What is Death? Doesn’t really happen around here. Just overpopulated. People disappear, but there is nothing called death. Mom says I don’t need to worry about it. That death is nothing. No meaning to it at all. There’s a meaning to everything, and I just have to know.

Today is June 16th, my birthday. I don’t really know how many more I will have to go through. I wish they could forget this very day. The whole town of Siernville is noiseless. No one is ever allowed to talk. They say you will wake up this curse. I say we have already awakened it. I hear a knock pass through all the doors. That is my mom telling me, I need to lock the doors and close the windows. My heart doesn’t race of anxiety of what will happen, it slows down. I trudge to the window, giving the Mardath(capital building) a gloomy stare. BOOM! I slam the window as loud I can, trying to signal to my Mom that THIS is really how we are spending my birthday. I lock the door, and put a white sheet over for “protection”. We have to put a white sheet over it, so the curse will know not come in. I would love to welcome whatever curse is coming. Sirens. Warnings. Immediate darkness.

For the past hours it’s been darkness. I wonder what is happening out there. No one knows. My mind turns to that day. That day she lost everything, just not me. It was June 16th, my birthday. I was 10 years old. There is a thing called a Father. I had that once.

It all happened in the morning. He told me to wake up, he sounded frustrated. What have I done now? It seemed it was more of what he had done. He tugged me out of my bed and lifted me on to his back. “Where are we going Dad?” I screamed. “April! There’s no time for questioning!” he yelled. “But what about Mom? She’s back at the house.” He just kept running. “Daddy! What about Mom!” He never answered me. There it was the capital building. Why was he taking me here? He let his arms go and I trampled to the ground. He started walking to the entrance building. Finally I heard his voice, “April get up. There’s not a lot of time left.” He whispered. With no questions, I rose up and sprinted to his arms, but he turned away. He looked like he was full of sorrow, or something was keeping him hidden inside. We entered into the capital. There was a beam of light shining down onto the middle of the floor. Then a some sort of noise came on. “Dr. Johnson please step forward.” He grabbed my hand, and we took a step forward. “Leave the girl.” That was the last time we touched hands. The last time I heard “I love you April.” The last time I saw his face. They tried to take me, but all of a sudden they took him. He wasn’t alive. He was dead.

I started running back. Tears were streaming down the side of my cheek. The house was so far away. I started to screech. “Mom! Mommy! Daddy’s gone! They took him!” I trampled to the front of the house. Mom walked out. She looked confused. “April, what did you do?” She looked out in the distance. The Capital. “Dad! He woke me up and took me to the capital. He said we were running out of time. Mommy, I didn’t know what was happening. He wouldn’t answer me.” My heart was beating so fast. She just stood there. Then it hit. The sirens. The clouds. The wind. The curse. “Why did you let them take him? April, why?” she said. “Who are them? He didn’t tell me anything.” I cried. “We need to go inside, then I will tell you everything.” She pulled my arm and dragged me into her room. “It’s happening.” She said under her breath. She locked the windows, doors, and put the white sheet over the door. “April you will need to be calm. Listen to me carefully. Don’t ask questions because we don’t have a lot of time. “Okay?” “Okay.” I replied. “There is no such thing as death in our world. Everyone is the same… except your father. He isn’t from here April. Where he is from they are free. They can choose death. Where we are from, that word simply doesn't exist. That’s exactly why the Capital wants him. They are killing him right now. He will be the only death ever to happen. They are killing him now April! April! They are killing him now!” The sirens.

I’m still in my room. It’s almost over. Mom will be knocking on my room any second now. I’m done thinking about him. “He just isn’t dead. I need to know.” I stare at the window. “What if it’s all bogus? The capital just needs more time. They can’t figure out how to kill Dad. I figured it out.” I shook with excitement. “Mom! Dad’s alive! It’s all fake.” I started pounding on the doors and walls trying to get Mom to come out. “Screw it, I’m going.” I tore the sheets off of the window and doors; unlocked the latch of the window and slowly lifted it up. I was speechless. The sky was blue and the grass was green. “Come out; come out wherever you are curse!” I whispered. “Where are your sirens?”

The grass. I was touching the grass. I was outside for the first time on June 16th, my birthday. Not worrying about a curse, but going to save my Dad. The wind was howling once I started to dash. “Don’t turn around April, keep going.” My words kept motivating me, but my mind was screaming, “TURN AROUND APRIL! YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG!” I stopped to catch my breath. Maybe my mind is right that Father is gone, and I’m just turning into a freak. On the other hand, my gut it telling me to keep going and never give up. He could be fighting for his whole life right now, and I’m just letting the time go by. NO SIRENS.NO DEATH… not yet.

I finally reached the Capital. It was ominous, and empty. The outside of the walls were covered with decisions on what I would do next, and what they were doing with Dad. There it was the entrance. It felt like it was calling my name to just open the door that holds the secret to everything I dreamed of. I crept up to the entrance. I stood there. Waiting. I started to waste time, and he could be gone by now. The handle was bitter and strong. I pulled the door. Nothing. Not even a crack I could see through. I tried again, and again. “Arrrrrrrr” the endless echo went on. The door opened. I slowly walked into the beam of light. It became quiet. “Dad, its April. Where are you?” then a raspy voice came from the center of the light, where a chair was standing, “April, is that you?” “Yes Daddy, it is April, your daughter.” I started whimpering. “April you need to leave now. This is a trap. They aren’t going to kill me they are going to kill you!” he stiffened his voice. “April, you need to leave! They will try to kill me but it won’t work.” He squeaked. “Daddy, but Mom said you will die.” “What she said was all a made up story. I’m not going to die April, but if you stay here you will.” he started to calm down. “Dad you can’t stay here. I’m getting you out of here, and taking you back home to mom and I. Before he could say anything, I felt a hand firmly grab my mouth and pull to a hallway on the opposite side of Dad.

“Wake up.” I felt a slap go across my cheek. “Sit up and come with me.” Everything is a blur. “Wh-ee-rrr-ee am I?” my body is numb, “Wa-he-rrrrr-eee are you taking me? “Shut up.” the voice sounded like President Glare. We finally stop. Chair. Light. Soldiers. Dad. They threw me onto a stage surrounded by soldiers. “Hello April Johnson. You are very different in our world. You don’t belong here, so we are going to kill you. Don’t worry it will only hurt a lot.” screamed President Glare. “What do you mean I’m “different”?” I whimpered. “Lets just say there is no such thing as death in Sirenville, but supposably there was a curse on June 16th. It wanted death. So it searched and searched for the right person. It traveled to the Sirenville Hospital where you were born. It saw you and went for you. April, you are the only person who can discover death, and if our people find out it will be chaos.” President Glare snatched. I couldn’t say anything. I was speechless and hopeless. They took me to the front, and the soldier put me in the position to die. Dad was tied up to a pole to my left. I looked at him. My life or whatever I am living was coming to an end.

This will be the last time he see’s my face. The last time we say “I love you.” The last time I’m alive. I smile at him. I start talking to myself. “Death has a meaning, but it’s something I just can’t explain, but I will know what it is soon.” “Keep your mouth shut.” one of the soldiers said. “I love you Dad.” Bang. Bang.

Pain. That’s the only thing I can’t feel. My eyes are starting to close. It’s all a blur now, but I can hear the… SIRENS.