“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
Moving through the dark streets so late at night was a risk, but Tabitha grew up on these streets. She knows them better than the backs of her hands. Tabitha was cautious, but not of the denizens who live in this part of the city. No, her neighbors were like her. Trying to survive day by day under the shadow of the Holy Church of Romanto. The church controls the entire North American continent, all of Mexico, half of Central America, Australia, all of Europe, and all North Africa.
The only nations that were free and still fighting the Holy Church of Romanto are the rest of Africa, the Middle East, Russia, the few remaining Pacific Islanders, and all of Asia. Basically, the church after sixty years of war controls half the world. The former United States of America, and Canada are now known as Romantia. The other countries were given names related to their god, but the rest of the world considers countries conquered by the church to be the Church Lands.
Tabitha moved from alley to street and alley again, making sure to stay in the shadows of buildings. All the while keeping an eye out for the churchmen who act as police for the slums, but they were worse than any normal police. They did not need just cause or even a warrant to arrest, beat, or even shoot someone. Tabitha thought about how things had changed from her parents’ time. The United States was conquered a year before Tabitha’s birth, defeated by the church with the use of science and arcane magic granted to them by their god.
“Yes, darling.”
Her mother told her once.
“Before the Church of Romanto came into existence, there was no magic in the world. With magic, the church was able to convert many to their side. In time, their numbers grew and with both modern-day devices and magic. They used it to conquer half the world, but before them, magic did not exist in the world.”
At the time, Tabitha was too young to understand what that meant. But now, older she understood that the Romantians as they call themselves had an enormous advantage over the rest of the world. They used their magic to convert, threaten, convince, bribe, and when all failed force was applied. They were able to take over half the world with their magic and zealotry, it was something the earth has not witnessed before.
Once the Romantians had defeated the military powers of a nation. They moved in and began to subjugate the populous with the laws and rigid rules of their religion. Those who did not convert willingly had a hard time functioning in the new society the Romantians built. Tabitha’s parents were a prime example, her father was once Congressman Mark Taylor Pearson. Her mother Professor Kathy Elaine Pearson who had tenure at the University of Colombia. When the Holy Church of Romanto took over the country. Both of Tabitha’s parents lost their positions and jobs. They were regulated to low paying jobs and a home not fit for human habitation. They refused to worship a god that would allow a church to cause World War III.
The church in the name of Romanto has committed atrocities not seen in centuries. Hundreds of millions have died, and hundreds of millions more will die as the church continues relentlessly to conquer the world. The so-called holy warriors of Romanto were given license to kill, rape, and pillage from non-believers or blasphemers. The world was different from her parents’ time, but Tabitha was born in this new harsh world where the church’s iron grip was everywhere.
Tabitha ducked behind a green dumpster that had seen better days. There were black trash bags and spilled garbage all around the dumpster. She only needed to cross one more street to reach her building. But a church patrol car was driving by with its spotlight searching the alleyway. Not for the first time, Tabitha thanked God for inheriting her mother’s raven black hair. If she was a blonde or worse a bleach blonde with shiny hair. The churchmen might have spotted her, and that would have been bad. Tonight, was a curfew, and the churchmen tend to be…aggressive towards those who were out on the streets during curfew. The churchmen were particularly brutal to women who they caught during curfew.
Tabitha had heard some stories, no doubt most of those were embellished but with a hint of truth to them. Tabitha had no intention of finding out, although her hair was as black as the night. Her skin was another matter. Both of her parents were light skin, and the combination of the two seems to have influenced Tabitha’s own skin complexion. Her skin was so white that some people thought Tabitha was an albino. Needless to say, this made it difficult to hide at night. That is why whenever she goes out during curfew. Tabitha made certain to always wear black clothes like right now. She had on a tight black T-shirt that covered her from chest to torso. A black leather jacket covered her shirt, and her black pants were tight but comfortable. She wore all black snickers with comfortable soles.
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If Tabitha needed to, she could run like an Olympic athlete. Her body was fit and strong, at just 17 and standing at five feet and five inches, Tabitha was on the cusp of womanhood. With her striking heterochromatic eyes, her right being amber and her left being gray. Tabitha’s face was a beautiful blend of strong cheekbones that speaks to her European ancestry, with a touch of Asian features. Her father once told her that their family was descended from Japan, that they could claim Samurai heritage.
