Everyone has to make choices. Small ones, big ones, it doesn’t really matter. People make decisions every day. This morning, I decided to have cereal for breakfast. What kind? Cinnamon Toast Crunch. See? Easy. Even the hard decisions aren’t too bad. What dog breed should I get? Well, you’re going to decide eventually. Those are the easy and hard decisions, but they aren’t important.

Have you ever given up your last piece of gum out of kindness? I’m sure it’s happened to everyone at some point. Of course, it makes you a bit sad, but it makes someone else happy. It’s an easy decision to make.

Giving someone your umbrella? Money? Toys? They’re all just things. Things that, in the end, don’t really matter. You see, the decision I have to make isn’t just about giving up objects. It’s giving up the only really valuable thing in life.

Happiness. 

So . . . the ‘important’ decisions, the ones that are impossible to make. Ones that end badly either way. Ones that, if you choose wrong, you can bring entire cities down.

That decision is mine to make. 

Every decade or so, someone is chosen to make ‘the decision.’ Have you ever read The Hunger Games? It’s kind of like that. A long time ago, some middle-aged guy found a way to feed everyone’s sadness and misery into one source, and that source was a human being. No one objected to the idea. Now, someone gets picked to take on everyone else’s misery in order to have a ‘perfect’ society. 

Do you see how it’s impossible? If I agree, I’ll be completely miserable for the rest of my life. If I refuse, all that misery that I was supposed to take in will be given back to society. I’ll be seen as a selfish person. It’s basically a test to see who is loyal to our city. It’s been like this forever. New decade, new person to be tortured. There’s no solution. 

Honestly, it’s a choice without a choice.

Why am I so calm? Why am I not sad? Well, I’m in shock. My brain hasn’t been able to comprehend what’s happening. I never took this whole thing seriously for my entire life. Now it’s happening to me. I’m too used to not caring, being free, being happy. The times when I was in fact happy, but blind to the truth. The times when I didn’t know how society really worked. 

I always thought the way we did things was wrong, and I’m sure everyone else feels the same way on some level. Everyone becomes aware that their happiness relies on someone else’s misery, but no one can really do anything. It’s like stepping out of line, you’re selfish, you don’t care about others. No one wants to be seen like that, so no one ever says or does anything. The whole point of “the choice” is to have the majority happy, so why would people talk about it? Talking about it just makes people unhappy. We all walk around with smiles on our faces, knowing that we’re only happy because someone else isn’t. 

There are people coming to take me away at 2:45. I have been watching the clock for an hour. I Haven’t been sure what to do this whole time. 2:33. I can run away. 2:34. No, I can’t do anything. 2:35. Maybe they’ll take me tomorrow, maybe they messed up the date. 2:36. Yes. That has to be it. 2:37. Who am I kidding? They never make mistakes. My mind keeps going back and forth until I zone out, watching the needle tick in a circle instead of actually watching the time. 

Someone knocks on the door. I look at the clock. 2:45? I lost track of time. Four men in black suits step through our doorway and look around. Everything starts happening too fast. The men start talking to my parents, clearly asking for me. They point to the left, to the kitchen I am in. Fear freezes me to my chair. The men grab me by my arms and start to march me out of our house. My parents stand in the doorway, unable to do anything. 

“IT’S NOT FAIR, IT’S NOT FAIR,” I scream and kick, trying to escape from the people who are marching me to misery. It’s useless. I know it’s useless, but I keep screaming.

IT’S NOT FAIR.