So I was hanging off of Lady Liberty's shoulder, trying to keep away from the collectors, when I watched her torch gutter and then go out.
And it occurred to me, too late, that the only thing between us and the consequences of our sins was that torch, or rather the liberty it represented. That liberty we had thrown away in pursuit of "safety" and "showing those brown people a thing or two" and "defending the sanctity of marriage".
With that torch gone, there wasn't any light left to hold back the things in the darkness. Below me, dead Chinese laborers and slaves gathered around the base of the statue, while shadows peeled from the walls of Hiroshima and Nagasaki flowed up the side, muttering in Japanese. In the distance, I could see Chochise and his men approaching.
All of them, all the victims used as fuel for the American Way™, come back for dinner.
Someone cleared his throat right next to me. How did Matthew Shepard get up here?
Matthew smiled, and shoved me off the edge.