The Celebration

[Sene Unty]

I am walking across a meadow of green grass that I have never seen. I hear my mother describe it in smells and sights and the feeling of a soft wind in a hot summer. They have a name for it in the books but I have always known it by what she called it:

"Home."

I am walking across this field, my mothers field, and I am smiling as I twist and twirl in the sunshine of the morning. I am happy again. A voice cries out for me.

I turn.

And everything fades away....



"Sene!"

A voice calls out and I leap from my bed, the sheets spilling around me, as I search for the source of the noise. In the darkness of the room I fumble for a source of light. In the end it is my friend Marvelous who illuminates the world for me.

I groan. The room around me is the kind of mess that no amount of cleaning can ever fix. Only a good sized proton missle or thermonucleur grenade could serve to rectify this problem. From the ashy walls to the stink of rotted wood and rusted steel, I am once again remined of how far I have fallen.

"Have you heard?" Marvelous asks me.

I look at him and I wonder again how I could have ever gotten into my present situation. Marvelous is something between humanoid and breathing bacteria with his skin scarred by burns and needle marks. I can barely allow myself to look into his eyes; not because I am embarresed but because his forhead has managed to melt over them. I contemplate leaving him again but I push the idea away as quickly as I think it. In this world, in the pits of Coruscant, a man must keep his friends in whatever shape they come in.

I shake my head, "No, Marv. Haven't heard. I was sleeping."

"It's everywhere." He whispers through missing teeth, "They won."

I sigh, letting my annoyance and fatigue leave my body all at once. Discussions always go this way with Marvelous. For the five years that I have known him it was never different, even when his body and face where not as messed up as they were now.

"Who won, Marv?"

"The Rebellion."

I bolt up, "What?"

"Yeah the emperor is dead."

"Are you sure?"

Marvelous rolls his eyes, "Of course."

I stare at his face. The rebellion victorious? The emperor dead? I can't possibly believe this.

"Show me."



Outside, on the nearest walkway to the apartment that we squat in, I stand with amazement. All around me cheers go up reverbarating across the buildings and alleyways. Hundred of thousands dance in the street, toasting mugs of frothy liquid and singing songs of merryment. Beside me, Marvelous dances a sick little jig, his arms and legs twsting around in some mockery of proper movement. I let the joy soak in for a moment before I let myself think clearly. Above the crowds of people I spot stormtroopers with plasma rifles in hand. Around them camera droids float, capturing the festivities. I look back down and scan the crowd. Every few feet I spot groups of men who are not smiling or seeming to enjoy the good news at all.

My stomach flips. I reach next to me and hold Marvelous close to my body.

And then all hell breaks loose.

The groups of men pull from their coats rifles of varying sizes which they aim pointblank at the revelers around them. Then they open up their guns sending hot fire into the packs of innocents. People begin to scream and die as I fall to the ground...