The Waiting Room

G.L.O.V.E.

Knackered, overworked and loaded with mounds of homework, I staggered into the lift too tired to take the stairs. As bad as the day had already been, on top of that the lift got stuck mid way. Hysterically I punched every possible number on the display and suddenly the cart plummeted. As the doors opened there was a strange capsule directly in front of me. I cautiously made my way inside step by step and suddenly the hatch closed abruptly, the capsule lurching forward. It came to a sudden halt and the hatch opened.

An ear-piercing alarm sounded “Intruder alert, code red, I repeat code red.” Then suddenly countless uniforms slammed me to the ground. I awoke in a sterile room, slumped on a hard stool, the only other pieces of furniture were a stool with a table opposite me.

The door swished open as a smartly dressed woman appeared in the doorway giving me a cold stare as she marched toward the other stool. A file slammed onto the table in front of me. “Now, Mr Francis Watson, born 2000 at 0700 hours July seventh. Parents work at the EU, one mother in cyber security and the other in media.”, she read from the file. How did she know all this? “What is this place?” I asked scared to my core. “You are at G.L.O.V.E also known as Group, lex, ordo, verum, ebire. We are a secret organisation working to protect the law and order of the EU and it’s executives.” “Look I shouldn’t be here.” I responded."Actually all of this was orchestrated to get you here, you see we believe that coincidences do not exist."

"You have two choices either you can forget this ever happened or you can work for us.” “Get me out of here.” “Well why don’t you listen to our proposal. We have our suspicions about someone in your school, the European School of Brussels II“ “Oh you mean EEB2.” “Yes. We need you to be our eyes and ears. We have credible information that someone will attempt to assassinate the President of the EU. We believe that the suspect is either an authority figure or a student in 6^th or 7^th  year.” I thought about it for a while and asked: “If I were to agree hypothetically, would I get gadgets? “ “Now you are not 007 but never the less you will be provided with a wrist communication device and your glasses will be fitted with a camera which will send information to our monitoring system.” “Do I have to tell my parents?” “No, of course not, if you decide to work for us you will have a higher clearance level than your father.” “Okay, may I think about it?” “No, we have to know your answer before you leave the premises." "Oh, okay"  "Before you make your decision I want you to meet my boss." 

As the door swished open I heard a familiar voice saying ”Hello Francis.” I knew immediately who had just walked through the door as I felt my face go red from embarrassment. Out of shock I shouted out “Mummy, what how even-“ “Francis Alistair Peter John Watson I had you pegged for this job your whole life.” “But-but you-are a se-secretary at cy-cyber-security.” “Well that is partially correct just that I’m the head of G.L.O.V.E. Now it's decision time.” I probably looked like a tomato but never the less I had an odd feeling that agreeing to work for them would be the right decision ”Yes I will work for you.” “Good there is a lot you need to learn so we better get started. Allis take him to the Dojo and then he has to take the TEST.” “Yes ma'am, right away.” What did I just agree to?

By Tristan Francis Watson Brown

How Donald Trump Got Elected - Or How the Neoliberal Moderate Left Led to America's Downfall

In the past few months, all the way through the American presidential elections, the world has been shocked by one man: Donald Trump. How a racist, xenophobe, wall-preaching so-called businessman, who has gone bankrupt a staggering four times, managed to become the leader of the free world is a question people all over the world have been asking themselves ever since the last ballots were drawn.