[ WP ] Our government has reached a point where they can control everything , and everything costs money including the air that we breathe .

`` I'm sorry Michael but this is the last straw.'' My boss told me. 
 
 
 
 
 `` Please no, I promise this is the last time!'' I pleaded 
 
 
 
 
 `` This is the seventh time this month this month that you've been late.'' He replied coldly. 
 
 
 
 
 `` I know but my Mother is sick, and my little sister needs someone to take her to school.'' 
 
 
 
 
 `` I just ca n't afford to keep someone who does n't do their job.'' He frowned looking for a way out of the conversation. 
 
 
 
 
 `` Rick, if you fire me I wo n't be able to pay the air tax. We already do n't have enough money for rent.'' I tried to reason with him. 
 
 
 
 
 `` Everyone has a family to keep alive. I'm sorry but this just is n't my problem.'' He shoved me out of his store and locked the door. 
 
 
 
 
 I pretended to still have my job so I would n't have to worry my Mom, and little sister, but inside I was freaking out. I knew that I could n't keep them alive and by next week we'd all be dead. Unfortunately my little sister was too old to be placed in an orphanage, so she'll have to go too. 
 
 
 
 
 Tonight is when it's going to happen. I made Mom her favorite kind of soup, and gave it to my little sister as well. I could only afford the poison for the two of them. I knew that after they went to sleep they would never wake up. 
 
 
 The doors to the apartment locked first, and then the vents started to suck all the air out of the room. I clutched my little sister's body and held my breath. I had always wanted to see how long I could last if this ever happened to me. 
 
 
 
 
 I lasted for 50 seconds before I tried to breathe in again. At first everything seemed fine, I thought that there had been a mistake, that the room really was filled with air. But then, I felt a strange fizzy feeling, it felt like I was drinking a carbonated drink. I tried to scream, but there was only silence, the words I needed to say would never be heard, and all of my thoughts would be forgotten. 
 
 
 
 
 I was in the worst pain imaginable, not just because I was dying, but because everything I had worked for was gone. Everything I had ever hoped for, dreamed of, and pined for had been taken from me. I was about to die, and it was all because I did n't have enough money. And they say that money ca n't buy you happiness?
