The Purge ➵ a.i

1

Annalise

6:58 p.m.

Two minutes until the second Annual Purge. I only have my dad and my older brother here with me. I'll only have my dad in a minute. My brother is going to purge.

We said our goodbyes and good lucks before my brother, Luke, left with only a mask on and two guns.

My dad locked the security system very quickly, just seconds before the warning came on tv. I'm actually terrified of what will happen tonight.

The warning comes on tv, startling me, and I look up at the tv. The words come across the screen.

"This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., when The Purge concludes. Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. May God be with you all."

The sirens started. I hug my dad tightly and he tries calming me down by telling me we're going to be alright. I sure hope he's right.

My mom died in last year's purge. She went out with only a hand gun, and she never came back. I don't know why my brother decided to do this, considering my mom died from this.

"Dad, I hope Luke will be okay," I say. "He'll be fine," my dad says. "You said that with mom," I say and run into my room. I hate this. 2017 was the first year of the purge, which was last year.

I survived by hiding in my basement which is almost impossible to get into. Luke and I stayed in the basement while my mom and dad went and purged to people that they hated.

Since my mom died, my dad didn't want to go out there again. He made this whole security system, just for this event. Our whole house is basically a vault.

We had security cameras outside, and we had screens to see what's going on outside in every bedroom and the living room.

I sat at my desk and watched outside. Nothing was going on around our house, except Luke and his friends were running around.

"Annalise," my dad calls. I get up and go to where he was. "What?" I ask. "I've set up cameras in the house, just in case someone brakes in," he says. "Okay," I say. He shows me the footage on his phone.

"There's a camera in my room?" I ask. He nods. "No, get it out, now I'll feel like I'm being watched," I say rudely. I cross my arms.

"Anna, you'll be safer if you have the camera," he says. "I don't care. I don't want it in there," I say. "Are you sure?" He asks. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't have said anything," I say.

He leaves the room. A minute later I follow him and he's standing on my desk unscrewing the camera. "Thank you," I say.

He takes it down and leaves the room. I shut the door behind him. I lay down on my bed and I get on my phone. I know I won't be able to sleep tonight.