The Great Escape

4 hours left

The second of November, the day everything goes to shit. Twenty years ago, the government announced that they had found a way to move to the moon, and had sent 5 volunteers on a one-way trip. When speculations about the veracity of this trip came about, the number of volunteers drastically went down. Then, they said they would only send 10 every year. The rumours soon worsened, and the government decided on a 5 per year policy. Soon, nobody wanted to go and the government had to forcibly choose 5, one from each city. Now, every year, people all over the state sit in in the fear of being the one chosen.

I wake up earlier than I usually do and lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling. By now, I should be used to the fear that comes with the day, but I’m not. This year, in fact, is the worst it has ever been. Last year, the person chosen ‘to fulfil the destiny of mankind’ was my best friend, Jessica. She was my last hope in the whole world. She was all I had when my mother was taken from me 5 years ago. In my home state, the parents are supposed to leave whenever their child reaches what they call ‘the ripe age of 13’. This, according to them, promotes a sense of workmanship in people at a young age as they learn to take care of themselves. 

I turn to look at the picture atop the bedside table, of Jessica and I smiling cheek to cheek in front of a ferris wheel at a carnival that we had attended 2 years ago. I pick up the piece of paper lying in front of it. “I’m so sorry,” it reads. Jessica had handed it to me right before she had left for the Lunar Mission headquarters. The paper was crumpled up and the ink was bleeding. I’m so sorry. What was she sorry about? Did she somehow think this was her fault? I never got to find out. 

After I spent the first few weeks of her departure having several nervous breakdowns and severe bouts of depression, my neighbour, Nicholas, offered to house me at his place. “Hide from them government animals, ya?” He’d joked. He had probably meant the offer to last a few days, until I was back on my feet, but I had found a way to stay there for the whole year.

I drag myself to the breakfast table. Nicholas isn’t here yet. I skim through the newspaper. The headlines do not show anything unusual: Lunar Mission day: what are all the scandals about?, Mayor Thompson promises a brighter moonday ahead, Maybe we should all just go to moon already. With a sigh, I fold it back up. 

“Nervous?” Nicholas comes up behind me and kisses me on the cheek.

“Well, I’m not not nervous,” I say. “Were you just out? It’s 7 am.”

“Ya, just went out to get some fresh air. You know how it is.” 

I nod. I don’t know how it is but I’m too distracted to think too much about it.

“Hey, Nick? Do you ever think maybe it would be good to just be chosen for moonday already? I mean, all this stress and anxiety, all this ‘who’s it gonna bes’... The only way to end it all would be to get chosen, right? Like, maybe the moon’s fun, who even knows?” 

“Okay.. I mean, that makes sense, maybe? But I’d still prefer the stress and the anxiety if it means I get to stay back home.”

“Stay back home to what, though? I mean we have no one left. They sure do make sure of that, don’t they? No parents, no siblings. People around the world have siblings, man! Imagine that. Oh, and no pets. The things I would do to be able to have a pet.”

Nicholas doesn’t respond. He and I both know I’m only trying to find a way to calm myself.

“Anyway, what’s for breakfast?”

3 hours left

As the clock strikes 8, the whole neighbourhood stands quiet in lieu of the announcement that will be made. Who will be doomed today? The only sound I hear is that of my heart beating out of my chest. It’s only when I taste blood that I realise I’ve been biting my inner cheek.

Someone clears their throat into the speaker. “Good morning, residents,” a woman’s chirpy voice echoes through the whole city. “Are you excited to hear the name of the lucky fellow who will be etched down in history as the next resident of the moon?” The woman pauses, probably hoping for an applause that never comes. “Alrighty then! Drumroll please,” she chuckles. “The man of the year is-” And there it was. Her next two words are exactly the ones I did not want to hear today. She says my name. I hear bellowing around town as people rejoice at their fate. The woman continues, “Good luck, young lady. We’ll see you in 2 hours.”

For someone who has been praying for 18 years that this doesn’t happen to her, I sure do seem awfully calm. Nicholas holds my hand. I take a deep breath in and smile. “Hey, maybe I can get a pet on the moon.”

“Are you feeling okay?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” I say and I don’t. I should definitely be panicking right now. Why am I not panicking? 

“Maybe we can find a way. Somehow. I can hide you somewhere, huh? Maybe we can-”

“Nick stop.” I turn towards him and take his face in my hands. “You’ve done way too much for me already. If there was something to be done, something would’ve been done a long time ago. I would’ve done it for Jessica. But we can’t. And it’s alright. I’ll be fine.” I don’t know if that is true but that’s all I can say right now. I kiss him and smile back at him. His face is still in a frown. I laugh.

