WAR

Collateral Damage

By Keesa Wynne

Prologue:

Dallas is burning; downtown is fully engulfed in the furious flames of ancestral rage.

Teetering on the brink of civil war; this is where we set the stage.

Under the surface, hate and hostility chaotically churn;

Warring factions seek bloodshed as they watch their beloved city burn.

Caught in the celestial crosshairs, two lovers are violently torn apart

By ancestral loyalties that trump the pleading of their reeling hearts.

Divided by rhetoric and propaganda, the lovers are forced into red and blue;

Trapped in their curated echo chambers, they can no longer distinguish what is true.

Politicians demand that a civil war must be waged to save this precious land.

If you love America, you must pledge your undying allegiance and finally take a stand.

Local party leaders pour gasoline on the smoldering flames; screaming, “You must not budge!”

“Hold tightly to this grudge. Never forget - history is an unforgiving judge!”

Emboldened; one lover, heavily armed, immediately takes to the streets.

Praying to her God that they will never again meet; but it is an unachievable feat.

For the stars mandate that the star-cross’d lovers must once again meet

As the sins of their fathers must be laid directly at their feet.

The ancestors are furious; the world will finally hear their collective voice.

For the fate of all humanity will be determined by one simple choice.

Act I

Gabriel and Leah were two distant exits on the same highway;

Debating political ideologies and religion was how they passed their days.

For these lovers, there was no gray, only black and white.

Both felt it was their God-given mission to lead the other to the light.

Fate brought them together one starry summer night;

All those years ago – it was love at first sight.

That summer night, something in them instantaneously shifted;

For a single moment in time, all burdens were lifted.

They were free to tear off their masks;

All the courage they needed was found in the tilt of Gabriel’s flask.

They talked all night about their hopes and dreams;

Each confiding that everything wasn’t as it seemed.

Sometimes appearances hid deeper truths.

It was a freedom so rare; only found in a priest’s confessional booth.

With nothing more to say,

The night slowly turned to day.

Gabriel gently kissed Leah goodbye;

He turned his face away so he wouldn’t see her cry.

They both knew things would never be the same;

For both were now holders of the other’s hidden shame.

The world fought so hard to tear them apart.

Leah held tightly to the shards of Gabriel’s heart.

She faithfully tried to put together his pieces;

The evidence of her devotion was found in her face; in the lines and creases.

It was a lie that you can attract more bees with honey;

For stubborn Gabriel was only attracted to gaining more money.

Gone was the magic of that first fated night;

Now small misunderstandings led to epic fights.

The moral and ideological gap only continued to grow;

The cracks in their foundation started to show.

Each angrily accused the other of constantly reaching;

Each subjected the other to endless posturing and preaching.

The ghosts and demons of Gabriel’s past

Wickedly whispered to him that this wasn’t fated to last.

He grew increasingly suspicious of anyone left leaning;

No matter how good or well meaning.

He and Leah no longer debated;

For it was Leah that he both now loved and hated.

ACT II

Race had never been an issue for them before;

His whiteness and her blackness gave them each a fresh perspective to explore.

Everything changed with the public release of a horrific recorded traffic stop;

That ended with the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of white cops.

With the city and nation now once again nervously on the edge;

Gabriel confidently stepped out on the metaphorical ledge.

He demanded to know why Leah didn’t see it, didn’t have to end this way.

When will black people learn to be respectful and obey?

Cops are the sacred servants of the nation’s greater good;

Outside of the black race, this was fully accepted and understood.

Blacks were only victims of their own violent trends;

This was an issue that only the black community could mend.

To him, blaming cops was an epic waste of time.

When will Black Lives Matter start protesting black-on-black crime?

Chicago can't even neutralize the violence within its own borders;

Stop preaching to us and get your own houses in order.

Cities will burn for one life lost.

Do you know who will pay the ultimate cost?

These views of his, Leah never knew.

How could love her and hold these views?

