Chapter 1
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The day was like any other, waking up to the usual sounds of my mother cooking up dinner, my father complaining about our living conditions, and my brother punching a punching bag. I woke up in a sweat, last night was the worst. I could barely get any sleep, the reason behind that was not the fear of getting killed during my sleep. That was normal, no this time i was scared of today. Today was my graduation day. Graduation from high school was the worst even to happen to you when you’re a teenager. Graduation means that you’re legally of age to get killed.
See, in this world no one is allowed to kill anybody that is still in school. Although this hasn’t stopped anybody before. Many cases of people killing children have gone onto the headlines of the news before. That was many years ago, those stories don’t usually pop up anymore, they usually are silenced or just aren’t that shocking for the news to report on.
Today was a big day. I got up from my sleeping bag on the dusty wooden floor and my mom was the first person to say anything to me.
“Well look who’s finally awake.” My mother said, as she flipped a pancake. “I guess you had a very good night’s sleep didn’t you? And on such a big day like this.”
“Sorry, guess I didn’t want to wake up.” I said as I rolled my sleeping bag and put it into the corner of the room.
“Today is a scary day, but that gives you no excuse for sleeping in!” My father exclaimed. “Go take a shower and get on some nice clothes, the graduation is in an hour.” My older brother, Eric, stopped punching the punching bag and turned to look at me. “You don’t need to do any of those things. Graduation is something you shouldn’t be all too excited about.”
He wasn’t wrong, graduation is something every teenager feared. It really wasn’t the first time my family went to a graduation. My older brother Eric graduated two years earlier. Back then, he didn’t even get dressed for it, he just showed up in his loungers and as soon as it was over went back home and took a nap. My mother and father were very angry at him but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get over school and live in the real world. He’s eighteen now and I'm sixteen.
“Don’t persuade your brother to do the same thing as you did last year! This year I want a really nice photo unlike yours.” Mom said pointing at the photo she kept on the dresser in the far back of the room near a covered window. The picture was of Eric in his loungers not really looking at the camera, instead looking to the left like he was distracted. He was holding up his graduation certificate but he was holding it upside down. It’s like he didn’t even care at all.
“I still wonder why you kept that photo.” Eric sighed. “If it wasn’t that good why’d you keep it anyways?” He questioned. “Because you are my son.” Mom answered. “I don’t care if you don't have a cute smile or whatever. I want to remember you when I'm on my deathbed.”
“Whatever” Eric mumbled as he took off his boxing gloves and hung them up on the wall. “Don’t talk back to your mother like that! Show her some respect!” My father shouted. While all of this was happening I was putting on a shirt and went to the kitchen table. Our house, or should I say room, was pretty cramped. None of us had a bedroom, instead everyone had a sleeping bag. There was another room, the bathroom, but it wasn’t all that big. Just a toilet and a shower. We live in an apartment complex with other people around. The other people that lived here were also families, who had the same number of children as my mother and father. They all agreed not to kill each other, signing an agreement that if you killed anyone in this apartment, you would be kicked out along with your family. So no one ever has done such a thing yet. For not being heavily government controlled, this apartment complex is a very peaceful one.
My little sister, Alice, was sitting in a chair near the door reading a book. She’s always been a bookworm, every chance that she got to read a book she took it. Her favorites were the ones that told long stories like The Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, and a new book series called In The Youth of A Child. All of these books told stories in these fantasy worlds. I tend to not read many books, unless the school required me to.
“Breakfast is ready!” My mother announced. “Get some while they’re hot!” I was the first one to get a pancake, with my father being the second. Alice, taking a while because she was close to finishing a chapter, was the third one to take a pancake. She sat right next to me while my father took a pancake and sat on the couch. Eric didn't want any pancakes, instead he just laid on the floor. My mom insisted on him eating but he said he wasn’t hungry.
“What am I gonna do with you?” My mother was exasperated. She then hung up her apron on the oven and sat down with me and my sister. As soon as she sat next to me she leaned into my ear and said.
“Don’t listen to your brother. Graduation is one of the best things to happen in your life.” My mother whispered, making sure Eric couldn’t hear her. “Just, look nice. That’s all I ask.” She finished.
I didn’t know what to say except “Ok.” She then leaned away from me and grabbed a pancake. Even though I don’t fully agree with her, I'll still do what she asks. After all, it’s only a few chances you’ll get to get a good graduation photo. And I also want to make my mom happy.
After eating my pancake I went to the bathroom to go shower. But, Eric stopped me from going any further. “Hold on, before you do that. Come with me.” Eric said in a low tone of his voice as he motioned to follow him. What did he want? Why go outside? For any of those questions to be answered, I had to follow him. So, I did what I was told and followed Eric outside of the house. My mom looked at me, with a very concerned expression as I walked out the door. Did she know something? These questions pondered in my mind as the door closed behind me.
Me and Eric were in the hallway. We were the last door on the end of the fifth floor with four other doors lining the hallway. It’s a very short hallway with the stairs being on the right as soon as you leave the room. With the doors being on your left. Eric walked over to the staircase and walked down, I followed.
“Where are we going?” I asked. Eric didn’t respond, instead he ignored me and kept walking.
“What are we going to do?” I asked. Eric, yet again, ignored me and kept walking.
At this point it was useless to keep asking him questions if he wasn’t going to answer. We walked all the way down the stairs and into the lobby. The person who was working the desk greeted us.
“Hello! Good morning.” He greeted me.
“Good morning.” I said back. Eric didn’t say anything and kept walking forward.
“What’s going on with him?” He inquired.
“I don’t even know.” I said back.
Eric kept walking and took me to the back of the complex. The backyard of the complex had a rundown playground and was covered with overgrown grass. Eric stopped in the middle of the yard and turned to me.
“Fight me.”
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