Short Story~ Alli Donahue~ 7th prd.~16/11/11

Not much was spoken that day. The cloudy skies casting a comfortable silence against that flag covered walls. No one could, or wanted to respond, Francis's joke shaking, still shaking, everyone's core. All Natalỳa could do was to look at Ivan, the dam holding back her tears about to burst from the pressure of the silent room, Mathieu stricken mute by his older brother's joke about the Belorussian girl. And just for a moment, Arthur wished that his boyfriend had never said a word.

Even thought laughter rang through the halls, no one even glanced at Natalỳa. She, being the first woman in the UnitedPeople'sAlliance, was an outcast a rule-breaker and a visionary. Believing that men and women could cooperate as equals. She was wrong, subjected to months of humiliation and strife to have her country and her people recognized by the U.P.A. Even with her brother Ivan helping her with the pressure and bullying to drop out of candidacy, it was still a lot. Dealing with a perverted Frenchman and a Spaniard with outdated ideas of femininity would be stressful on anyone.

Even when Mathieu decided to approve her appeal, the harassment didn't stop. The jokes and innuendos coming in a never ending onslaught, but today, Francis had gone too far.

Francis had brought up the dictatorship of Belarus, a sensitive subject for not only the Belorussian girl, but for her older brother as well. The harsh laughter that had rattled Gilbert and sent Antonio to the floor, stabbed at the girl and her brother in their hearts and minds.

Natalỳa, even though being traumatized the most, was the first to move. Slowly, looking out the window into the now raining sky. Nothing more than gasping and a single sigh, courtesy of Natalỳa, was heard. That is, until the sharp sound of flesh-on-flesh contact pierced the air and Francis dropped to the ground.