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The selection process happens once a year. It takes two days, and after that it ends. Those who get chosen are taken away to the central city of London, while the rest carry on with their lives life before.
Everyone has to attend two selections in their lives. Every boy and girl, of age seventeen and eighteen, must participate. Some spend their entire lives worrying about the selection, while others don’t have a care in the world. Some people have to worry, while others don’t need to.
Louis is one of the boys who has been worrying about his first upcoming selection. He is too close to what they are looking for. The thing is, he’s on the smaller side, and he has been called cute too many times in his life to not take the wording seriously. Even though he has done everything in his power to change this, he still worries.
His mother worries for him too. After he is finished bathing and ready to leave, she holds him extra tight, as if this is their last time seeing one another.
All of the handlers, who are the men in charge of the villages, round up the boys and girls who are scheduled to attend the selection. They are herded to the local village hall, where the selection will take place.
Blood tests are taken. Names and identification are checked. Then, girls and boys are separated. Louis follows the group of boys to their assigned section, where he is given a number that is pinned to his shirt, which is the nicest shirt he owns out of his four total. One boy breaks down sobbing, and he is roughly backhanded across the face and dragged from the room. That keeps the rest of them in line.
Next, Louis is made to stand in new, larger room with at least a hundred other boys, lined up in rows of ten alphabetically. Some are crying like the boy from before but quietly, others are laughing because they have nothing to worry about, and many are merely silent, their faces solemn. Louis does his best to remain composed, hands pressed tightly to his sides to ward off the trembling. He can get through this, he thinks to himself. Just a few hours of standing here, and then he can go home, and he will not have to worry until next year.
Finally, once everyone is in their designated place, there is a speaker who announces that the selection process is about to officially begin, and goes over the rules. Nobody except for the elites, the ones from the central city, will be allowed to talk unless asked a direct question. Any outward disrespect or attempts to leave the building will result in immediate ramification.
Everyone knows what the consequences are. If you refuse to participate or try to refuse if they are chosen, it will be your families who suffer.
A door to the left of the room opens, and the elites begin to file in. It’s easy to tell that they come from London. Their clothes are high quality, and they walk with a confidence that Louis has never seen before. They radiate power and intimidation.
Thankfully Louis, whose last name starts with a T, is in the third to last row. This means that he doesn’t catch any attention straight away. He swallows, mouth feeling dry like sawdust, and watches the elite citizens walk up and down the rows as they inspect the boys.
There are only ten elites, and a hundred of the selected. Louis tries to reassure himself that this means he has a chance to get out of this. There is a chance that he might not be chosen.
One man finally makes it to Louis’ row. Although Louis doesn’t look directly at him, he can tell that the man is tall and curly haired. He walks slowly but with immense confidence, heading further down the row as he observes the boys.
Then, Louis’ worst nightmare happens. The man comes to a stop directly in front of him. Louis feels his heart thumping twice it’s normal pace, and he wants to vomit.
“What’s your name?” The man asks after a moment of silent observation. His voice is deep and slow, soothing but terrifying at the same time, and at the moment it feels like it is only the two of them in the room right now.
“L-Louis,” He answers, voice barely above a whisper, eyes downcast.
“Speak up, please, and look at me.”
Cheeks flushing, Louis does as he is told. He studies the man carefully, and realizes that he is quite beautiful. It’s not a huge surprise, seeing as most everyone from the central city is good looking. He has really nice green eyes, and curls that almost reach his shoulders. He is also wearing a bright floral suit that looks quite intense under the bright lights of the room.
This time he speaks louder. “My name is Louis.”
It’s a bad sign, being drawn into conversation like this. He’s obviously caught this man’s attention, and here at the selection getting attention is a bad sign.
“Louis,” The man repeats, studying him closely. Then, he smiles. “I like that name. Is this your first selection?”
Louis nods, but then realizes that he must speak. “Y-Yes.”
The man continues to smile, and Louis feels his stomach tighten. This is not a good sign, not at all. He bites at his lip and quivers, praying that the man will lose interest in him and find someone else to talk to.
A large hand cups his face, a thumb tenderly stroking his cheek. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, love. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Sorry,” Louis reverts back to whispering, a lump forming in the back of his throat. As much as he wants the man to leave him alone, he knows better than to be rude. He and his family will be punished if there is a complaint. Plenty of families are executed after selections, if they get a bad report.
“Poor thing, you’re so small and frightened. You don’t belong in an environment like this.”
