The Middle

The slight hum of the light bulb woke me. I tossed and turned in bed, not fully awake and not wanting to wake up anyways. I felt my covers getting ripped from my body, letting in a cold rush of early morning air.

"Go away Zoe... I'm trying to sleep." I mumbled to my sister. She was 4 years younger than me, but had the most responsibilities. She had laundry, dishes, gathering, bartering, and more. All I did was act as an adult for legal sake, scout, guard, and hunt.

" No Phoenix... Someone is at the door." She said shakily. She's normally pretty brave, so someone freaking her out just by showing up, well it must be bad.

I jumped our of bed and told her to get the water boiling for breakfast. I quickly dressed after she left and went to check the door. A tall man in a dark suit greeted me.

" Ms. Gale?" He asked. He obviously already knew I was.

" What?" I said sharply. He woke me up, I don't have the generosity to give him my best manners..

" I have been ordered to give you this letter. It's from the Council."

Ahh shit. The Council. I took the letter and closed the door in his face. The envelope was a golden edged official note, mainly used within wealthy family's, which are in the few. We are definitely not one of those family's.

I ripped it open once I got to my room. It read:

Dear Gale family,

You have been drafted to participate in an ongoing lab experiment. One of your household is to report to your town square at precisely 3:00 p.m., Saturday. Failure to report can lead to fines and in severe cases, imprisonment.

Signed, Councilor Rodriguez

Head of Transportation department and CEO of Rod-tech.

Oh no... What am I going to do... I can't leave Zoe here... and I'm not going to pawn her off into some pig of a rich guy. So... I guess... I know what has to be done.

I'm the one who has to report for the experiment. And I only have one day to say good bye.