The Queue (Short Story)
Here's another short story, which I've been writing to breathe some life into the world I've been creating; through the perspectives of stand-alone stories and characters. Writing these short stories has really helped to shine a light on aspects of my world, that don't show up in the mainline story. Who knows though, some of these characters could come into the story someday.
I've been treating these as a kind of anthology collection set in the world, and I find each one to be a great exercise, in writing in multiple voices and isolated situations that help to build a larger foundation to work from.
I think for anyone who has a world they're creating; it would be a great idea to do these stand-alone short stories set in it. You'd be surprised at the situations and ideas you can create when working from fresh perspectives, without the confinement of a continuous story.
Derrik Ryant was standing in the queue, which seemed to be taking all day to move. The bank was slow today; with today being the most common day for people to get their wages. When he joined the line of others, all looking to withdraw, deposit, and move their money around, it was out the door. Now, he was inside, not that it seemed to make much of a difference. He let out a sigh and just stared up at the ceiling of the building, he then started to count tiles. Two, four, eight, Sixteen. Counting the ones against the wall all the way to forty-six, then he counted the row in the opposite direction starting back from the first tile. He counted all the way over to thirty-two. Multiply them, what's forty-six, times thirty-two? He thought to himself, seeing the numbers in his mind's eye. Well, that would work out at, fourteen-hundred and seventy-two. Big enough place.
His mathematical ponderings didn't help the line move any quicker, in the time of his counting he had walked forward two paces. He started to look at the posters dotted around the room, all of them were banking statements. "Don't lose your pin." "If you believe you've been skimmed connect with our all-hours line." and his favourite. "Save today, for a happy tomorrow." A happy tomorrow. The smiling faces and the holo-projections dotted around the room portrayed an idea that one day, we would all be happy, and rich, living it up on a resort. But, he knew that wasn't the case.
Save how much? Fifty tokens a week, for the next ten years. I would have a grand total of twenty-six thousand. Great, but by then the tokens could be worth less than what they are now, hell, even now twenty-six thousand would be a new speeder and a few good nights out. I could double that if I could afford to save one hundred a week. He rolled his eyes, knowing that it would be hard enough to save just fifty from his wages each week. The house, bills, subscriptions, food, "luxuries." That word brought back that knot in his stomach and almost made him wretch. The idea of luxuries was a concept kicked down from on high. As if buying clothes, maintaining a speeder, or having one or two nights of enjoyment a month could be considered a luxury. Yeah, I'm living such a luxurious lifestyle, my new boots don't have holes in them and the leather hasn't burst in places. Wow, aren't I lucky? It sickened him to see the lifestyle lived by the people who cast judgement and ideas down on people like him. "Don't spend so much on luxuries, know what you can afford to comfortably spend." *Yeah, in other words. "Know your place." I know my place alright. Right here, now, waiting in line with all the rest, waiting for my turn to have a greeting and a smile, while they check my meagre account and give me that sympathetic glance. He wanted a mist-stick. But, even they were a luxury he couldn't afford anymore. The cravings would come and pass so rapidly and sometimes he would forget that he ever had an addiction to those beautiful little things.
There was some movement ahead, he saw a man, well dressed and with a smile on his face, that kind of sick smile that said. "Please don't hit me, not when I'm this happy." Sicko. He was shadowed by a cute little Doshan, no doubt in times of stress he would whip it out and she would relieve the pressure, whispering how it was all for her promotion. Jex, what a place; full of sick people who loved to flaunt it to all of the well ones. I'm a well one. He thought, almost ready to ask the question, rather than state the obvious. Derrik thought he was well, for his whole life he was a well one. Kept his head down, went to school, got an education, and went about it all the right way, now what? A dead-end job and a lonely house. He had no excuse for not settling down, not having kids. Oh, unless you count the savings, yeah, I was ready for my future. I had time, but now, I'm standing in line all day at the wrong side of forty, with nothing but a sick feeling in my stomach.
He watched the two people pass and behind him, through the door a man, a woman, and a couple of kids walked in. They said nothing and instantly the smiling bank man walked him and the family past the line, speaking happily and saying things that would never be said to Derrik. "It's so good to see you." "Thank you so much for choosing our institute." Ughh He knew that the most he could hope for was, "Have a nice day." The people walked past the queue and it felt like out of the whole line, Derrik was the only one watching what was going on. He wanted to call it out. "Hey, we were here first." or say something like, "Does no one else think this is wrong?" But, he didn't say anything, instead, he just watched the tide of people roll through the door and promptly shut it behind them. Most likely to discuss some of those "Luxuries," or maybe to talk about some bonuses they could hope for.
Two more paces, in the whole time he had been thinking, he kept looking up to see what was happening. He could hear talking and could swear that they were just chatting, he was ready to call out and tell them to hurry up, but he didn't want to make a scene or have a public meltdown. Instead, he chose to stare, wondering if they might be able to read his mind, or his face. They didn't even notice the effort he was putting in, so Derrik just decided to give up on that approach, stand silently and just count tiles again, or read the holo-projections and posters he must have read a thousand times already.
