Timmy awoke on a cold tiled floor with a small bottle beside him, filled with an ominous blue serum. He shivered as he looked around, wrapping his arms around his cold body. 

Behind him, his parents were shackled to the wall, both also pale from the freezing cold. “Mum? Dad?” He whispered, scared to know if they were even alive.

His mother awoke and her eyes widened. “Timmy! You’re alright!” She said happily, momentarily forgetting that she was in a cold, dark, and grimy basement.

His father awoke only a moment later. “What even happened? Where are we?” He asked, looking around the room.

“You are here for the sins you both have committed.” A voice said from a speaker placed above them. “Your son will decide who lives and who dies. Timothy, the bottle beside you holds a cure to the poison that is in your parents. If you give it to one, the other will die.”

“Do I have the poison?” Timmy asked, feeling sick and unsure of what to do.

“You have done nothing wrong, so you do not have the poison. Pick which parent gets to live.”

His parents had split up almost a year ago, but neither had taken him with them. Instead, his grandparents had let him stay in their house until things had been figured out. Unfortunately for both him and his grandparents, his parents never came back for him.

“Timmy! I’m your mother! I should be the one to live!” His mother yelled, smiling widely as her eyes darted from the left to the right to Timmy. “I love you!”

“I’m your father, Timmy! Your mother never loved you like I did. Give me the antidote, and we can start a new life together!” His father pleaded, eyes wide.

“When you pick who lives, the door will open and you can return home safely.” The voice on the speaker system said.

Timmy shook, not knowing what to do or who to pick. They were his parents, after all. He didn’t know what to do.

“Time’s ticking, Timothy. Tell you what, after all this is over, if you make the right choice, I’ll let you stay in one of my vacation homes.” The voice said before laughing.

“There’s a right choice?” Timmy asked worriedly.

“The right choice is me!” His father yelled at the speaker set.

“No, it’s me! You’re the one that’s been using all of those women! You’re the one that’s always been the worst parent!” His mother yelled, causing Timmy to shrink a little more where he sat.

“You’ve always been a greedy, money-hungry little jerk!” His father yelled back at her, looking at Timmy with a wide grin. “Choose me, Timmy. Choose me!”

Timmy frowned, looking between the two of them and holding up the vial. “I know who I’m going to choose. I choose me.” With those words, he dropped the vial onto the floor, causing it to shatter into a thousand little pieces. A laugh was heard from above as the door behind him opened.

“You chose correctly.”