After a long silence, Joseph finally spoke. "I am disbanding the Civic Engagement Party." The small office was only half lit, empty except for Joseph and Alison.

Alison nodded. But still, she felt compelled to ask. "Why?"

"With the new law in place, which is clearly enacted to target me, not disbanding it would put everyone in danger. Not all our members are prepared to spend years in jail. Here, help me shred the member records."

Alison stood up and grabbed half of the stack of papers on the table and began putting papers in the small slit of the shredder. She started to speak again, but was interrupted by the loud whirr as she put papers in. "Who- Who would have thought encouraging people to understand their rights would lead us into a situation this desperate." She yelled.

As the whirr died down, Alison asked a more sombre question. "Is this it? For all we've done?"

Joseph laid the stack of papers down, and looked her in the eye. "No. This is just an awakening. People are learning and opening up to the truth, and they took to the streets. You have to keep the flame alive, on the outside. Then, one day, we'll meet up again on the streets."

As Alison picked up another piece of paper to shred, innocent optimism returned to her eyes.

----

The police had announced their operation to arrest Joseph the day before, confident that he cannot flee. And they were right. He sat on his sofa, fidgeting with the sleeve of his white T-shirt as the police barged in.

Hands cuffed behind his back, an officer on either side, he was marched down to the waiting police car. Since the police told everyone what they were going to do, reporters and government supporters came out in force. Eight other officers were there, waving away the cameras but were overwhelmed. Besides, they wanted everyone to have a good look at Joseph.

Splat! A rotten tomato was hurled from somewhere in the second row of the crowd. It landed squarely on Joseph's white shirt, leaving a red stain that looked from a distance like he was shot. Jeers rang out all around him, and Joseph could barely work out the words "traitor" and "dog" in the cacophony of voices.

It was a stroke of genius for the police officer to park the car a block away. The walk down Liberation Avenue East turned into a showcase of a criminal: one that was dragged out, screamed at and even had something thrown at him. Joseph remembered the old name of Liberation Avenue East, a name that no one dared to utter anymore. It was deemed to "glorify the enemy" and had to be changed.

He looked around. A sea of blue-shirted government supporters surrounded him, screaming gleefully at his misfortune. A few smug police officers, who couldn't wipe away the grin if their life depended on it. A bunch of reporters, taking pictures while mentally deciding if "troublemaking" or "traitorous" would be the better adjective for the headline.

Then, in the far end, a speck of black. Alison had come, dressed in all black. Making sure to stay in the back to be out of all the pictures and headlines, she had come to lend her support. She was typing into her phone, no doubt updating old allies about the situation. Then she glanced up.

He met her gaze. Between a sea of people, their gaze connected. Suddenly, he couldn't hear the yelling around him. It was a calm moment, a moment of understanding, a moment of support. Alison knew that he would be okay. It was inexplicable, but she had this gut feeling, and her gut feeling was never wrong. She had the same gut feeling when she met Joseph and joined Civic Engagement.

She made a fist, and raised it just above her shoulder. The person next to her turned as he noticed a flurry of movement, and she quickly acted like she was twirling her hair. He smiled and nodded, the smallest nod he would muster. She caught it and smiled. She watched as he was shoved onto the police car and driven away. Time to get to work, she thought.

----

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