Age of anxiety

The story follows a seventeen-year-old named Larry who faces a mandated rite of passage in a society that endows children with an unworry drug, then offers at maturity a choice: return to permanent carefree oblivion, undergo a multi-year withdrawal toward full anxiety-laden adulthood, or take a temporary delay capsule. As Larry weighs the options amid family, mechanized caregivers, and social expectation, the narrative examines the psychological consequences of chemically enforced complacency, the pressures of decision-making, and the social engineering that sorts citizens by willingness to assume responsibility. The piece juxtaposes intimate coming-of-age tension with wider questions about autonomy, conformity, and the costs of removing anxiety from human life.