Tourniquet (Chapter 2)
Eliza Roark was sitting in total silence of the presidential leader suite at the Duchess High Hotel, home of gatherings of the most prestigious among the most prestigious within the Double A. Eliza was of a major influence in the actual group and as she sat at her desk writing her daily goings of yesterday in the detail she wanted it to be in, she started to slow down a bit more on her writing to reminisce upon her choices and events that caused her to become what she is now, and where she is today. This was a high honor to be placed so high and so loved and endowed among the highest members of the Double A. She was also the youngest of the highest and most prestigious members in the group and even though agnosticism was recognized, and even rewarded, as the newest and most respected religion in the world today, it was not so long when it was a feared state to be agnostic as well. To be scorned sometimes and to have your thinking of agnosticism idealized with sorrow and faithlessness.
As Eliza prepared herself for the prestigious event gathering in the main dining ballroom below, she had major flashbacks on her past on how it was. Before she became the leader and all-around head of the Double A, she was unsure with her life. She was raised in a family, torn by the falsified view of obligations. Her mother was divorced with her dad and they were way too different from each other. Things were not exactly the way they should have been when she was young and she never was really raised right. Even her father admitted to that and it was during a time when it was way too late to do anything about it. The same goes with her mother. Because of their attitudes towards her, they had an impact of negativity on the fragile mind of Eliza when she was young. Now she is twenty-four and all that time she has justified her reasons to make it so. Justification has now come in the form that her past, no matter how difficult and hateful it was, has brought her to a position where respect is the main key for it. She is the most respected person in the Double A, and probably in the world now.
As for her past alone, nobody seems to know anything about her past and that is what she wanted there. People knew basics such as who her mother and father are, where she went to school, her education either it be high school, college, or universities. Even past work histories were fine with her. However, the flesh was kept unknown and a secret and only she knew how it really went. Whenever she was interviewed, she tried to keep it on a minimal basis whenever they asked about her past. She also kept it extremely vague and extremely simple when it came to whatever they were asking as well. Yes and no answers is a friend to her during those times but they are answers that she herself alone does not like. Explaining and justification on an answer to show what she knows, how she knows it, what to do, where to go, when it came, why it is so is the way to be. You are more right with thorough idealism behind it all.
Eliza was getting really inpatient for the party downstairs was going on but she could not be down till later on and she could not mingle until after she gave her speech. After all this time, all of the delicious and beautiful appetizers before the grand meal and speech would be gone. She actually got to see first hand what they would be serving and they served a lot of elegant and miniature versions of comforts foods such as cheeseburgers, apple pies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries. The chocolate-dipped strawberries she really wanted to taste because she loved both chocolate and strawberries and to her, they were both aphrodisiacs. In that sudden moment of tasting a strawberry or chocolate, especially white chocolate, she was in love and love is very hard to deal with for she could not explain it in anyway possible so she really did not believe in it whenever it came her way.
All of a sudden, the silence was broken by a fast and light knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Eliza questioned.
“This is just the hotel attendant Miss Roark. I am here to inform you that in thirty minutes, everyone will gather to their seats to hear your speech.”
Eliza bowed her down and shook it sideways and gave a little half-smile.
“Thank you. I’ll be down in thirty minutes. You may go now.”
There was no answer but Eliza heard the footsteps walking away back to the main elevator in the back of that hallway. The presidential leader suite in the hotel was a very beautiful room and it was pretty much the size of one floor in the entire hotel. It consisted of over twenty rooms including two dining rooms, two kitchens, and numerous bathrooms. The dining rooms were the size of most grand dining rooms you see in restaurants. The kitchens were the size of commercial kitchens with the elegance and splendor of beauty of either the Plaza or a Hilton. The bathrooms were fully equipped and a trip from the shower to towel rack could be a workout in its own. People have been reported to actually get lost in this suite.
