Dreams of power
Chapter 19:
November 2nd. Every four years the same thing happens. On November 2nd the people take a break from their normal routine to go down and vote for the new leader of their country. Many people consider that day to be what America is really about. Democracy and the equality of man... But what did Marik think of this day?
"The day I'm crowned king of the world!" he shouted as he and his hikari rode in the limo that Kaiba sent for them. "Life is good."
"You're not getting a crown, Marik. And neither am I for that matter... All you get if you win is a ceremony. Kaiba said so."
"So what? I can buy my own crown. Ya know, Paris Hilton has a designer line of Tiaras. Maybe I'll get one."
"Tiara? That's a girly crown!"
"I don't care. All I need is something that says 'Ruler of the no longer free world.' Then I'll be happy."
They were quiet the rest of the way to the voting place. In about ten more minutes they arrived at a large building and saw Kaiba and Sanders leaning on the wall near the door. Marik got out of the limo first and Malik followed.
"Hey guys." They said in unison.
"Hi, Malik. Hi, Marik." Sanders said, "Ready for the big day?"
Marik nodded, "Yup. Hey, how come no one else is here?"
"This voting poll is conserved for only the people that are on the ballots." Kaiba answered, "But since me and Sanders are with you, we'll be voting here as well."
Marik groaned, "Aw, does this mean that blowhard, Kerry is gonna be here? Man, I can't stand that guy!"
"Well, if we hurry this up, maybe we'll miss him." Sanders opened the door and motioned for everyone to go in.
As they walked inside the building they felt a rush of unnatural cold air. Kind of like when you go into the doctor's office...
Malik shivered, "Ra, it's freezing in here!"
"They turn the cold the air on all the way to keep the germs out." Marik said, "They think we have cooties."
"What?"
"It's true."
"Oh, it is not!" Kaiba turned around, "Marik, stop messing with Malik's head. Can we just get this over with?"
"Yeah, sure, fine, whatever."
"Okay then," Sanders began, "This is how it's going to work... You will each go into your own booth. Once you close the curtains, a ballot will slip out of a small machine. You use the puncher to make a hole by the name of the person you want to vote for. It's as simple as that. Once you're done, put your ballot in the envelope and come back here to put it in the box. And then we can leave."
"Right." Malik said, "So, uh... we can go in now?"
"Yep." Kaiba was already half way inside his booth.
Marik had gone in his own booth as well. He closed to the red curtain and turned around to see the little machine that Sanders had told them about. It was set on a little brown desk and it already had a ballot set in it.
He looked up and down the ballot, his name was second to last on the little piece of paper.
'My name should have been first.' He thought as he punched the hole in next to it. He slid it down through the screen and took an envelope from the side. After he put the ballot in, he turned around to leave the booth.
Malik, however, was having a bit more trouble. He couldn't seem to punch the hole through the ballot. For about five minutes he'd been trying desperately to push down on the punching machine. If he forced it down anymore he might've broken it.
'Darn it! Why won't you go down?' He stopped and leaned against the wall, 'Alright, think... if the darn thing won't go down my machine... then maybe it'll go down if I just tear it out...'
He took the ballot out from under the screen and pushed his finger through the hole by Marik's name. All it did was make a rip about the size of someone's middle finger.
"Oh no!" he squeaked.
He stuck his head out of the booth and looked at Kaiba, Marik, and Sanders. "Does anyone have some... uh, tape?"
"Tape?!" Marik raised a brow, "Malik, what have you done?"
"Nothing... I'm just... a little hungry."
"So, you're asking for tape?"
"Uh... yes." He smiled meekly, "Please?"
Kaiba went over to the front desk and took a roll of tape, then walked over and handed it to Malik. "Whatever you've done in there, it better not cost me a dime."
He nodded as he took the tape. When he turned around, he picked the ballot up and taped it so that a hole was next to Marik's name and no one else's.
"Okay." He said when he got out, "I'm all done."
"Good." Sanders said, "As you can see, all the other candidates are here."
Malik looked around, "Where's Kerry and Edwards?"
"Oh, who cares?!" Marik pouted, "Come on, let's leave before..."
Just as he headed for the door, Kerry and his 'people' came through. Kerry looked at him for a second, Marik returned the stare.
They hadn't seen each other in a while, that's why this sudden meeting was a little surprising. Marik could have just walked right past him, and not said anything. Key word: could.
"So, Kerry... looking forward to losing what you've worked so hard for the past year?"
"I have no intention of losing to an emotional teenager." He said calmly.
"Teenager?! I'm a grown man!" he pouted, "And I am not emotional!"
"Whatever. If you'll excuse me, I have an election to win."
"Yeah, yeah... you're so transparent. I can see how worried you are about losing to me."
"Me? Lose to you? That's the most preposterous thing I've heard all day. You're the least of my worries in this election."
"The least of your worries? Please. You know as well as I do that this election is practically a two-man race. No one else matters!"
Every other candidate in the room looked at him. Yet, he continued, "I mean, really. Do you even hear about these other jokers on the news? Hell, no! No one cares about them. It's you and me, buddy!"
"..." he raised his eyebrow.
"Marik, will you control yourself?!" Kaiba was right behind him, "You're making a scene!"
"But, you know what, Kerry? I'm gonna win."
"You don't think I'm confident in myself?" Kerry laughed, "Fine. To prove to you how confident I am that I will win... I'm not going to vote."
"Huh?"
"That's right. I'm not going to vote. Not for me, not for anyone."
"Oh no, I want you to vote." Marik said, "I want you to try your hardest to get to the top... only to come tumbling down! You better be ready for it, John Kerry!"
"You're the one who needs to be ready for it, Marik Ishtar!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"Bring it on foot-face! Bring... it...on!!!"
"Come on, you!" Kaiba and Malik had grabbed Marik and were now dragging him, kicking and screaming out of the building.
Once they threw him in the limo and started to drive off the last words audible by Marik were, "It's gonna be me, Kerry! It's gonna be ME!" he then passed out.