“BREAK - FREE”

An Angelica Tejana Story

Work of Fiction in Relation of Current Events

Submitted to:
Mr. Archie Nale C. Mendoza

October 22, 2020

 BREAK - FREE

Middle summer of 2001, Kalia Reyes was walking her dog down the street when a bright sunny light
hit her vision. It was so blurry that she lost consciousness. She woke up with her puppy’s lick “Xiara…” she
weakly uttered. She looked at the room. It was not her room nor the street she last remembered. The door
opened “How do you feel?”, a lady in white asked. “Where am I?”, she asked. She tried standing up and
there she saw her hands, handcuffed. “Why am I restrained?” she asked, now a little bit irritated. “Well, for
starters, you made a meme for Harry Roque and the government that became constantly trending then you
were red tagged by the government. Those were some of the charges that you are currently facing.” the
nurse revealed with a hint of concern. She moves closely and checks the drip of Kalia’s IV. She then
whispered, “I’m sorry“ before leaving Kalia.

She was left dumbfounded. Why am I here? What am i doing here? Why am I facing those charges?
Last thing I remembered was walking Xiara down the street. The dog licked Kalia’s hand that brought her
back to her senses. She saw the news on TV in front of her. “as of October 18, 2020 there have been
354,000 current cases of coronavirus affected people. The govern-'' she shut down the tv with a remote
beside her bed. She tried standing up and wobbled for the first 3 minutes. She reached the door and
opened it but she was welcomed by a hundred - if not thousands - of armed people.

A high rank looking official approached her hugging its loaded AK47. “Where are you going?” he
stated with full autonomy in his voice. She trembled just looking at all those people with guns when they
all looked at her direction holding their guns. She slowly closed the door. “Why am I here?” she uttered.
She coughed hard. She was having a hard time breathing when a doctor came rushing in, she was confused
because all of the people around her were in some sort of protective gear.

All covered up, treating her like she was some sort of a virus herself. The doctor might have read
her expression as he explained, “You are currently infected by the virus. We are treating you so that you are
fit to attend a trial and be put behind bars.” “But why would I? I was just simply walking my dog!” she
exclaimed. “You were caught in a protest. They traced your identity back and saw all your hate for the
government.” the doctor explained. She vomited and laid her back on the headboard after. “Am I dying?”
she asked. “Well… staying here and not recovering means death. Recovering and going on a trial might be
your death too. I don't know what to say, I'm sorry.” she silently cried, “Why are you all saying sorry?”. The
doctor seated beside her bed. “You are a brave young woman. You exposed the government’s filthy
corruption on the budget for the pandemic and all those pocketed money that was supposed for the people.
You opened a lot of people’s minds. You let them know that simple beautification won't solve anything
related to the pandemic and what really people need. We don't need a white sand, we need mass testing,
food and shelter for those who can't afford it due to the current economic condition. You open their minds
and their hearts. A lot of people are following your footsteps. You are a modern hero. And we thank you for
that. We are sorry too. We can't do anything about it for now. However, there's a lot of young people who
registered to vote in the upcoming election so that they can change the government somehow. There is also
a drastic increase in protests and movements asking for justice and the president’s impeachment. We have
you to thank you for that.” She didn't realize her impact at all, but she liked it. She needed the young to
wake up. The people need to break free from this facist government. And somehow, she did it.