[Originally posted to livejournal.]

[Up at 3am again. Just polished off the last of the bean dip.]

I'm sitting in a dark, forgotten little corner of a slowly sinking ship. On this ship, some of the crew are running frantically back and forth, pulling ropes, and shouting, all in a desperate attempt to keep the vessel afloat. Their efforts are futile, but they refuse to admit defeat. Slowly, the ship loses buoyancy.

Passengers, still comfortably shuttered away in their private lounges, continue to believe that this pleasure cruise will never end; certainly not during their lifetime. Thus, they are content to keep gambling, joking, and wasting the night away, oblivious to all that is happening elsewhere.

Below deck, the slaves toil away in backbreaking labor. This is nothing new to them. It is the same as every day that came before, although today's load does seem especially heavy. Whatever dim awareness a few might posess regarding their demise matters little to them. Functionally, they aren't much more than machines now; their spirits were crushed long ago.

Up top, the captain smirks and chuckles, then pauses to stare blankly off into the distance. He smiles and mutters in a self-congratulatory tone, "Four more years."

The lifeboats, untouched and forgotten, will never be used.