"Gosh, Matt, I... I don't even know, anymore."

Alfred stared at the T.V., watching as images of violence flickered across the screen. He felt a wave of nausea crash over him; giving a familiar sensation to one he experienced back in November.

He thought the election was over. He thought it was all over.

It wasn't. Although November 7th, 2020 had passed and Biden's victory was announced, the citizens of the United States over America hadn't moved on.

They were doing a recount of the votes in order, (upon the current president's request,) and Georgia especially was taking longer than everyone expected to come to a conslusive result. In the November election, neither of the two candidates had gained more than 50% of the total vote; thus requiring a runoff election to occur in 2021.

Unfortunately, things didn't run too smoothly. (But, then again, when did elections operate without a hitch in the U.S.?)

To put it simply, a mob of Trump supporters stormed and raided Capitol Hill, a prominent residential neighborhood in the Washington D.C. area, because Congress was set to confirm Joe Biden's election win. Many people presumed that this occured due to Trump's spread of false information, claiming that he won the electoral vote when he actually did not.

Currently, Alfred was watching the news coverage of the occurence and talking with his twin brother over the phone, all from the safety of his own home.

Which, incidentally, wasn't very safe at all, because Alfred lived in Capitol Hill; along with members of the Senate and House.

He was scared. Really, really, scared. To think that so much destruction and fighting and raw hatred was budding practically right outside his door was... frightening, to say the least.

Not only was Alfred already high-strung due the ongoing rioting; he was also ashamed, to some extent.

He loved his citizens. They were, figuatively, what made him. Without Americans, there would be no America.

But when his citizens did things like this...

Violent things. Destructive things. Brutal things.

Alfred knew that the primary root of all these things was the current unrest within the political climate. While he would like to think of the United States of America as, well, united, he was aware that his citizens were quite divided when it came to politics.

The battle between Blue and Red was a harsh and unforgiving one, that was for sure.

And some of the more strong-minded people were more than willing to do whatever it took to get there point across.

Now, as it appeared, violence wasn't out of the question to these people.

Alfred knew the entire Bill of Rights by heart, and he was certain that whatever was going on in Capitol Hill was not justifiable by the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Peaceably.

This isn't peaceful. Not by any stretch of imagination.

"Mon Dieu, Al," Matthew said from the other end of the phone after a pause. "This isn't... you aren't safe, there."

"N-nah, I'll be fine," Alfred insisted, lacking any sort of conviction. "There's a curfew and stuff. I'm safe."

Or at least I hope.

"Somehow I doubt that," Matthew responded. "But... I guess you can't really leave your house, now, so..."

"Yep. I can't hop the border," Alfred affirmed with a humourless laugh.

2021 was supposed to be better.

The way things are looking now, nothing has changed.

Alfred swallowed thickly; the American flag he had stapled to the wall reminding him that there were more things to worry about.

And what was to come on January 20th, 2021...

He had a feeling that certain groups wouldn't take it well.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This is actually happening right now in the U.S, as of Wednesday, January 6th, 2021 in Capitol Hill. I decided to tie it in with this fic about the 2020 Election as it has something to do with it.

I implore you to take a closer look into the situation. Here's a source:

dc-md-va/2021/01/06/dc-protests-trump-rally-live-updates/

Again, I tried staying as politically neutral as I could (which was, frankly, much more difficult for this chapter.) As stated in the story, many Americans are pretty opinionated about politics.

There's a little teaser at the end alluding to the date January 20th. That's Biden's inauguration date.

And, I may or may not write something about that, too...