Just like that, Louis knows his chances of getting out of this are over. The man raises his hand and signals one of the handlers over. “I’ve made my choice,” he says, and Louis feels his head spin with fright.
This is it, his nightmare is becoming a reality.
The handler escorts them both from the room. The man who has selected him keeps a big, steady hand on his back as he stumbles nervously over his feet. They go down the hall and into a smaller room, where paperwork and questions will be gone over.
Louis finds out that the man’s name is Harry, and that he was granted permission by the government to attend the selection in order to find a surrogate baby for he and his husband.
The handler is formal and to the point as he gets things processed. Louis is seated on a chair next to Harry, doing his best not to fidget as he sweats nervously. He feels quite nauseous as well, but swallows back the sickness building up in his throat.
“What sort of adjustments would you like to be made?”
“No body hair,” Harry answers immediately. “I want his facil and public hair permanently removed.”
“What about his teeth?” The handler asks, and Louis shudders. He wants to get up and run away, if only such a thing were possible.
“We’ll keep those. I don’t need any other adjustments, thank you.”
It could be a lot worse, Louis tries to comfort himself when he realizes he won’t be physically altered so much. He has heard rumors. Some selected get their teeth pulled out, or their vocal cords cut. Sometimes they even get an orchiectomy. To lose his body hair is nothing compared to those sorts of things.
“In that case, you’ll be free to take him with you today, as soon as the paperwork is processed and his preparation is finished.”
“That’s wonderful,” Harry says, turning to Louis with a beaming smile. Louis doesn’t return it though, because his mind is whirling and he can only stare dumbly.
They drag Louis away for his preparation, and then he will forever be leaving his village.
Everything feels wrong. The diaper encasing his privates is tight and thick. Even though it’s covered by clothes, it bulges and keeps his thighs from closing together. He’s in a striped bodysuit, short sleeved and legless that buttons at the crotch. His legs, now completely bare and smooth, feel too sensitive. A yellow fuzzy blanket pools around his waist, and he’s sitting in Harry’s lap, still bewildered at how fast his life is changing.
“You’re going to love your new home,” Harry tells him, giving him a gentle squeeze and nosing his ear. They are on a train, heading toward London. Louis has never been on a train before. He might have been excited, had the circumstances been different.
“But I have to-” Louis bites his lip almost hard enough to bleed, silencing himself. He’ll have to be a surrogate baby now. He won’t ever get to make his own decisions anymore, or see his old family.
“You’ll be our new baby boy,” Harry finishes for him. “My husband will be so happy to meet you. His name is Nick, but you’ll call him Papa, just like you’ll call me Daddy. We’ve waited a long time to be able to participate in a selection.”
Louis feels his eyes burn with unshed tears, and he can’t bring himself to look at Harry.
“I know it’s a lot to process,” Harry says kindly. “But it’s for the greater good, you’ll see. Under our care, you’ll have nothing but the very best. You won’t ever go hungry again, or be cold and without electricity. You’ll have two people to love and nurture you from now on.”
His words are so pure and kind hearted. Louis’ heart rate goes down, but he still shifts uncomfortably and thinks of his family. His mother and siblings will be missing him terribly. However will they get on, when he is not around to help hunt and grow food?
Harry clicks a button, and suddenly there is a lit up screen in front of them. Louis gasps in shock as he sees animals, ones like elephants and lions, that were long gone from the world now. He stares in awe, reaching out to touch the screen.
It keeps him entertained for the rest of the train journey.
Eventually they make it to the the central city.
London, is nothing like anything Louis has seen before. There are buildings, high with multiple stories and glowing lights. It is nothing like the barren wasteland that he has grown up in, where food struggles to grow and clean water is a rarity.
This place is thriving.
For a moment, Louis thinks about how unfair things are. Why is this place so big, bold, and luxurious, while the rest of England suffers? Louis remembers his mother telling him legends and stories about the way life used to be, some couple hundred years ago, before The Great Change happened.
The whole world was in chaos, overpopulated and fighting amongst each other due to food and water shortages. But after the war, The Great Change happened. Many people died, but those who survived rebuilt. In order to keep the population at bay in England, the selection happens. Those who are are wealthy and live in the capital have their choosing of surrogate babies, people like Louis, who are not privileged. Other countries, or what is left of them, have similar notions and policies as well.
They take a car through the streets of London, something again which Louis has never experienced before. It is even more frightening than the train, but Harry holds him closely and points out different buildings. There are places to eat and shop, and it is much different than the small market back home.
