Parody Week: How "1984" Should Have Ended

(Italicized is parts are of the actual book. We are at the part where Winston and Julia have gone through "rehab" and made it back into society and happen to meet each other at a park.)

"I betrayed you," she said baldly.
"I betrayed you," he said.
She gave him another quick look of dislike.
"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something—something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say, 'Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.' And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself."
"All you care about is yourself," he echoed.
"And after that, you don't feel the same toward the other person any longer."
"No," he said, "you don't feel the same."

"Sometimes, I wish I could think. But if I think about that, you can no longer be here."

"You can no longer be here," he said. In his mind, Winston knew what he was thinking. He knew he was thinking about her. He knew he wanted her killed by Big Brother.

"I'll be going away soon. But that's OK. One of us had to." Julia walked away from Winston without saying another word.

"One of us had to," he echoed back.

Winston walked inside a store for a drink. There, a TV was playing.

"Big Brother loves you. The war is still on-going."

The war was always on-going. It had always been on-going.

"Big Brother wants you to know you are loved. There will be IMPORTANT NEWS. Wait for IMPORTANT NEWS soon."

Winston stood, drink in hand, watching the screen. He sipped, waiting for them to tell important news. He was hoping it was about them winning the war.

"Wait for IMPORTANT NEWS. You will celebrate this news. You will celebrate."

"You will celebrate," Winston said out loud to a man walking by. The man turned around, drink in hand and watched the screen.

"Big Brother loves you. The war is still on-going."

The war was always on-going. Two plus two was always five. It was always five.

"IMPORTANT NEWS is coming. You will celebrate."

"You will celebrate," Winston and the man said to a woman and man with drink in hand. They turned around and began watching with them. Waiting.

"News is incoming. The war is still on-going."

The war was always on-going. There was never a time when the war wasn't on-going.

"You will celebrate the IMPORTANT NEWS."

A group had now gathered, and chanted afterwards. "You will celebrate," they all said.

Without warning the screen displayed a countdown. No one said anything as they watched the numbers decreased every second. When it hit zero, a face appeared again.

"Big Brother wishes you a happy new year. It is now 1985."

It was always 1985.

"Big Brother wants you to know you are loved. You will celebrate."

The group sipped their drinks in unison, and then slowly broke up. Winston was the last one standing there, his drink in hand.

"The war is on-going. It is 1985."

The war was always on-going. It was always 1985.