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MidReal Story
The Price of Life
Scenario:Young Kaijie, a high school student preparing for his SAT exam, woke up one day to find on his writing desk a black box with a red button on it. He gradually realized that each time he pressed the button, someone random in this world would die and the news would be pushed to his phone, and he would get one dollar for the first time, but double in each next attempt. By the time he realized the math, he's killed 10 people already, and the last attempt awarded him 1024 dollars. While in sorrow and regret, his math skill inevitably reminded him that if he kills a few people more, he'd be very rich, each additional person he kill would double his wealth. One thousand dollars doesn't sound like a lot in comparison to one's life, but what about one million?
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Kaijie Lin
high school student,isolated and morally conflicted,short black hair,intelligent and guiltridden
Mark Chen
Kaijie's best friend and techsavvy ally,secretive about his involvement with the box's origin
Sarah Jennings
school counselor and Kaijie's confidante,supportive of Kaijie,long blonde hair,compassionate and wise
I am an instrument of fate.
Every single one of us has a path in life that is predetermined.
We know this, we just don't want to admit it.
We want to believe that we have control; that we are the masters of our own destiny.
We aren't.
We are all just pawns in a game that is greater than any one of us.
The box showed me that.
It taught me what I am and what I will become.
It taught me the true meaning of predetermination.
I am a senior in high school and my life is just about over.
Not in the literal sense, but in the sense that it doesn't matter anymore.
I have taken all the tests, I have done all the work that needed doing.
I have applied to college and I have been accepted.
Now, I am just waiting.
Waiting for graduation, waiting for college, waiting for my life to begin.
But what if I didn't have to wait?
What if I could start my life now?
That is what the box promised me.
It showed me that I don't have to wait.
I can start living now, but at a cost.
The box is black and it has a red button on it.
It is about the size of a shoebox and it is made of a strange material that I have never seen before.
I found it in my attic when I was going through some old boxes.
It was buried under a bunch of other stuff and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
I picked it up and examined it, but there was nothing on it except the button.
No writing, no symbols, nothing.
It was just a plain black box with a red button on top.
I took it downstairs and showed it to my mom, but she didn't know anything about it.
She said that she had never seen it before and she didn't know where it came from.
I took it back upstairs and put it back in the attic, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I kept wondering what the button did and why someone would make such a strange object.
A few days later, I went back to the attic and got the box again.
I took it downstairs and put it on my desk in my room.
I stared at the button for hours, wondering what would happen if I pressed it.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I decided to do it.
I reached out and pressed the button down with my finger.
Nothing happened at first, but then I heard a voice in my head.
It was a deep voice and it sounded like thunder on a stormy day.
"Your wish has been granted," the voice said.
"What wish?" I asked out loud, but there was no answer.
I looked around my room, but there was no one there except me.
I shrugged my shoulders and went back to playing video games on my computer, but then I heard the voice again.
"Your wish has been granted," he said again.
"What wish?" I asked again, but this time I got an answer back.
"The person who you hate the most will die."
I stopped playing video games and stared at the box in shock.
"What?" I asked out loud again, but this time there was no answer back.
I sat there for a few minutes, trying to process what had just happened.
I didn't know what to do.
I was torn between my guilt and the temptation of wealth.
I wanted the money, but I didn't want to be responsible for someone's death.
I didn't know what to do, so I went to see Sarah, my school counselor.
She was a nice woman with long brown hair and glasses.
She was always willing to listen and she never judged me.
I told her everything that had happened and she listened intently.
When I finished, she looked at me with a concerned expression on her face.
"Kaijie, you have to be careful," she said.
"I don't know what this box is or where it came from, but it sounds like it could be dangerous."
"I know," I said.
"But what can I do? I already pressed the button. If I don't do something, someone will die."
Sarah thought for a moment before she spoke again.
"Have you thought about talking to someone about this?" she asked.
"Like who?"
"A police officer or a priest. Someone who can help you figure out what this box is and how to stop it."
"I don't know," I said.
"I don't want anyone else involved in this. It's my problem and I have to fix it."
Sarah nodded her head in understanding, but then she looked at me with a serious expression on her face.
"Kaijie, you have to be careful. This box could be dangerous. You don't know what it's capable of."
"I'll be careful," I said.
"Don't worry about me. I'll figure this out."
Sarah nodded her head again and then I left her office.
As I walked back to class, I couldn't help but wonder if Sarah was right.
Was the box dangerous?
Was it capable of more than just killing someone?
I didn't know the answers to these questions, but I knew that I had to find out.
When I got back to class, Mark was sitting in his seat next to me.
He is my best friend and he is always there for me when I need him.
He is tall and thin with short black hair and glasses.
He is also very smart and he always knows how to get us out of trouble when we get into it together.
"Hey," he said as soon as he saw me walk into the room.
"What's up?"
"Not much," I said as I sat down next to him.
"Just went to see Sarah about something."
"What's going on?" he asked as he looked at me with concern on his face.
"It's nothing," I said quickly before he could ask any more questions.
"Just something that has been bothering me lately."
Mark looked at me skeptically, but he didn't say anything else about it.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the teacher who was lecturing at the front of the room.
As we sat there listening to the teacher talk, I couldn't help but wonder if Mark knew more about the box than he was letting on.
As I sat in class, my mind wandered back to the box and its power.
I felt a sudden urge to press the button again, curious about its true power.
I couldn't believe that it could actually kill someone.
It was too good to be true.
I had always dreamed of having that kind of power, but I never thought that it would actually happen.
But now that it had, I didn't know what to do with it.
I was torn between my guilt and the temptation of wealth.
I wanted the money, but I didn't want to be responsible for someone's death.
I didn't know what to do, so I decided to talk to Mark about it.
He was my best friend and he always knew what to do in situations like this.
When class ended, I went to see him at his locker.
"Hey," I said as soon as he saw me walk up.
"What's up?"
"Not much," he said as he put his books away in his locker.
"Just getting ready for lunch."
"I need to talk to you about something," I said as I looked around nervously.
"What is it?" he asked as he looked at me with concern on his face.
"It's about the box," I said quietly so that no one else could hear us.
"What about it?"
"I don't know what to do," I said as I looked at him nervously.
"I don't know if I should press the button again or not."
Mark looked at me skeptically and then he shook his head.
"You're not serious are you?" he asked as he looked at me like I was crazy.
"Of course I am," I said defensively.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because it's a stupid idea," Mark said bluntly.
"You can't just go around killing people. It's not right."
"I know," I said as I looked down at the ground in shame.
"But what else can I do? If I don't press the button, someone will die."
Mark sighed and then he shook his head again.
"I don't know what you're going to do, but you have to be careful. You can't just go around killing people. It's not right."
"I'll be careful," I said as I looked up at him again.
"Don't worry about me. I'll figure this out."