Simon raised the hammer to pound on the nails inserted to the wooden block. This wooden block will soon be a doll house for a little girl somewhere in the world. His hand came down on the nails, pounding them with technical proficiency. He stared at the old grandfather clock across the room. His small eyes made no contact with any of the other workers here. He saw that it was 12:00 noon and realized he’d already been working 4 hours straight. 12 more hours to go. His eyes looked at the room where the supervisor stayed. He saw the silhouette of his obese boss, greedily munching down his roast chicken lunch. He saw the silhouette approach the window of his room that watched over the factory floor. A large fat man approached the window with a mug of beer on his hand. His face red from all the alcohol he has consumed. His bulging belly about to burst from his red coat. “Ho! Lunch time! Shifts 1 and 2 may take their break followed by 3 and 4 after 30 minutes!” the bosses voice boomed.
Fat bastard. Hope you choke on your food. Simon left his spot and started towards the mess hall. Simon was one of the oldest here. He was already 12 years old and most of his peers were around the ages of 6 to 8. There was a rule that you had to leave when you reached 12. It’s to prevent rebellion. There is no real escape to this place. Outside is freezing, negative degrees of whatever. There is no food nor any people for miles from this place. Simon took a seat and stared at the plate. Mashed potatoes mixed with rice and chunks of some animal and vegetables. Barely tasty. If you don’t eat, you die. Simon wolfed down his “food” as fast as he could and went back to the factory floor.
The hours went by slowly. Mindless droning on the equipment and working on the small parts of soon to be toys. The work went all year round except for the one day when they all will be delivered. Finally, the clock struck 12:00 midnight; work for today was done.
Simon started to walk back to the sleeping quarters when he caught the eye of his boss staring at him. He stared back coldly and realized that his boss was bidding him to come up. Simon moved pass the other workers and walked up to the boss’ room. He gave a knock and went in.
“Ho! Simon right? 12 years already and it’s nearly that time of year for the delivery.”
Simon nodded keeping his eyes on the floor.
“You best say goodbye to your friends here. Ho! Ho! Wanna drink boy? Just before you leave?”
Simon shook his head.
Simon knew what really happened when one reaches 12 years old. They left this world completely. They were left to die. One of his closest friends reached 12 last year and Simon saw what happened to him.
“Ho! Ok boy… one week is all you have left. You get to leave, the day after delivery. Ho! Isn’t that great?”
Simon looked up and stared angrily at his boss’ eyes. Yet his boss was tipsy and didn’t notice the aggression. The boss shooed Simon away and went to bed.
Simon looked back at the room of his boss. I have one week to live… One week to try to escape then.
End of part 1… to be continued…
