It was just another day in the year 2043. I got up at the sound of my blaring alarm, commanded my shower to turn on to my perfect temperature of 104 degree Fahrenheit, and allowed the steam to fill the tiled room until every mirror and smooth surface had a fine layer of mist. I stood there surrounded by water, letting everything melt away. My beauty products from yesterday, that stubborn layer of dead skin, the knots in my back, the soreness in my muscles, my emotions, my response-
RRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGG
My cell phone blared and echoed through the walls. A monotone female voice announced, “Call from Life Supporters of the Great state of Florida.”
I sighed before announcing, “Siri, do not answer. Please send call to voicemail.”
“Okay,” replied Siri in her deadpan voice.
I decided to finish my morning shower before worrying about the missed call. Probably just the call that reminds me to visit Dad this week, I thought.
In the United States, our healthcare system faced a major overhaul in 2032. This took place after the Southeast states finally surrendered in the second Civil War. The war broke out in 2024 after the presidential election led to another Republican loss. When the electoral college votes were counted, it was discovered that Donald Trump had lost his bid at the office again.
His entire campaign was slander and propaganda aimed towards the uneducated, the conservative nature, and the white supremacists. When it was announced the Joe Biden had won the election once again, a shot had rung out at his acceptance speech. In the same second, there was blood. A wounded leader. Screams of terror…. And cheers of euphoria.
Trump’s loss had been the final straw that brought out the most dangerous people of America and their overzealous use of weapons and armor. That act had liberated them from the social contract of order. Neighbors turned on each other. A war had begun in that single action.
States seceded from the United States in order to leave the “corrupt liberal nation.” Overnight, the whole country was at war. Anyone suspected of being a liberal in red states were being lynched in public squares. As for reds in blue states, they were being held captive in a variety of prisons. However, many were killed due to the ignorance and stubborn nature of the reds. When they were captured, they would cry out for Jesus and Donald Trump before committing suicide.
The war had raged for 5 years before the Southeast [the head of the Red Rebellion] finally surrendered. While the country came back together as the United States, there was still a lot of tension, and reintegrating the society was going to take time and effort from both parties.
In an effort to ease these tensions, a singular political party was created called the Purple Heart Party. Their mission was to bring together the two parties that had split the nation and to create a place for conversation, compromise, and healing.
This is the party that is still leading the United States with very few political parties emerging to compete.
In 2032, the United States had elected its first female president from the Purple Heart party - Dr. Elizabeth Carson. She was a deep-rooted American with ties to the country dating back to Jamestown. She and her family had lived through every nasty pothole in United States history, and she appealed to both the older generation [Gen X] as well as the young Gen Alpha that had revolutionized ideals in the country.
President Carson had implemented a test program for Universal Healthcare in America by passing a policy that would pay for any and all medical expenses from soldiers and veterans from the recent Civil War. To access this program, one simply had to show their military ID, whether it was a U.S. ID or a R.R. ID.
Due to the war, the American dollar was worth very little, so paying for these expenses were now based on merit and regrowing the economy.
This healthcare system has flourished and provided the United States with a way to rejuvenate their former economy and citizen programs to be beneficial for all.
One of these programs was called the Life Supporters program. During the war, a lot of AI bots were programmed to maintain a home and do various jobs necessary to keep society functioning, even if it was like a car missing three wheels. The healthcare bill funded jobs and programs that shifted the use of this AI to become full-time nurses to the people with long-term illnesses or in hospice care. This was to help alleviate the burden from all of the families faced with various forms of death.
This program and the success it brought was connected to the federally mandated and monitored banking system. Instead of the taxpayers filing their own taxes, all money was to pass through the federal bank accounts to be properly taxed before it could be redistributed to personal accounts. This is also how funding for many of the newly founded government programs was obtained - with various dying protests.
My father made the choice to transfer all of his assets into my name in an effort to lessen the government’s reach into his life, and now that he is in the Life Supporters program, it has turned into a positive thing. My account pays for his care, and he gets the care he needs.
He had preached to me that he had beaten this system, but sadly it has reached the point where the system may have beaten him.
The automated care had given me at least 10 more years with him, but his quality of life has been declining greatly, and he is at the point to where either it is inefficient to keep him alive in this new system… or he has requested it to end.
My heart sank. I hit the notification on my voicemail and held my breath. “Good morning, Mrs. Hudgins. We are calling to inform you that your father has asked to discuss his options with you as soon as possible. Our systems have noticed that his need for oxygen at 80% will soon be increased to the full 100% and we must evaluate his ability and need to remain in our care. We expect to see you soon. Sincerely, Charity”
So… it is time. Time to experience death in the new world order.
Before the war, death was common and unexpected… but accepted. Many welcomed death like an old friend while others may have had to meet death unexpectedly.
My childhood had only known death as a surprise. From my first pet… to my Papa… to my Mimi… to my MaMaw and Papaw… to my miscarriage. All of that was death that had to come on his own time. There was no rush.
The war had made death a force that needed to be managed… regulated… something to prepare… to chose. Today is that day my father has requested his death… and the AI cannot find a reason that his request should be dismissed anymore.
I dried myself off and got dressed in a blouse and jeans. I threw on my glasses and grabbed my car keys to race over to the Life Supporters center. It was this tall building full of rooms and beds and automated androids whose sole purpose was to support the dying and elderly. My mom was in a similar facility in Mississippi with my stepdad, but she has many more years left if she chooses. In these facilities, everything is clean and smells constantly like concentrated Lysol and bleach. You could hear the shuffling of the residents that can still walk, the beeps of the heart monitors, the hissing of air from oxygen tanks and respirators. At least once a week for the last 7 years, I have come here to visit my dad.
2087
janainaart
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
