LIFE IN THE SUBURBS

"Lucinda Wentworth," Tilly typed into the box, staring at her mother's name for a moment. She was a bit scared to hit enter on the keypad. In a flash of a second she would find out her mother's fate. It was scary. Tilly braced herself, and struck the enter key. All of her mother's details were there. Almost everything she'd ever done was listed. There was video footage of her, pictures from her childhood in the early 2000's, everything. Tilly scanned all of the information before she came to the end of it all. At the end of all of the information, in big bold red letters, were the terrible words: Not Selected. Tilly knew it. Mum was too old. She had been an uncreative, boring, normal citizen since she came to adulthood. Special circumstances would never have selected her. She typed in the rest of her family's names. None of them were selected either. Sean was too young and uncreative, the same with Jane. All Jane ever wanted was what most girls seemed to want this day: a pretty face, a guy on their arm and some hip clothes. All Sean wanted was what most boys wanted these days: to sit on the computer all day, sneer at anyone whenever they could and to eat chips. Tilly figured Special Circumstances thought that the rest of her family would tie her down. Tilly shook her head sadly, and toggled back to Dr. Cable's email.

"Dear Tilly," it started. "It is essential that you take action immediately. Down at Special Circumstances we predict that within 12 hours the spores will have reached your suburb, and destroy everything you have ever known. Tilly, we will take you to a new city that has been built. It is top-secret and is protected from the spores by a large bubble. You will be safe there and ready to start your new life. Tilly, we will tell you everything when we have a chance, but for now, I urge you not to tell anyone about this new city, or any other information you have about this little development. If you do, you won't be coming to live a new life, and will be doomed to being blown up. Don't think we won't leave you behind. We don't want to hurt you, but if we have to, we will. Tilly, meet me at the Mall that is only three blocks away from your house. It's closed, but I will be waiting inside, in the food court with all the other people that have been selected. You will then be taken to live your new life.

Thankyou, that is all.

Dr. Cable."

Tilly scooted downstairs and crept towards the door. If she could just make it out the door without anyone hearing…. "Tilly leaving house," Betty announced. Oh yeah, that was right, Betty. Mum looked up from the couch, where she was watching photos of her deceased husband on the wallscreen. "Where are you going?" mum asked.

"Um, to put something in the bin," Tilly lied. Mum raised one eyebrow.

"How could you care about putting things in the bin when your father just died?" mum asked warily.

"I have to keep things spick and span!" Tilly said nervously.

"Alright, but don't be out there for long," mum warned. "These spores could be headed for us soon. We need to stay indoors!" Tilly nodded, and walked out the door, possibly leaving her family forever.

Tilly stopped in front of the garage and pressed her finger on the small handle on the bottom of it. It read her fingerprint, and opened. Tilly looked around at the mess in the garage, searching for her hoverboard. She was sure she had placed it in here all those years ago. The lights turned on automatically, sensing that Tilly had entered the room, and Tilly spotted the board, hidden underneath a pile of old newspapers that dad had collected throughout his life. Tilly walked over and read some of the newspapers. One was from 2006, and was crinkled and yellow. Tilly had read this one before; it talked about global warming, and how it was getting worse. Tilly flicked through the pile and saw some other newspapers, ones with headlines about the Olympics, the first hoverboard, and more recently, the first person to land on Mars. People had done so many amazing things, yet still did terrible things. All of the good work was being left behind forever, and a new world would begin. Tilly sighed. No time for stopping for a relaxing read. It was time to get a move on. Tilly pulled the hoverboard out from underneath the newspapers and placed her finger on the board. It read it with lasers and suddenly, the board switched on. It was low on electricity. It struggled to stay afloat, it's electric engines making bad noises as they tried to keep the board in the air. But Tilly didn't want to walk to the mall; what if a car exploded – it'd be hard to get away on foot, but on a hoverboard, that would be easy. Tilly pulled herself up onto the hoverboard and stood shakily. The hoverboard sank close to the ground under Tilly's weight. Tilly leant forward, and the board flew away.

While Tilly cruised through the streets, she stared up at the mall. It dominated the highest mountain in Tilly's town, which was a new estate. The mountain and the surrounding area had once been a place of tourist interest back when Tilly's father was a child, but the population had grown and people wanted a fancy new estate to live in. Because of this, there was extensive work done on the hill to make it flat at the top, and the mall was placed on this flat area. The super-freeway that twisted its way around the whole of Melbourne was extended through the estate, and then up to the mall. Tilly's town was only around 15 years old, and was constantly being updated with new technology. The rubbish bins were connected to the Melbourne tip by pipes, the streetlamps told you ever piece of information about its street if you blinked at it, and on every street there were information devices that floated around the street. All you had to do was call one, and you could know anything about what was going on in the world, all for the price of a chocolate bar: $6.00. No one was out on the town on this particular night, Tilly realised. They were probably hiding indoors, afraid for their safety. Some houses even had boards placed across their windows. Tilly turned the street corner into Madison Avenue. This was Violet's street. As Tilly approached Violet's house, she saw someone slowly swinging on the swing-set in Madison Park. Tilly turned into the park to see who it was. The hoverboard headlight shone on the person. It was Violet.