October 20th, 1996
Bøjkän County, Кrkskəї province.
Rybárei Group Steel Mill
A few miles outside the city of Nové Rožəv
6:21 PM


Vermilion and goldenrod leaves floated down softly from the nearby oak as it was nearly stripped of all it’s corver, leaving the skeletal form behind. The bark was gnarled and rough, as the last bit of life fled from it with the leaves. The bitter wind that carried them down to the cold ceramic tile of the platform caused my spine to quiver as I stood there in the midst of my co-workers. They all had their hands hidden deep within in their pockets, and their noses covered by their scarves to shield themselves from the fierce chill in the air. The train would be here shortly, we all knew, but it seemed too long for anyone in this biting autumn wind. Several weary eyes peered down the rails, silently awaiting the head-end of their ride home to come roaring down those beams of steel. Black exhaust still rose from the mill’s ashy high towers, blanketing the world around it in soot and grime. How I hated that large filthy building that I had spent so much of the past year in, coated in a muddy stain as it belched that cloud of fire and smog like the great serpents of those old fairytales my father use to tell me.

A cough is sounded and I turn my attention back to my co-workers who were still patiently watching for the train, hands in pockets. No one said a word to another, and I was beginning to suspect that my colleagues could all feel just how fatigued we were having just left the mill. All they can think about is getting home and winding down for the weekend, probably with a bottle of gin and a night sprawled out in front of the television. Yes, they will go to their houses and their apartment buildings and drown out their misery with the lies that our society tells them. ‘You may work hard enough and get out of the poverty that surrounds you, one day’ they say. All lies. These people will work themselves to death at age 60 and still be stuck in this city. There are forms and regulations that you have to pay for in the process, a tax for moving from residency, a bureaucratic bar on every window of escape, and we just aren’t paid enough for all that. These poor workers will kill themselves chasing a dream that is held just out of their reach, and I’m stuck in the same place with them. Bøjkä use to be it’s own country once, Uncle tells me, ‘a place for the Bøjkän people to rule themselves’ . As I look into the strained faces of my countrymen I can’t but think of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I hear over the news stations, because this can’t the unity and Commonwealth they speak of at the capitol. There has to be change.

I almost didn’t notice the train approaching, staring off into space as I mulled over this, but the movement of the herd caught my eye. The train was coming up the tracks to the platform, and the workers crowded on the edge of the terrace, anticipating it’s arrival as it slowed to a stop. After a short pause, the doors swung open as the horde shuffled hurriedly aboard the shuttle. I didn’t care as much as they did about what seating I got, though the slight daze from waking from my daydreaming might have had something to do with my slowed reaction. As I merged into the back of the mass, I found myself pressed up against the back of someone I knew from the B-Wing of the factory, Jakub. I’ve always thought that the man looked like a cartoon, as he is very lanky and stretched out with his long hooked nose and curved smile. Jakub turned his head to acknowledge me and flash his aforementioned grin. Jakub means well, I’m sure, but his incessant friendliness gets on my nerves quite often when we’re working the steel presses. He spoke to me in the midst of the mob, not looking directly at me as he’d have to turn around and block the foot-traffic otherwise, he still managed to start his prattle regardless.

“Ey, Jän! You must excited to leave work, yeh?” He whistled through his teeth, “A young man like you must be going out on the town with his buddies, to stir up trouble and such!” after that remark he breathed a raspy chuckle and sighed, “I remember being a youth once.”

“I’m nineteen.” I was in no mood for Jakub and his humor, and far more serious things were to be considered right now than drinks at the local cornerclub. If only he knew what was at stake, then he’d stay out of my business.

“Really? You look at least seventeen, Look at that boyish smile!” Jakub replied with yet another ghastly snicker, though he had to clear his throat for this one. “Ugh. Damn weather, eh? I told the administrator I had a bad cold, but he would have none of it. Figures, right?” he shrugged, as he sat down on the only empty seat in the row, “Anyway, certainly you have something planned for this weekend, yes?” the man pestered as he wiped snot from his dripping nostrils.

“Yeah, sure. I’m going to blow up a nuclear power-plant”.

Jakub looked up at me with uneasy eyes from his seat, the wrinkles and folds of his face becoming more apparent with his growing anxious expression. Gradually he broke out into a series of nervous laughter, “And here I thought you were the humorless one. Some joke you have there, Jän.” he spoke uneasily, shuffling in his seat. At least now he was quiet. I needed to be fully focused tonight, and his drivel wasn’t going to help.

The long ride on the crowded train into town was an uneventful one, thankfully unplagued by the old man’s chatter. This day’s last few beams of sunlight were shining through the windows of train, as the sun retreated behind the mountain leaving the sky grey. As the night was nearing I grew more and more eager, I knew what this night meant for justice and equality. It meant a new day in which our voices were heard, at long last. My grip on the train’s aisle-handle tightened in exhilaration as I grew restless to put the long nights of planning to use. This would be the day . Finally, the scenery out the window changed from the cold dead grass and rust red taiga forest to the towering ash-colored industrial architecture and dreary sodium-vapor lamp-lights of the streets. We have arrived in the city of Nové Rožəv.