The Last Chance

I wasn’t special in any way, but I had somehow escaped. It seemed like the best luck in the world that I had, out of so many billion people who were older, stronger, more capable. But that was just it: I had gotten lucky.

I figured, it was sort of like the lottery. If the odds of winning fifty million dollars were one in seventeen billion, there was, somewhere, the person who had scratched off their ticket to find the winning combination, and that person just could be you. Since you were frequently encountering these odds – whether you knew it or not – you were bound to, someday, be that one person. But whether it was a rare, fatal disease or the tenth caller in an international radio contest to win a limo, you couldn’t know until it happened.

In some ways, I was glad to still be alive – or, sane. Being really alive was better than what everyone else had, but was it a mistake to always be in hiding, to feel everyone was against you… to risk yourself when you knew you could never win? Occasionally I would feel a pang of despair and decide to reveal myself, but something always stopped me.

The weight of the world and the fate of it was always crushing me, and the fact that I was the last glimmer of hope on an otherwise dark horizon didn’t make me feel special. No one could help me. No one could even stand on the sidelines, cheering me on.

I had been a nine-year-old at the time, and, being quiet and invisible, had remained hidden while our small town was raided by government workers. Insecure, shy, and only vaguely aware of what was happening, I made my way through the wilderness. Sometimes I didn’t eat for a whole week. As time passed, I managed to eavesdrop on the conversations of several leaders and had made assumptions about what had happened. Having no one to ask, I was never certain of the accuracy of it, but I went along with it. Leaders were the only real people left (besides their servants), the only ones who hadn’t had the drug yet. I estimated there to be only a few left in my region. All of them were bad and mean; they sought only power. I knew that someday soon they would all be overpowered by each other and only one would exist in the world.

That was, except for me.

I began to realize that if I didn’t do something, all would be lost and I would regret watching it happen when I could have done something. Five years I had been on the run, and I was now fourteen. It was now or never. If I failed, it would be like a huge letdown to the people who would never know, but at least I’d have tried.

That night, I slept very little. It wasn’t just that the tall, rough grass and very humid air weren’t exactly ideal sleeping conditions, but I had been turning what I was about to do over and over in my head. Morning dawned early that hot summer day, and I got up as soon as I could see well enough to walk, stretching my stiff muscles and brushing off the grass from my arms and legs.

I popped a breath mint into my mouth – one of the ones from a container I’d stolen several years before. Refreshed, I set off for the nearest town, six and a half miles away.

I entertained myself during the long hike by practicing what I was going to say. I planned an elaborate speech in which I would beg them to consider my idea. Even in my head it sounded stupid, though, so I dismissed that idea.

Finally, I reached the outskirts of the small town – one very much like the one I had lived in as a small child, but of course deserted. This view – a main street with run-down shops, a park, and six smaller streets of houses that formed an oval shape – brought back painful memories. The layout was too familiar. Since the incident, I had been unable to return home (or what was left of it).

I sighed and stepped down from the hill I had been standing on to get a better view. Crouching down, I dashed to the dusty, foul-smelling back of a brick building and pressed myself against the wall. A shower of dust cascaded over me and covered my face and hair in a thin layer of grime. I grimaced and wiped the dirt from my eyes, then peered around the edge of the building to make sure the coast was clear. There was no one in sight.

The hardened soles of my bare feet made no sound against the old concrete sidewalks. I passed the park, which now contained only a dirt field, dead trees, and a broken bench. I also walked by several looming, ancient buildings that had once been called churches. They were now used for – I didn’t want to think about it, but the image of one I’d seen through a window last winter flashed through my head. The inside had been painted entirely grey, bare and depressing. Everything had been removed except the long, smooth benches, which contained… I winced. Bodies. The bodies of innocent people. Most were still alive in their coma-like state, but some had probably died and gone unnoticed. Churches all over the world had been converted to these horrible places. As I passed by, I averted my eyes and quickened my step.

Thirty minutes later, I had looped around the entire town and found no signs of life whatsoever, not even an insect. Maybe a leader didn’t live here, though I had been so sure…

Suddenly, something caught my eye. I knew instantly what it was, because nothing else could be so clean, so… magnificent. I wiped my fingers on my dirty jeans nervously and approached the mansion.

I paused at the front door, taking a deep breath. Don’t think about it, I reminded myself as I pushed the tall, double doors open.

