Social Experiment

the town politicians conducted a social experiment by closing the doors of the shopping mall indefinitely. the local tweens sought refuge in other places instead. every day, they would flock to spots in the woods after the middle school let out. at first, there was a complete lack of stability and structure and they were completely reckless. they would run around and experiment with shoving their tongues in each other’s mouths and taking sips of bud light that they stole from the back of their fridge. they would ask each other “are you feeling it yet?” and the response would always be “yeah, i am.” a few weeks in, someone brought up the book the lord of the flies and someone else said “let’s fucking do it.” they rubbed dirt on their faces and ripped off their clothing and spat on their palms and rubbed their stomachs and one of them became the leader and he rolled up a piece of construction paper and used it as a bullhorn and stood on a rock and delivered decrees and everyone listened. they listened to him and understood and believed and wanted what he wanted because his voice was loud. one of the politicians had studied sociology in college and smiled when he realized what was happening with the children. he issued a press release saying “these kids are the future. this is what happens when you close shopping malls. this is what we need’ and then went home and choked himself in the bathtub. then he got out and dried himself off and put on a suit and tie and got into bed. he pulled the covers over his head and text messaged his estranged wife “oh my god. oh my god, im gonna die someday” and then dropped his cellphone in a glass full of flat seltzer water.