Secrets Worth Killing For (Wattys2016)

Secrets Worth Killing For

Click, clack, click, clack. The sound of steady footsteps resounds in my ears as I walk down the tenebrous hallway; the hallway where everything will change. It's the beginning of the school day at Central City School and the hallway is still only dimly lit. A couple faint, yellow lights buzz overhead, making coarse shadows appear, and my ocean blue eyes are drawn to my destination; the announcement room.

Every student is required to do morning announcements several times throughout the school year at Central City School. It's my turn and my voice will ring out to the world. I will be heard this time no matter what. Hands trembling and heart pounding I know what will await me after my message is delivered. The government will find out and come for me. That's what happens every time someone tries to rebel. Knowing full well that the government will kill me for my actions, I continue on.

At least no one will miss me, I think to myself. My whole family has already been killed at the hands of the government.

It's the year 3015 and the world, having encountered numerous problems and facing severe overpopulation, flocked together to form one country. Overpopulation plagued the world for years but the government came up with the "perfect" solution years ago; kill the citizens in secret. Using the slogan, "Not everyone is meant to live a long life," as a mask, government recruits kill innocent citizens. My name is Allice Kurai and I'm an orphan. The government killed my whole family because of a secret that we have. One that the government desperately wants but is too dangerous to let them have.

The door to the announcement room opens with a creak and I walk in. The room is nearly empty except for me and a dusty, old microphone. After the bell rings, signaling that all students should be in class, I push the small, red button on the microphone to turn it on. A piece of paper sits on the desk with the usual announcements but I ignore it. My message is not the same of the normal scheduled announcements. Not bothering to even skim through the paper, I clear my throat and start talking.

"Hello everyone. My name is Allice and I'm here today with the morning announcements. Today, I announce a serious topic! You see, the government is murdering people! They say it's for the good of the people-saying that 'not everyone is meant to live a long life,' but they're wrong! How do they know whether someone is fit for a long life? They don't know, but they're feeding us all lies! My whole family is dead because of them, because of a secret that I will tell you now. The tyrants that we call our government wants to kill more people, and they plan on doing it with a flower that can kill hundreds instantly if they breath in the deadly powder from it! They will stop at nothing to get them, even though they have no right to do that! Join me in this fight because you could be ne-"

My message is cut short when a boy only about 16 years old crashes into me from above. A gasp escapes my mouth in surprise. He wears all black except for a silver comms unit in his ear. Swiftly, he turns off the microphone and handcuffs my hands in front of me.

His cunning emerald eyes glaring, he sneers, "Did you think your little act would go unnoticed? We know everything that goes on. That secret of yours is valuable and there's no way we would let you go roaming around telling lies about the government!"

"You're the one who's lying! You have no right to tell people when they will die!" I snap back angrily.

The green-eyed boy quickly grabs a cord above his head and clips the cord to my handcuffs. He pushes a button on his comms unit and the cord starts retracting upwards through the now visible hole in the ceiling. The boy clips another cord to his harness that he wears and both of us ascend upwards toward a small helicopter. With my hands tied together and my legs above the ground there's no way for me to escape, so I let them take me.