One Light Down

This story is the second part of our series if you have not read the first one I think you should read it for context, and a better understanding of the future events in the story.

In this story, we will not be focusing on our main protagonists, but in fact, we will be focusing on the life of a random middle-class man in our fantasy world, and we will see how decisions made by our protagonists will impact his life

This will be in the form of a diary found 15 years after it was written.

If you have any such idea do let me know in the comments the type of law you think Mansi might pass and what impact it might create and tell me what sort of people might be impacted as in this one she is destroying a happy family.

Also, I can try other things apart from diary writing, I can write a story in first person as well, if you have any suggestions concerning this world we have created.

Year 2060:

It is a usual day at the Trinters Police Station, you will always find yourself in chaos as crime never sleeps, and cops dont get time to rest, Trixy is a police cadet working through some old case files and digitizing them. After an exhausting day, she comes to her last file of the day, case file- 45JGU75, it is a missing person report filed for the husband of a 33-year-old woman, who apparently never showed up after filing the FIR.

Trixy sighed, "Another missing person case. Let's get this shit over with."

Trixy started by filling in the details on her computer screen without even trying to care if the case was solved, as she would not really waste her time getting into the details for a small case of a man being missing, but this case caught her attention as she gets her hands on to the attached evidence and it is a diary of the victim himself, and she was always fascinated to know how things were pre-re-calibration day.

As soon as she is done with digitizing the file she gets her hands on the diary, and begins dusting it as it has been in the cold cases pile for a long time, she opens the diary to see the name of the victim in bold letters, "James Wilson."

21st Jan 2045:

This was apparently one of the best days of our lives, Kiara was trying to get a job at the same company I work for and today I checked her emails and found the offer letter, as soon as I saw it I went straight to her, she was busy with some laundry, I wrapped my arms around her neck, placing my face on her shoulder and started whispering in her ears "do you know what I just found out?"

She chuckled and said in a teasing voice "Did you find out about my affair, oh I was about to tell you please forgive me," she is always this sassy when it comes to her flirting.

"No that I knew for a long time but what I just found out is that you got the offer letter." As soon as she heard it her eyes in joy, she turned around and jumped onto me, I held her in my hands and she wrapped her hands around me and began kissing me passionately.

"See I told you I would get this job, as soon as they see a new woman Prime Minister all the misogynistic men try to cover up their characters to not get the blowback," she said with a tone, I usually dont care about her being so attacking towards men in powerful places as she has been working as a feminist from many years and by this time I am accustomed to all her shenanigans.

We spent the whole day partying, I helped her in the kitchen with the dishes, and then we had sex, after so many days because of our problems in working shifts.

Then we wished each other good night and went to sleep.

Trixy flipped through a few pages as they were filled with random normal life stuff, nothing interesting, and then.

16th Mar 2045:

Today I woke up a bit late than usual as both of us were taking the day off, to spend some quality time with each other as we thought we were getting too much worked up, actually Kiara thought of it and I happened to agree with it.

I woke up and started with the chorus, then I took a bath, by the time she was also awake I greeted her with a good morning kiss and a bed tea.

We spent most part of our day cuddling in the bed, eating, drinking, laughing, making fun of each other, and talking dirty with each other if you know what I mean wink-wink.

Kiara is a political junkie who is a huge believer in the cause of the political party named NRP and more than that she is a big fan of Mansi Singh, as she relates herself to her, as most of the women of the country do, while we were talking about something she turned on the TV so see the Prime Minister addressing the country, Mansi was standing in front of a podium with the national flags behind her and part symbol on the front of the podium.

"Citizens of this great nation, today I have come to talk with all of you for today we are going to make history, not just make history we are going to change some errors made by our founding fathers, see how ironic it is that we have to believe that our nation was found by men and it had no contribution of women, but it won't last for long as today I am going to use the power which I have been given by the people of this country, we are bringing in the reservation system in all sorts of jobs in this country, whether it is public sector or even private sector, all the business, have to hire a mandatory 50% of women in their workplace, or else they will have face the increase of 10% in the taxation, we have decided to take this step to correct the historical wrongdoings of the past and to give equal opportunities of the weaker section of the society."

Kiara smiled and squeezed my hand. "You'll see. This is a step in the right direction."

This was one of the biggest decisions taken by any government in the past 50-odd years, i myself was not a big fan of the scheme but Kiara was really optimistic that this would bring a change in the society, and it must have been taken a long time back, we went to our usual business right after some discussions and called it a day after having sex.

1st Apr 2045:

It was a usual day at work, I didn't have any more clients to talk with so I was just chilling at my desk, talking with some coworkers when I was called into the cabin by my boss Kathrine.

I knock on the door "May I come in mam?" She signaled me to enter, I got in, and she asked me to sit so I sat on the chair in front of me.

Kathrine took her glasses off and started talking with a serious face, "Look James, you have been working for us for the past 5 years and you are a model employee, as you are everything a boss wants from her employees." listening to her talk good things about me made me feel like I was about to get some promotion as it is rare that she talks good about anyone.

"You might be aware of the new taxation system introduced by the government, so we had to lay off a lot of men from the staff to make the ratio 50-50."

