"Lights out." He yelled

I thought about my circumstances and how I ended up in this situation.

"if you don't turn those lights off soon I will make you turn them off."

"Alright alright, you need to chill I'm turning them off."

That last remark was stupid and idiotic, but at least I wouldn't get..

"Ahhhh what the hell," I screamed while falling to the ground

"I told you boy this attitude would get you killed, and I'm this close to cutting off your tongue and making you swallow it."

The whip went off like a firecracker on my neck and back. I looked in the mirror, and with horror, my back was all bloody red. He got some good hits in there, and without treatment, I would bleed out. Then without warning "CRACK!" the whip hit me right in the back of the head. I couldn't see where I was and slowly a red circle formed around me. Fading into the darkness, I could see two figures looking down at me. One was smiling while the other had the look of disappointment.

“Leave me only please, I’m sorry.”

“You have failed us, Chris, used our ways against them. Now we will be gone. Your memory wiped”

“NOOOOO, please don’t I have so much to do in my life with this knowledge and….

“TWAGKEKE” they yelled.

And with that strange word they were gone. I was trapped forever with the knowledge that I held.

“Please come back I want to know more, PLEASE!!”

“Chris don’t make me get the whip, go to sleep now.”

I cried that night, just wanting to see how everything went so wrong.

…

Waking up every morning in the same place is a blessing in my opinion. All ways being on the move is what makes me want to slit my throat.

“Chris, please get up, you have to get to the factory to make us some money for food.”

“Mom can we just steal some food, that factory is hell on earth.”

“CHRISTOPHER ROBIN MORGAN IF YOU DON’T GET OUT OF THAT BED WILL BEAT YOU SENSELESS!!!”

I don’t know why she makes me do this. My family is impoverished. We got screwed over by the system my grandfather fought to establish. Waking up in a different back alley is rough, but the factory is worse in my opinion. It’s messed up that they use children for the work, we are slaves in their eyes.

“Honey I love you, and I am very appreciative for what you are doing for this family, ever since the factories have opened people from all over have moved to Boston.”

“Mom I know, you have told me this story a million…”

“Child do not interrupt me,” She said with a disappointed look “I was about to say that people from all over have moved to Boston to work in the factories, our once little town has now become a hub for America.”

Urbanization ruined my family. With people migrating to the gloomy, rainy, and the once marvelous city of Boston all prices went up, while pay went down. Buildings were crumbling at the seams, brick everywhere while people stand upon the ruins chanting some nonsense. The only good part about urbanization is that I get to meet new people, but it also leads to the downfall of my once great society — the gray smog covering the air, black marks of filth upon little children faces. Life wasn’t going to improve, but I had to survive through it.

…

“I told you boys if you don’t have those machines making a hundred pieces of cloth by the hour then I will punish everyone here until you see red is that understood” our boss yelled at us

“Yes master” we all chanted in unison

Machines did all the work. We just sat there doing the same thing over and over for hours. That's the thing about the factories; we were little monkeys while the machines were the cymbals we smashed together. They don’t care how we got the cloth made, just that it is done. I have seen children with broken bones having to push through the hour to get a dime.

“Chris you are fourteen years young, and you’re slacking off, I’m gonna starve because of you not doing your heavy lifting.”

“Charles, just because your 15 you can’t tell me how to do my job you lick finger, stop kissing the boss’s behind just to get a penny.”

“CHRIS YOU'RE GOING TO DAMN US ALL”

All of a sudden with a “WHACK!” the hammer hit me in the back of the head. Everyone started to look translucent. The world began to spin around and around. “Char...Charles I am goi...going to kill you…” And the next thing I see is pitch black.

…

“TWAGKEKE” Two loud voices chanted. “WE HAVE ARRIVED NOW BE SILENT”  

“Wake up my child we have a lot to talk about” one of them uttered

“Uh, John Locke what are you” I paused to the realization that I was bleeding from the back of my skull “HOLY HELL.”

“No cursing dear boy. Yes, it is I John Locke, and this is, well, no one important.”

“What do you mean not important, I made you who you are, Chris I am the greatest philosopher of all time Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes.”

“Chris don’t listen to him to the idiot who spats nonsense about his profound social contract theory. His view on that matter is way too intense.”

“John, the child, is working for a company. We have had this conversation multiple times, and they deserve to get beaten because it is in the rules.”

I concluded that these two philosophers were here to share their purpose. Maybe try to have me realize my mission within the world.

“Don't you give this boy any ideas, he shouldn’t be here. Throughout time children don’t work, they have fun and smile. Not sit in a factory all day and work.”

“John he does not have the right to own anything, and yes the boy needs to be free, but he already is.”

“You call this freedom Hobbes, they are getting beaten, and you say he doesn't have rights. You are mental.

The two fighting was intriguing. Other children were free so why am I not and I have rights so whatever Hobbes is saying didn’t apply to me.

“Quick question” I blurted “If other kids are free then why are most kids here not? The whole city is crawling with kids that work in places like this”

“Dear child that's because it is 1827, the U.S is not the world's center yet. England is still in power, and your dear country is still trying to be in the top 3.”

“Children shouldn’t be free though John” Thomas Hobbes proclaimed “They should be put into control so that they don’t hurt themselves or others. Remember humans are inherently bad, children growing up in factories can cause them to learn discipline.”