She wanted to hold his feet to the fire;

But the situation suddenly turned dire.

Molotov cocktails lit up the night sky;

Fire was the rioters’ answer to watching another unarmed black man unjustly die.

Both of their phones immediately lit up with messages to turn on the local news station.

The President was on the TV, demanding that the real patriots take back their nation.

He screamed, “Let the Left keep their disgusting white guilt.”

“Never forget for who this great nation was built.”

It was a dog whistle even a deaf dog could hear;

Gabriel met the President’s words with a silent cheer; as Leah wept silent tears.

Shaken; Leah knew all of her safety was kept in one place;

She quietly headed to the bedroom closet and cleared out the locked gun case.

Left with no hope;

Her vision was now limited to the length of her assault rifle’s scope.

The tables were about to turn; Gabriel had a lesson he must learn.

As he would watch more than just the city ferociously burn!

Her heart and soul had conspired; both were so damn tired.

Leah turned her back to Gabriel as she set the bridge between them on fire!

All the evidence was in her face, she could no longer pretend

That Gabriel was an ally or friend.

She now could see

That Gabriel was the enemy!

Dallas was burning; the streets were filled with thick clouds of smoke.

The caustic fumes caused Leah to choke.

She frantically followed the rioters that swiftly funneled

Into Dallas’s underground downtown tunnels.

She desperately attempted to find her friends, but her signal was too weak;

It was imperative that she found them before the riots peaked.

Unable to reach Leah, her friends reached to Gabriel for assistance.

He immediately searched their apartment for her at their insistence.

The city was about to implode; racial tensions were about to explode.

They wanted to ensure she was safe with Gabriel at their shared abode.

Her friends passionately prayed that their text messages had been relayed;

The roads were blocked; troopers refused to be swayed.

Leah had disappeared like a ghost in the night;

Gabriel was immediately filled with fright.

His eyes were suddenly drawn to the almost empty gun case;

She took almost all their guns, a knife and the one can of mace.

All that was left was her college safety whistle

And one semi-automatic pistol.

He loaded the pistol and tucked it in the back of jeans;

With her whistle around his neck, he headed to the scene.

The streets were clogged with violent clashes;

The darkness was eviscerated only by raging fire, camera and muzzle flashes.

Gabriel dreadfully began to worry;

Leah was so selfish for adding this plot twist to their love story.

Heavily armed riot police aggressively poured into the streets;

He knew that to get Leah safely home; he had to retreat.

A rioter grabbed Gabriel and forcefully pulled him into an open door.

He pointed hurriedly to an opening in the floor.

Gabriel quickly made his way down the makeshift stairs;

The sight of underground Dallas raised his arm’s hairs.

The crowd swept him up in their violent wave;

To find his beloved, he knew he had to be brave.

The crowd was all donned in red & white;

You could see their beloved campaign slogan when the darkness was cut by the light.

Luckily, fate placed him safely in the right crowd;

They were all screaming, “Don’t tread on me” loud and proud.

Suddenly, the procession ground to a jarring halt;

The crowd shouted, “Kill them all! It’s their fault!”

Gabriel was so scared of what he would find;

As he made his way to the front of the procession line.

With his hand on his gun, he stared at the enemy combatants;

Guilting the white race and erasing history were their only talents.

The enemy combatants were immediately met with hate and blank stares

As they defiantly raised their weapons and fists in the air.

Gabriel watched curiously as the combatants parted like the red sea;

Suddenly, he was staring at his greatest love and newfound enemy.

ACT III

The ancestors orchestrated for these star-cross’d lovers to meet in this place;

The fate of humanity would be determined by the outcome of this face-to-face.

Leah stared at Gabriel for the first time with new eyes;

She was no longer hypnotized by his rhetoric and lies.

His mouth was moving but she couldn’t hear what he was saying;

His arms were passionately moving, but she couldn’t understand what he was intensely conveying.

