The Unsatisfying Trilogy

3rd story: A world of unbalanced fate

"It's just the Atropos." Milly passed Zoe a melted lollipop. It was wrapped in crumpled packaging, a sign it  had been in her pocket all day.

Zoe sighed, "Yeah I know. But all I did was give a friend two chocolate bars and I lost five of my own."

Milly coughed up her smoothie, "You gave them wo bars? Two?! You know how dangerous that is? I don't blame the Atropos for taking away yours!"

Zoe nudged her, "Milly, seriously? You're just anxious because of the lolly you gave me!"

Milly apologised, chucking the leftovers of her smoothie onto the floor, "Sorry, you have a fair point. But do you really think the Atropos is gonna punish me for a lolly? I hate this system. It's so messed up! You do bad and fate gives you good. You do good and fate gives you bad."

Literally.
For in this world, good actions have bad consequences.
Bad actions have good consequences.

Zoe popped the sticky lolly Milly gave her into her mouth.
She shrugged her shoulders, "Well yeah. I gave someone chocolate and get my stuff took away. You give me a lolly and god knows what next..."

Milly nodded, "precisely".

"But how else are they going to control us?" Zoe frowned, "Remember the history class about the Killing Kindness? When humanity got too soft and selfless." 

Milly stopped nodding, no longer following, "Yes but it isn't fair. We are soft and selfless beings. So they try to control us and force us to be selfish? How do they do it anyway? How the hell do they control fate?"

Zoe stood up and brushed of some sandwich crumbs from her top, "Milly stop overthinking things. The Atropos doesn't make us selfish. It just makes us more careful."

"Try explaining that to the Takers," Milly mumbled.

Shocked by Milly's point, Zoe raised her eyebrows, "The Takers are criminals! They hurt innocents so the Atropos gives them great rewards!"

"But why? The Atropos is supposed to control humanity yet it lets people like the Takers do whatever they want? Society really has collapsed!"

The bell rang, ending lunch and cutting of Milly's and Zoe's debate. 

Inside the school, posters and posters reminded the students of Aureole High of subtly twisted ideologies about right and wrong.

There really was propaganda everywhere. 

"Always think whether helping others will benefit you", "Follow your dreams, don't save everyone else's even if it means their downfall", "Kindness won't reward you, it will punish you" and "Atropos may look unfair. But it can be nice too, depending on how you act" were many of the statements scattered across the schools corridors wall. 

Most people didn't think much about these quotes except Milly.
They confused her.

"Okay take your seats everyone," Mr Williams announced once every pupil appeared in the classroom.

"Hey," he called out to a child at the back of the class, "just because Atropos will reward you for poking your classmates doesn't mean you should do it. Find other ways to be mean. You don't wont the psychology of a Taker!"

Milly liked Mr Williams. He'd say things that were slightly controversial and challenging, which Milly found interesting. 

The teacher shook his head, cleared his throat and began the class, starting with the register, "Morning Lewis. Morning Ellis. Morning Milly..."

He finished reading the list of thirty-one pupils and started teaching.

Meanwhile, whilst Milly was learning about photosynthesis, Zoe had her free period. She used this time to paint, unlike most people who used it for exam studying.
Zoe didn't need to revise for anything. She was way above her class anyway.

Free periods were only given to level three pupils. Each level had three stages and you needed to complete them all before graduating to the next level. Millie and Zoe were in level three- the age thirteen to fifteen category. Millie remained in the first stage, like most students her age. Yet Zoe had already progressed to the third stage. 

Unfortunately, despite her intelligence, there was nothing Zoe could do to prevent her friends death from happening that night.