-Mrs Parsons Fate-

Okay so this is my first story on this so bare with me... It's also a draft from a school assignment so it's probably not my best work. Anyway the story shows my interpretation of what I think happened to Mrs Parsons after her husband was taken away. It also contains some information about Boudicca which is a famous Celtic Queen who fought the Roman rule which is described as kind of like the rule of big brother.
Okay thanks, Rae :)

Mrs Parsons muffled a sigh as she bent down to examine the angle joint of the pipe. Above her, filthy green water from the kitchen sink threatened to overflow as she fiddled with the spanner. She hated having to fix it herself, but since the disappearance of her husband she had learnt to make do.

Once, she could have relied on her neighbour Winston to help but since his mysterious return, he was no longer a resident at the Victory Mansions. She often would see him at the café and would wonder where he had been for those six months. Other times, she would wonder if he had seen her husband there but would quickly discard the thought. She knew that to think her husband ever existed was to commit a thought crime, but she could not stop her mind from remembering him.

Taking a deep breath Mrs Parsons pushed these troubling thoughts out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. She peered at the rusted pipe which was in dire need of replacement and set to work. After much tinkering, the spanner was able to loosen the bolt revealing a handful of human hair mixed with clumps of cabbages. Disgusted at the sight, Mrs Parsons held her breath as she logged the spanner in pipe to wrench the blockage out.

At that moment, the door of the apartment swung open with a crash as Nancy and Joshua charged in like a stampede. This sudden outburst startled Mrs Parsons so badly that the spanner flung backwards wedging itself in the wall behind the pipe. There was a trampling of boots as the children charged into the kitchen, their toy guns out at the ready.

"Up with your hands!" yelled Joshua's savage voice as he pointed the barrel of his gun towards his mother. Behind him Nancy took a similar stance, an evil expression plaster on her young face.

"Oh children you startled me, I-" she broke off the sentence and peered back at the damaged wall under the sink. During the commotion the spanner had tumbled out exposing a hole in the plaster. In this hole a small ancient looking history book covered in broken plaster was just visible.

Swinging back to face her children, she placed her body in front of the mess hoping to hide it.

"… I was just fixing the sink," Mrs Parsons muttered.
"That's something a thought criminal would say, eh Nancy! I reckon we should vaporize her," he said looking at his younger sister.

"VAPORIZE HER!" Nancy screeched pretending to load her gun.

"Children do settle down. You have a junior spy meeting soon, then you can do-" she began, gesturing to the open apartment door. "… then you can play your games."

"We have a meeting! We'll be back!" Joshua yelled, running out of the room. Nancy followed soon after, evil eyeing her mother as she slammed the door shut.

Mrs Parson's slowly spun back towards the hole, feeling the eyes of her children and the telescreen on her back as she did so. Quickly she examined the cover of the book and pulled it loose from it's place in the wall. Straight away she noticed that there was no sticker promoting the Ministry of Truth and knew from this and it's ancient appearance it had been written before the revolution. Terrified she dropped it and backed away. It had not been approved by the party and therefore it must be destroyed but curiosity stopped her in her tracks. Terrified as she was, she had always wanted to know about life before the party and now she had a chance. In one swift motion she grabbed the small book and pocketed it, making sure it was hidden within her party overalls and then finished trying to unblock the sink.

It's folly, her mind whispered to her as she positioned herself facing away from the telescreen and into the small window nook. This small thought however was drowned out by the furious beating of her heart. Two long weeks had past since she had discovered the book under the sink and since then her fear had not lessened. She knew that to even possess the book was a crime against the party, but to read it was considered worst. Taking a leap, she creaked opened the book and began to read. Straight away, the words leaped out at her from its brittle pages telling a story about a celtic warrior queen named Boudicca who rebelled against the oppression of the Romans after the death of her husband. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her husbands fate and her own if she continued to read. Again, her curiosity propelled her forward and she continued to read. Mrs Parsons was fully absorbed in her book that she did notice of another presence in the room.

Quiet as a mouse, Nancy had crept into the room hiding herself in the shadows. Instantly she knew her mother was committing some sort of thought crime, and her fingers itched to call the thought police. She stopped herself though and continued to watch her mother read interested in her mother's reaction to the book.

A few minutes past this way, Mrs Parsons absorbed in the book and her daughter watching her every move until finally Mrs Parsons closed the book. She was keeping back quiet sobs; the end of the book revealed that Boudicca's rebellion had failed and she had poisoned herself rather than be a captive to the Romans. Suddenly she was overpowered with angry thoughts to the party. In her life, they were like the oppressive Romans except she knew that she was no warrior like Boudicca. She was merely a mouse in a dog eat dog world- to terrified to scold her own children or to sleep after the disappearance of her husband.

"Down with Big Brother," she whispered, trying to calm herself as gripped the book tightly. She turned around to face Nancy who had crept forward behind her mother's shoulders.

"I knew you were just like father… a thought criminal," Nancy said, grabbing the book out of her mother's hands.

"Nancy, I-" she started but was interrupted by her daughter.

"Save it for the thought police mother…" Nancy grinned as she pulled a device out of her pocket.

"Do what you need to do," Mrs Parsons whispered knowing that she could not escape her doom. A single tear trickled down her face as Nancy smiled wickedly and pressed the red button on her device.

She knew that in this moment she did not have the strength to commit suicide like Boudicca, so she fell to the floor defeated accepting her fate.