A rush of wind from an unidentified plane soared over the capital, and everyone was immediately instructed to find shelter. 

“Take cover in the closest building as soon as possible,” an announcer commanded over the loudspeaker. Danny, a deaf classmate of Susie’s, was standing nearby, unaware of the danger around him. Susie ran to alert him about the incident, and they took cover in a nearby building. They were later told that the aircraft had come from the West and their leader was scheduled to meet the West’s leader later that afternoon at the border. The border between the two territories was heavily guarded, and no citizens could access it. 

After the incident was resolved, the day unfolded as usual, and school continued. 

Susie’s teacher, Miss Jones, announced, “I want to remind you all that after you turn thirteen, you will be selected for jobs until you turn eighteen.” 

Susie knew she just turned thirteen and was extremely worried about her future. She wasn’t sure if her job would be fitting for her, or if she would like it. What would happen if it was a job she didn’t want? 

After the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, she attended the mandatory ceremony to celebrate the dispatch of the world government’s previous leader, Jonathan. The man who had met with the West was Jonathan’s assistant, and after the end of the ceremony, his assistant announced that a new leader would be selected. 

“The new leader will be someone who is from the ages 13 to 18,” he said, and the audience started murmuring their guesses about who it will be...

After Susie returned home and her family received their meal in the standard package, they started discussing who they thought the new leader would be. 

“That boy, Tommy, is very fit for the job, but it’s too bad the genders have to alternate every time,” her father said.

Her mom spoke up. “Jessica, the girl down the street, would be perfect, though; she is old and mature enough to handle the job.”

For the rest of dinner, Susie listened to her parents continue their predictions on who would be selected. When done with dinner, they received a message at their front door saying the new World Government leader had been selected and would be announced the next day. 

When Susie woke up the following day, they headed to the center of announcements instead of eating breakfast as usual. The center of announcements was used for any critical news that citizens of the country had to be informed about, and the report of the new World Government Leader was one of them.

On the way there, Susie heard many discussions among the citizens, guessing the next leader. The favorite seemed to be Jessica, the one whom her mom picked. As they took their seats, she heard the nervous concerns about the leader being another failure like the one before Jonathan. Their country had gone into chaos after the leader had released some of the vital world government’s secrets into the community.

When the crowd settled down, Jonathan’s assistant came out with an envelope in his hand, which contained the new leader's name. 

“The new leader of our world,” the assistant began, and the crowd hushed, “is Susan Locke.” 

Susie gasped. She did not expect it to be her at all. Neither did any of the citizens; she was too young and would be the youngest to take office. 

He continued, “Although Susie is very young to be a leader, we think she has the necessary qualities—intelligence, courage,  confidence, discipline, and maturity.

After Susie arrives home, she is exhausted and goes to bed immediately. She woke up the next day to her mom waking her early in the morning. “Susie, someone is waiting at the door for you,” her mom said. Susie got out of bed, still half asleep, to see who awaited her at the door. There was a strange-looking man in a suit. Susie asked, “Can I help you.”

The man said, “I am the personal chauffeur for the leader of the World Government. You can’t drive anyways.”

Susie nodded her head and got in. There was a full meal prepared for her as well. After they went inside the building, Susie was in awe because of how gigantic the building was. She knew it was huge, but she had never seen it with her own eyes.

As she walked to her office, she was amazed at how busy the building was so early in the morning. After she got into the office, someone was already waiting for her. He was the lead law enforcer; his name was James. He said, “I know this is your first day, but we have many things to discuss.”

Susie nodded her head and started listening. He explained how there was an overpopulation in their country, and they needed more resources to support it. “You will need to promise me that you will not release any information to others and to remain calm during the process we will go through to make our population smaller,” James said. Susie nodded, thinking this was just a normal thing a leader does.

So, James started with the explanation. He explained how their country encouraged diversity and treated disabled people equally, but because of the population problem, they would have to send them to other countries. Susie agreed it would be a good idea, so she asked him what countries they would be sent to.  James replied, “They will be selected based on their traits and personality.”

James’ phone started ringing, and he answered it immediately. For some reason, his phone was on speaker mode, and the person on the other end said, “James, the gas chambers are ready; tell me when you are ready to send the disabled.”

James hung up the phone and looked at Susie shamefully. James said, “Well, I guess I should tell you what will happen.” James explained how instead of sending them to other countries, they would be killed since their country did not have a good relationship with other countries, and they would not let them send that many immigrants. 

Susie was furious, especially because her childhood friend Danny was deaf. Susie said, “How could you do this to our citizens? I thought the whole point of our country was freedom and equality.” 

James explained that this was how it always was. When they sent people to other countries, those people were actually killed because they were no longer needed. He explained that they already killed some of the disabled, and Danny was one of them. Susie was furious. Danny was her best friend who helped her get to the position she was in that day, and for him to get killed for a reason like this.

After her conversation, she went to talk to her assistant. She and the assistant agreed that the country did not give citizens freedom but restrained them. The assistant said, “I have an idea that I wanted to tell Jonothan, but he agreed with James, so I didn’t tell him.”

He explained that his plan was for them both to run away to the West because they accept refugees from the East. He planned to release all of the World Government’s secrets into the country and ensure they protect people with disabilities. He had already shared his plans with another member of the World Government named David. He was in the law and justice department and would be perfect for their operation.

The assistant, Craig, explained that they would have to leave now since all the disabled would be killed by tomorrow. Since he already had the documents saved on his computer, he released the information to the country and told her they had to leave immediately. 

As Susie left the country, she hesitated since leaving all the citizens in a fake world broke her.