"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?" You say half heartedly, already knowing the response would be as dead and dull as the people themselves.
"No. No they are not, nothing is beautiful, we're on Mars remember?" Your dad says back not even bothering to look at you from inside his tomb of a sleeping bag. It's your turn tonight to sleep out side the hut. The hut where millions of zombies so ghostly, they don't even look like humans anymore, sleep like the people buried in rows of coffins.
Midnight. The sky lights up as quick as you take in a breath. You see the rocket's scorching flames shoot. The light fades when it goes further and further away as it has done every night for since the first test was done on the children who are born on this planet. You look at the stars. The stars shine bright against the black void behind it; there is no life the stars bring to this planet because this planet is already broken beyond repair. They say the Earth is the paradise theat everyone hopes to see and live in. They say the people who go to Earth are special, are intelligent. They say one day this planet will be destroyed and only the supreme race of humans on Earth will live on and humans will once again be in control.
"Dad, what are they going to do to me tomorrow?" You ask.
"In the test? Darling they won't do anything to you just ask some questions. You'll be fine. You'll definitely come back, I promise." Your dad says. Somehow you don't believe him.
Oooof. Pain shivers though your body. You open your eyes for the fifth time tonight as someone steps on your ankle. They murmur a quick sorry before staggering on. You hear the thud of their unforgiving steps and an occasional splash as they step in a pool of sewage that has overflowed onto the path. There are no roads here, nor lights, nor heaters. Those who are ill, are left to die; those who have no food, are left to starve; those who have no family, have lost the will to carry on. That is what happened to your mother. She was giving birth to your brother and when she found out he had died in the process. She drowned herself in a pool of sewage. The Earth's people don't care. They see people outside the gate starving whilst they eat their tea and biscuits. Only people who are there for the testing get to step inside the gates surrounding the glass prison.