Finally, they reach their destination. It’s a bit scary, entering such a tall building. It’s called a skyscraper, Harry says, and they own two floors of it.
When Louis sees the inside of his new home, his eyes grow wide. There are wooden floors, painted walls, and artificial lights. When Harry first sets Louis down on his feet, he runs around the room and touches everything in wonderment. Before long his socks slip on the wooden floor and he falls down on his bottom, diaper crinkling in protest.
“I think that’s enough running,” Harry says, lips pressing together in amusement.
“You’ve picked us an eccentric baby, haven’t you?”
Louis startles at the new voice, and sees that there is a new man standing next to Harry. He must be the husband, Nick, who Harry had told him about. He is just as tall and lavishly dressed as Harry is, although his hair is shorter and stands up on a quiff.
“Louis, come and meet your Papa. Walk, please.”
Now that his initial excitement over his new environment is over, Louis feels shy and bashful once more as he remembers why exactly he has been brought here. He trudges over, feeling their eyes on him as he makes it back across the room to where the two men are waiting.
“Hello Precious,” Nick says, picking him up without hesitation and effortlessly holding him on his hip. “What a beautiful baby you are. Welcome to your new home.”
Harry and Nick show him around. There are so many different rooms, it’s mind boggling. There are bathrooms, with indoor toilets and sinks that give you as much clean and cold water as you want. It’s the same thing for the tub and shower, the spout having the ability to give enough water to satisfy Louis’ entire village.
The kitchen is large, with a sleek and metal stove and cabinets full of food. The next room over is the dining room, where a large table can fit up to twelve people. A dazzling chandelier hangs overhead.
After they finish showing Louis the downstairs, they go to the next floor up, where the bedrooms are.
“This is your play room,” Nick explains when they reach the first room, and it quickly becomes Louis’ favorite place. He had a few toys as a child, but never anything like this. He squirms in Nick’s arms, wanting to get down and go through each and every one of the hundreds of toys.
Nick holds him firmly and says, “You can play tomorrow. It’s getting late; You’ll see the rest of the flat and then be fed dinner. There will be time to play tomorrow.”
When Louis sees Nick and Harry’s large bed, he wants to jump on it and bury himself in the fluffy pillows. He is disappointed to find out that he is to sleep in a crib, located in the same room as them. The bars are high and it will be difficult to climb out, but definitely possible, he decides. The crib has no pillows, but there are some soft stuffed animals and the sheets look comfortable.
Had Louis not been experiencing such culture shock, he might have protested more about being treated like a baby, even though he knows it is his fate. He is brought back to reality about the situation when Harry asks Nick if, ‘the baby is still dry,’ and suddenly there is a hand feeling the front of his diaper.
“Still dry,” Nick says to Harry, as if Louis is not able to answer for himself about such a matter.
Harry frowns. “He’ll go after dinner, I expect.”
The mention of dinner effectively ends the tour. When the come back to the dining room, Louis startles at the sight of something new. There is a robot, very humanlike, setting dishes of food on the table. Louis has been a few bots in his life, but usually worn down and rusty helping with the harvest. He’s never seen one so sleek and shiny and humanlike.
Louis’ mouth waters as he stares at the table. There are things that he has only been able to dream about having; steak, potatoes, steamed vegetables, a big green salad...strawberry tarts!
He’s strapped into a custom made high chair, though he hardly pays it any mind, too focused on the food. While Harry ties a bib around his neck, Nick fills a plate up with food for him. Unfortunately Louis doesn’t get any steak, but he does get everything else.
On one hand, Louis feels grateful and excited at the thought of being able to eat good quality food like this. On the other hand, he feels guilty because so many people, those who do not live in the central city, must starve.
He makes himself feel better by thinking of it as a trade. He’s been taken away from his family and made to be treated like a baby, but in return he gets plenty of food and untainted water.
Harry holds the spoon to his lips. “My poor baby, you’ll never be underfed again.”
The thing is, Louis has to subject himself to this kind of treatment. If he doesn’t, his family will suffer. He opens his mouth and accepts the hot, delicious potatoes.
It’s a cruel bargaining tool, but that is the way that the government works now. This is the way that society is run. So many people, especially true babies who are born underprivileged, end up being killed. Louis knows how lucky he is to have been able to grow up and spend seventeen years with, for the most part, freedom. Now it’s as if he has to give back for those undisturbed seventeen years.
This will be his life from now on, as he was selected whether he wanted to be or not.