Everything is fine.
The sun was shining. The sky was bright, bright blue. Birds flew free across the sky, almost tauntingly.
Everything is okay.
Heads down people stare at the sidewalk, shoulders slumped. The only words said were in whispers. Eye contact with strangers was a rare thing, but if by chance you had the will to lift your head and meet eyes with another you would see the same thing reflected in yours. Nothing.
It's fine.
You buy a paper out of habit. You're eyes skim down the articles about the wondrous improvements. Writers boast of the Justice Lord's newest regulations to help keep us safe, that they promised they were doing everything in their power to change the world for the better. Crime rates had dropped. Unemployment had dropped. There was no more hungry mouths to feed. No more poor. No more collateral damage from super powered confrontations. No more taxes being used to house super powered inmates in jail.
Of course there weren't any super powered inmates to house.
Everything is okay.
You pass by a building. A normal book shop. Your favourite book shop. There is a sign in the window. it's closing down. Last week it had sold a book that had been on the banned list, that had incouraged radical thoughts and dangerous ideas. The owner used to give you a discount on selected books just because you came by so often.
You haven't seen them since last week.
The world is better now.
You continue at a brisk pace, eyes darting up as you eye the crater across the street. Once a colourful skating park that had been filled with scrawled on images of graffiti, depicting anything and everything. Most popularly crude and unflattering depictions of the Justice Lords. Now all was left was rubble and a sign in front advertising that a new police task force centre was soon to be built in its place.
Everyone is safe.
Overhead are large screens, advertising rules and regulations. How to best provide for your loved ones. How to properly contribute to the new, improved, society. A number blinks again and again, to be called to alert the proper authorities in case you notice someone, a neighbour, friend, even family member, acting in a manner that could disturb the perfect haven of our new society.
I am safe.
You are almost at your house now. A brown building, similar to that of every other surrounding it. You walk up the stairs, passing a quiet apartment door. Only a month ago you would constantly hear arguing coming from inside the door, an exasperated parents, an unruly teen who would complain about everything. The lack of variety in entertainment, only focused on safe topics like romance or comedy. The lack of opinions from politics, the only topic being of the new and improved way we now live. The lack of life in the people who go from day to day, no longer with the courage to question. The lack of humanity in the Justice Lords.
The teenager was gone. You hadn't been the only one to overhear.
I am fine.
You put the key into your lock, hands shaking. The doors opens to reveal the small, drab insides. The lack of personal contents contrasted even more against the grey washed walls, giving the apartment a sad empty feeling. You had been planning on decorating soon, but it was becoming easier and easier to put off. No longer being able to muster up the energy to care.
You smile as a tear slides down your cheek.
Everything is fine.