Forever young

Forever young

By Argelia Castro

A young couple was running inside their house packing their suitcases, grabbing papers, and getting ready to leave. The woman took out from her pocket a heart-shaped locket, she looked at her daughter who was looking scared while sitting in a corner. The woman grabbed her hand, and told her:

-"Sanda, inside this locket is the key to human salvation. Don't ever lose it".

Sanda grabbed the locket and looked at her little brother Alex playing Lego in the other corner of the room completely unaware of what was happening.

The man started panicking and said:

-They're almost here. What's gonna happen with the basement? And our work? With the kids? We won't survive, we won't make it, I tried....

The man started crying and the woman grabbed his face and said:

-Hey, we will, we can escape and go to...

Suddenly somebody started knocking at the door very loudly. The woman spoke very quietly:

-Sanda, grab your brother, get down, don't make a sound.

She looked at her husband and she knew something bad was about to happen. Both parents hugged and kissed their kids when suddenly the sound of many shotguns disrupted the silence. Sanda screamed at the top of her lungs and she woke up. It was just a dream.

An 18-year old Sanda woke up from a nightmare. A nightmare that actually happened. She looked at her watch. It's almost 7 am. She got up and got everything ready for her and her brother who is now 16 years old. It felt like a normal day, except it was not. Sanda and Alex arrived to FED food factory to start another day of work. All the teenagers working in the factory stood in a line close to each other and the assembly line kept moving. The line moved slowly to keep up with the workers who are teenagers chronologically speaking but their bodies are way older than that.

Sanda's best friend Mary stood next to her and started working.

-You're late. What happened? says Sanda.

-I had to buy my Alzheimer's meds. I can't work if my brain is not here. They would fire me.

Mary has Alzheimers, arthritis and Parkinson, she takes 15 pills daily but she never lose hope that someday scientists will find a cure that will make her feel like her age, which is 17. She loves old music like Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa and she decorates her walking cane with Scarlet Witch stickers.

This is the present, this is reality, teenagers are old, nobody knows what makes them grow old so fast. The oldest people after THE HAPPENING on record were Sanda's parents. They were both 25 years old. Teenagers start suffering different age related illnesses right after they turn 13 years old. That's why they finish school at 10 and start working until they die. They have to grow up, have kids, have jobs, pay taxes to the government and figure out life before puberty. All of them are cursed. All of them except Sanda and Alex. Both have been watched and monitored in their workplace because apparently they are the only ones without illnesses. Sanda and Alex have one last test today at work. This test will determine if their blood carry the cure for humanity. When THE HAPPENING occurred 13 years ago, 70% of all human race died inexplicably. The ones that are left are close to death as well. The planet is dying too, but again nobody knows why.

Sanda keeps working and suddenly Alex says:

-Psst, hey, I have to show something on the next break.

Sanda waits until the break and she follows her brother into a dark hall where his locker is. He opens it and sticks out a board with wheels attached to it. Sanda asks:

-What is that?

-It's a... slideboard..no....that's not the name...oh it's a skateboard, that's the name. I found it in a dumpster. I'll show you what it does. He starts skating on it across the hall.

-That's so cool, says Sanda.

-Wanna try? he asks.

-I'm too scared says Sanda.

-I'll be here next to you, says her brother.

She steps up on the board hesitating and before Alex pushes her he tells her:

-The best things in life are on the other side of fear.

She smiled at him. He pushed a little extra hard and Sanda suddenly saw herself enjoying something for the very first time in years. But the excitement ended when she saw a staircase at the end of the hall and she was going towards it. She couldn't stop on time and she flew, she tried to step where she landed but when she did she heard something snap, it was her ankle. She couldn't get up. Alex ran down the stairs and carried her. They went straight to the medical room in the factory and he placed her on a bed. He apologized for being so dumb and she said it was ok while crying. A nurse came in the room where they were and she said to her brother:

-Hello, the CEO of FED is waiting for you to run some last tests.

-I'll go with him, we need to be together, Sanda said.

The nurse continued:

-I need to fix your ankle first, then you can go and be with your brother.

-It's ok, Sanda. I'll be fine, Alex says.

-Please be careful. I love you, says Sanda noticing something suspicious in the whole situation.

-Don't worry, sis. The best things in life are on the other side of fear. See you there, Sanda.

Sanda left the room and went to the CEO's office helping herself with a cane since the pain was still too great to walk by herself.

She knocked at the door and the CEO welcomed her.

-Hi, Sanda how are you? My name is Michael White. You and your brother have worked for me for the last 7 years and I'm impressed by how good workers you are.