Eliza sat down quickly at the table in the entranceway meeting room as it was called for the suite itself was so big, the entrance into the suite had a meeting room with a map and a dot on it that says “You are here” and added throughout the suite ever since others got lost here. Eliza has used the suite before and she was able enough to figure out how to get around. The place was setup in a courtyard house style such as the Spaniards. All the bedrooms were on the outer side and everything else was inside. The concept was quite easy but people do not like easy, they like it too hard. As she was sitting down looking over the speech she would give at the party going downstairs. To her, it was nothing more than a party but to everyone, it was the most prestigious event that the Double A held every year since starting. Kind of humorous to be stating that since the Double A was formed only two years ago.
Pretty much, the numbers were better than last year for the number of people arising and joining the view of agnosticism as a religion has increased to the point that 90% of the world now was agnostic. This was very excellent news for the Double A for this means that agnosticism has been recognized and accepted by more people as a whole during a time than any religion in history, even more than Christianity and Islam combined. To the Double A, this is pretty much a victory. To Eliza, this was a justifying of means.
Fifteen minutes had passed and Eliza did hardly minimal to none on advancing her speech in anyway but she thought it was time well spent. She decided to eat a little something to settle her stomach and decided sushi was the best choice for she loved it as well. Sushi was another aphrodisiac to her too. The more she ate, the more relaxed she felt on her stomach at least having something in it besides nothing. A little change here and there on her speech before she printed it out, and it was at the part where those with faith could be quite influential and at that time she stopped. Her thoughts rushed back to her on her past for she had lived a reason why to hate Christianity and the whole aspect of believing in something that could not be proven on a physical standard and which has shown some negativity to her in her past. A year before she came along to form the Double A, she was struggling with her existence and her relationships back then. One man in her past made the biggest impact, and in her mind and life he made the most negative and positive impact on her. Positive for he actually showed her how to live and negative for she did not follow it and in that aspect, he became a demon to her. She hated him with all her heart and wanted him to die in her mind.
That was just five years ago and she remembered it quite well but now, she wanted to see that one man who made an impact on her so long ago and shove it in his face of her position now when it came to the world and what was going on in her life. She was no longer the repressed little girl he met five years ago and maybe, he is the initial drive for her to prove that her agnosticism is a view worth having now. A view which was true in the beginning but either misunderstood or ridiculed beyond reason. Now that agnosticism is the major religion in the world, more popular and understanding than Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Wicca, Buddhism, Satanism, and any other religion out there, she had no reason to be somewhat silent about her views on religion. She never believed in God and she never believed in anything that had no proof.
If there is anything about it, she never saw that man again. He was there, always around, and she could feel him close by in her instinct but he was never there. He just sort of disappeared from her mind and in that reality; his absence has made her strive to be better than him in every possible way. Her initial goal for the Double A was that the question is to prove what you believe but those who believe cannot even prove it with tangibility. Even the man she met who impacted her could not do it as well. Because of it, she wasn’t fine and she remembered the words given to her by that man about it.
“Everything will be fine if you want it to be.” she whispered to herself.
That phrase stuck with her like the waxing and waning of the moon. Guaranteed to be there on the time of every week and with that phrase, she ushered forth her new ideals and made big steps in the Double A. She remembered how she was able to meet the then leaders of the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite and the Formalized Educated Agnostic Religion when Gwendolyn Anderson was able to write up a formalized report that almost jeopardized both groups. She wrote a fan letter to both groups and despite it all, she became a very avid agnostic because of them. She used to be a casual agnostic but now, she was serious about her views thanks to them. She finally got her chance to talk to both leaders and her fronts were very good on what needed to be done. She came up with the idea to combine the two groups into one to save each other. It was actually here at the Duchess High Hotel, which was actually made by the Formalized Educated Agnostic Religion before they joined as one with the Harvard Agnostic Thinking Elite, that both major organizations announced their merger. Eliza was invited to attend and she was very proud to see such an organized coming of the age for two of the organizations she had a lot of respect for. Then it was the biggest surprise that right then and there, she was honored and recognized as the single person to actually bring them together and being named as the leader of the new organization. It was then that this new organization was recognized as the Agnostic Alliance.
