Short Story Collection

The Purge

Laura sat on the overstuffed blue armchair in the corner of the room, poking her food with her fork. Her plate was absolutely stuffed with every food she could come up with, but there was no way she'd eat it. Even now, she liked to sit in the shadows, never being seen or heard, the stereotypical introvert. She was completely silent, unlike the most of the other people in the huge room, who were screaming, crying or praying. Exactly 100 people, actually, ranging from children to adults.

"Hey."

Laura turned around, startled. Three kids, two boys and a girl aged between 8 and 12 had apparently walked up to her. Laura felt a flicker of rage pass through her when she looked at the young boy with the dark hair and dark eyes, the freckly girl with red hair and blue eyes and the slightly older blonde boy with light brown eyes, but she wasn't angry at them. These children had done nothing – absolutely nothing– to anyone. They didn't deserve this fate any more than she did.

"What's your name?" Asked the young girl, smiling and fiddling with what appeared to be a friendship bracelet.

"Unwanted number forty-four." Snapped Laura, immediately regretting it. The last thing these kids needed was some angry teenager yelling at them.

"I'm Miyoko." She said, still smiling despite Laura's outburst. "These are my friends. Mitchell–" She pointed to the dark haired boy – "And Leif." She pointed to the blonde boy, who was busy eating chocolate cake.

"I'm gonna be a hero!" Mitchell said proudly. "Daddy told me they'll give me superpowers. He said I'm gonna save the world with my friends!"

Laura didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Neither did Leif, who must have known what was going to happen and shot him a sad look.

"I don't want to," Laura heard Leif mutter. "I don't want to die. I don't want to die."

Neither did Laura, who went back to poking her food and staring blankly at the wall. The wall was pale blue, a calming, peaceful colour, which made Laura feel even more angry. As if anything that happened here would be peaceful. To her, it was as if the government was trying to cover up what they were doing.

For a moment, Laura made eye contact with Jack Summers, her next door neighbour. She was surprised that he was here, because he was very popular in the city. The popular people were almost never chosen even though the lottery was supposed to be random. So what was he doing there?

Jack nodded to her before turning to one of his friends and talking. Laura turned back to the children, who were playing a sort of game.

A door at the other end of the room opened with a bang.

Several people screamed and cried. Some stuffed as much food as they could in their mouth, some ran to the corner of the room.

Four people in blue suits stood at the door, all with blaster-guns in their hands. Laura already knew who they were.

The exterminators.

"Everyone, out." One of them snarled. "Don't try anything."

Laura joined the queue of people shuffling out the door. The sky outside was a pale grey-blue, and a slight wind swept the fragrance of roses towards the group of undesirables. The exterminators made them stand in a square, facing the governor. By luck, Laura was in the front row, all the way to the left, which meant she was next to an exterminator. The man in the blue suit pressed his gun into her back, possibly a warning not to run. The governor started her speech on how a random group of 100 people were to be killed every year, as the population continued to grow, her long grey hair blowing in the wind, and Laura felt angry for a moment. The governor was not in the list, even though she was the oldest person in the city (and neither was her family). How was that fair?

Laura stared ahead like she'd been taught to. When the exterminators went past, she raised her arms out as they handcuffed her and lead her to the busses that would take them all to their deaths.