In the quiet, there always seems to be some sort of sound, whether it is in your head or a faint whisper behind your ears. However, tonight there seems to be nothing but uninterrupted silence. Its as if I know for a fact someone is moving, or tapping their foot, or biting their nails - anything, but I just can't hear it. I can only hear one thing:

    "Patrick has been diagnosed with a rare disease that currently has no name. He has been struggling to breathe, experiencing extreme migraines and fatigue, losing memory, and vomiting what looks to be blood...he does not have much time left. It is said that if he does not receive a disease transplant within the next week, he will die"

    I couldn't believe what I was hearing, yet it was the only thing that consumed my thoughts. Patrick is far younger than me, and children get promoted up to the top of the epidemic list. But he wouldn't be the first, and definitely wouldn't get it by the end of the week. Were they going to make an exception for him? Wouldn't that be against the law?

    "Due to the stagnant movement of the epidemic list, I am proposing a proposition...volunteerism. If there is anyone out there willing to die for my son, you will be rewarded greatly" President Acosta remarks with hesitation in his voice, "This person, while dead, will live on in a new way. Your families will receive $10,000 as well as secure home to live in and food to eat"

    The quiet from the citizens was so agonizing by this point. I almost wanted to scream. I looked over to Eli, and I could tell he was angry. Something did not feel right, and asking people to die in exchange for money felt so wrong.

    "This offer does not just extend to my son either, anyone willing to help those suffering will receive the same benefits. Are you willing to die to provide your family with a better life?" he asks and then the screen goes black.

    "He can't be serious...people aren't actually going to do this, right?" I asked, "That's practically assisted suicide!"

    My blood was boiling to the point where I could hear my heartbeat in my eardrums, then everything got loud. People were shouting in disagreeance, murmuring in side conversations - there was nothing to contain them anymore.

    I turned over to look at Eli to share in my frustration but his face looked - weird. If that's even the right word. He was silent, and that's not very characteristic of him. He was staring into the distance, not exactly at anything in particular. I couldn't understand what may have been going on in his head, but if it was anything like what was going through mine he was probably too terrified to put it into words. His father, on the other hand, had an expression that was way too hard to read. He was speaking, but only to himself and it seemed to be a very intense conversation.

    "Hey, is everything alright?" I asked Eli, hopefully pulling him out of his self-induced trance while I try not to pay too much attention to his father's uncontrollable antics.

    "Yeah. Everything is fine...we should go. This is all just rubbing me the wrong way" he answered, in a monotone type voice.

    "I think you're right, let's go," I say, even though he was not looking at me but rather into space.

    The rest of the evening we walked in silence towards our houses. Eli stares blankly forward as he holds his dad around his shoulder to keep him balanced. He was starting to feel quite dizzy as this was his first time outside in a while, and frankly, it was too much for him.

    I walked sluggishly behind and thought over and over about what President Acosta said in my head. "Are you willing to die to provide your family with a better life?"

    It wasn't too long before we showed up in front of Eli's house.

    He ushered his father into the house before him, turned back to me and said, "You know...I really don't think people will actually do it"

    "Do what? Kill themselves?" I questioned, my forehead wrinkling at the thought

    "...yeah. I don't know if anyone is actually going to volunteer...or at least not enough" he says, but almost whispers the last part as if I couldn't hear it - as if I wasn't supposed to hear it.

    "I don't know, but we definitely shouldn't be signing people up to die for money"

    Eli doesn't really respond. At this point he's just hanging in the doorway, pitch-black behind him as his dad did not turn on the lights. It gave him a headache. He just stands there like he's thinking to himself, coming to a possible conclusion in his mind, then making eye contact with me...must've forgotten I was there.

    Without responding to my comment he says, "Goodnight", and went inside.

    I kind of stood there for a minute, not really doing anything besides staring at the door. Eli was acting strange, but whatever the reason was he didn't have any interest in telling me. So, I just stood there contemplating. I guess I wasn't in the mood to go home just yet, but it was getting very dark and I didn't want to be out alone with the guards. I've heard stories of them hurting people in the night when no one's looking. I start to head back.

    Suddenly, almost like a battering ram, I was plunged into the ground. My first thought was panic, but once I realized who it was I was no longer afraid.

    "Mia?! What're you doing?" I yelled at her, trying to pick myself up off the ground as she laughed at me.

    "I could ask you the same thing" she pesters and I realize I can't exactly argue with her. I was standing right in front of her house.

    "Why are you just staring at the door? Where's Eli?" she asks, peeking on either side of me trying to catch a glimpse of something she thought I could've been looking at.

   "Eli's inside. We just got back from the town hall"

    "Townhall this late? For what?"

    I was confused. I didn't understand why she didn't know what I was talking about. The broadcast should've been everywhere, all across the country. Mia was coming from Florida as she was finished work there. She's a journalist and they've been investigating claims that the epidemic list is being abused by government officials. Shouldn't she have known what was going on?

    "You didn't see the broadcast?" I asked her suspiciously

    "No, there was one? We weren't informed about it at all" she says staring at me with confusion and slight alarm.

     There was only one conclusion I could come up with. This was broadcasted only to select cities - the ones that could use the extra money.