Living Life in an Hourglass

The Norm

It is the Year 2020. Ireland's society has become overpopulated. Employment rates are at a high decrease and a lot more people are becoming jobless and are struggling to provide for their families and overall, society is trying to hold itself together. That is until the Government of Ireland proposed a new plan be put in place along with the help of some of Ireland's professional scientists. To sustain the population, scientists from various colleges around Ireland including The National University Ireland in Galway (NUIG), University College Dublin (UCD), University of Limerick (UL) and University College Cork (UCC) invented a new ideology that was voted YES in a National Referendum.

Every single person in the Irish State was brought in for examination in order to undergo various testing for cancer cells, future illnesses and present illnesses. These tests determined how long a person would live, judging from their individual tests. After the various tests that each individual had to go through they were given a final result, a result that showed approximately how long they would live for. Upon receiving the results of each person, the scientists altered the results by adding to or decreasing a person's life span. The final thing to do was to insert a little tiny device, known as the "Visual Death Informer" or VDI for short. Upon inserting this device into people's bodies they had gained the ability to see when other people would die.

This doesn't mean that they have premonitions of when people will die but they will be able to see the exact date and time of when they will die. This is where the VDI comes into place, it alters a person's ability to see things other beings can't. People with the VDI device can clearly see each person's time limit in this world. A person's information is situated above their heads, the words and numbers in a bright orange colour that is luminous in the day time and will glow in the dark at night. It's almost like a cursor which gives the person's name, age and date of death. It felt like they were all part of a game except nobody wins, everyone dies in the end. There are no secret guides to help you through this because this system can't be cheated. . .no matter what. It's just one big game that no-one can win. . .

The whole ideology may seem extremely harsh but society needs this plan to work in order to reduce the population and keep it stable. Resources are beginning to run low and all the Government officials, public safety workers (Gardai, Firemen, paramedics etc) and administrative bodies are standing by this last resort in order to keep the population from getting out of hand. Even the President is all for it, seeing the country go through such hard times is sometimes a call for drastic measures. But with such drastic measures there comes a number of rules which are non-negotiable. The whole plan is to be strictly kept a secret, the people behind this plan are taking huge measures to help the population get back to normal without the worry of other countries knowing. The rules are as followed and which are personally brought about by the President:

1. Any attempt to travel abroad is forbidden due to the VDI device which will paralyse you if you attempt it. Anywhere outside Ireland's boundary is dangerous. The VDI device is top secret and the attempt to share information with people outside of Ireland is punishment by an early death.

2. No-one will be allowed to visit Ireland until we get things back they way they are supposed to be. Resources will be brought from other countries as normal.

3. It is prohibited to tell a person when they will die, everyone does not have the ability to see their cursor's information so they will forever be oblivious to when their time is up. Sharing information to a person about when that person will die is also a punishment by an early death. The system cannot survive with cheats so any cheats will be eliminated without hesitation.

4. Live your life like you normally would. Attend your schools, colleges, jobs etc, keep up your hobbies and interests, you must live your life to the fullest as you will never know when your time is up.

5. Treat everyone equally. Abstain from being too nice or too hateful towards a person as that might trigger a fear towards when they will die. Being too nice could be a sign that they are trying to make your last moments special or being too hateful towards them could confuse them whether their time limit is near or not.

The rules are simple, follow them and you will be alright despite still having your time limit but break the rules and you die early. . .there's no way out, you die either way.