As far as they knew, the Smiths were the only people. Ever. They only knew how to shuck corn and churn butter. They had a simple life. They liked a simple life. It was all they knew.

“Hey, M-mama? Why do we not know any people? I’m lonely. It is so hard to not be able to have friends or anyone else. Why am I stuck with you guys?!?” Sam asked, teary-eyed.

“Well hun, we are the only folks out here,” Ms. Smith replied, trying to hide her own sadness. 

“We need to go on a trip!” Mr. Smith declared. “We are going to get you some friends, Sam.”

Suddenly the little black box in the wall started to speak in its low rumbling voice. “You must do nothing of the sort. Stay home and don’t leave.”

“That is why we can’t leave,” Mrs. Smith responded. “You know there would be serious consequences. Ones we do not want. Let’s discuss this when the kids aren’t around.”

Later that evening

“Billy? Do you think we should go looking for other people?” Sam asked, unaware of the possible consequences, as he was only 6. 

“Well… I think it could be fun. But it could also be dangerous.” 

They leaned in closer to the door. They could only make out the hushed tones of their parents discussing the situation. 

“They… Whoever they are would come after us. They would kill us a-”

“Well, then maybe we should put an end to that. They would have no need to control us if there were other people around. Honey, we can find them,” Mr. Smith pleaded. 

“Okay, fine! But if anyone gets hurt, or we are out there for more than two weeks, we’re coming home.” 

“Deal.”

The Next Day

“Ok everyone, are we ready to go?” Mrs. Smith asked, clearly nervous. 

“Yep.”

“Yes.”

“Kinda.”

The walk started uneventfully. They were surrounded by tall trees and walked along a tiny stream. They stopped for dinner but decided to walk a little longer after. 

The next week and a half were just as dull. The occasional bunny or fish was the most exciting thing they saw. Until… 

“You have broken the rules. You will paaay. The destination you hope to achieve will never come.” The little box was… following them? It couldn’t be. It was coming from the sky. 

“W-what was that?” Sam asked, very frightened. 

“Nothing to worry about, that’s what,” Mr. Smith replied. 

So they trekked on. They saw all kinds of plants. Vines dangled down from trees. It was the prettiest thing they had ever seen. Then the scariest thing they had ever seen emerged from behind a bush. 

There standing in front of them was a cheetah. 

“Ruuuun! Towards the… the cabin over there! They approached a small cabin and locked themselves inside. 

“Hooray, we made it!!” Billy exclaimed.

They slowly tiptoed around and found nothing. It looked as if it was wiped clean. 

“This is amazing!” Mr Smith exclaimed. 

“There is nothing here!” Mrs. Smith replied, trying to hide her “I told you so” face. 

“But there was! If there’s a house, there used to be people in the house! They might have also gone on a journey to find people! There are other people aliiiiive!”

“Slow your roll mister, we have almost been out here for two weeks. We haven’t seen people yet. We might never see people.” Mrs. Smith was more trying to convince herself because even she knew they were getting close to people. 

“We are moving forward! We are not short on food! But we have a short distance until people! Let’s go!” Mr. Smith was now determined. 

Two hours later

They came to a clearing. 

“Did you hear that?” Billy blurted out. 

“We haven’t seen anything for two hours. I doubt there’s anything there,” Mrs. Smith replied.

Then sure enough… 

“Helloooo!” a strange voice said.

“It’s probably just the box,” Billy said.
“We come in peace. We were on a journey to find other people. We just want to talk,” The strange voice said again. Then a man emerged from behind them. 

“It is amazing to meet you all,” Mr. Smith fumbled nervously. 

They set up camp and sat by the fire.

“Let’s start from the beginning…” Mr. Smith decided to tell this man everything. He assumed it was the best way to figure out their situation. After a while, Mr. Smith put two and two together. 

“The voice… it controls… everything. I can’t figure if it is a real person or not. Somehow they control everything in these parts. For some reason, they WANT to control everything. They strategically made us live far apart from each other. I just want to know… why?”