Government Mistrust

 The year is 2095. We're living in underground bunkers because that's where we belong. We're safe here. Ever since 2029, when we had made contact with the first extraterrestrial life forms, we had been ushered down here by the president. I don't remember his name any more, but my parents used to say he was nice. They were sent up. When I say that, I mean they went up to the surface. They were told they were drafted to fight the war. My grandma used to say 'They're killing us off, one by one. To make those new genetically engineered robots.' But no one, including me, believed her. I don't know what she babbled about, I just know it was nonsense.

I'm all for the drafts. They're needed. People need to stand up. But, really, no one comes back from the surface. I wish someone did. They'd tell us who we need, what they need, and if we won the war. With my parents gone, I'm alone in my bunker. It's past curfew. My friend was across the hall, but I didn't dare go talk to them. Not now, at least. You're allowed to stay up as long as you want in your bunker, but you can't go outside.

I remember my friends sister. She was awesome. I used to think she was the coolest person ever. Until she went out past curfew. She tried to tell me and him there was nothing to fear. We could go to the surface. There's just beautiful skies, Something called a sunset, trees, and a lot of nature. But we shook our heads. There couldn't be anything like that. We didn't even know what a tree was. My friends sister, Hikari, said they were really tall things made of wood and something called a leaf. Then, from under her pillow, she pulled out a picture book. There were a lot of things about nature.

Jason looked at her like she was crazy. Insane, even. She had convinced us when she pulled out a locket. Her boyfriend. Jason and I just looked at her like she was insane. Or at least, that's what we did at first. Hadn't she seen the documentaries? Of all the bad things? Hadn't she heard about the thing called RAIN!? How it could peel off your flesh and how it burned your eyes? What about the sun? How it burned ALL of you? Or the night, and how people would get killed by weird beings?

Apparently those are all lies, according to her. She said her great-grandparents kept a journal of all those things. We had just been blindly listening to the government and school. I didn't believe her. I didn't want it to be true. If it was true, that means all those rumors were true. They really wanted us to be soldiers, and kill the rest of the human race. Of course, after she said that, Jason and I just had to check out the surface. Grandma used to say 'We're flying through life a lot faster then we should be. No one knows what time it is, where we are, and what year it is. Not like my parents.' She'd mumble. Of course, we had to be sometime around 2095. That's what the government said. That's the year it said on whiteboards.

We climbed up to the surface when it was raining. Hikari pushed on a trapdoor that led straight into a house. A pretty big one too. She smiled at us but then we heard an alarm. That's the last memory I have of that night. Or day. Something was really bright and it was hard to breathe, so I couldn't remember much other than the pain anyways.

-----

It's morning again. It's almost my birthday, too. I'm going to be 17. I really don't know what I'll do. There's nothing really to do down here. But at least Jason will be there with me. He's been really broken up over his sister's death. He just spends a lot of time with me.

"Hey." I greet him like I would any other day. He just hums to me. "How are you?" I ask, sitting next to him. He doesn't reply and just leans onto my shoulder. I pull out my sandwich. It's just peanut butter and jelly, but Jason loves it. I always make one for him. "Are you hungry?" I push the sandwich into his hand. He eats it solemnly. I just pet his head. Some of the jelly falls on my jeans. "Sorry." He mumbled. I just pulled out some napkins. "It's okay," I say, wiping it off. "I heard that you passed English? How'd you manage?" I made a small joke. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, he'll smile lightly. This is not one of those times.