The Choice

• Paige Martin, Grade 5, Chairo Christian College - Cardinia Campus
• Short Story
• 2017

Excellence Award in the 'Spread The Word 2017' competition

It’s time. This is the moment which decides my future.

My name is Madison Russell and I am sixteen years old. The war has just ended. The war which the government maintains was started by children. I like to imagine what it was like before the war - no gunpowder filling the air, greenery covering our lands. Our world is bleak now. A sense of hopelessness has taken over my heart. When I look at the slumped shoulders and haunted faces of others, I realise it’s taken over their hearts as well.

I scuff my feet in the dirt as the line of people waiting for their turn to take the test grows shorter and shorter. Despair washes over me.

The person before me is called. I wonder if he will pass. If he doesn’t, he may meet my sister. She didn’t pass the test and has been in the mines for two years now. I miss her so much. We always played knucklebones together. I play with no one now.

My friends say the government makes you work all day in the mines. They say your skin gets yellow and sunken from the lack of sun. I used to laugh this off and act like the test was nothing, but now I see how wrong I was.

“Madison Russell, please make your way to the Blue Room,” a robotic voice announces over the loudspeaker.

My heart jumps. This is the moment of truth. What will my test be?

I slowly make my way to the Blue Room. My legs feel as heavy as the Reftech metal that’s taken from the mine. My body quivers with nervousness. I step into the Blue Room and stare. Five members of the Senate are seated at a long Reftech table.

A bearded, stern-faced man stands up. “You’ll be given ten minutes to complete the test. The results will reveal if you’re trustworthy enough. If you fail, you’ll end up in the mines.” He ushers me into the Test Room.

The door clicks shut behind me and I am alone. Two pictures appear on a screen - a rock and a hawk’s feather.

A robotic voice says, “Choose.”

Which picture will prove that I’m trustworthy to the government? The feather is easily moved; likewise, people will be easily swayed - away from the government. The rock is strong and immovable, it will resist the voices of children who hate the government.

I choose the rock.

In the mine, chisels clink on the Reftech. I’m reunited with my sister, but now both of us have no hope. Above, a hawk hovers, gracefulness etched in its every move. One of its feathers lands at my feet. Now I understand why I chose wrong. The feather is part of a body, the government, it’s the same as all the other feathers. The government hates individuality. They want us to be like robots, to obey their every command.

Nobody can be different.