Finally, he was one place away, the Arok woman in front of him briskly stepped to the desk and the woman behind the glass was smiling. "Hello, welcome, guess what?" She said with a smile from ear to ear. "What?" The Arok woman asked as the green bulges on the back of her head pulsated. "You are our one-millionth customer and as a bonus, we are depositing five-hundred tokens to your account!" The Arok woman let out a scream, and with that, the entire queue let out cheers of congratulations. All except Derrik, who was gritting his teeth at the noise. I never get picked for anything! He shouted in his own mind, the thoughts were loud enough to block out the noise. "We should all get a bonus for waiting so long!" He shouted, just as the cheers died down. His shout was loud considering the lack of noise and an awkward silence followed. The woman behind the glass glared at him, before turning with a smile back to the Arok woman. Derrik could hear a few coughs in the crowd and quickly turned to start reading the posters again, while they conducted their business. Soon, she was gone, happily walking past the line to the door.
Derrik stepped forward to the desk and the woman just looked at him with a slight smile. "One moment please." She said before turning away and typing some stuff out. He noticed a gasp behind him but paid it no mind. Then, he noticed the brightness dim and he could hear the shutters being pulled. Derrik turned to see what was happening and could see that there were two Rotchi pulling the blinds and one at the door shutting it, while this was happening another was walking the length of the queue with a weapon drawn. "Everyone, on the ground!" It shouted, as its mandibles chittered.
Derrik followed the others and ducked down, giving his place to the Rotchi in charge of their operation. Not Rotchi! Is all he could think to himself while complying. He had watched a holo-vid before, which discussed these crime syndicates which operate out of New Trisk. After the war, Rotchnok was taken over by the Triskens, and they remained on the planet. Some of these Triskens were in charge of legions of Rotchi foot soldiers who operate all over the galaxy, commanded from New Trisk. The Peacekeepers released a statement saying that they would kill them on site, as it wasn't worth detaining them, on account of their short life span. They were ruthless and would do anything they were asked and had unquestionable loyalty to their masters.
"Tokens! Now! We want this to be over with as soon as possible; so you can go on with your day." "Sir, please, we don't hold that much money in our institute." The woman behind the glass said, pleading with the gun-wielding Rotchi. Who just chittered in response. "No, but, you hold some, I want it all." The woman started to type. "Okay, okay!" As she worked on it, the Rotchi let off a shot. "Hurry!" He shouted, chittering as he did. Clearly panicked the woman continued to type. "There, that's everything available." The Rotchi started to laugh. "Good. Now, you can help us with one more thing. We saw Governor Vilchis Decote entering this building recently and he hasn't left yet." The woman started to cry but the Rotchi shot once more. "Get him!"
Derrik stared at them as this was going on, and he quickly looked at the ground as the Rotchi turned toward him. The other Rotchi paced back and forth laughing to each other, and chittering as they did. A door opened and the man from before walked out. "Please, don't hurt us, there are children here." The Rotchi walked to him. "Governor Vilchis! Come out now." Soon, the Governor stepped out behind the bank man. "Wha... Wha... Please." The man mumbled. "I want you to drain your account as payment for letting you and your family live. We don't have all day so hurry up and transfer the funds, now!" The Rotchi shouted in his face while aiming his pistol at the Governor. "I can't do that. It's not that simple." The Governor tried to reason with the Rotchi and got a whip with the weapon as a result. "Execute someone!" Another of the Rotchi shouted, before running to one of the people in the queue. Don't pick me. Don't pick me. Was all Derrik could think.
The Rotchi grabbed a random woman, who started to kick and scream, pleading while being dragged to the centre of the room. "This one." The Rotchi shouted and the one who seemed to be in charge of the operation just stared at her and back to the Governor. "Well, Governor? What do you think?" The Governor shook his head, lost for words. "Please, just give him the money!" The woman screamed through tears. The Governor just stared and still couldn't speak. The Rotchi who dragged her over lowered his pistol to the back of her head. "Look up at the Governor and ask him again." The Rotchi said quietly. She obliged. "Please..." She said, but before she could continue to speak, the Rotchi fired. Her head exploded, as blood and chunks of skull covered the floor. The Governor jumped and started to cry. "Get another." The Rotchi commanded and the one from before walked, eyeing up the crowd. Derrik was lost, he couldn't look away as the Rotchi got to him and stared down. The next thing Derrik knew, his collar was grabbed and he was being dragged to the centre of the room. The floor was slick with blood, and he could feel the warm wet liquid seep into his trousers, he hoped that it was the blood on the floor; but he knew it was that, mixed with his own piss.
"Please... Governor, just give them what they want. I don't want to die." Derrik begged. The governor could only stare at him through tears. "I.. I.." He said. Derrik just looked down and stared at the red stain he was kneeling in.
Feeling the pistol against the back of his head, he could only cry. "Okay." The governor said. There was hope yet, Derrik could almost laugh. "Good, you have made the right decision Governor." The Rotchi in charge said. Derrik looked up and then the Rotchi just turned to look down at him, chittering as they did.
"Kill him anyway, just to make sure the Governor doesn't try anything smart." The Rotchi in charge said as he looked to the one behind Derrik.
His blood ran cold and the last thing he heard was a blast.