I wrote this a month ago and have been tinkering with it very sparsely. And now that The Purge movie comes out today~ I thought, well, why not?
"The House is now Armed. All exits are now locked."
Arthur heaved a sigh of relief as the electronic woman assured him that he and his family were now safe. He looked at Francis who was holding their babies. He smiled weakly at the man and he smiled back, rocking the children in his arms.
"Let's get to the playroom, Chers," he said softly. He led his husband down the hall of their home and into a brightly painted room that housed not only the usual effects of a playroom, but also a wall of screens all showing different angles in and around their home.
Just as Francis had the two boys playing quietly in a corner one of the screens turned a friendly blue and a few long paragraphs began scrolling along it. A woman's voice said suddenly, "The annual Purge has now begun. All crime from this time – 6:30 p.m. central time – until 6:30 a.m. central time on June 10th, tomorrow, is now legal. Your government thanks you for your participation."
The two men took a deep breath. The blue screen explaining in more detail what the woman had just explained abruptly ended and their feed returned. They took turns in monitoring the screens.
Arthur took first watch and Francis played with the children as they waited.
"Papa! Let's play hide-n-seek!" Alfred asked loudly. Their father's cringed and Francis shushed him softly.
"Non, Alfred. We can play hide-n-seek tomorrow. For now let's colour."
"But I don't want to colour!" Alfred whined. "That's boring!"
"Then play with your blocks, Alfred, but you need to stay quiet, Cher."
The night dragged on and the boys eventually tuckered themselves out. Francis tucked them into a futon on the floor and then took his shift staring at the many screens while Arthur sat next to the boys and rested his eyes.
It was nearly morning, the sun's first rays just peeking out of the dense blanket of clouds, and Francis was ready to give his own eyes a rest when he spotted on one of the monitors a bush moving. The camera was in the back yard, Francis could see the boys' play set with the swings and slide and sandbox. The bush rustled again and this time a hand stuck out of it, then another, and soon a whole person was in their yard.
Francis could feel his heart begin to pound in his chest. He held his breath, as if the man could hear him from inside his armored home. He scooted closer and stared, watching, waiting.
The man looked around and it seemed almost as if he felt relaxed after a moment. He crept along the hedge line closer to the play set where there was a dome top and he climbed up, under it. Once he was settled, he did nothing more for the longest of times.
Francis just kept staring and watching and waiting for him to do something. To break the swings, kick over the sandbox, try and break in, but he did nothing. He just sat there and… Francis squinted and looked harder. The man had fallen asleep.
Sighing, he leant back in his chair and chuckled nervously to himself. Then a hand touched his shoulder and he screamed.
Arthur shushed him, apologizing. "What's spooked you, Francis? Come, you need to rest for a while. I'll watch for now."
Francis shook his head. "I'm fine. I just…" He glanced at the screen that had captured his attention for nearly two hours now. Arthur noticed.
"Is… Is that—?"
"There's a man sleeping on the play set. He's been there for about two hours now. But that's all he's done – sleep."
"He'd better leave before tonight," Arthur grunted. He sat down on Francis's knee and looked at the screen as if daring the sleeping man to do something other than dream away.
Francis leant forward and gave his husband a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sure you'd scare the man away with those monstrous eyebrows of yours in a heartbeat." He had to intercept a swipe to his head for that.
He pushed Arthur off his knee and let him take the chair as he stretched. "I'm going to get some breakfast started for the boys. I'll set some tea as well. Just make sure they stay in here if they wake."
Arthur nodded and glanced at the boys who were still deep in sleep even after he'd scared Francis into screaming, and then he stared at the screens, giving the sleeping man extra special attention.
Francis came back a little while later, just as the boys were waking up. He walked them to the bathroom and gave them their bath and stuck them in clean clothes. Then the family ate their breakfast together, even though Arthur didn't take his eyes off the screens for more than a few seconds at a time. After cleaning up, Francis got the boys to play a bit more before he took the last shift.
6:30 rolled around after nearly an eternity. The sleeping man had woken up shortly after breakfast had been cleaned up and he'd snuck back out of the yard and they'd seen neither hide nor hair of him since.
At six-fifteen, the blue screen with floating paragraphs popped back onto the same screen that it had last night. The woman, this time, said, "Thank you for participating in the annual Purge. In five minutes all crime will be illegal once again. At 7:00 a.m. central time, all news networks will report any major crimes committed during the Purge. Once again, we thank you for participating and we hope you join in next time."
The two men watched as the clock twirled around until it read 6:45 a.m. At that time, they unarmed the house and the day ended just as it would any other night of the year.