The Picking

Every year one person was sent to the moon. No one knew why this tradition had lasted so long, the story was lost in history, but they continued to do so every year. The person was chosen randomly, so no one fought that it was not fair. The Picking took place every tenth month of the year of the first day. The person was shipped off on a rocket exactly one week from then. The Picking was always a very stressful time for everyone. Not much work was completed during that time, but that was okay. The Leaders gave everyone the week off, so that they could prepare. Last year, it was a kind old lady named Flora that had taken care of the orphaned children. The year before was a middle aged man called Clay that was known for being hardworking and cold. The year before that was a sweet sixteen year old, Autumn, that all the village boys had their eyes on. The only people that could not be shipped off were the Leaders and children under five. Everyone else was fair game for the terrible event. This year Robin McDowell was picked from the large bowl of names.

Robin was known for being the biggest troublemaker in the village. She was barely of age, but refused to attend her job or find a partner. All the parents warned their children about her and her carelessness. Many of the teenage girls idolized her, but rebellious tendencies in the village were usually squashed out by family members. Robin had no family. She found on the doorstep of Flora’s house after a particularly terrible storm with only a small piece of paper labeled Robin, so that became her name. She was raised by the old woman who seemed amused when Robin left the house for days at a time to explore the forest or steal food from carts. Her rebelling was silly to the woman. Robin grew up carefree and loved in Flora’s house, so when she received her job assignment she quickly discarded it. Flora just laughed and told Robin that she too had gotten a job she had not liked when she was young.

Flora was gone now though. After the ceremony the year that Flora was picked, Robin would not talk to anyone except the woman. She had sobbed to Flora that she did not have to go. That they could run away into the forest together, but Flora had only smiled sadly.

“It is my turn to go, child,” Flora soothed, “It would hurt me more running with you and knowing I had caused another to have to receive my fate.” Robin stormed away after she had told her and slammed her door. She did not come out until the day that Flora was shipped off. Robin had to be restrained that day to keep from hurting the people that escorted Flora away. Flora looked back only once to smile back at Robin and tell her she would be okay. After the rocket had left the Earth, Robin sank down on her knees and did not move for days. Her mutterings were described as mad by people who passed her. Robin never recovered from Flora’s Picking.

She resumed her rebellious tendencies after a while. Her mischief became more focused on the Leaders. It became almost malicious, burning houses down, releasing their livestock, salting their fields. The attacks against them stopped though a week before the ceremony. Instead, she took to caring for an abandoned pup she had found, but when she found out she had been Picked she exploded. Robin slapped the Messenger and stomped into Flora’s house. Curled up on Flora’s bed with the pup, Robin began to cry. It was not her time. She knew that. Flora might have believed it was her time when she was Picked, but Robin was not ready to accept her imminent death. The big problem with the Picking is no one ever survived. They could not. The rocket only had oxygen for three days and there was no oxygen on the moon. Flora knew that when she had left Robin. That was what hurt Robin the most.

Robin knew she had to get out of the village quickly. She had one week before she was dead. Wiping tears off her face, she grabbed a large bag that Flora had kept. Robin had asked what it was for many times when she was younger, but Flora would never answer her. She just looked at the young girl with a mischievous smile and a twinkle in her eye. Robin sniffled as she ripped open the bag. The small pup nudged Robin’s ankle which caused Robin to give him a small smile. The bag contained nothing surprisingly except for a large amount of extra food. Robin always figured that it held some big secret, but the only thing in the bag was some leftovers. Robin scoffed and kicked the bag away from her. Nothing in the bag was even good anymore. Mold grew in plastic containers and something moved inside a bowl of nasty pasta. Falling back onto the bed Robin let out a long groan. Why had she ever thought she could escape? It isn’t like the Leaders let anyone have anything that could help them survive outside of the village.

Robin spent the next couple of days yelling at children and petting her pup. People kept coming over telling her how sorry they were, but she could see no remorse in their eyes. They did not care that she was going to die. No one really cared as long as it was not their own family member. The only person that actually cared was a boy she had gone to school with. His name was Skye and he had been Robin’s best friend. Skye did not care whether Robin spent her days stealing food from farmers. He would laugh along with her. Skye was the only person that really got her and everyone including Flora believed they would get married once they turned of age, but he got married early to Venus, a beautiful, wealthy girl. She was the daughter of one of the Leaders and Skye was chosen to marry her like several other unlucky boys who were in love with others. They had really grown apart though after he had gotten his job assignment. He gladly took the job and soon became a model citizen. His days of running around with Robin were over.

The night before she was to be sent off Robin started panicking. Terror coursed through her veins as she snuck past the men that were supposed to be guarding her house. If she was caught, she would be killed. She quietly ran towards Skye’s house and rapped on the window. No response. She rapped harder and the window flew open.

“Who’s there?” Venus called out. Crap. Robin sprinted away from their house quickly as she heard the guards start yelling. They had figured out she was gone. She ran to the only other place she knew she could hide. The forest. She dodged carts and stragglers before hopping over the fence towards the forest. Panting hard, she dove into a pile of bushes right before the guards ran past the forest. With a sigh of relief, she smiled at her cleverness before she felt someone grab her arm. Letting out a scream she looked up to see Skye signaling the guards. She tried to slap him, but he grabbed her other wrist.

“I’m sorry, Robin.”

She was shipped off the next day to join Flora and the others in their quiet doom.