At first I saw nothing but fancy black and white marble. It covered the floors, walls, and ceilings entirely and hurt my eyes to look at. The eerie silence in here was even more intense than it had been outside. I tried to focus on the task ahead rather than the dazzling pattern. My footsteps against the floor sounded like thunder, and each breath I took like a gust of strong wind. After five or six steps, I stopped abruptly to listen for any noise. Someone could easily sneak up behind me, knock me unconscious, and it would be the end. Not once in the five years I’d spent moving to countless places to hide, had I encountered a sign of any other normal people in hiding. Maybe there were still sane humans on the other side of the world, but I had the strange feeling I was the only one.

One wrong move, and hope was lost. Not that I wanted this responsibility.

After checking that I was completely alone, I walked quickly through the entrance room and into the second, which was identical to the first. Then, all of the sudden, I heard voices.

“Get me another pillow,” a female said, in a smooth but cold and commanding voice.

“Yes, ma’am,” another, more humble voice said, then I heard muffled footsteps. It took me a moment to realize they were coming toward me. I gasped and flattened myself against one of the walls, but there was nowhere else to hide.

The footsteps got louder and louder, and a figure appeared at the doorway. It was a dirty, ill-treated man, probably in his late twenties. His back was curved from long hours of hard, painful work and his eyes were half-shut with exhaustion. He almost walked right past me until I felt a familiar tickle at my nose. I tried to stop myself, but it was too late. “Achoo!”

The servant’s head jerked up and turned to look at me. His sleepy eyes widened in recognition of what he saw. “Who – what are you? You can’t be another servant; there’s only two of us.”

“Shh!” I whispered frantically. “Be quiet! I’ve been on the run since my town was invaded five years ago. I’m the only person who’s not one of them, and definitely the only person anywhere willing to do anything. You’ve got to help me!”

He froze in place for a minute, his eyes darting from me to the doorway, and back again.

Then he came to his senses. Before I could stop him, he ran through the doorway and toward his leader. “Miss! Miss!” he called. “Girl – in the second room! Stop her!”

“Girl?” the voice said. “It can’t be.”

“But it is, I swear! You have to catch her before she leaves!”

A moment of silence. “Well, all right.” Footsteps pounded toward me again, but this time I wasn’t afraid.

Things were never going to change if I didn’t do anything. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

When I opened them, a stern face stared back at me. The woman was fairly tall, with a perfect figure emphasized by a tight, icy blue minidress. Her face was beautiful and flawless from countless plastic surgeries. She had blue eyes that matched her dress and flowing, sparkling blond hair. Perfect as she was, there was something about her that was slightly unsettling.

I fidgeted under the intense stare of the leader. I couldn’t blow my chance to explain to her my side of the story – the right side.

“Who are you?” she said, her face pinched from trying to hide astonishment. “Not another servant, certainly – they’re not allowed to visit alone.”

“N-no, I’m-“

Her eyes widened. “No, you couldn’t be! The leaders are the only ones with power left. We’re the only people alive except for servants, and soon they’ll all be gone, too.” I saw the man wince out of the corner of my eye. “They’re only for our own entertainment and pleasure, anyway.” She laughed dryly.

I avoided her gaze and focused on the floor.

“What is it you want?” the woman said after a minute of silence.

“Um…” Was she being serious? Would a leader let a random person they hated walk into their house, then give them what she wanted?

The woman laughed again. “I know what you’re thinking. But I might as well just humor you, because before long nothing will matter, and you’ll finally have peace.”

I gulped. “I want-“ my voice broke. I tried again. “I want to talk to you.”

She inclined her head slightly, an amused twinkle in her eye. “Yes.”

“In private.”

The woman cleared her throat. “Jonathan, go,” she ordered.

Jonathan turned and exited the room obediently. The woman strode briskly through another doorway and down a hall. I followed uncertainly.

She led me to a large room with marble walls and floors identical to the other two rooms I’d seen. In the center of the room, two immaculate leather couches sat facing each other. The woman sat gracefully in one and turned to me, motioning to the other.

“My name is Crystal.” She extended her smooth hand and I took it nervously.

“Amelie,” I said in a tiny voice, sitting down uncomfortably.

“Yes,” she replied coldly. “Now, what do you want? I’d really like to just get this over with.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“You already said that.” I thought I saw her roll her eyes.

“Um, I – I… I need to explain?” It came out as a question.

“Well, then just do it!” she exclaimed. “I don’t have all day!”

I knew for a fact she did, because leaders didn’t have anything to do in their free time except pick fights with each other.

“What happened?” I burst out. “What did we do, and how did we let it happen?” I knew this was a little abrupt, but I needed to get it out before she put me to sleep or killed me.

Crystal wasn’t stupid; she understood immediately what I was saying. “You think it was a mistake?”

