{"id":21689,"date":"2025-05-09T09:49:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=21689"},"modified":"2025-05-09T09:49:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:49:45","slug":"excerpt-from-drawn-something-i-worked-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2025\/05\/09\/excerpt-from-drawn-something-i-worked-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt from Drawn (something I worked on)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cYou have been drawn,\u201d are a few of many words on the page. I can\u2019t stop reading those four words. I can\u2019t stop thinking, \u201cI\u2019m going to die.\u201d I\u2019m going to lose everything I care for. No one has survived. They can say they have all they want, but no survivor has been seen. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m next. Why won\u2019t my legs move? They feel so heavy. I need them to get to the door.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cParker?\u201d my mom calls from the driveway.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cParker, what\u2019s going on?\u201d my dad asks standing next to her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey… they drew me,\u201d is all I can mutter back.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My mother fell to her knees after hearing those words. It\u2019s crazy how big of an effect just a few words can cause. Thes words cause me to stand frozen and cause my mom to weep on the ground and cause my dad to stand there trying to figure out what to do.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About two years ago, the U.S. Government implemented a draft like plan. Every month, a handful of people would be drawn basically from a hat. If you are drawn, you are forced to have this experimental surgery. The surgery is supposed to help the government get a better understanding of this new biotechnology. Apparently, it\u2019s supposed to revolutionize the way we live. Once used, it\u2019s supposed to change everything. But the problem is, they won\u2019t tell us anything about it. What it is, what it does, why we want it. Nothing. `<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone who gets drawn goes and never comes back. They always tell us that people survive all the time, but that is just a lie. My uncle got drawn in the first year. When he didn\u2019t return, they told us he survived a moved somewhere else. Then every week we would receive letters from him saying how good his life was now and how his \u201cenhancement\u201d makes everything so much better. The problem was, he didn\u2019t really talk to us much. So, why was he sending us letters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After many moments of crying and silece, we all decided to walk back inside. My dad holds my mom as she continues to cry. He carries her through the door where he lets go of her so she can go to the couch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do I do?\u201d I ask.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can you do?\u201d my dad answers. This makes my mom weep even harder.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m not ready to die,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t. Your uncle survived. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be fine,\u201d he tells me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen him since he left for the surgery. We have no idea if those letters are even from him,\u201d I yell.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told you time and time again, stop saying that! My brother is alive, and you know that. You will survive. We will have you back. There\u2019s nothing for you to do,\u201d says my dad.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I have to go. I have to run. Y\u2019all have to take me somewhere. I can\u2019t risk this. My whole life will go away,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRun where? They\u2019re going to find you no matter what. You have to do this. We will not let you run from this. For once in your life, you need to be responsible,\u201d he yells at me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I look at my mom to see if she is willing to help. Our eyes connect, but she looks away. That was all I needed to see to know that she was on his side. At that moment I knew that I couldn\u2019t stay there. My own parents weren\u2019t willing to help save me. So, now I must go to a place where I can get help.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Six months ago, not long after my uncle was drawn, I was taken to the police station after stealing a few things from a clothing store. Though I\u2019ve been there a few more times since then, that was my very first time being arrested. I\u2019m not sure why I steal. My parents don\u2019t really support me in the way that I need them to. Maybe it\u2019s for attention. Maybe it\u2019s for freedom. I can normally get out of trouble easily, though. I\u2019m a good liar. I use the young and stupid excuse all the time. It works like a charm.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou have been drawn,\u201d are a few of many words on the page. I can\u2019t stop reading those four words. I can\u2019t stop thinking, \u201cI\u2019m going to die.\u201d I\u2019m going to lose everything I care for. No one has survived. They can say they have all they want, but no survivor has been seen. I … Continue reading “Excerpt from Drawn (something I worked on)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21694,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21689\/revisions\/21694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}