Greta's journey

Greta couldn’t remember her first termination. They were quite a recurring event, and for everybody they represented various milestones: because of a termination, many friendships were born or lost, people found and lost jobs, and even love stories were started in the aftermath of one of the ever present termination ceremonies that marked the passing of time.

Her and Mike met at a termination and immediately hit it off. They met in the moments before, sat side by side during the main event, and now, little more than two years later, they were married, living their life together.
In her mind, it felt like a lifetime ago: she was hot, single, and she never doubted that she would marry before her 30th birthday. Not like the woman that was terminated the day they met: Greta could not remember her name, as she was the friend of a friend, and couldn’t care less. Their first kiss happened that same night, outside the venue in a dark alley. They were both drunk and laughed uncontrollably when they got interrupted by the janitors, taking the woman's body away after the termination.

“Was she hanged or beheaded?” she asked Mike, as he was able to know what she was thinking about.
“Who?”
“The woman from when we met. I can’t remember her name, I can’t even remember what happened to her… it feels like so much time ago.”
“What happened to her was that she didn’t marry before 30”, replied Mike with a quirky smile on his face.
“I know why she was terminated. But I don’t remember anything else. It was our first date, and yet so much of it feels so blurry now…”
“You don’t remember our lovely first encounter? Oh my God, I think this is grounds for divorce, Greta!” said Mike, clearly joking.
“Don’t joke like that, Mike. You know it gives me the chills and…”
“Look!” Mike interrupted her, “we are here!”

Greta immediately regretted reacting so stiff to his joke. It was only a joke, Mike loved her and the marriage was still in its prime. Or was it? Did they have enough sex? Was he looking around for a new partner? She knew any excuse was a good reason to terminate a marriage. And terminating a marriage ment terminating the bride.
Greta felt the immediate need to check on Mike, and if he was offended in any way by her reaction, or her fading memories of the details of their first encounter.

“What I do remember very well was how aroused I was in that back alley and… how we were interrupted back there,” Greta said, smiling at her husband who was busy parking the car.
“Ah ah, right!” Mike said, eyes focused on the back window.
“See? You don’t remember little things either, my love”

“So now you have grounds for divorce as well?” laughed Mike.
“No thanks, I’d like to stay alive” smiled Greta.

She couldn’t understand if she made it better or worse. The day had begun on very different terms, and she felt very honored to be seated front row in that day’s termination. Mike woke up more horny than usual and got in the shower with her. Everything was good. Until she got lost in her train of thoughts and messed it up, and that could very well make her a divorced woman.
A dead woman.

Greta felt her legs giving up under her own weight. She did not want to get a divorce. She did not want to be terminated, but she had the feeling something had gone wrong in her conversation with Mike.
“Come on Greta, we are late!” Mike told her as she struggled to keep her balance in the thick gravel of the parking lot. He rushed ahead, well aware of the social embarrassment they could face if they got there late: the couple terminating their relationship were close friends, and reserved front row seats for Mike and Greta. Their absence was more than noticeable, and it was her fault.

Sure, Mike joined her in the shower, and that was the main reason she got behind schedule. She tried to do hair and makeup as fast as possible, but then her heel broke and she had to glue that thing back together as she didn’t have a plan B on her shoes. So it was mainly her fault, according to Mike: not that he gave her much of a hard time. He trusted they could be there in less time than what the GPS said, and she disagreed silently. She was right, as the road to the location took longer, and so they were the last to take a seat. Almost as if they were the ones everyone was waiting for, the master of ceremony opened up the event almost the second Greta settled in her seat.

“Thank you, thank you everyone for joining us in this beautiful morning” the master of ceremony shouted into the microphone. Greta smiled and clapped with anyone else, but her stomach was in turmoil.
“Today, Linda and Adam will terminate their marriage by the law, but this is not about something coming to an end. It’s about something new entering your lifes. Adam is a keeper, and I know that he won’t stay single for much longer after today”.
The crowd nodded in approval, smiling at each other. Greta played her role and did the same, hiding her hands sweating and shaking.
“As for Linda, she gets to go out in this beautiful place, surrounded by the people she loves. That’s more than a lot of women can ask for, as you know. Adam has been very kind to her, I think that deserves a big round of applause from everyone here, right?”

The crowd applauded and cheered. The guys in the back, mostly young, single and already drunk, were louder than appropriate: they could afford it, and took the advantage.
Greta took the chance of looking behind her: in the rows of white chairs arranged on the grass, a lot of familiar faces smiled and laughed together. It was a beautiful, happy moment, a moment that should have been all about Adam; and yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that Mike was already evaluating a termination for herself.

“And now, before we get to the food and drinks… that I know you are waiting eagerly as much as I do, let’s welcome the soon to be single Adam and, for the last time, his loving partner Linda!”

Adam and Linda walked the aisle like a young couple would do on their wedding day; everything was arranged to mimic the atmosphere of a fancy, country-style wedding.
Linda's last steps. No more walks in the park. No more walks. Period.

