I wipe the sweat off of my brow as I saunter into the dining hall for supper after a long day at work. Everyone around me is under the age of 18 and extremely rugged looking, seeing as this is a public hall for homeless citizens. I line up for the cafeteria behind a burly looking man and as he turns around, I notice that he's missing all but two teeth in his mouth and he's got a huge gash above his eyebrow. As usual, my curiosity strikes and I ask, "How are you alive? You must be older than eighteen and nobody escapes the metal room!"
He chuckles, "Aren't you confident! Can you keep a secret? I'm in disguise. I work for The Leader and I'm watching over the next batch of 18's to go in the room."
A shiver runs up my spine and I drop my cafeteria tray, bolting to sit down with Anastasia at a nearby table.
"What's up with you?", she asks.
I lift a crooked finger to point at the man that I just spoke with.
"He works with The Leader.", I shiver. "He's watching us."
"You're out of your mind.", Anastasia sighs. "Let's get out of here."
We seem to walk for hours until finally reaching the disposal cliff.
"What are we doing here?", I wonder aloud.
We stare at the decaying bodies floating in the murky water below.
"There is only one person responsible for this.", Anastasia says. "The Leader."
I bite my lip, absentmindedly.
"The guy that you talked to was probably someone our age messing with you.", she reassures me.
"But he looked way too old to be our age!", I yell.
"Calm down Joel! You know what the daily grind does to people. We probably all look older than we are, stress does that.", she says calmly.
I stare into her hazel eyes before she wraps me into a hug and steers me in the direction of my makeshift home.
"Can I stay here tonight?", Anastasia asks me hopefully once we reach the roof of the hospital.
"Of course.", I say plopping down on the asphalt. Anastasia drifts off to sleep in seconds, but my eyes remain open and fixed on the sky above. Tomorrow is the first day of the new year, meaning that the first '1998' will enter the room and never come out. I used to have hope that one day The Valuable would be found, but I'm not young and naive anymore. I know that this death spree is going to last for centuries. It's too bad I won't be around to help.
I didn't sleep all night. Christian's scream from the previous morning haunted me. While Anastasia is still fast asleep, I walk to the edge of the building and stare out at the city. In the distance I can see a girl entering the metal room. I check my clock, and sure enough it is 6:00 AM, time for the first murder of the year.
"I've been thinking", Anastasia says as we walk towards city square. "Most people don't have kids because we are all young, but how is the population going to survive if nobody is born?"
"Are you suggesting that we have a child?", I gasp.
"Well, I don't know. Maybe.", she whispers.
"Are you crazy? Why the hell would we bring a person into this world to have them killed in 18 years? The only reason that we're alive is because this whole revolution started after our parent's 18th birthdays!", I spit.
"That's my point. We're lucky to be alive, don't you want to give someone else that blessing?", she says.
"I don't know what planet you're living on, but in this country, everything that's known to be 'normal' isn't. It's best if we just let the whole population die off!", I yell.
We reach city square and I immediately jog to collect the body of the latest killed, not because I want to, but because I have to get away from Anastasia and her ridiculous idea before she convinces me to go through with it.
YOU ARE READING
The Valuable
FantasíaAll Joel has ever expected is death. At a certain time, in a certain place. That's all that he has ever known. The sound of death daily has only prepared him for his turn in the room. But what if he doesn't die?
