Reaffirming Aspirations

"Squeak"

Water starts spraying out of the shower head as drops of water roll around on the tub, the water makes a brown noise that is soothing Ed as he washes blood and grime off of himself. Thinking about where it came from almost made Ed puked as he kept scrubbing his skin till it was raw.

After cleaning up Ed grabbed his phone out of his pockets and went to look stuff up. He first typed into the search bar 'Denet' and multiple different companies, people, and things showed up. It didn't take long after examining the webpage to see the ugly picture of a man named Harris Denet. He had the same fake looking hair cut with round cheeks and a double chin, all with his dumb arrogance still present even via a photo.

Looking at the information at the site Ed read something that made the entire situation that took place make sense. He read the words 'Harris Denet Cress Capital City Attorney General'.

Since Ed had lived to 21 years old he had assumed he felt every type of emotion the human brain had to offer, but today he found out just how much more it could feel. The anger felt similar but stronger, it was the frustration that he never had truly felt before. The inability to actually do anything about it then and now is crushing him mentally.

Steam filled the bathroom as Ed comfortably opened up a video site called UrVideos.com. It was the most popular site used by the people in the world but due to government restrictions you can mainly only talk to people in your country. This applies to everything online as Mavice, the country that Ed and Cress city reside in, doesn't have good relations with the other countries. To be fair no country really does.

Ed looked up the keywords 'Denet' and 'attorney general' to find many videos about him. Watching through the videos for a time Ed got the general gist of the man. He was a corrupt monster who has gotten away with way too much. Not only that he gets many videos taken down every day criticizing him.

Ed over the few days became kind of a recluse as he fell down a conspiracy rabbit hole. Watching many videos and subscribing to many different websites and people made Ed feel lost.

He was so sure of what he wanted, yet now he was doubting himself completely. He saw death and proceeded to watch the man responsible have his boots licked for it. Seeing more and more of the same thing of what Ed experienced but online being actively censored by whoever's in charge lifted a veil over Ed's eyes he didn't even know was their. It showed him the systemic cruelty and horror of life that was hidden to Ed. He had opportunities granted by the government of Cress due to his unfortunate circumstances, but those same people let horrible atrocities like this go on everyday.

While taking a lunch break Ed looked at his bedside table. The two toy soldiers sat there seemingly in the same place as before, but that's before Ed looked at the one with a half a head. inspecting the deformed soldiers head he couldn't help but to remember that girl. The same uncontrollable anger seeped through making Ed want to yell, until he noticed where the toy soldier was. It was on the opposite end of where he drew with a marker, the other one was slightly off due to the vibrations Ed made, but the half-headed one looked like it was moved by someone.

A spark could be seen coming back to life in Ed's eyes. His heart started to pound like a drum as his brain was hit with a rush of dopamine. If Ed wasn't able to handle every aspect of horror then he will just risk his life till he could, and if he dies trying then, oh well. This problem can be solved through determination, which Ed has plenty of, especially now.

Although Ed wanted so badly to do something about that tragedy, it was something he was forced to put on the back burner for now. He had no power, sway, connections, or even a job, he could be judged pretty harshly by society, but considering his circumstances and the current economic climate he was doing better than most others.

While researching it occured to Ed that he never did an in depth analysis of the paranormal or unknown online like he did Denet.

He quickly took his phone out and went to work. He found multiple horror movies and shows but he wanted real life ghosts and monsters, not fiction. Ed quickly found fake videos, corporate tv shows that are also fake, well crafted stories on UrVideos which of course are fake, all until he found some communities of people and individual videos with merit.

The videos were good and most were taken at abandoned or creepy places, but it was the communities of people that were talking all about the paranormal that really interested Ed.

Before He could really get invested a knock could be heard from his door and a familiar friendly voice said. "Hey man where youve been, you haven't been answering my texts."

Opening up the door for Mills Ed apologized and gave a poor excuse before asking him in a serious tone. "Mills, would you die fighting for the truth, or would you live a complacent life ignorant to the cruelty of the world around you for the chance to be safe."

Mills sensing Ed's serious demeanor stopped what he was doing and contemplated his answer. With a dead serious answer and a stoic voice Mills only said. "Guess I'll be dead with you then."