A Matter of Perspective

Freddie
This wasn’t a decision we made lightly. We knew what had been asked of us by our Elders and we knew better than to disappoint them. We spoke in hushed tones, grimaces replacing smiles.
Lana, Mabel and I all had to go our separate ways and judge the situation objectively. If we didn’t like what we saw then we had to make a stand.
I had already made my decision before our final meeting but the Elders insisted on reflection. There was so much tragedy in the world already, so much hunger and poverty, thievery and murder; and society lived the same days over and over again, never changing, never questioning the possibility of another existence.
So with a heavy heart I made my way to the plinth, the horizon a swathe of honeyed apricot and climbed the steps to the top.

Lana
I knew Freddie had already made up his mind before he left. His face was a mask of grim resignation. It seemed society really couldn’t help itself or learn from their routine mistakes. I hate to admit it but Freddie was right. History was set to repeat itself. I stayed out until the early hours of the morning watching the drunks and the whores stumble out of darkened alleyways, the women sporting bruises of every imaginable colour, the men wiping vomit from their filthy mouths.
One woman was knocked to her knees, her hair an ebony tangle, screaming something inaudible to the invisible Elders who watched with sorrow in their eyes.
Disgusted, I turned away and tried to erase the image from my memory.

A Matter of Perspective

Mabel
I have no idea what to do. I’m so torn right now, torn and confused and terrified; terrified that if I make the wrong decision, I’ll be cast out forever. I’m pretty sure Freddie will be there; standing tall on his plinth waiting for the rest of us to show but Lana was oddly quiet throughout our meeting. I don’t think she met my eyes once.
If only I knew what she was thinking.

Freddie
It’s getting close to the time now and I’m still the only one here. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps Lana didn’t feel the same way I did and believes that society can get better without the remake. We’ve already done it twice before and twice she went away a tear-stained wreck. Perhaps she just simply can’t cope anymore.
Only time will tell.

Lana
I don’t believe it. Mabel’s arrived. Mabel who’s still a girl and much too young for this; the girl I swore to protect from life’s obscenities. But here she is walking slightly ahead of me with straight-backed conviction. This girl means business.
And so do I.

Freddie
I don’t believe it. They’re here. Both of them. Lana and Mabel – nearly two decades between them and they’ve made the same decision. The right decision.
The decision to remake the world.