A small crowd of protestors formed in a midwestern town in the U.S. They were taking a chance of being arrested by the roaming police of the U.S. government.
“Aaron, I’m terrified that we’re actually doing this,” Mandy said.
Aaron replied, “We have to be brave or we will never get our freedom back.”
The crowd was protesting the discontinued social programs, particularly those that provided them food and medical attention. The President had all social programs abolished in 2017. Since then, the disabled and the elderly people in their community had suffered and many had died.
Now it was 2019. There were few jobs. People tried to farm, but the change in the climate made it almost impossible. Aaron had organized this small protest.
A young girl was carrying a sign that said, “Love.”
They heard the police before they saw them marching in. They stood their ground. The police began the carnage by knocking the sign out of the young girl’s hands.
162 words
Photo credit to Elaine Farrington Johnson
The Write Scribe 
I know probably didn’t intend on your story being interpreted this way, but this is part of what I was trying to explain to Iain in the comments section of my own blog. Particularly in rural America, there’s an underlying sense that the government could work against the citizens for whatever reasons, resulting in formal government violence, such as the use of the National Guard, against peaceful protesters (and it wouldn’t be the first time). The idea is without the means to defend themselves, they would simply play the role of cannon fodder.
If your tale really were playing out in a small, rural Midwestern town (I was born in Nebraska and still have many relatives there), I can assure you that not all of the inhabitants would take that action without response.
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James, oh yes, it could be interpreted in a number of ways. Most of the American people would not take such government action lying down. They would fight back. I just didn’t have the word count to finish the story. Thank you for the interpretation!
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A great, unique take on the prompt, Rosemary.
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Thank you
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A chilling glimpse into the near future.
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A chilling tale indeed Rosemary. Given what happened closer to home (for you) your news networks probably didn’t feature the protests and police action which accompanied a referendum in Catalonia on Sunday to gauge views on the question of that region separating itself from Spain. Things got ugly, although thankfully not to the point of carnage. Your story would resonate with the locals.
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I did, indeed, read about the referendum in Catalonia and had followed that story before. Our news networks are giving it a bit of coverage as Spain is important to the U.S. I’ll keep following!
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This is chilling Rosemary. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this. Great story!
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Thank you!
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This was very difficult to read, Rosemary. But the events that take place could indeed happen. Loved the subtle nod to the ‘climate change’ as well.
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