Sam
It wasn't much of a birthday. Three years ago, Sam couldn't wait to turn eighteen. He'd had dreams to go to college abroad, in Europe maybe, preferably by the coast where he could spend hours surfing. He'd wanted to see the world, travel around, and meet new people. Three years ago, he would have thought it all possible. Now, the idea of ever leaving Perdido Beach or Lake Tramonto was laughable.
It wasn't that he was unhappy; in fact, on the contrary he was extremely happy. Well, as happy was possible in the FAYZ. Astrid, his girlfriend, was sat by his side and Little Pete, now eight, was sat on the floor beside their picnic table, fixated on a patch of ground in front of him. Little Pete was autistic and saw the world in a different way to everyone else; often it was hard to communicate with him but sometimes, the real Pete would appear, behaving just like the other children in the FAYZ. Sam also had his friends, Edilio, Dekka, Brianna and Jack. He viewed them as a somewhat dysfunctional and bizarre family, but a family all the same. They were all sat at the picnic table too, singing 'Happy Birthday to You', a song which seemed somewhat out-of-place in the miserable atmosphere of the FAYZ.
Sam was eighteen. He was considered a pensioner, a fact that seemed utterly bizarre to him, but what was even more bizarre was that five year olds were walking the streets armed with baseball bats and guns for protection. Fights broke out daily, often they amounted to nothing but a few scrapes and bruises but occasionally, they resulted in broken bones or lost teeth. The other day, a seven year old had shot someone for stealing her Bratz doll. It was nothing that Lana, The Healer, couldn't fix though. It wasn't unusual to see kids of about six or seven smoking a joint or getting drunk in the streets. It was just the result of life without adults or rules.
It seemed odd, celebrating his birthday. Sam viewed the fact that he was another year older as a reminder that the FAYZ was another year older too. That meant another year towards, what exactly? No one knew. Maybe no one would ever know. It was just another spent doing nothing and going nowhere. Yes, he had Astrid, but that didn't affect the pain he felt when he thought about his mother, outside, all alone. That's if there was an outside. So far, they'd had no evidence to suggest that life still went on beyond the FAYZ wall. A couple of years back, a girl named Orsay had convinced people that she could see the dreams of people outside, of parents. Mary Terrafino, her mind weakened by mental illness and stress had believed her and 'stepped out'. She left behind the littles she looked after at the preschool and her poor brother, John. Nothing had been heard of Mary since.
In the three years that had passed since the coming of the FAYZ, a few people had decided to 'step out' when they turned fifteen but most people stayed either because they were too scared or because they actually quite liked life here. It was mostly the latter. Life wasn't bad; Quinn and his crew brought in fresh fish daily, food such as artichokes and cabbages were supplied from nearby fields by pickers and there were still a few bottles of Pepsi and around fourteen cups of noodles left from the train that had been found by Lake Tramonto. The lake also supplied fresh water for drinking and bathing, as well the cloud that Little Pete had created when he had the flu when he was five was still pouring ice-cold, clean water down in Perdido Beach.
Despite the fact that he was no longer constantly hungry like he had been at the beginning of the FAYZ, Sam couldn't help but think that the best birthday present would be for the wall to simply disappear. He looked down at Pete, knowing that he was the cause of it all. Astrid did daily exercises with Pete to try and get through to him; if they could just get his attention long enough, they thought they might have a chance at getting him to bring the FAYZ wall down. Of course, there was no guarantee, but the effort gave everyone hope.
Sam watched Pete now. He seemed agitated, like he was on the verge of tantrum. It had been one of Lil' Pete's tantrums that had caused the FAYZ in the first place. Sam glanced across to Astrid, she was the only one that could calm Pete down, but she hadn't noticed him. Sam turned back to Pete whose face was now screwed up in frustration, it wasn't always clear what set him off, the smallest things could upset him. Sam began the countdown to when Pete would begin screaming – three, two, one…
Little Pete screamed. The FAYZ wall disappeared. The world outside could be seen; people were looking at the children. The children in both Perdido Beach and Lake Tramonto stared back, frozen in place by shock.
Little Pete carried on screaming. No one tried to stop him.