"Yes Kathrine I know, it had been a really hard time for us but why are you telling me all this?"

She sighed deeply. "The government is also giving tax benefits to companies willing to hire a 100% female staff. They will receive a 15% tax reduction. We, as a company, have decided to take the offer and lay off the remaining male staff. I'm really sorry, James, but you are being let go."

Listening to her fire me stopped my heart sank, I was hoping for a promotion but now I was being forced to look for a new job i tired to argue with her but it was a waste of time for both of us, so I collected my stuff and got back to home.

Kiara came home at night and the first thing she asked me was "Babe is it true it can't be right?" I nodded yes, and she quickly ran towards me and hugged me tightly comforting and embracing me in her arms, I began crying on her shoulder as this job was helping us survive in this expensive city and now that one of us was not earning it will really be a problem for us, she tried to comfort me but I know things are going to be hard.

15th Apr 2045:

These few weeks have been the toughest of times, I have faced in my life, Kiara and I tried to contact every source we had to get me a job, but luck was not in my favor as everyone was looking for the 15% tax reductions and no one was willing to give me a job.

Kiara was really supportive of me in my tough times, but since all the doors were shut we had to adapt to our new reality, we thought that we should put a hold on the job hunting as the market is really in turmoil and we might get the better opportunity when the dust settles.

I proposed to take over the household chores to her Kiara and not put a lot of burden on her shoulders, to my surprise she couldn't care less, she told me it was high time I took on my real job, I felt really shaken but then she is under a grate financial stress nowadays so I did not object to her being disrespectful.

I am really not happy with being stuck at the house, doing laundry, doing dishes, and cleaning the house, it feels really humiliating that even though I am totally capable of getting a real job due to a stupid decision of a stupid Prime Minister I am stuck at my home, once I tried to talk about all this with Kiara but she lashed onto me in support of Mansi, she asked me to not behave like misogynistic lunatics, I tried to reason with her but she got angrier with me and went straight to work.

20th Apr 2045:

These past few days have been tough for me emotionally as I have been struggling with the job issue and my only moral support was Kiara, and she hasn't spoken to me for the past 5 days after the fight. She strangely went cold towards me, she could not care less that I was her husband as she was not ready to even look at my face.

I thought maybe if I apologized, things might change, so I prepared a good dinner for her and waited for her to return home from work.

It was around 1 at night and she was not yet back, I was waiting for her patiently but passed out, and after some time I heard a disoriented knock on the door I stumbled upon it and opened the door.

It was Kiara, she looked rarely annoyed, "What took you so long? I have been knocking for hours."

"Oh I was asleep and took me some time, why are you so late today." She pushed past me, throwing her bag at me, I caught her bag and placed it on the table nearby.

"You didn't answer me, why did you get so late today?"

"well apparently some of us have to work to put the food on the table." hearing it made my heart sink, I felt so humiliated and wanted to give her back but I didn't want to risk our relationship even further.

"Anyways, you can get changes i have prepared dinner for you." She did not even bother to reply she just went ahead and sat at the dinner table.

I served her the food and placed some for myself as well and sat on the adjacent seat to her, she took the first bite and abruptly spat it out on my face twisted in disgust, and threw away the plat.

"you call this food, you idiot can't even do a simple task by yourself."

"I am sorry what's wrong with it?"

"what's wrong is that you are a complete asshole, and I think you should just stick to things you can do is sulking all day and not moving your ass at all."

Her words were penetrating my heart like a spear, I wanted to say so much to her face but I was controlling myself.

She pushed me off my seat and made me fall on the floor, I shouted at her "What the fuck are you doing?"

She did not say anything just placed her leather strapped boots on my lap and said in a disdained voice "My legs are hurting from all the walking around I did at the office, I want you to massage my feet."

I was furious and devastated, I just thought of using her leg away and then giving her a tight slap but I didn't want things to go bad as well with all the pro-women narratives in the country I could get into the problem, so I gently remover her left shoe and tried to bare with her stinky feet.

She sat on the chair, placed her legs on my lap, and took out her phone, completely ignoring me as if I dont exist, I drank my pride and started to massage her feet, slow and steadily.

"Babe I want to talk with you," as soon as I could complete my sentence she gave me a sharp stare.

Soon she got up for a second took out some papers from her bag and threw them at my lap, "Hey you, I want you to sign these."

"What are these?" I asked curiously before reading them.

"Did I ask you to talk?" her facial expressions were not so comforting and her voice was a bit hateful, so I did not care to read it, and a lot of time I just signed those thinking of them to be some sort of bank papers as it had the symbol of the bank in which we have our joint account, I did not indulge too much and began massaging her feet till she fell asleep and went to bed without even talking to me.

1st May 2045:

Things have been quite the same for the last few days, we did not talk at all, all she wanted from me was to make her dinner, take care of the house, and then massage her feet at night, and one night she felt horney so she had sex with me, even though I didn't want to do it due to the tiring day, but she did not listen to me at all and went straight to it, it felt like I was being a victim of marital rape but I did not say anything as it will only make things worse for me.

