Abandoned World: The Awakening

He was too nice to them all. He let them think whatever they wanted. He even let them watch old movies where there was nothing seditious. He let some of them out of Tosca. He made it easy for the wardens themselves. Took lives And this is how they responded. A collective pretense.

A collective unwillingness to believe his beautiful lies After all, everything was done for them.

Everything — in order to save the life of this unnecessary Godforsaken society And this is what he

got as a result. A total pretense in front of his skillful system and a formidable mockery of himself, though not intentional in this case.

It's okay. It's not for nothing that he held on here for 24 years, to give up after one conversation And it's obviously not for nothing that this manic chain of suicides and sadists

started. If something starts to collapse, it collapses from different sides and with a bang. And the

only thing that can be done in the place of the old is to build something new It's time. It's time to

build this new thing. But first we have to find out everything he doesn't already know about his citizens.

— Delaney, I heard you Thank you. I promise that everything you said won't leave this

room… It's okay. Don't worry. Is there something else everyone else knows that I don't? — Heddock

smiled, pretending that he had a grand respect for her now, and that he could be completely trusted.

— I don't know…" She was obviously having a hard time speaking for a long time now. Even though the doctors hadn't diagnosed her with a concussion, she clearly needed more rest than this kind of talk, but Heddock spoke so convincingly and looked at her with such sincere eyes that she began to remember things involuntarily:

— You're like a father to us… There's nothing we've kept from you. We just don't share everything with you. That's all.

— Okay, what is, like, the latest thing on the station, I wish I could tell you, but no one says…

Well, because they're afraid of upsetting you….

— Yes, it's suicide… Except that nobody will share it with you now. You don't need to know

it. Or, rather, for the picture of the world that you teach us, it will be completely unnecessary and unnecessary… Nobody will tell you about it… And I don't want to tell you….

— Suicide, you mean someone killed themselves? Hang themselves or slit their wrists? Isn't that what you mean?

— Yeah, yeah, Charlie, that's what I mean.

— It does happen to people. I know very well about such cases. It's sad, but there's nothing

you can do about it. Sometimes people take their own lives. They can't take it. They get upset. And then they leave life voluntarily Everybody knows about such cases.

— Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about… I'm talking about the horrible suicides. I'm

talking about the people who have literally gone crazy killing themselves. And it started not too

long ago… About seven or eight months ago….

Heddock remembered that the first time he'd started cutting himself to pieces had been exactly six months ago. The first time was remembered very well because of the movie Twins, which

Thunder had watched before he'd stabbed himself in the throat. Periodically, Heddock had even thought of some meaning to it. That someone might purposely want to show him laughing at him since the movie was a comedy. But nothing so far had confirmed it. It was just craziness happening one after another without any apparent pattern. Delaney must have gotten the months wrong. She didn't even know whether it was seven or eight… But it was still strange that she knew about it, and in some detail. Somebody blabbed it again.

— So, what was so terrible about this suicide?

— Promise me, Charlie. Promise me that nothing will change. That you'll continue to shine with confidence and convince us of a bright future. We really need that. Otherwise, I won't say anything.

— Of course. Of course, I promise… I gave you my word… It's all a secret between you and me that won't go beyond this room….

— It was Patrick. Patrick Harper. He cut the entire left side of his body with a knife. Arms, legs. And then he tried to cut his heart out of his chest. And he almost made it before he died. That's what happened. There were several other cases. Maybe. Because the security section would definitely

want to cover that up. Hide it from everyone. So there'd be no panic. Or I don't know what else they could justify. But all the times they don't show us the bodies in the coffin, they just bury them. All those cases we're already counting as such suicides… And there were three more….

Haddock thought he was about to explode with surprise. Surprise. Revenge. Rage. The realization of his own weakness. All the blunders. Everything that could have been without his knowledge Yet outwardly he remained completely calm, which inside burned with the flames of

hell Not only that, they think what they want. In private. They think what they want and don't let

him know about it So they know more than he does. It turns out that there are not three, but four