The Society

ONE ✴ THE CHOOSING

July twelfth, the seventh full moon of the year and the day of the Choosing. As I walked the streets of my small town, I watched people put out decorations and hand out party invitations. Two children pretended they were the Chosen and took turns leading one another to the spaceship, which was just a painted cardboard box.

All of it made me sick.

Why celebrate the the day that young teenagers are being ripped from their families and handed over to a mysterious alien race? It was probably just an excuse to party more and glorify the one Chosen that had come from the town right next to our own. Everyone thought the family was so lucky to be related to one of the absolutely amazing Chosen.

I just thought they were sad. A sad family that was broken without their child- a child they missed and wished was never stolen from them. A family that never celebrated again, and now scorned the Fures for taking away someone that they loved dearly.

Once, I had gone to visit the family, to try and comfort them, but they had just sent me away. I think it was the mother who did it, crying profusely and cursing me out. She most likely thought I was one of the admirers, the people who came to congratulate her. That was really the thing that made me hate the day so much. How it made the family so incomplete.

Of course, some families felt like it was a blessing. Those were the sick ones. So fascinated by the Fures that they forgot to miss the children that the Fures took. And to think, some kids were actually hoping to be kidnapped. Really showed what some parents chose to teach their kids.

Most of the planet doesn't even know why we had decided to call them the Fures. It meant 'thieves' in Latin. As far as I knew, calling someone a thief wasn't exactly a compliment, so maybe that would've given some people a hint at how we should've treated the aliens. But no, we had to allow them to continue their thievery without putting up a fight, even celebrating it.

As dusk grew nearer, I quickened my pace towards the market. That's why I had left my house in the first place, but I tended to take longer on these trips when it was the day of the Choosing. Taking my time to admire the stupidity of my neighbours.

Although, market days were sometimes pleasant when my friend Jim Gallagher was there. Jim, an old man who sold old trinkets from his days of traveling the world, was the only person I knew who shared my views on the Fures. Unlike me, though, Jim often tried to convince people to hate the aliens as much as he did, kind of shoving his beliefs down other's throats and making everyone think he was a crazy old dude.

"Cam!" Jim shouted as I passed by his little booth. I turned to greet him as he sat in his wheelchair, organising little knick-nacks on his table. There was a little snowglobe depicting the Eiffel Tower, before it had been turned into something of a mystery building by the government. I picked it up and examined it, never seeing the Tower before it was redone.

"What was it used for before?" I asked Jim, shaking the snowglobe and watching as the glitter floated back down to the bottom. It seemed to display the Eiffel Tower in the winter time, the little glittery specks supposedly being snow. You never saw these trinkets anymore, most people using holograms instead, but I felt like the knick-nack had a kind of charm to it. Like it had a story.

Jim thought for a moment, eyes focused on the globe. "You know what, I actually have no idea. I was just about your age when they changed it, my parents only had taken me once at that point," He said as I set the trinket back down among the array of clutter.

I frowned, dissatisfied with the answer. "Yeah, well, I would have known," It was only partly said to poke fun at Jim. In all seriousness, I would have known. That was just a part of who I was, learning meaningless information was enjoyable, though ultimately not extremely useful.