#voem

Thanks Margot from VOEM vzw for translating De Zetting poster in Arabic! De Zetting is organised by de Koer and brings 5 & 6 October an ode to the Brugse Poort! 

More info in Dutch: https://www.dekoer.be/dezetting/

In English: https://www.edwinstolk.nl/theplacing.html

Download PDF here: 

Why hello there, my name is Voem. Well... Voem isn't my real name, obviously, but it's what everybody calls it, so I've gotten used to it by now. So if you want to shout my name in complete amazement, ladies, that's what you should use.

So well, you wanted to know more about me, eh? Well, luckily for you I know all about me. So let's start this story at the beginning. When I was young I lived with my mum and dad and my older brother Erik in a house just outside the city. It was pretty awesome, because the city itself was kind of nearby, but you didn't have to deal with all those annoying people everyday, so I thought it was cool. I usually just stayed home and played with my brother though, we were pretty close. My mum was a housemaid at a manor not far from our home and my dad was a scientist.

So yeah, one day these police officers came to our home and told us that our mum was killed in an accident at the place she worked at. We were all very sad of course, but my dad in particular became really depressed after that. He stopped taking me to his work like he used to do every week and he started drinking a lot. He came home drunk usually as well, so me and my brother had to take care of ourselves from then on. Luckily my brother was already old enough to join the fire brigade, like he always wanted, so we were still able to buy food and stuff. He worked really hard to take care of all of us, he was really awesome.

A couple of months after our mother died and me and my brother came home from grocery shopping we found our dad dead in the living room. He had hanged himself. Apparently he really couldn't take the loss of our mum. Me and my brother were already old enough to care for ourselves, so we just kept on living. Once I was old enough I joined the fire brigade too, so me and my brother were together a lot after that.

One day though, a bunch of the guys working at my father's lab came to our house and talked to my brother. I didn't know what they asked him at the time, but he quit his job at the fire brigade that he loved so much and started working at the lab after that. I didn't see him that much anymore, but he became really depressed after that, just like my dad, and he just wouldn't tell me why. I tried to make him quit that job and go back to the fire brigade again, but he said he couldn't.

After a few years I left our home and got my own apartment. I didn't really want to leave my brother alone when he was so sad, but he said he would be fine and didn't want me to worry about him anymore, so he pushed me to find my own place. It was pretty cool living on my own, but I still missed my brother.

One day a couple of weeks later I wanted to visit him again, but once I left the front door of my house I was called by the fire brigade. Apparently a fire had started in a house not far from me and I had to come and help. I was disappointed that I couldn't see my brother that day, but quickly grabbed my stuff and ran to the house. Duty called after all. It wasn't until I stood right in front of the house that I realized that it was my brother's. His house was burning right in front of my eyes. Before I could even realize it I ran into the house, desperately trying to find my brother.

I found him, laying on the table in the living room, the same place my father had died. I picked up his body and dragged him through the flames outside the house. He was already dead by the time we were outside, I couldn't even say goodbye anymore. I found a note and a lighter in his pockets. The note was addressed to me. It said: "You're old enough to care for yourself now, little brother. Please don't miss me too much."

How could I? How could I not miss him? After my parents were dead and even before my father died he had taken care of me. He meant more to me than the both of them ever did. So I started drinking... a lot. Maybe a little bit too much, but eh, I had to do something, right?

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that I met a certain girl that I stopped drinking so much. I can't really tell you much about her, because she'd kill me if I'd do that, but she told me a lot about myself. She told me about my superpowers, that I was able to stand in fire without burning and she told me what kind of horrible man my dad was. She also told me what kind of atrocities my brother was forced to do in his lab and most importantly: she told me about the Organization, a huge well... organization which the lab was also part of. She told me of the horrors that they did and that I could help her stop them. So I joined her, and together with some other people we fight the terrible Organization to free humanity!