The Chosen

I pace back and fourth in front of my door waiting for the letter. The letter that would be my deciding fate. The letter that would say "You're next." I knew that it would come today since tomorrow was the day that it would happen. Tomorrow was the day that I had marked on my calendar. The day that I would go to the moon, but never return back. I nervously bite down on my finger nails. Maybe I'll get lucky and not have to go. Maybe they'll change their minds and choose another poor soul. I hear a knock at the door and rush over. I quickly open it and see a tall man with a long trench coat holding out an envelope towards me. I try looking the man in the eyes, but his top hat was concealing them. I take the envelope from the man's hands. "Thanks." I wasn't sure why I was saying thanks to a person who was handing me a paper that would tell me that I would die. The man doesn't respond and walks off. I walk back inside and place the envelope down on the table. What could it possibly say? We're sorry your going to die? I pick up the envelope. How can this little thing cause me such an intense amount of stress? I pull up on the corner and slowly open it. "Here goes." I pull out a piece of paper and read it aloud:

"Dear Dawn,

You have been chosen to adventure to space! This is a great achievement and should be treated as such! You do not need to worry about packing supplies, as all of it will be accommodated for you. Please know that your cooperation is greatly appreciated and the human race thanks you!"

I crumple the letter into a ball. That's it? That's all the government has to say to me? How about an apology for being the death of me? How about something more meaningful and sentimental? I rip up the letter and throw it on the ground. I've got to get out of here. I grab my bag and place as much food and water into it as it can hold. The only person who gets to decide my fate is me. I take all the cash out of my purse and make sure to leave my phone and card behind to not get tracked. I give my hamster a kiss on the forehead and head out the door. When I get to the end of the driveway, I turn around and say, "This is for the best." I walk down the street and try to avoid any stoplights. I turn down a dark alleyway and lean up against the wall.

"You trying to get paid beautiful lady?" My heart nearly drops out of my chest when I hear this. I look behind me and notice a homeless man half naked holding a dollar. It was pretty clear he thought I was a prostitute. Was he really only offering a dollar?

"Sorry, I'm not into that type of business." The man waves the dollar at me.

"I'm sure this could change your mind." He continues waving the dollar at me as if I was a dog. I give him a dirty look.

"I'm really not interested." I continue to walk when suddenly the man pulls out his penis.

"Will this change your mind?" I keep my eyes up and don't look down. Why did this have to happen to me? I look the man in the eyes and threaten, "You know I'm a cop, right?"

The man quickly puts his penis back in his pants. "Oh! Well uhhh this is awkward."

"I'll let you off with a warning. Do this again, you will spend years in prison." I quickly scurry away. When I get far enough away I sigh with relief.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" I give myself a fist bump and continue walking. As I walk farther down the street, I notice a car in the corner of my eye slowly driving behind me. Damn those guys are good. I walk faster. The car speeds up. I start to sprint. I look behind me and see that the car has sped up more. "Shit." I dash as fast as my legs can go. I make a sharp turn and hasten down the street. I look behind me and to my relief the car was gone. I look back in front of me and suddenly the car was right there, the side door was open, and a large man was reaching his arms out toward me. I try to avoid him, but he grabs me by my shoulders and throws me into the car.

"Let me out!" I kick the man in the stomach and bang on the window.

"Why would you want to leave?" I turn around and see a small little man with his legs crossed sipping a margarita in front of me.

"Because I don't want to be killed!" I leap toward the man to strangle him but was quickly held down. The small man nearly spits out his margarita from laughing so hard.

"Who told you that you would die?"

"No one. Just the fact that not a single person has returned!" I try to move but the bigger man stays firm at keeping me down. "I won't let you kill me."

"Your a very naive young woman."

I roll my eyes at him. "You don't even know me."

"I know that you are extremely lucky, yet your choosing to run away from this." The man points outside. "If you haven't noticed, the Corona virus has wiped out 75% of the world population."

How could I not notice? My entire family, including my own son, was killed because of the virus. The man points toward an old school. "When I was younger, I went to that school. Now I'm the only one left alive from that place."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The man looks back over at me.

"My name is Clint." He holds his hand out.

"I'm Dawn, but I'm guessing you already knew that." I take his hand and we shake.

"Well Dawn, your probably wondering why we captured you."

Uh yeah. I nod.

"Well, we wanted to tell you the full truth."

The full truth? The full truth of what will happen? Or the full truth of how I'll die? "The full truth about what?"

"The truth about Earth and the moon." The man moves over closer to me as he begins. "For starters, your not going to die. In fact, your going to live."

"Wait hold up. What do you mean by that?"

"Going to the moon, doesn't mean that you were chosen to be killed. Unlike what most of the media says, your actually going because you were chosen to stay alive." I could hardly believe my ears. He continues explaining how things were going and how the human population on Earth would be entirely wiped out by the year 2075. I couldn't believe this. This whole time I thought I was being chosen to die, when in actual reality, it was...the opposite.