The Future Shines Bright for Some and Dark for Others

I wish I could relive this day, like how one hits the reboot button on a website. For this was the day that would change my life forever.

“Greetings students! Welcome to UNE History 1,” cried the teacher as everyone finished taking their seats, “I’m so glad you chose this class. In this course, we will cover the entire history of the UNE.”

I glanced around nervously, scanning the sea of students for anyone I knew. This was my first day of Upper-Level Education, and I was scared to death. I don’t know anyone here, I thought to myself nervously, I’ll just have to make the best of it.  

“Attention students!” cried the teacher derailing my train of thought. “Please sit back and relax, while we watch this informational video to introduce you to the history of the UNE!” 

“Welcome. The video you are about to see discusses the history of the UNE. Please enjoy,” said the monotone narrator as the film began. 

“The UNE was an organization that came into existence in the year 2030. The United Nations of Earth was brought to life by Arther Winchester. The U.S. Supreme Judge had a dream to bring the world together, after the devastating events of World War 3,” claimed the narrator, “This war caused the downfall of every single country except, Russia and Canada. The world was left to ruins, so Mr.Winchester, and other remaining world politics, joined together to create the UNE. Using their limited resources, they were able to construct a large enough army to take down Russia and Canada. Bringing a new era of peace to the planet Earth.”

“After taking out Russia and Canada, the UNE claimed the world as theirs. The UNE rebuilt many cities but also created new ones. Under the UNE countries could not exist, making it easier to unite the population of Earth,” continued the narrator, “Some people were still angry about the war. These unfortunate people had to be terminated, so the rest of the population could flourish. Today the UNE can ensure a peaceful and accepting home to all of humanity. This year is the 25th anniversary of the UNE’s take over. Thank you for watching!” 

Briiiiing! The lunch bell rang. The video was finally over. I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Robert K. I don’t have a last name because I was abandoned by my parents at the hospital. Luckily a special government program picked me up. They named me Robert K. The name Robert is honoring the 1980’s and the K is my alphabetical designation for the special government group. I’m a tall and skinny kid, with pitch-black hair, and blue eyes. You can always see me wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I’m a 17-year-old student at UNE High School number 5,672, in the Northern World Region. I’m a straight A+ student with lots of friends. Speaking of my friends here they come now. 

“What’s up, bro,” shouted Matt F over the lunchroom crowd. 

“Not much Matt!” I shouted back. “Meet me at our table!” Matt nodded in understanding.

When I reached the table, Matt was waiting for me. His eyes shone with excitement. I knew something bad was going to happen. 

“So me, and the other guys were wondering if you are up for a challenge,” stated Matt with a cunning tone in his voice.

“Sure. What is it?” I asked casually.

“We all double-dog dare you to take a walk down Danger Alley after school,” he says excitedly, “All by yourself.”

“I don’t know,” I said skeptically. I had heard terrible stories about Danger Alley. People would go there and just disappear.

“Come on man! Don’t be a wimp!” he cried loudly so everyone could hear. Now I knew there was no getting out of this. So I accepted his challenge. 

Later that day, after school, I went straight to Danger Alley to get this over with. The alleyway looked awful. Trash and litter was strewn all over the place. Rats and cockroaches twice their size had invaded the alley, and taken refuge within the garbage. I had to be careful where I stepped, or I would hear something squish or squeak beneath my feet. The smell from all of this was enough to kill someone. I need to get out of here, I thought to myself before it's too late. I began to turn back the way I came, but suddenly a man was standing there with a sly grin on his face and a gun in his hand. 

I could instantly feel my heart begin to pick up speed as the man took a silent step closer. My worst nightmare had come true. I would disappear without a trace like so many others who had traveled down this alley. My palms become sweaty, and start to shake uncontrollably. For some reason, I felt compelled to fight this man before he shot me, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen, not in my frightened state. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack, so I did what any sensible person would do, I ran.

 Stop! Go back, a voice screamed in my head, You can take him. I don't know why my mind would ever think such a thing in this kind of situation. I kept running down the alley. My chest began to hurt, and I was drenched in sweat. I continued to run until I ran into a dead end. My heartbeat even faster now. I swear I could see it getting ready to burst out of my chest. The man was still walking silently toward me. I knew he would be here any second, so I began frantically searching for an exit. I ran my fingers along building walls searching for an escape route. Finally, I found a hidden window. I struggled to open it at first, but I got a rush of adrenaline when I saw the man was only 4 feet away. The window burst open, and I practically flew through it. I was met with what felt like 1,000 volts of electricity, and then everything went black.

I awoke later with blurry vision and a headache. I had somehow arrived at the police station. My head felt like a ping pong ball was bouncing around inside of it. When I finally felt somewhat better, an officer approached me.

“Thanks for your help kid,” said the officer with a concerned look, “because of you we caught that murder in the act.” 

“Excuse me what?” I stuttered confused. At that moment I instantly remembered this man. “You’re Matt F’s Governmental Guardian!” 

“Yes, I am. Jim Hopper is my name, and crime-stopping is my game,” said the officer enthusiastically, “Matt told us you volunteered to risk your life and draw that man out.”

“So Matt tricked me?” I asked stunned. “He dared me to go to Danger Alley.”

“Oh,” said the officer with a surprised look on his face, “We thought you had volunteered to help us catch this crook that we’ve been trying to catch for months now.”

“No of course not!” I shouted angrily. “Why would I risk my life like that?”

“Well you did, and I thank you for that.” the officer said compassionately. “Oh, and sorry about using a taser on you. We thought we had gotten the crook.”

I stood up and stormed out of the police station. Officer Hopper tried to convince me to come back, but I was too focused on getting far away from there. 

Looking back I see how this greatly affected who I am now. I later confronted Matt and told him we were no longer friends. He told me it was a joke, but it wasn’t funny to me. Now I’m always cautious around people because they can be dangerous. I feel like I can never trust a human being ever again. I now know that the darkness of the world waits around every corner. Like my parents leaving me, or that man with a gun, or those naive police officers. They are the darkness I now have to look out for. My life is like a crosswalk, I’m always looking for cars hoping not to get run over. This one incident caused me to realize what the world really is. Now I must brace myself for what is still to come.