The Equation

The alarms screamed from behind the thin walls. My mother held onto her bible and prayed with tears in her eyes. My father stood at the door with his pipe pinched between his teeth. My little sister held her stuffed bear, clinging to my mother's arm.

A rustling patter muffled under the alarm. My eyes broke away from my family and I saw it. A large barn owl stared at me with its large round eyes. Its gray wings puffed up more and it jumped from the rafters of the ceiling. It flew out of the window into the sky.

The owl was a creature of the night; and it flew in broad day light. This day will be the day that owl will never forget. I could almost see its fear as I watched it fly into the clouds.

It was the day that we all feared for years. We were barely past a week in October and had so many plans. The screaming alarm began to muffle in my head. I no longer cared about hearing the warnings. All I wanted was to have my family safe.

Over twenty years ago, my parents were chosen to be part of an experiment. They handed them all they needed. The government had been so well to us. They gave us a beautiful home, with plenty of food. All we had to do was live a normal life.

Just like many Americans, my parents wanted the best life they could give to their future children. My mother was pregnant when they were sent here. My older brother was born in this very house.

However, it was told that his lungs couldn't handle the hot air during the summer. He suffocated as soon as he took his first breath. My mother was devastated.

The government took their grief and used it against them. Every day of my life, I watched my mother and father swallow a handful of pills every morning and inject a pasty liquid in their thighs every night.

Those drugs used to be part of my life. After I watched my little sister being born with her "birth mark", I stopped taking my pills. Ever since I saw her eyes and how she screamed, I never wanted to make her feel any more pain.

She has never taken a single pill her entire life. I was nearly twelve years in my life when I stopped. Our parents still don't know. She's only seven. Seven short years with this little girl made my life have another purpose.

I stood next to my father. The smell of his tobacco filled the western air. "It's almost time," he sighed. Smoke wafted from his quivering lips. He had been the strongest man I have ever known.

We had no neighbors. Everything we needed was trucked in by the men in suits. The open fields were covered with random small shacks. I spent most of my childhood exploring them. They were built the same as our home, even had food and furniture.

"We knew this was coming," my father sighed, handing me his pipe. I took it and stared at the burning ember in the bowl. I took a slow puff and held the smoke in my lungs. It was a secret we hid from my mother for years. She never wanted me to smoke.

"Dad?" the smoke never left my tongue. He never looked away from the winds shifting in the horizon. "If you knew this was going to happen, why did you agree with it?" I asked, taking another long slow draw from his pipe.

I handed the hand carved pipe back to him, waiting for my answer. He took it from my hand and sighed. "I always wanted to give your mother everything she's ever wanted. Before this, I was nothing; just a man with a dream bigger than the world."

"When the men in the suits came to me, they offered me something I could never give to your mother. Plus, I wanted to help our country. Doing this gives them what they needed to help make this country safer," his words were stronger than the alarm behind us.

"We were born here just to die for them," I stated. I felt his eyes fall onto me. "How are we helping? We are going to die in an hour. For what, information? How can our deaths help make the country safer?"