Short Stories: WHERE IS DANIEL?

The time was an early morning in the winter of 1941. Falling snow packed onto the hard labourers of Gulag 10WLA as they begin setting off into the mines and factories somewhere in the far east. Malnourished, mistreated and muddy, the inhabitors of this typical Gulag were kept under strict control of General Victor, who gave harsh punishments to any prisoner who dared riot or worse, insult the government. 

It was a normal evening. The prisoners were escorted back to the Gulag through the freezing taiga by cattle carriages. They waited in line for their daily rations: Rubbery potatoes, dried bread and lime water. If one behaved well and boasted high production, he/she would sometimes be rewarded with a small knob of fresh corn, a snack the guards would gladly feast on. General Victor was feasting on a large chicken when Archie, or formally, Guard Number One burst into his room reporting misbehaviour between two prisoners. Ben (Guard Number Two) and Miles (Guard Number Three) herded Aldous and Daniel into General Victor’s office for immediate inspection. It was later revealed that the two had been debating Religion and Atheism while performing hard labour in the factories – a violation of a law that states communication of any form between prisoners during work hours is completely prohibited. Usually, the cold, unfeeling heart of General Victor would have immediately sent the prisoners to the shooting range for immediate execution. This time, however, he was interested. General Victor decided to hold a debate between Aldous and Daniel with the audience being the entirety of Gulag 10WLA. It was clearly explained that the victor of the debate would be granted freedom from the Gulag and the other would be shot the very next day. 

Morning had arrived. The adjudicator, General Victor’s second-in-command, Luca arranged a small table and two rotten wooden chairs in the middle of the Gulag’s courtyard as the prisoners of 10WLA, called off from work by General Victor to watch the debate, gathered in a circle around the horribly organized stage. All eyes were on the debaters as they squeezed past the audience. Aldous was presenting his usual crooked smile while one could sense his ego rising beyond the Ural mountains. Daniel, emotionless, expected a quick destruction of his opponent’s arguments using his regular debating doctrine of blitzfakten (lightning facts). The debaters were seated and were told each that one could only speak for five minutes and if one was not able to respond to an argument in two minutes, they would instantaneously lose the debate. Luca began the debate right away and the eyes of the audience – prisoners, guards atop the watchtowers and General Victor in the commander’s hatch of a KV-1. Aldous and Daniel rambled for hours, throwing facts everywhere to no end. The eyes and ears of the audience grew weary but the debaters were wide awake, fighting for freedom. Eventually, as the sun began to set, Daniel stopped. He finally exclaimed with his eyes glaring and destroying the whole of Aldous’ ego, “Science deals with natural phenomena, not miracles.” Blood drained from Aldous’ face. So pale it became indistinguishable from the snow around them, while Daniel grinned, knowing he had defeated his opponent in the fight for freedom. As for Aldous, he collapsed due to oxygen starvation and his two minutes to respond were lost and got instantly mocked by Luca shouting “Hah, destroyed!” 

That night, General Victor congratulated Daniel for the victory and kept to his promise of freedom. He watched Daniel briskly walk out of the gates of Gulag 10WLA. He never looked back and he disappeared over the horizon. Daniel was never seen again. 

Today, people are still puzzling over the disappearance of Daniel. Some say he moved far, far away. Some say he was caught and brought to another Gulag. Some say he’s living among us right now, a normal citizen living a normal life, another face in the crowd.