Before Sanda could say anything she noticed her brother was not there.

-Where's my brother? She asked.

-He wasn't feeling well after the tests so we sent him home.

-I'm his big sister, you should have told me he was gone.

-Why won't you sit down and calm down? said Michael.

Sanda sits down but she feels something is not right. Michael’s lying.

-Why do you have a cane Sanda? he asked

-It's .....it's my...my arthritis. I'm ill. I'm not useful for your test. Can you please let me go so I can see my brother? asked Sanda.

Michael smiled at her and asked her:

-Do you know why all the food on the planet is made by FED? By my company?

-Because after THE HAPPENING everything on this planet died including animals and vegetables and without those resources you started creating organic food from scratch with the help of your technology, said Sanda.

-And why do you think people die at 18 or 20 years of age? he asks.

-I have no idea.

He says: ignorance is a bliss, isn't it? All this people work like zombies creating and packing their own poison. They are slaves, they work for a living, but they don't know their work is killing them too.

Food, Sanda, the food we make at FED has chemicals that accelerate the aging process. Sanda was shocked and speechless, she grabbed her heart-shaped locket in her necklace, and scared she asked :

-Why do we grow old so fast?

-Lack of resources, Sanda. The Earth can't stand lots of humans wasting resources ,that’s why THE HAPPENING occurred. It was planned to kill 70% of the population with the food and the water we provided. But suddenly we realized that even after the killing the resources were still little for the average human, that is why I decided that if we take years out of humans and make them live until they are in their 20's they won't waste many resources. It's a brilliant plan!

Where is my brother? Sanda asked one more time more firmly.

Don't you get it? This planet can't afford to have old people, we need them to die young so everybody can enjoy the little resources we have left. We can't plant anything anymore. Your parents tried to plant but we had to destroy their experiments, it wasn't affordable. After destroying their plants we had to kill them as well. Today your brother joined your parents. Your brother was healthy and he would live longer than expected, we can't risk having him.

Sanda was in shock, unable to breathe and with tears down her face. She stood up and said:

-My parents and my brother wanted a better world, they saw hope in this wasteland, a cure for ALL OF US!!! She yelled in despair.

-We need something from you, said Michael. You have a heart-shaped locket that has information about the cure for this inside. If you give us the necklace I'll let you live.

Sanda's rage transformed into panic when she realized she could be killed right there. She tried to run but her ankle was in pain. She stumbled and fell and she was about to get up when someone hit her on the back of her neck. She was unconscious. Suddenly she woke up and right next to her was Mary. They were inside a self-driven plane. Sanda was so confused.

-Where am I ? Why are we on a plane? How the heck did you get a plane?

Mary said: My cousin repairs planes so he let me "borrow" this one. We're going to Norway.

-What's going on in Norway? Said Sanda.

-Open the heart-shaped locket in your necklace. Inside of it there are coordinates, explained Mary.

-I thought they were just random numbers, like a password. Sanda opened the locket and saw the numbers: 78 14 09 N 15 29 29 E.

Sanda thanked Mary.

- I couldn't do it by myself, Alex was murdered by Mr. White. Nobody else can know about my necklace or about the place where we are about to go.

-They could have seen the coordinates inside the locket because when I went to rescue you in the factory your necklace was on the floor next to you, added Mary.

-WHAT!!! What if they find this place first? exclaimed Sanda.

Mary said:

-That's why we took the plane ASAP. We are gonna be there in a few minutes. They won't win.

The plane landed and Sanda helped Mary getting off the plane.

-How did you rescue me back there? asked Sanda.

-This old girl knows some tricks, said Mary.

They arrived to the exact coordinates. They started walking and they heard a metallic noise as they walked. After moving the snow with their canes they saw a big metallic door on the floor. Sanda pulled it and inside there were stairs going down a big basement. They went downstairs. The basement's lights were on but inside they found an empty space with dirt and papers spread on the floor.

-It looks like somebody got here first, it's too late, said a disappointed Sanda.

-SANDA!!!! COME HERE NOW!!! screamed Mary.

Mary showed Sanda a piece of paper with a note and a small plastic bag with small plant seeds inside of it.

What does the note say? asked Mary. The note said:

I had to take everything to save you from all the trouble.

A tear fell down Sanda's face. She was exhausted and furious at the same time.

-FED took everything, just like they took my parents work. It's over. We can't plant anything. All is gone, exclaimed Sanda.

Mary interrupted her and said: There's something written in the back of the paper.

Sanda turned the page and she read the note that said:

-The best things in life are on the other side of fear.