“You don’t?” I attempted to raise an eyebrow at her, and failed. She didn’t reply, so I continued. “These people, all seventeen billion or however many – with the exception of a couple hundred remaining leaders – are all asleep for the rest of their life. It’s worse than sleep, though. I know they’re all supposedly hooked up to machines that feed them and give them vitamins, but seriously! How does it work, really? You call yourself leaders, but you don’t do much except control things.”

“How does it work?” Her full lips spread into a wide smile. “It works just fine. The strongest, most capable citizens took over, and they will continue to do so until only one is left standing. It was bound to happen sometime.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled again in mock sympathy. “I mean, think about it. The world was dangerously overcrowded. Wars broke out everywhere, and we never knew how to handle ourselves. We were too smart for our own good.”

I gaped at her, horrified. “Put yourself in their place,” I suggested. “How would they feel, to have a life, a home, a family, then everything you have is gone, just… just because you feel like it?!”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Well, then explain it, please!”

Crystal sighed. “What we did wasn’t wrong. It was what happened. Life happens, change happens.”

I almost rolled my eyes. “That was almost completely unrelated. Can I have a real answer, please?”

“I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“I don’t care.”

“These people…. When they’re unconscious – which is everyone normal, always – all the dreams, the thoughts they have, they’re different. Their actions are not limited by reality. They can fly, save the world, and live forever. Their sense of time is however long or short they want it to be. They can look how they want, be what they want, because your imagination really isn’t logical. They still know what their life was like before, though. Instead of witnessing what’s going on, they have infinite happiness.”

This was a very interesting concept, but I had a question. “Why doesn’t everyone be like them, then, if it’s so great?”

Before she even spoke, I knew she was going to lie. “Once you fully experience what it’s like to have everyone around you be like that, you’ll never give in unless someone does it to you without warning. Humans are cowards. Besides, you only have a certain amount of time unconscious. It’s actually quite nice to have a peaceful, calm world,” she added as an afterthought.

I was horrified. “A certain amount of time? You’re going to kill them?”

Crystal laughed. “Amelie, how old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

“Okay. This whole thing started when you were about seven. The larger part of the…. transition went very quickly, and it’s ending quickly too. How long do you think people can be hooked up to a machine? There aren’t many of us left. How much food can we produce? Besides, they’re not exactly healthy. I say, they’ll all be gone within two years. The average life span is probably three to four years, so I guess you’ll have to go a little early. We don’t want to have to provide for you forever.”

Tears formed in my eyes. “You’re going to kill me in two years?”

“You won’t know anything. Like I said, everything is so much different for them.”

Suddenly, something occurred to me. “Wait… three or four years? So my parents, and brothers…?”

“Dead, I guess,” she replied casually.

A tear trickled down my cheek. I didn’t brush it away, but slumped over in my seat. I knew I was losing the argument, but I couldn’t help it. Crystal was just so superior to me. I wasn’t smart. I wasn’t strong. Still, I had to keep fighting or die trying. “What about the people who know they’re dying, or figure it out?” I protested.

“Ah, yes. That isn’t a problem. Most people don’t suspect that. As for the ones who do, well, after a certain amount of time dreaming, they begin to wonder, and eventually convince themselves it’s their real life. At least the ones who had a little sense, which, believe me, isn’t many. This is what we’ve concluded from our experiments on them, anyway.”

As I was taking this in, she reached for her pocket.

Too late, I realized what she was going to do. “No!” I screeched as she reached over smoothly and poked the syringe into my arm. I tried to cringe away, but it was too late.

Jonathan, the servant, watched from the doorway, laughing silently. I turned wildly back to Crystal. “Help!” I screamed.

“Don’t worry, Amelie. You’ll be in a better place.”

I was beginning to feel dizzy and weak. I stumbled off the couch and onto the floor, falling to my knees. At that moment, all I cared about was to persuade them to change their minds. If I only could convince them before I blacked out… “You’ve got to listen to me!” I screamed. “You have to change your minds! Think of how happy everyone would be, and then of how you’ve hurt them! Shouldn’t everyone get a chance at a normal, real, full life? These people will never get to experience it. COULD YOU THINK ABOUT SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF FOR ONCE?” I slumped over onto the cold floor.

Then, I knew this was the end.

“Oh, Amelie,” Crystal said. “They don’t know their life is a dream. Just like we don’t even suspect ours is. What if we woke up one day to find that our lives are completely different and we’ve been dreaming this whole time? We wouldn’t know that the interactions between us aren’t real, like the ones in the sleeping peoples’ minds aren’t. We could really be a very intelligent species that understands things on a deeper level than we do, and not know it because we’re asleep.”

My vision began to fade rapidly, and Crystal’s voice was distant in my ears. “After all,” she concluded. “What is life?”



The End