The Hunt

           Every few years, something called The Hunt takes place in my town. My town? It’s pretty small, we’re about five hundred people. We’re like a big family, everyone knows everyone and we all live to help each other. The Hunt: is a big event that has been part of our society for hundreds of years. It starts out with a big boom and then it all begins; chaos breaks loose. Soldiers from the big city arrive within the hour of the boom and start to take the children. The ones that are taken are never to be seen again. No one knows what happens to them, but there are myths that these children are used as our meat. They get stuffed until they have enough meat on their bones and then killed to provide for the entire country. Anyone who resists gets executed on the spot. Everyone is scared of it, no one talks about it, and if you happen to mention it, people tend to stare at you with great fear in their eyes. George, my neighbor, always tells me stories about The Hunt, but they’re so gruesome they must be made up. How could human beings do such things to each other? George told me about Mr. Green. Yes, he was a bit odd and had his moments where he completely lost it, but the stories George told me? They couldn’t be true. He told me that Mr. Green had witnessed his own wife’s execution, after his three children were taken away.  She was executed because she resisted against the soldiers when they were taking away their children. Mr. Green has never said a word to anyone ever since. He tends to stay inside with the doors locked and the blinds shut. No one knew a thing about him.The next Hunt is in about three to four weeks from now and my parents are getting more nervous with every day that passes. We had a cabin in the woods where we would hide out during The Hunt. Everyday we took some supplies there. People became more paranoid and more careful. Careful to whom they would speak, share their information with, and even ask for help. Only two days until it starts –my parents are telling me to stay inside at all time. One-day left, I’m scared. My mother told me that we’re leaving as soon as it gets dark. 

After waiting for hours, my dad came up to my room and said that we were leaving. I was nervous, scared, and my heart was beating so fast, I could feel it in my throat. We were walking in the dark, we couldn’t see a thing, and we were all scared to death. My brother started sobbing and my mother couldn’t stop shaking. My father kept saying that everything would be fine, as long as we stuck together and kept on moving. When we finally got to the cabin, we knew something was wrong. Nothing was in the place we had left it in. The cabin looked searched. My mother grabbed my arm and pressed my brother to her body. My father pulled out a gun and I gasped. It was against the law to own a gun or any kind of weapon. We were barely allowed to own a kitchen knife. He put his finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. I did as he said, but so much was going through my head. Where did he get that? Why didn’t he tell me sooner about this? I had so many questions and no one was giving me answers. We stood there for a few minutes, listening if there was anyone. Every noise we heard we shifted and with every noise I grabbed my mother’s arm with more power. And then, all at once, with a big boom, someone kicked down the door. I was blinded by the flash flights and felt helpless. Someone had taken me from my mother’s side. I tried to get away but he was too strong, I tried kicking him and I kept on kicking him until everything went dark.When I woke up everything hurt. There was this endless pain in my right arm: the arm that was held by the soldier that pulled me away from my mother. I opened my eyes with difficulty. I looked around me. There, in the corner, was a figure. It looked big and intimidating. It was looking at me. I couldn’t see its eyes, but I just felt it staring at me.

“Where am I?” I asked. It didn’t answer so I asked again, but this time louder and with more power, “Where am I and where are we going?” It stayed quiet for a bit and then he answered. He had a deep voice that sounded surprisingly friendly. “You’re on a train on your way to the city”. The city? What’s in the city? Why am I going to the city? “You have a lot of questions don’t you?” He said it in this voice, he sounded surprised.Hours had passed when the train came to a sudden stop and the figure started to smile. “We’re here.” 

He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. The door opened and the first thing I saw were high buildings, made up from glass shining in the early morning light. I was stunned and the man started to laugh, but not very loudly, but softly as if he were trying to make me feel more comfortable. They took me to one of the shiny buildings and told me to stay seated in one of the rooms, which had green chairs. I did as I was told. At the end of the room was a door through which a lady with red hair walked in. She signaled me to her and I approached. She said to follow her; she started to walk towards the same door she walked in through, and I followed. The room was made up of four walls, of which one was completely made of glass. My eyes automatically went to the glass and what I saw was the truth. The myths about the fate of the taken children weren’t myths; they were real. Everything was real; the children being stuffed, held in one place like animals, and the slaughtering.

"Stocks." Dreamstime. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/glass-skyscraper-blue-sky-23720483.jpg>.