Twilight Echos

Picked

A child named Desiree was eking through her parents' room. Watching them stress out and pacing front and back mumbling something under their breaths. "What do we do...if she doesn't get picked but we do? Who's going to protect her?" The mother said in a shaky voice while her father grabbed her shoulders and tried to calm her down. "Honey, don't think like that. She will get picked. There's nothing to worry about. She's still our little girl. She still has time." He reassured her.

That was the only memory that Desiree remembers in her childhood. She doesn't know why she has to get picked. People said that if you get picked you live for an eternity and live in paradise. And she would always ask them "Ad what happens if you don't get picked." Some would give her concerned looks and change the subject while others would respond or communicate at all for a while.

This was an indication that she had to get picked at all costs. Desiree didn't get to have any friends during her childhood either because most of them got picked by the mayor and were sent off. Lucky them. During her teenage years tho, she managed to obtain a best friend named Sasha. They were inseparable friends who made promises to each other in hopes of getting picked.

Desiree was grabbing her belongings from her locker. As she was doing that, Sasha came up behind her shrieked with exhilaration, and bounced up and down in excitement. Desiree jumped it of her excitement and looked over at her. "What's wrong? Why are you even yelling?" She asked while trying to keep Sasha still.

"Today's the day! Today's the day!" She screamed in joy. "What's today?!" Desiree tried to answer back out of Sasha's yelling. "It's time for people to get picked! Come on, let's hurry to the home square." She responded as she grasped Desiree's hand and dragged her off to school. They reached over to the home square and it was already packed with desperate folks. From young children through seniors. The whole town was waiting for the moment to come. After a few moments of the townsfolk chatting with each other, they've all gone silent. They saw the mayor rise to the stage and look around at everyone in view.

"Today ladies and gentlemen is a precious day is it not? Now as you all know today is not like any other day. Today is the picking ceremony. Where any one of you could be picked for a lifetime of freedom and prosperity. Right here before me is the ballot by the gods themselves. And they were so generous today that they decided to pick 20 people for the day." The mayor spoke and the crowd was overjoyed. "Now then. Let's see who they picked today", the mayor said as he grabbed the paper inside the ballot and started reading, "Andrew, Max, Carter, Milla, Violet, Sasha, Nigel, Trisha, Sam, Damien, Noah, coralline, Alexandria, Mike, willow, Huston, Gustavo, Kyle, Tyler, and Hillary. Congratulations on the ones who have been picked. Pack your bags and make your way to paradise."

The people in the crowd clapped and all embraced each other while Desiree and Sasha were just looking at each other in gloom. "I guess I was the only one who got selected," Sasha spoke in a pitiful tone, "or... maybe I could just wait till you get picked and we can both go together." Desiree smiled sadly and shook her head. "No Sasha. Don't wait for me. Go and live your paradise. I'll wait till I get picked." Desiree said while trying not to be as upset.

"But it isn't a paradise without you," Sasha responded and hugged her tight. "I'll miss you." She mumbled under her breath. A few tears came down Desiree's eyes as she hugged her back. "I'll miss you too," Desiree spoke. After that, she never saw Sarah ever again.

It's been years since she last saw Sarah and later on, more people started to get picked except her.  Even her parents were picked before her. Desiree started to feel hopeless and was about to give up. Until that one evening. Feeling dull, she was taking a nap on her bed which was interrupted by a loud siren noise. She jolted up from her bed and looked out the window.

Immense fires and people were losing their minds. Some were breaking things while others were running from one direction. All the way to the area where people get picked. Desiree didn't hesitate and she hurried outside to follow them. She made it over to a crowd that was yelling and screaming "Let us in! We deserve to get picked!" They all chanted while the police officers were blocking off the entry while holding weapons.

"Get back or we will fire!" They warned the mob, but they didn't listen. They were already filled with anger and would rather die trying to escape. The law enforcement only gave them a few seconds before they started shooting the crowd. Only a few were running back while the rest were fighting back and attacking law enforcement. Desiree was hiding behind a car watching in shock. Watching people either get shot or tackled to the dirt.

It was all chaos. It lasted quite some time until the mayor came back and caught sight of what was going on. He then walked past to the middle and blew a whistle which made everyone's ears almost bleed. "My fellow citizens. I see that some of you are outraged or more of an infuriated mood for a reason and I can see what it is. You've all been waiting for a trip to paradise for years and years. I have talked over with the gods and they have concluded. I will let the entrance open and stay open for good. If you wish to go, go. If you wish to stay, stay. It's all up to you."

The law enforcement then took a step back away and watched as most of the citizens didn't hesitate to rush into the opening. Desiree was noticing what was going on. She was about to go until she heard the mayor complete his sentence. Why would he say that? Even though she was as anguished as the rest of the locals, she decided it was best for her to stay and see what happens. The mayor watched until the very last person went through and he shut the door. "What did I tell you? These people would stop at nothing to get what they want." The mayor had said as he was walking away but he stopped when he noticed Desiree and he let out a smile.

"You there. Behind the car." He told Desiree gesturing for her to come over. She hesitated scarcely but slowly got out of her hiding spot and went over to him. "Now, what's your name child?" He asked. "...my name is Desiree sir." She responded. "Desiree. Well, you sure don't act what your name means. You don't have any desire like that other populace did. You are one of a kind. Just like us."

He said with a huge smile. Desiree looked at him with a bewildered expression. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. The man stood silent and started wandering back over to the entrance to what was paradise. She immediately followed him all the way and watched what he was doing. The mayor then opened the door once more and allowed her to look at what was inside. She leaned over to take a closer look. What was called 'paradise' was nothing but a large hole with nothing but the dark abyss inside. She was in complete silence while looking at this.

"You see Desiree, what we do is do experiments on people. We like to see how they would react if they have something that doesn't exist. We call it home sweet home but of course, you guys would call it 'the American Dream'. If you guys have something in store for you then you guys would do whatever it takes to get it. It's just how you were programmed in this life. But you... you are not like them. I can see it. You saw what they couldn't. It intrigues me. Now, I will give you two options. You can be with us or... you can be with your type."

The mayor explained to her. "...What do you mean by us?"  Desiree asked while still contemplating whether to go with them or not. The man's smile then grew larger till the point it was abnormal. He took off his fake eyeballs which made his real black ones more prominent. He rubbed off the colored skin to show his true-blue skin. And finally, he lent his hand out to her and gave her a wink with half of his eyes.

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𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪:
𝕀𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕟𝕠 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕕. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕓𝕪 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕚𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

♡♡𝓐𝓵𝓼𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝔁 𝓼𝓸 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰!♡♡
✿𝓛𝓮𝓽 𝓶𝓮 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓰𝓾𝔂𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝓲𝓽✿