Death Doesn't Discriminate Between the Sinners and the Saints

Chapter 1

My name is Mia Jackson and this is the story of how I became part of a social experiment and what happened during the experiment. Before I get to the story, I should tell about myself. I have sky blue eyes and chestnut brown hair. I'm pretty skinny because my family doesn't get much money so we don't have much food. It's not my dad's fault that he keeps losing his job. We just haven't had good luck. My mom started teaching kindergarten when my little brother started so she gets some money for us. It's just not that much. I've done summer jobs for the past few years. I want to get something that I can do after school but my parents refuse. They want me to be as normal a kid as possible but that's pretty hard. I go to a bad public school. I'm hardly taught anything and people are constantly disrupting the classes. We do get free lunch which would be nice but the food is horrible! 

I have dark brown, wavy hair that's normally a mess and grey-green eyes. I always look terrible. Even though I try to look good, my clothes are normally dirty and I haven't had time to fix my hair. I'm glad that all the other kids in my school and around where I live look like me. My brother has sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. His hair's pretty long and I always try to make sure he at least looks good. He gets his looks from our mom while I get mine from our dad. Anyway onto the story!

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As I walk through the door to my house after my last day of school, I immediately know something's wrong. My parents are sitting on the couch looking stressed. 

"Did Dad lose his job again?"  I ask as I drop my backpack by the door.

My parents look at each other. "No but we found a summer job for you." My mom says.

"You did? What is it? And why do you guys look so stressed?"

"Well it's... complicated. You will be a part of a social experiment. You will be in a room with three other people for a long time until the experiment is complete." My dad explains.

"WHAT?! I'm going to be a part of an experiment for who knows how long?! And you guys are completely fine with it?!" I know that I'm yelling but I don't care. "This does not count as a summer job! Why are you doing this to me?! I was planning to work at a real place for work! I already applied and got accepted!"

"Well you're going to have to say that something came up and you can't work."

"B-b-but Dad! I can't do that! This is what I've wanted to do for a while! I finally get to work at a bookstore!" I stammer.

"Amelia," Dang my dad must be getting mad. He used my full first name," this will pay more than any job you or your mom or I could ever get."

I sigh, knowing that we need the money. "Fine. I'll do it. When does it start and how long will it last?"

My parents look at each other again. "Well it starts in a month and we don't know how long it will last." My mom says cautiously. I know she's hoping I don't blow up again. I'll spare them... This time.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Okay. What all is there for me to know?" My mom hands me a small book. "I'm going to go to my room to read through this." I say. My dad nods and I grab my backpack before heading down the hall to my room.

"Mia wait." I hear my mom say. I turn around. She hands me another book. It has a fake leather cover and leather strap. I open it up and see the pages are blank. 

"It's a journal." My mom says. "You're going to be recorded but I thought you might want something to write things down in. Thoughts, your side of the story, anything. And if you run out of pages, we can send you a new one." I smile for the first time since I got home. I give my mom a big hug.

"Thank you Mom. This will be nice."

"You're welcome, Dear. Now head on to your room and started reading about the experiment. Dinner's in two and a half hours."

"Okay!" I run to my room and close the door. I drop my backpack at my desk before sitting on my small twin bed. I can hear my three year-old brother, Alex, playing with his toy trains in his room next door. I smile as I hear him crashing the trains together. Tears rise to my eyes as I think about how I won't hear that for a while once I go to wherever the experiment will be. I bury my face into my pillow and sob.