When they got to the stage, Linda and Adam hugged one last time center stage, as it was probably planned and rehearsed the day before. Then, as scheduled, the master of ceremony joined them carrying a big sword that Greta had seen before, hanging from the wall in Linda and Adam's living room. Only then did she realize how he had hung that object in plain sight for her to see every day, a reminder that all it took for him to use it on her was a split second decision.

Greta looked at Linda, trying to imagine what it would feel to stand in front of a crowd, just waiting to be terminated. Knowing that every movement, every second, is pushing you towards a violent death.
Linda looked back at her, keeping her face emotionless as required. Greta did the same, but couldn’t sustain the look in Linda's eyes and turned her attention to Mike. He looked satisfied and excited: men took a huge pleasure in terminations. For the groom, it meant he could start dating again, and fish in a pool of younger women wanting a partner before their 30s. Women ready to do everything in their power to take hold of a handsome, rich and well mannered man like Adam. And there was one that had probably won that lottery already: or at least Greta hoped that was the main reason behind Linda imminent death.

And Linda was about to die in front of them: she diligently went down on her knees in front of her husband, maintaining eye contact with him. Mike loved to maintain eye contact during blowjobs, and Greta knew that Mike would be particularly aroused by that tiny detail.
Greta knew how arousing he found the entire process and how much he liked to talk about terminations during sex.

Linda then stretched forward, protruding her neck to the best of her abilities, looking at the ground and Adam took position to her side, facing the crowd.
No more looking at the sky. No more looking, at anything else.

“I hoped she would kneel straight towards us… one last look at those nice tits down her blouse would have been nice” Mike whispered in Greta's ears.
“I think you can look at them afterwards as well,” she replied, shivering.

Adam lifted the sword high, as the crowd fell almost completely silent, except for some giggles and whispers coming from the drunk youngsters at the back. They did not care about Linda. And in a few seconds, no one would care either.
Greta realized she was holding her breath and reached out to Mike’s hand: she wanted the physical touch from her husband during the execution. He took her hand into his and moved it extremely close to his, clearly hard, cock. A good way of hiding his erection and at the same time, an opportunity to use Greta’s hand for some rubbing over his pants.

The blow came without any warning: Greta was surprised by the amount of force that Adam used to swing it at Linda’s neck. The blade went through her neck like butter, before hitting the ground with a loud metallic noise. Linda’s head kept rotated in sync with the movement of the blade, falling with the back of her head on the ground, face looking up, before rolling on one ear. The body just fell forward, the last heartbeats shooting blood towards the floor, almost hitting Greta’s shoes. The crowd exploded in a big applause, as Adam dropped the blade and waved at everyone as the host of a late night show.

As the crowd started applauding Linda graceful, silent and quick termination, Mike gently removed his hand from Greta’s grip, joining in the big applause. Greta had kept squeezing her husband's hand and doing so prevented him from being one of the first people starting the applause. She had caused another moment of embarrassment to him, as the late arrival was not enough. She felt like she was rolling downhill and nothing would stop her being a drag for Mike. Nothing but a big, fat divorce, like Linda got. She pulled herself back together and joined the applause in the dying moments.
She had just witnessed Linda’s dying moments.

Greta had already seen a beheading before, realizing how violent and quick such a termination was. Linda didn’t seem to have suffered, although it was quite hard to tell; she couldn’t move closer to her, as everyone would have noticed her being worried for Linda and not celebratory towards Adam. A sign that wouldn’t have been received well by the crowd or Mike himself. So she kept her smile high and, minding not to get blood on her soles, walked with Mike towards Adam to congratulate him in person for being single again.

“Sorry about being late, my friend,” said Mike hugging Adam.

“I’m so happy you are here! I told everyone to just wait a couple more minutes, that you will get here in time… and so you did! I’m so happy you managed to arrive in time” Adam replied, kissing Greta on the cheek.

“It was my fault, Adam. My heel broke… I had to fix it… I’m sorry. Thank you for waiting us, and can I say you look amazing today”

“Be careful Mike, she knows I’m available now!” Adam laughed with Mike.

Greta laughed as well, while feeling her stomach twitch with anxiety. Was she too outspoken?

“You look gorgeous as well Greta, you look better than anyone else” Adam told her, waving his finger towards the crowd now slowly moving in the direction of the buffet.

“Thank you Mr. Single” Greta said, looking around and realizing she was way overdressed for the occasion.

Being in a renovated farmer’s house, now turned into a wedding/divorce location, her tight, orange, dress and high heels contrasted strongly with the chill, semi-formal dress code everyone seemed to use. Except for her and, because she insisted he put a tie and a more formal dress, Mike.

Another terrible mistake, on this terrible day. In a couple of hours Greta had already stacked a fair number of reasons Mike could use to divorce her. She looked back at the termination stage, in the faint hope Linda would have been at least as formally dressed as her: in the rush of the late arrival, she did not really managed to take a good look at her.

When Greta turned around, as casually as possible not to be disrespectful to Adam, the only thing left was a janitor washing the blood away. The dead body and the severed head were already gone, and so any trace of Linda’s life, death, and existence.

The party had just started.