“Why are you so- Are you sure you’re fine?”

I shrug.

2 hours left

With only limited time available to me on earth, I decide to take a scroll around the city. To explore places I was too afraid to go. To marvel at the world in all its glory.

I don’t know where I am or how much time has passed when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I jump. Turning around I see a familiar face I haven’t seen in a year.

I find it hard to string words together when I register who it is. “Wha- But- I thought-”

She smiles. Standing right in front of me is my best friend who is supposed to be on the fricking moon, Jessica.

“Hi!” she says with a grand smile.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON THE MOON!”

She laughs. “I was supposed to be. But I bowed out.”

“YOU BOWED OUT? YOU CAN’T JUST BOW OUT!”

“I would really appreciate it if you would keep down your voice because I’m not technically-”

“KEEP DOWN MY VOICE? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE-” She puts her hand over my mouth.

“Shh because I’m not supposed to even be here,” she shouts under her breath.

When she’s sure I won’t yell anymore, she takes her hand off. 

“Look, I’m sorry that you’re so confused. I was asked by the government to disappear forever, make no contact. But when I heard the announcement, I had to come see you.”

“You know my only solace about being on the moon was that you would be with me.”

“Well, that’s what I’m actually here to talk to you about. The only reason you’re going to the moon at all is me.”

“What? What the hell does that even mean?”

“You know why I had to escape and disappear forever? It was in exchange for volunteering names for the Lunar Mission. And… I gave them your name.”

“You what?” This can’t be true. “You can’t just volunteer other people and escape yourself. Then, wouldn’t everybody just do that?”

“Like you, people don’t know about it. My mother used to work for them. She told me before she left. She said, ‘if you ever get chosen, volunteer other people and you escape. Do not, under any circumstances, get on that rocketship’.”

“That’s-that is so terrible.”

“Would you rather I go to the moon?”

“You gave them my name? I thought I was your best friend.”

“Of course you are. It’s just that. We had this huge fight and- I’m so sorry. But this is your chance. You can volunteer names too. Then we can be together again. Just you and me, forever.”

“I could never do that. What the hell is wrong with you? Destroy other people’s lives for your own gain? Maybe I should just volunteer your name, huh? Go at this circle for years forever.”

“Well, technically, you can’t volunteer me since I’m not on the citizens list. Also, I would never have done it, except- ugh, oh my god.” She takes a deep breath. “Except, I’m in love. I couldn’t part from him and he couldn’t part from me.”

“That is truly the lamest thing I’ve ever heard in my whole entire life.”

“Honey, it’s Nicholas.”

I don’t say anything for a while. How am I supposed to respond to that.

“Please, say something.”

“Nicholas?” I ask. “Nicholas Redford?” 

“Ya, I-”

“My Nicholas?”

“I know you guys became something after you moved in with him-”

“HE TOLD YOU?”

“Um, ya. I mean-”

“AND YOU WERE OKAY WITH IT-”

“WILL YOU STOP YELLING, PLEASE? Thank you. Look, it’s not simple, alright-”

“So, that’s where he keeps disappearing off to. Fresh air, my ass.”

“Look, we can fix this.”

“Do you regret it at all?”

“Picking you, every second of every day. But finding a way to escape, not so much.”

The speaker buzzes and someone clears their throat into it. “Hi everybody!” The chirpy woman is back. “I hope everyone’s having a great moonday. How are the moon pies coming along? Anyway, this is just a gentle reminder for our girl of the year, our moon-girl, if you will, to please report to the Lunar Missions headquarters as soon as she can to begin the protocol. Alrighty then. Have a good one! Don’t forget to tag us on your moonday social media posts.”

“I have to go.” I say and start walking away. 

“Please do this for me?”

“Do not think for one second that I am a cowardly nobody. I will not put others at risk for me.”

1 hour left

I reach the headquarters just in time to find the woman whose voice I recognise from the announcements yelling at a young man. She is wearing a yellow summer dress with red flowers all over. Very sunshiney. Not very reflective of her current mood.

“Um, excuse me?” I say, more than timidly.

“Can I help you?” She asks, disgruntled.

“I’m- um, I’m the moongirl,” I laugh.

She smirks with annoyance.

“The girl’s here,” she yells out, not to anyone in particular. Then continues with a lowered volume looking at the young man she was just yelling at, “Timothy, take care of this.”

“You ready to go? Why don’t you have any backpacks? Are you starting a new life? That’s brave, you know.” Timothy goes on.

“Actually, Timothy,” I interrupt. “I have some names to volunteer. Can we start with a man named Nicholas Redford?”