Taken

• Zara Malloy, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

Bang…I heard it first.

The sound of one of the community’s main industrial lights, plummeting into the ground as a result of a sudden quake that rippled our society.
‘Report to the nearest housing plant immediately,’exclaimed the herald over the alarm system.
Therefor, to obey orders, I began walking. I only gained a couple metres, until I noticed a blaze of luminous light hitting the ground. My eyes followed the beam up towards a deep fracture in the surface of our community.

What?…How?

I stopped myself, knowing that it was against the rules to question anything in our society.
I continued walking, but I knew something wasn’t right.
So eventually, I built up the courage to dismiss orders and return to the position where I viewed the beam. Once I got there, my thoughts drifted towards the sparkle of light that was dazzling above, and…

No…

Oh no… It was too late, I knew I made the wrong decision, I knew I should have followed orders.
It was what I feared most, the most blood curdling sight, the Patrol.
Once they were given orders, they wouldn’t stop. Heart beating at a rapid rate, nerves pumping, feet thumping, I knew it wouldn’t be long until they found me; it wasn’t.
I felt it, two gloved hands, clutching my shoulders from the back.

It was them.

A third hand around my face, the hands that previously grasped my shoulders, now adjusting the belt that surrounded my waist, trapped my hands, depriving my lungs of air. Trapped, as these ruthless beings took me to the Domicile, to the Head Governor.

We finally reached the haunting tower that loomed over our sad existence. As we entered the building, my heart sank… I wasn’t going to discuss my ‘rebellious acts’ with the Head. I was here to be dismissed…

This punishment was said to be dreadful, in fact it was forbidden to speak of it in our society. Dismissed; to experience the most painful, literal breath-taking, heart stopping torture ever able to experience. I knew why they were doing this to me, punishing me, I was too curious.

It wasn’t me, it was them. They were scared. Scared of a mass rebellion against the illusion of happiness that we had been experiencing for decades, centuries. Years of efforts just to cover the trail of joy, leading to Beyond.

The next thing I new I was pinned to the wall of a small, confined room, with many others…to be dismissed. There I was, with no escape, awaiting certain death.

I could smell it from miles away. The vile, disgusting smell of the Diborane, slowly filling the room. Suffocating each being, one by one. Until, it was only me left standing. I refused to breath in the gas, holding my breath as long as physically possible until..

My head starting aching, eyes beginning to blur my surroundings.

Surely one breath wouldn’t hurt…

That was all it took.