A nice sunny day was the perfect weather for something bad to happen, don’t you think? Bad things happening on such a nice day is so common. At least, that’s all I know. 

Looking down at the sidewalk, I was walking with my sister, Aimee, to the auditorium in the government office building. President Horace had called an urgent citizens’ meeting. 

“You nervous? She hasn’t called one of these in ages,” Aimee patted my shoulder. Trying to hide my clear anxiety of the situation, I shook my head no swiftly. Aimee clicked her tongue while continuing to pat my arm. “It’ll be okay, doll.” Aimee’s soothing voice slightly calmed me down. 

Aimee had long curly red hair kept intact with a messy braid, big, deep brown eyes, an hourglass figure, thin lips, soft skin and freckles sprinkled all over her cheeks. Meanwhile, looking almost nothing like my sister, I had long bouncy dirty blonde hair, light brown eyes, full lips, less noticeable freckles, and a short, thin, flat figure. We looked very young for our ages. Aimee looked 21 years old while being 29 while I looked 13 years old while being 17. 

I looked up from the sidewalk at the forest green office building. Maige, another sibling of mine, always said it looked like a dumpster. Maige was probably already in the building waiting for Aimee and I with all of our other siblings. My family was pretty large. I had three brothers and three sisters. Aigel, Gaige and Maige being my brothers, and Paige, Aimee and Lainey being my sisters. Notice a name pattern? Yeah, me too. I also had an adopted sister, Taigen, but we’re not allowed to mention her because she ran away with her girlfriend. My father, nieces and nephews were probably waiting there too. Man, everyone in the city was there. 

The meetings were big deals. President Horace would pick out an unspecified number of citizens to go up and live in the overworld, known in the city as Outerworld. We didn’t know why it was called Outerworld, but President Horace had coined that name for a classified reason. The last time they had people go up to Outerworld, they didn’t come down for three years. Only six of the ten people they sent survived. After that, they stopped sending people, until that day of course. 

Aimee swung open the office door for me and we both walked down the narrow hall. Aimee grabbed my hand and said to me, “It’s gonna be fine, doll, there are over a thousand people in the city, it’s not gonna be one of us.” Hesitantly, I trusted her word. 

We neared the auditorium door and I had flashbacks from the last time. The last time we went near those doors, My brother, Aigel was chosen to go up into Outerworld. He never said a word about what happened, but I could tell he went through something. He didn’t eat for a week, and he slept so poorly because he kept having nightmares jolting him awake in screaming terror each night. I slowly backed away from the door and Aimee tugged on my hand. “You can’t avoid it. I know you want to, and I want to as well. But we have to go, or we’re autoselected, and you know that.” Aimee pulled me inside. 

All I could hear was the chatter of everyone in the city, bunched up in a small auditorium. I wasn’t looking directly at anything but the floor so I wouldn’t get caught in the jumble while Aimee was dragging me towards where our family was seated. 

“Saige! Aimee!” Lainey exclaimed. She was the oldest sister. Lainey was fairly tall, had messy dirty blonde hair always in a bun and welcoming mocha eyes. 

“Aimee, c’mere, sit next to me,” Gaige said quietly. Gaige was the quiet one in the family and it was blatant. As one of the middle children, he was often neglected and only Aimee and I really cared for him. He had jet black hair that went straight down his face creating the illusion of his face being tighetened. But if you ignore the uncared for hairdo, his eyes were a mesmerizing, majestic emerald green that you could stare at for hours.

“Saige, you good?” Maige asked. Maige was the youngest sibling, and the loudest, too. He always spoke his mind no matter the situation. He had chin-length curly black hair and dark olive eyes.
“Stop being such a downer, Saige!” Paige teased. She was my least favorite sibling, and it definitely was not a question as to why. Paige always picked on me and made me feel useless. I loved Paige dearly though, despite her sheer targeting. Paige had long, bouncy dirty blonde hair, just like me, and less welcoming but still pretty mocha eyes, like Lainey. 

So many words, I couldn’t keep up. Eventually, I was pulled onto a seat, and my head was rested on someone’s shoulder. I didn’t really care who’s shoulder it was, I was just happy to be sitting. “Are you alright, Saige?” I heard a familiar, deep voice. My boyfriend, Aidan. I looked up at him, and into his piercing grey eyes. “Hey handsome,” I was in a daze, almost distracted from everything else. He smiled and replied, “Hey gorgeous.” 

Aidan had short, messy black hair, and he was very tall and pale. He had a skinny yet also muscular build. 

Beside Aidan was my best friend, Aylene. Aylene had long silky black hair that draped over her small, dark, foxy eyes, and tanned skin that contrasted with her go-to navy blue hoodie. Aylene grinned and waved at me. 

Aidan kissed my forehead and asked again, “Are you alright?” I sighed a long, “mmhmm…” 

“You don’t seem alright.” he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer. I responded, still woozy from all the noise, “I’m alright, just a little dizzy.” 

“Ah, with all of the hecticness from this sweaty, crowded old theatre?” he asked with a smile. I nodded in response and quietly laughed. I didn’t really understand what was funny but I laughed.

I was about to talk more to Aidan, but I heard microphone feedback. Tapping. President Horace was seeking the city’s attention. “Hello? Are you done chatting or may I have a word?” Everyone shifted their attention to the President. “Good. Now, it’s been about three years since the last pioneer launch. The reason we discontinued was because the many citizens we sent were either uneducated, not ready for a new lifestyle or not healthy. Now that our government team has gone over the specific requirements for a suitable Outerworld pioneer, we have our very own select of four citizens. You will hear your names shortly, in reverse alphabetical order by surname.” 

The loud chatter of the audience commenced again. I shivered a bit. I still had a bad feeling about the whole meeting. Then was not the time to have bad feelings, especially when people were about to be selected, but I had one. Aidan patted my head and whispered, “It’s not gonna be you, babe, trust me.” I tried to convince myself to trust him.