I am fed up with all this nonsense, i can not take this anymore even though I am not earning for us right now, but I was also the only earner for us for a long time.

As soon as she got home from work, I took her bag and placed it on the table, "babe I need to talk to you." She tried to deflect me but I held her hand and turned her towards me.

"Look I have been wanting to say this for a long time.." She folded her arms under her breast, waiting.

"I believe you are being unfair towards me, I know you are struggling a lot at work, also financially you are taking care of our household, but it is not something new I did it for us for a long time, and I think you should apologize to me for behaving that way."

She laughed "Apologize? To you? Do you think I will apologize to someone so lowly as yourself," she gave a disgusting look and sat on the couch, with her legs crossed.

"Do you think it is about you not earning money?"

"Well let me tell you, I don't consider you to be my equal, all you are to me is a toy, that I can use when I need to play with."

Hearing her say all of this to me made me angrier, I burst out my anger onto her, "How dare you talk like that to me, what the hell do you think you have become huh, you are nothing just a normal person like everyone else, just getting a small job has made you so arrogant, I can't even believe that how the hell did I fell in love for such a selfish person."

"Well it is not who I have become, it is who I am, and more than that its who you are meant to be."

Listening to each of her words made me angrier and angrier so without saying a word I went straight to my room picked out the bag and started to put in my clothes and different things, Kiara did not even bother to check what I was up to and she just sat in the living room, when I came out in the living room with my bag, "where do you think you are going fool?"

"Anywhere but away from you."

She began to laugh, "Do you think you can do that huh, where will you go? To your mum? Oops, she is dead." She smirked with disdain.

"Or will you live in some fancy hotel, but wait you don't have money do you?"

"You don't have to worry about that I have a lot of savings and I will take care of myself."

"Oh, really why don't you take a look at there." She threw some papers onto my face from her bag stretched her legs on the glass table in front of the couch and began flicking them with joy.

"What is this some sort of divorce papers huh?" I began reading it and my face went white, I was motionless for a second and my eyes widened with shock.

"You devious bitch, how dare you?" I moved ahead leaving my bag to fall and pushed your legs off the table, I will sue you, I said with anger burning through my eyes.

Kiara stood up and stared me right in the eyes, "You can read that don't you, or have your brain gone stale too, these are the papers I made you sign that day, and you signed those without even reading them, it says that you have willingly transferred all your money and properties to miss Kiara Gupta, and last time I checked that name belongs to me, so do you and your existence now." She began laughing in a sinister way.

"And the funny part is I did not even force you or trick you to sign these, you are so pathetic to the core that you did not even care to read them, because you were too busy with massaging my stinky feet, I guess Sonia was right after all, all of you are the same."

"But.....but you can't do this to me, we love each other right?" I stammered, holding her hands.

She pushed me away and spat on the floor, "How dare you touch me like that, you should know I can get you arrested for assault if I want to, but I don't want to get into legal issues that is the only reason you are still free."

"I believed in your bull shit about love and relationship too, but things changed when I joined NRP and made some powerful friends like Sonia, they taught me the real meaning of life, and showed me the right path."

I was standing numb in front of you, I could barely listen to what you were saying, as I was still mentally unable to process what had happened to me.

Kiara snapped her finger on my face a few times, to bring me back to reality, "Now you have two choices idiot, either you can go out of the main door right now and never return back as I won't be opening that door ever of you, and you might have to live your whole life on the streets and become a bigger as no one will ever give you a job as deep down you already know."

Kiara continues with a disgusting look on her face, "Or you can live here with me, but under new conditions, and few other rules which you will have to follow to the teeth, or else you that you can be kicked out whenever I want to, and dying on the streets in this heat will be really not a good thing for you."

Hearing her say all this, broke me mentally, I was not able to figure out what happened to my loving wife, who used to love me, and care for me, what happened to our lovely relationship in a matter of few months, my love for her changed into fear and anger, I could not look directly into her eyes as she looked a completely different person, she was not the love of my life I married but she looked like a predator who was on a hunt for her prey.

My mind was in a struggle of its own, the thought of living on the streets without food, water, and shelter was unbearable for me, I had no other choice than to surrender my fate to the hungry lioness who was ready to eat me for dinner, I succumbed to her and fell on the floor.

Kiara considered this as her victory and her smirk changed to an evil laugh, she moved forward and picked up my suitcase "Well we won't be needing this from now."

She asked me to follow her to the backyard and placed the bag on the ground, then she spilled some kerosine onto it and lit it on fire, I was so confused about why she was doing all this, and then she asked me to "take off all your clothes and put them in the fire, Now!"

I don't know what happened to me, listening to her speak with this authority triggered some stimulation in me and I quickly undressed and put all my clothes in the fare, now I was standing naked in front of her.

She did not bother to talk with me or explain to me why she did all of it she just held my hair and started pulling me toward the store room and stopped in front of it.

"From now onwards this will be your new room til you take your last breath, and as far as your clothes are concerned you won't be needing any as slaves don't get to wear clothes in my watch."

Listening to her to me as a slave broke my heart and with it the last hope of things getting normal ever again.