter Continental Hotel. I repeat…”
It was my stop to get off. While walking home I pondered on the events so far. At first it had seemed very simple; the current president, Eshan Hettiaracci will win the elections because he was the only politician able to take the credit for ending a twenty-five year long war. Then tides changed as the Army General announced his resignation and his entry into politics. His popularity began to soar and was eventually predicted to become the next president. However, President Hettiaracci managed to win another term as president using blatant rigging. The votes were counted by the army and all troops were brain-washed in order to erase any form of loyalty towards the former general. The election commissioner was under house arrest and his verdict on the election wasn’t aired live for the first time in history.
Just as I was about to reach the door, my happy-go-lucky brother materialised besides me.
‘Hello my beautiful little… whatever,’ he yelled in my ear.
I screamed. ‘Don’t you ever do that again!’
‘Mom’s not at home.’
‘Really?’ She hadn’t told me.
‘Yeah, didn’t you get the text?’
Just then my iphone bleeped.
‘That must be the text’, I said as I tapped the screen in order to get the light on. As the light came on, a message was made visible. “You no longer have Internet Connections” it read.
‘Hey! I got that message too’, my brother sounded relieved. He probably thought that it was a problem with the signals, but I knew better.
The events that that have occurred so far seems to me like a big, entangled ball of thread. It looks strong from the outside, but as you remove the outer layer you see a complicated mess acting as the core to strengthen the outside.
I stepped inside the house only to let out a deafening scream! There lying on the floor was my dad. He was beneath a shattered chandelier, his blood soaking the carpet. He had a thick noose around his neck which was connected to the chandelier. No! How could he do this to himself!?
