Evergreen

I

'200 years ago, the Regime alleviated the country of lethal neural impulses known as emotions. Epidemics such as Hostilia and Amos were eradicated through what was known as The Elimination...'

I rolled my eyes as Governor Dalton's voice droned on. The classroom in a state of disarray. Students with their heads on desks, or lazily swinging on chairs, yet all still facing the front of the room, a familiar face upon the screen. No one was really listening, after all we had all heard those words repeatedly our whole lives. The government drilling us with the same elaborate phrasing. But no one spoke. You couldn't speak.

All the time we were watched by men in white. There to enforce rules upon us. They say it's just the aftermath of the Elimination. They wanted to make sure they missed no one. They are here to ensure our safety. Earlier this year, a girl in my class, Kayleigh Roberts, began to behave weirdly. These diseases cause people to act that way; it consumes them, it's the most important thing in the world to them. They would lie for it, perhaps even kill for it and that is why it's deadly. The men in white took her away. It's all going to be okay, they said. We are going to cure her, they said. She's in a better place. That's what the men in white tell us. I'm glad they did, what would have happened if it had spread?

They have yet to find the cure but they're close. I hope so anyways. We're all a little infected. That's what they taught us in Biology; the effects of these diseases upon the body. It scares me, there are stages to each one. The scientists working on the cure state that everyone shows signs of at least the first stage of all neural impulses. Once they find the cure though we will finally be rid of it all. Safe from the disease, that's what I want.

Each is ranked on its mortality rate. The lowest ranked is Fear. Its scientific name is Timor. Stages One, Two and Three are similar with varying degrees of intensity. Usually the subjects body will slow or shut down functions and the immune system is weakened. Stage Four is when Timor causes damage to particular parts of the brain and in stage Five clinical depression will hit and death will often if not always occur.

Whilst dangerous, Timor is outranked by Miseria, or better known as grief. At stages One or two, Miseria symptoms include, a heightened attention to detail, exhaustion and chest pains. At stage Three the disease will cause loss of appetite and periods of insomnia. Stage Four is when it becomes threatening. Your immune system weakens and many will find a rise in blood pressure, and then stage Five. Cardiomyopathy, followed by heart failure.

Ranked second, on the list of dangerous neural impulses comes Hostilia. Anger has taken many lives and the struggle for the cure becomes more desperate as more lives are taken. In the first stage heart rate, blood pressure and respiration all increase. During stages Two or Three headaches can develop. Abdominal pains occur and there is an increase in the subjects' anxiety. Insomnia and unpredictable behaviour are clear signs of stage Four and by stage Five of Hostilia the subject suffers largely from either heart attack or stroke.

The most lethal disease however is rarely spoken of. I haven't heard much of it. The men in white often advise against the teachings of the final disease on the list. Love. Amos has killed many more than could be recorded. Stage One symptoms include difficulty focusing, dry mouth and fits of dizziness and disorientation. Stage Two causes the subject a reduction in their mental awareness. They have racing thoughts and impaired reasoning ability.

You can still survive at the third stage of Amos, you will experience periods of euphoria and periods of lethargy. The subject will find a change in their appetites. Loss of previous interests will occur and many suffer a distortion of reality. Sleeping patterns are disrupted and paranoia can sometimes emerge.

At stage Four your state becomes critical. You struggle to breathe. You will feel pain in the chest, throat or stomach. Some find difficulty swallowing and refuse to eat. You'll have a complete breakdown of rational thought. Violent fantasies, hallucinations and delusions all occur.

Once stage Five hits, Amos simply becomes fatal. You will be emotionally or physically paralysed. And finally, death will ensue.

So many cautionary tales throughout the years have been written and only now do we pay attention. Only now do we truly realise what our forefathers were trying to warn us of. The real threat. Not war, not massacres or mindless death, but of love. Shakespeare wrote of Romeo and Juliet; Tolstoy of Anna Karenina. All warning us of Loves true potential.

I'm going to help find the cure. Or at least that's what I hope. A week before your eighteenth birthday the Regime requires you to partake in Trials. These consist of a series of examinations including a physical and aptitude exam. These tests decide our futures, our compatible partners and our occupations. Those who receive over 80% often end up in well payed government work. That's where I want to be. I want to benefit my country, I want to save humanity.

During the examinations, they also test for our susceptibility to the diseases. Those who fail are taken to be cured in the labs. My mother used to scare me into doing work when I was younger. She would say that if I didn't do well enough in the Trials they would ship me off to the labs with the contaminated ones anyways, even if I wasn't infected. Now I just see I was being silly. They are just taking you to be cured. The men in white are going to save you. Just like Kayleigh.

There are rumours though. A boy two years ago. He was on the way to the labs in the transit vans they use for the poisoned. Supposedly he was diagnosed with varying critical degrees of all four neural impulses but I cannot be exact, rumours are hardly the most reliable source. Either way, he supposedly escaped, now roaming the streets, completely unidentifiable by the government. His identity supposed to be entered into the Regime's systems at the lab and now he's untraceable. A flaw in the Regime's system, and a costly one at that.

I don't believe in him though. To me he is nothing but a rumour, a myth. But such stories make the search for the cure even more desperate. Real or not, there are still contaminated bodies walking the street each day, the opportunity to infect thousands of innocent lives, its horrific.

My Trials are in thirteen days and then I will be handed my future.
I can't quite say that I'm not scared. For the future, or the present.