Tabitha did not know for sure, but her father swore by it. In any case if things were different. Tabitha could have been a supermodel and a famous actress. Sadly, those opportunities have been annihilated by the church. Instead, today's television is all about propaganda and teaching lessons from the Holy Book of Romanto. It was all made to indoctrinate the masses into believing that the Church of Romanto cares for the people. The spotlight from the car went over the alleyway seeking anyone foolish enough to defy the church’s curfew. Tabitha stayed put, not moving and after a while. The church car moved on, she waited for a full two minutes before leaving her hiding place.
Making certain that the coast was clear, Tabitha moved quickly reaching her building in a matter of seconds. The building was a four-story red brick industrial factory that was shut down decades before. It might have been destroyed and a new building built in its place. But when the Romantian declared war on the whole world. Resources were sent to the military and domestic concerns were put on hold. In the end, it did not matter. Tabitha snorted as she entered the building through the rusted iron door. When she found this place, Tabitha made sure to put oil on the hinges as to not alert the whole neighborhood that someone was living here.
Taking the stairs to the top floor, Tabitha reached her door in a matter of minutes. Removing the cover of a panel to one side to what was camouflaged as a fire alarm pull lever. She typed in the code on the keypad and the old looking wooden door which was actually a steel door in disguise slid to one side with a hiss. Tabitha hit the light switch and the overhead lights and lamps illuminated what was, in fact, a huge storage area. But instead of rows upon rows of boxes. There was a bed on one side, a large desk with computers and monitors. There was a steel cage where she does her work with tools and equipment on the left side of the storage room. Not too far away was the washroom where she showers and do other stuff. But at the center is Tabitha’s pride and joy, her 2019 blue and red Yamaha dirt bike a classic. The storage room had windows, but Tabitha made sure to cover them. She did not want anyone to know she was living here.
She found it in a junkyard, it was difficult to get the bike here without anyone spotting her. Somehow, she managed it. It took her a year to find, trade, and buy the parts for it. Now, it runs better than new. Tabitha took off her jacket and hung it on the hook in the wall. Placing a hand on her bike she headed for the cage, it was time to get to work. Reaching into her back pocket, Tabitha took out the small electrical welder that she risked curfew to get. She needed it if she was going to finish repairing the two iPads and smartphones. Tabitha had a small online business where she sells everyday devices.
E-readers, iPads, smartphones, toasters, mini laptops, portable stoves, and so on and so forth. She usually finds broken or thrown away things that other people would pay good money for. Tabitha would fix or repair them, post them online for reasonable prices, and make some good money out of it. The church hand a stranglehold on 99% of consumer products in the country. To make matters worse, if you could prove that you were a member of the Holy Church of Romanto. You can buy food and other products for less. But if you are not a member of the church. Then, you would have to pay an exorbitant amount of money just to get basic living essentials.
Many who live below the poverty line could not afford a lot of essential products. Tabitha scowled at the hypocrisy of the church. For all their talk about helping the poor no matter what faith they worship. The damn Romantians have no problem bleeding people dry who are not a part of their religion. Tabitha did not like it, but she did not have the power to change it. People like Tabitha who sell their products online for a fraction of the cost were a lifeline to the downtrodden and those who were barely holding on by a thread. To many people. Tabitha and others like her are heroes. They give them hope for a better future, as she sat at her workbench and got to work repairing the iPad.
Tabitha wished she could have seen the country that her parents were born in. Sure, they told her stories of what the United States use to be. It was not perfect, but at least people had the right to choose their own path. To believe what they wanted to believe, to be what they wanted to be, and to say what they believe whether it was wrong or right. Yes, the country had had problems. But it was their problems to fix, and most importantly, the people had their freedom. Now, the country has been renamed and ruled by a tyrannical religion. A religion that told people what to believe in, how to live, what to say and do, and to obey or be punished. The people of the former United States of America lived in chains. Tabitha did not know what to do. Of course, there are resistant cells all over the country. People were still fighting the church’s iron rule, but many believe it to be a futile fight. The Holy Church of Romanto was just too powerful.