[ wp ] Years ago , you made a deal with the Devil to be granted a single wish . All your memories of the deal were then wiped . Years later , your wish is fulfilled and you are about to find out what price your younger self was willing to pay to make it come true .

I walk down the hall, my false leg thumping with each step. A casualty of the war. Like so many others. So, so many. 
 
 The door to the balcony stands before me. I will go onto it, and face the assembled crowd, and listen to them cheer my name. They love me. Will they love my successor? Will I go the way of Lenin, followed by a madman into power? This is not the time for that. The people of America need a leader. Russia failed. Yugoslavia failed. China failed. Cuba failed. Maybe, just maybe, we can succeed. America has seen the fulfillment of capitalism's corruption. In this we find our strength. Communism was always to be a post-industrial system – this time, the seeds are sown properly. 
 
 I pass through the door, overlooking the grounds of what once was called the White House. I have not chosen a new name for it. Perhaps it will be burned to the ground, as a symbol of the old system. Perhaps it will become a museum. That would be better. The capitalist regime had its high points. There is no reason to forget what good it wrought. For the last week, however, it has been my home. 
 
 Outside, the grounds throng with people. White. Black. Hispanic. Men. Women. Probably some homosexuals, statistically speaking. They cheer when I emerge. I have not done so since the White House was seized. I wave. I do not smile. It would feel unnatural, not to mention disrespectful. Blood was shed for this. Texas fights yet, though I have called for troops to withdraw. They may be a Lone Star again. There are insurgencies. They are crushed. More blood. So much blood on my hands. My cause is just, but can the ends justify the means? I will never learn. I am damned regardless. I have made deals I do not remember, with prices I do not know. I see before me, though, what I have earned by it. For whatever it may be worth. 
 
 A shot rings out. A stinging pain takes me. I reach for my chest – what is this? Blood, blood on my uniform… was this the price I paid? 
 
 *Yes. * The voice is sweet and melodious. *It is your time. My part of the bargain will be fulfilled. * The speaker is young and handsome in appearance, but his eyes – his grey, stormy eyes – are old as the Earth. Where did he come from? Why is he on this balcony? 
 
 What did he mean by `` will be fulfilled?'' 
 
 He laughs, a high, clear, cruel sound like a hot brass bell. *Exactly what I said. I have done nothing yet. The war was won by mortal hands. And so, our contract has come into effect. Your new nation will stand, noble and fair, a glory in the eyes of all who behold it, so long as life that thinks and dreams crawls under your sun. * 
 
 *But you will have to take my word for it. *