Gabriel fell to his knees as he saw the red dot;

Leah fell to the ground with just one shot.

A man shouted, “Shot that nigger down!”

“Bro, I saved your life, why the big ‘ole frown?”

Time stood still;

Gabriel was frozen with chills.

His heart was filled with searing strife;

How could his “brother” cruelly take his beloved’s life?

He was filled with so much dread as he questioned if she was alive or dead.

How could Leah survive being violently shot in the head?

Gabriel prepared himself for the gore;

As he stripped himself from the tunnel’s now blood-stained floor.

It was his only job to keep her safe from harm.

His failure ate him alive as he cradled her limp body in his arms.

As he lovingly stroked her bloody face;

His mind raced. How did they find themselves in this place?

Consumed by rage, Gabriel bristled;

He immediately quieted the tunnel with the sound of Leah’s safety whistle.

For the light he had been shown;

He demanded that a rioter capture his speech on their camera phone.

Soaked in the blood of his beloved; her blood still seeped from his hands.

It was time that he reclaimed his land and finally take a stand.

In an impassioned speech

Gabriel spoke to the souls that still could be reached.

“Who taught us to hate our neighbor?

Aren’t we all just seeking our God’s mercy and favor?

How much blood has to spill

Before we finally pay our ancestors' past due bill?

This is not a war of left or right;

This darkness must be defeated by the light.

Leah, the woman killed here tonight,

Was a star that burned so bright.

Tonight, she made a mistake so grave;

She gave up on love; convinced I couldn’t be saved.

The guilt is eating me alive;

Her assassination I will never survive.

Look at you, leaving the safety of your front porches

Out here with your racist epithets and tiki torches.

Stare into the eyes of your enemy.

Tell me truthfully what you see.

See, as I desperately made my way to the front with violent shoves

I found myself staring into the eyes of my one true love.

You will see old friends, neighbors, your child’s favorite teacher.

You will see your favorite nurse or even your preacher.

Damn it, open your eyes!

Open them so no one else has to die!

Don’t make my mistake; I have failed the test.

Be like Leah, see people at their best.

Turn off your TVs, turn away from those that seek to divide;

History is watching; choose the right side.

The powers that be don’t want you to see;

For if you do, you’ll see that no one is truly free.

With this one simple act of bravery,

You can break the generational chains of mental slavery.

I have faith in you;

And your God does too!”

Gabriel signaled to the guy that he could hit stop

On the video as Gabriel’s body dropped.

With one self-inflicted bullet to the head,

Gabriel fell to the ground next to Leah – dead.

The crowd that Gabriel shamed and shunned

Sat there silent; absolutely stunned.

Gabriel’s body began to move;

Like his body had still something to prove.

A soft cry pierced the quiet;

His body was having its own personal riot.

As if it was possessed, his body rolled itself on its side.

Its secret it could no longer hide.

When Gabriel’s body hit the floor, it awakened Leah from a sleep;

A sleep so deep.

The crowd rushed to Leah as she loudly moaned;

The pain throbbed as she groaned.

It was a graze wound that caused Leah to bleed heavily from her head;

The shotgun she had defiantly held up kept her from being dead.

The speed of the bullet had been delayed;

Gabriel’s shotgun saved her – as it caused the bullet to fragment as it ricocheted.

Leah with the help of the crowd got to her knees so she could lovingly hover

Over the body of her best friend; her fated lover.

As she cradled him in her arms;

She said goodbye to her forever good luck charm.

The tears streamed down her face

As she questioned how humanity found itself at this place.

With Leah in an emotional spiral,

A stranger tapped her on the shoulder to tell her that Gabriel’s video had just gone viral.

The crowd watched horrified as Leah used Gabriel’s blood to leave a single note;

A single note that would forever memorialize the lovers as she shockingly cut her throat.

Words that eternally changed the hearts of many, “RESIST!”

“LET LOVE FOREVER PERSIST!”