A Warning

A quick second person point of view assignment i did for creative writing class. I hope you like it!

The tape captures your attention. Its grainy composition gives the video an eerie glow.

You turn the volume of the television to max, curious about what's happening. The news anchor advises caution to younger viewers. The paused screenshot jumps to life in a few erratic shakes of the camera. A massive room, unrecognizable from the limited view of the camera is al you see. Finally, the camera focuses on a man with a mask giving you a slight chill from its grin.

Giving a bow, the man continues with no introduction and recites the Bill of Rights with a hand over his heart. You're so glued to the television you wouldn't even notice the timer on the over chime. Your eyes follow the man as he paces back and forth across the screen, papers flung all over the floor and money lying in piles.

When he finally finishes, he snaps back to the center of the screen and laughs. "What a joke." From behind the camera, you hear hushed snickers. You notice the camera slowly zooming in on the man's mask. Recomposing himself, the mask continues.

"Our world is a violent cesspool of filth and bad intentions."

The proper English voice, normally a non threatening sound to most, now sucks all the joy from your home. Your skin begins to tingle as he continues his speech.

"You humans have forgotten you place in the circle of life. Fancy yourselves kings, do you? Thinking you are the masters of all things? Well, allow us to drop you back in line."

Now, you flashed an image of a dying soldier in Vietnam, then a screaming girl from the bombing of Hiroshima, a child soldier, it's an endless slide show of destruction for you viewing horror.

"The source of your undoing," the man continues, "Your greatest weakness and most fierce enemy: your fellow man. Does this offend you?"

Naturally, this question might strike you as obvious and senseless. However, the images only leave your mouth agape and dry. By now, you might be debating on changing the channel. Hoping to switch to a show about a silly sponge of two boys living on a cruise ship and hide your terrors with laughter, but the man has you in an almost hypnotic trance. How could you leave this? The man saunters back into frame, and more horrific pictures assault your eyes. Looking back towards the slideshow of death, the man only claps in mock approval. He reverts his eyes back to you, still giving his applause.

"Despite this impressive display, I still only see chimps fighting over territory. I see nothing special. The only thing that separates you from the beasts is the kind of stick you're swinging."

The camera broadens your perspective as it pulls back. You notice large metallic towers scattered like iron trees throughout the room, perched on them, large screens drenched in red with a strange symbol. However, none of this prepares you for the true horror. That's when you see the bodies, dozens of men strewn among the papers and cash.

"Forty Five days from now, a virus will spread through your government's mainframe. You will not stop it, and you will repent for your crimes." With his last words, the man asks one last question.

"Do we scare you?"