An Odd Tradition



It happens to those who aren’t deemed strong enough in human society. The men in odd blue suits with red marks streaking across the chest and stomach, come and take the one deemed unworthy away after their coming of age ceremony; nobody knows their destination except the adults it seems for whenever the men come, the parents of the unworthy begin to cry. It is a sad spectacle to behold. Only one person was persistent enough about keeping his child that he resorted to fallowing the Takers, he was never seen or heard from again. We know the takers haven’t caused him any harm, they never touch a soul, just lead them to whatever destination that holds the unworthy.

The sun just rose, the birds were chirping and everything was normal when I woke, it was a good day, my sixteenth birthday to be exact. I didn’t know what form of employment they would schedule me in but I was excited to find out I mean this was the day where I would come of age to be a man. I ran downstairs but as soon as my foot fell on the final step, a loud knocking was heard on my door. I slowly approached, my parents were asleep and I didn’t wish to wake them. Slowly I opened the door to meet with six tall men in blue suits, the first smiled with a kind face; he reached his hand out for mine to shake I obeyed his request shaking lightly and greeting with my name. “We are the Grim Society, or takers as you call us, we have looked over your file and deemed you not physically strong enough to give to society,”

My throat went dry when they said this, I didn’t know how to respond, I gargled a bit trying to choke out something before two of the men grabbed me and tied my hands behind my back. They tied a long red bandage over my eyes so I couldn’t see. I cried out to my father to only the sounds of screams and sadness, my mother was screeming for dad not to let them take me, but I was hastily pushed into some kind of vehicle. The blindfold was removed, the first thing I saw was the kind face of the first man and he smiled warmly that gave me a bit of comfort to my current situation. “It will be alright, it doesn’t hurt for long,” all comfort dried up and I stared shocked at this man. “We will be there soon, now act your age and face what your about to see with dignity,”

I tried and tried to reason with him, I didn’t what to do this all I wanted was to go home, to with which he always replied “Face what’s coming to you with some dignity,” his face shifted from kindness to annoyance, he tied the red bandage around the back of my head forcing it so I couldn’t speak. I stared at the man fearfully but looked out the window to see nothing but long columns of trees. I didn’t know what to say but they moved by getting taller and taller, all I thought about was home. It was near Christmas time and the soon snowfall brought back so many memories. I began to sob lightly thinking of all the good times with my family as we enjoy the holidays, but that quickly ceased as the taker laid his hand across the back of my head, “act your age!” he spat at me in disgust.

I don’t know what we began to drive on; I knew it wasn’t road, the van slowed a bit and the ground was blue, it seemed to be frozen solid. To my horror I realized we were driving on ice. I began to panic thinking we were bound to fall through eventually, but we never did, slowly we rolled onto snow and I felt a little safer opposed to my current situation. The bandage is untied, and the man wraps it around my arm as if I am about to get a shot, which I did the long needle was slipped into my arm and an odd green liquid was injected into me. I felt something begin to mold my head, my ears began to grow larger and pointed, I cried out in pain as I shrank slowly as well the bones in my leg grinding slowly making them shorten. I didn’t know what was happening, the Taker was laughing like it was all a joke and we hit a sudden bump to which the taker said. “Poor Jim!” I figured it was the man who fallowed.

We continued on the snow got deeper and deeper until it almost reached the van’s windows, I was growing more and more afraid, my clothing fell off as I was almost half my original size. My they wrapped a cloth around my waste hiding away my privet area, the van came to a jerking stop and I fell of my seat. The Taker rose, which was the first sign of life in a while only to grab me and throw me in the snow, it began to depart as the man uttered “Have fun boy,” and left with a loud laugh, the cold crept up my back slowly until my entire body was blue. I couldn’t stand with my new shorter legs, movement was very painful. I slowly began to drift into sleep hearing a soft kind laugh, it was odd but all I heard was, “ho, ho, ho.”