Eliza was a ruthless leader when it came to the Double A and she had done some of the most unbelievable and most powerful accomplishments and tasks that the Double A has ever been accounted for. She was the one who actually brought a front up in a formalized research of the authenticity of the word of Catholicism and the Vatican. She attacked the small country with an iron fist and smites them with every hypocritical aspect they had. From the truths of unknown books in the Bible to their views on killing and how they did anything that was considered terrible in human rights in the name of God, she held nothing back and whenever the Vatican tried to group in order to say something, she would scream that they were thinking about lies to cover their asses. The Vatican had lost that battle when they were face to face with Eliza Roark that night and they lost a lot of their followers, almost all of their followers, turned on them and even a lot of those who worked, slaved, and lived in the Vatican gave up their views to search the truth and they now believed that agnosticism was the way to go thanks to Eliza Roark and her iron fist.
Without any support, or very little to none existent support, the Vatican was closed. The next turn would be the biggest slap to Catholicism when the Double A purchased the vacant lot of the Vatican and turned it into the European center for the Double A. The Vatican, which once was the center of the Catholic Church and Catholicism in general, was now the home base of agnosticism in Europe. The former members still true to the Vatican were furious but they could not do anything anymore to the turn of events.
Later on, Eliza used her powers and position to get more and turn it against those who had religion on it. In Islam, Mecca is an extremely important city and because of the Double A, it was almost demolished by the fanatical destruction of terrorism. Muslims can be quite terrifying in the name of Allah, but they are far worse when they find out Allah has no substantial proofing. The questions actually took an affect and in front of a Muslim nation, Eliza Roark addressed the front that why kill for something when all it had brought is death and war. It was the biggest question and she even used lines from the Koran to help her. She brought forth that their leader, Muhammad, was a peaceful man and a wonderful man and being warlike and barbaric was not being like him. Then she brought the intention of the possibility that Muhammad probably made this up based off of Christianity for there were a lot of similarities in both religions. Next, she brought up all the destructive things that nations, races, countries, continents have done in the name of Christianity. The crusades, the killing of billions in history including those without faith, those of different faiths, and even women were brought up. The final question was did they want to really be like them.
The whole speech was very simple yet how she spoke and her position in the world was very substantial. The next day after that speech, Islam went from the fastest growing religion in the world to the fastest declining. Agnosticism then sky rocketed to extremes that same week and many former Muslims flocked to the Americas just so they can finally shake hands with Eliza Roark and to let her know that she was a wonderful person and the most influential person they ever met.
Eliza’s status and role in the world was huge and very well respected. People didn’t believe it could not get any more powerful until that one day she had the interview with the most influential person among those who still held on to their faith. The meeting with Gwendolyn Anderson was quite a feat for it was two worlds colliding but in the beginning, it seemed that the both of them would get along. Probably make a compromise of some sorts but it was a tainted dream. All it took was a couple of well-placed tactical lines here and there and Gwendolyn lost her composure. Eliza had the upper hand though for she had it the way she wanted it. Even the guards confined Gwendolyn so Eliza could take a taste of carnal pleasures. It was the ultimate sign of dominance and in her mind, it put the edge on Gwendolyn and she knew it. The world was even watching during that time and now, it is questioned if Gwendolyn herself could counter her own views against Eliza. It was a victory nevertheless on Eliza’s behalf.
Now all Eliza wanted to do was to find the man who had impacted her those many years ago so that she could show him that she was better. She had secured her place in history and she knew it. She was immortalized as a leader of a religion most respected among over 90% of the world’s population. That mere 10% was nothing to her but she had plans on diminishing it as well. Also, she wanted to do something out of good joke and good predicament for those in the Double A who used to believe in faith. She wanted to not just win, but to control and dominate, and to completely demolish a way of life to fit her personal views. She wanted that man just to show it that she was better than him. In many ways, because of that man, she has become more driven than ever. However, she knew that her personal battles with demons would have to wait. The clock showed ten minutes left till she had to show herself downstairs. She printed the speech out and placed them delicately in the manila folder titled “speech”. Her next step would be something she knew would put her on the top tier of those who have succeeded and she knew it. This was the biggest feat she could ever take. The biggest step she could ever want to do. She was about ready to jump, and jumping was something she wasn’t afraid to do when it came to doing something for personal gain. She took a deep breath and Eliza exited the suite and took the elevator down to the grand dining ballroom.
It was time for the world to experience her presence and awe. This is true awe in full worth that she reveled in.
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