“Daddy.”
“Yes, Suzy.”
“What’s that out in the deep?”
“It’s The Facility.”
“And what’s The Facility?”
“You’re full of questions today, aren’t you, poppet?”
“But how am I going to learn about things if I don’t ask questions? That’s what granny tells me.”
“Your granny tells you a lot of things, but it doesn’t mean you have to believe all of them.”
“But, Da-ad!”
I envy my daughter. I wonder how long it will be before her sense of wonder is replaced with constant mistrust and fear. I sigh.
“OK. The Facility is a prison. It’s where bad people are sent, the ones who don’t respond to Treatment.”
“Treatment?”
“Like school, but instead of learning things like reading and writing, they learn how to be better behaved.”
“Oh. So the ones who don’t learn their lessons get sent out there?”
“Yes.”
An approaching ice-cream van distracts her. Time enough for her to realise that The Facility is merely a staging post. It is full of men and women forced to copulate and produce violent, bloodthirsty children, children who are trained in the art of war.
I am The Facility’s architect, may humanity forgive me. May my daughter forgive me.
————–
Freya Writes... 
Wow! That’s a hell of a twist!! Great story
Thank you, Al!
You’re welcome 🙂 Glad you found the comment 🙂
Quite the set-up for a much longer tale 🙂 Enjoyed!
Thank you – I did think I could probably use this as a seed for something longer in future 🙂
the elite always look down on the soldiers, but who is more honest to their nature.
I agree. We are after all, animals…
my old roomate used to say “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars.”
Yes, I like that quote.
oscar wilde…
This is great Freya. As soon as I read ‘Treatment’ my dark side twitched! Good job hun 🙂
Thank you! There’s nothing like a twitching dark side… 🙂
This is great Freya. My dark side’s ears twitched at reading ‘Treatment’! – Anything to do with this sort of stuff I like. Good job Freya, really good 🙂
Coo – yo commented twice! I am indeed honoured 🙂
I’ll tell you what happened…my Chromebook decided it would keep me logged out of WordPress and wouldn’t load the pages properly after commenting. And I thought damned if I let this machine stop me from commenting! 😉 Nonetheless, your story is so cool, I had to say my piece! 🙂
Ah, the wonders of modern technology! I’m honoured you wrestled so valiantly! 🙂
Too good a story!! 😉
Brilliant. The Facility and the Treatment both gave me the shivers. I don’t know if it’s the capitalization or just the words themselves. Great writing.
Good, I like to deliver a little shiver! For me, a capital letter speaks volumes… 🙂
The dark ending is quite stark. Brava!
It’s what I do… 😉 Thank you!