'Exordium' Excerpt
Here's an excerpt of a story that I've been working on in my spare time. The story is called 'Exordium.' I hope that you enjoy it! Half of the names on The List had already been crossed off. Was I next? Silently, I said a quick prayer that I, Lena Phifer, would be the next name called, the next name eliminated. The woman in the olive green jump suit reached into the rusted metal canister, pulling out a small vanilla strip of paper. On that paper, a number. A number to represent one of the five hundred citizens of Freeport who hadn’t reached the maximum age of resettlement, twenty-one. She unfolded the crinkled strip, calling out, “498.” A boy in front of me, no older than thirteen, breathed a heavy sigh of relief as his mother, eyes welling with tears, flung her arms around him. This scene continued for another hour, parents and grandparents weeping from happiness as their loved one’s numbers were called. My father, ha...