“Thomas, are you kidding me. These are horrible conditions that not even fully grown humans have to serve under, but these kids do. I’m done with your thoughts on the matter.”

With that final word John had pulled out a gun and fired a single shot. Thomas Hobbes tried to run, but the bullet hit him right in the middle of the chest. A dark red oval began to form where the bullet hit, and his eyes became pure white like he had become possessed.

“Chris I know you haven’t been able to say much, but we need to do something about this place. I say we should start a revolt, and the boss can’t do anything if the whole place is against him.”

“I agree, but first I need to do something, this place has taken my childhood. My lungs have been filled with this smog every day for the past six years, and I am tired of it. If children are free in the future why aren’t we free now?”

That thought had made me engulfed in rage and anger. How can kids be free later on if I’m here working every day to provide food and shelter? Then when I don’t do a good job, I get hit and abused. The world wasn’t fair

“All good questions my child, but they will be answered in time. Every child here deserves to have rights. They don’t deserve to be in labor, and they have the right to have liberty, to be free.”

“How are we gonna do that John Locke?” I questioned

“We will burn this place to the ground Chris, and we will be heroes of this story. Every child in here will be free. The social contract theory says that people need to be kept accountable. But all humans are good. Even though Thomas thought otherwise it is true that humans are good. Now please give me that candle.”

I quickly ran over to the candle and grabbed it with both of my hands. Running back I saw all the other kids looking at me confused, but John had shown me the way kids would be in the future. When I came back, I gave John the candle, and he throws it on the bin of oil. The bright light quickly engulfed the factory making my forehead sweat a river.

“John we did it” I proclaimed

“No, my son we did it” He whispered

Looking at the ground, I went to go pick up Thomas Hobbes so that he wouldn’t be burned. His body laid there without knowledge of what was going on, and because of his death, he let me and the other children be free. When I arrived at the body and started dragging it out, there was no red circle. The gunshot wound that happened moments early was now gone. “OH NO!!” I yelled. I went to look back at John, but the only thing there was children terrified. “JOHN WHERE HAVE YOU GONE I SCREAMED!” I screamed, “WHY DID YOU LEAVE.”

…

Did I feel bad about throwing the hammer, maybe? But that twerp deserved it. He doesn’t know what we all have to do to get by. Time passed, and I got back to my station, did work that Chris should have done, but he just laid there unconscious. All of a sudden Chris woke up and started talking to thin air, “Look, guys, Chris has gone mental” I teased

“HAHAHAHAHA!!” the children chanted”

Did I mess up Chris that bad that he now sees ghosts? The thought of it was funny and witty. I now have gotten Chris out of my hair.

“CHILDREN HAVE YOU FINISHED?.” the Boss screamed

“Yes sir.” we all uttered  

The boss looked at our work to see if we were telling the truth. I realized very soon that on Chris’s station there was a little piece of cloth on top of his spinning jenny.

“Looks like we didn’t finish Hosea,” the boss said while looking at Hosea

“That’s Chris’s work not..”

“I said you didn’t finish Hosea” the boss screamed. With a quick movement of his hand, he slapped Hosea. He hit him over and over until his face was left bloodied and beaten. He fell to the ground, and he looked dead. Looking back over at Chris he had started to walk over to the candle on his desk.

“Look at Chris master Bill” I screamed. Chris had picked up the candle and ran to the oil bins looking back at us with a smirk. “Chris don’t do that. Somebody stop him” No one would listen to me and before we knew it the place was in flames. Chris ran over and tried to drag Hosea out, probably because Hosea was his friend. But instead of dragging him out he just looked there confused and in disbelief

“WHY DID YOU LEAVE!” he yelled. Everybody looked in confusion. Why did Chris try to do this to us? The police came and took him, and we managed to get everybody out before it was too late, even Hosea, but he died shortly after because of his wounds, and the blame was put on Chris, not our boss. Our only question remained unanswered, why did Chris try to do this to us?

…

“Do you understand what you have done boy” the prison guard yelled

“I wanted to save them all sir, and he promised me a better life. Told me of a better life.”

“Chris Morgan, no one else was there with you. You were the one that threw the candle on top of that bin.”

“I promise you Sir, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes were there. John lit the place on fire while Hobbes told me that I should have rules and deal with my conditions in that textile factory.”

“Oh, my lord boy, both of those philosophers died two hundred years ago. Don’t worry the madness will end soon.”

“THEY PROMISED ME A BETTER LIFE” I Screamed. He didn’t understand what I saw. They were real. “Those people in the factory put me in a living hell, and they deserved to die. I deserve to have rights and be free.”

“No boy you don’t. You broke the rules and rules keep people in check. You were free already and...”

“That place does put me through slavery.”

“NO THEY DON’T, NEVER INTERRUPT ME,” He yelled “you don’t have rights in there, child. Everything will soon end, and you will be hung in the morning because of Hosea’s death.”

“Hosea is dead?” I uttered

“Yes,” he whispered. “It's time to go to bed. You will be able to see your mom before you get hung.”

“Why did they leave me” I questioned. I wanted to know the answers, but I couldn’t see them.  

“Lights out” he yelled.