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(WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE)
Once upon a time, the world seemed normal. But that was a long time ago. Now, things have changed. We are paired before we get to college, and it has to be with someone from the same school, so we have a limited number of options. Also,the food we eat and how much water we drink is monitored by the government. Everyone is required to exercise on a daily basis in case we need more soldiers, and taxes have been raised to twice the normal rate. Everything costs way too much, and workers are paid way too little, so much so that nobody earns over the poverty line. But to the government, that doesn't matter. We don't get any benefits like people in poverty used to. If you didn't have a job before the change, you were asked only once to get a job before they started torturing and killing people who refused or weren't able.
Yeah, that's the world we live in now. Well, the world I live in. Maybe some person in the past has this story in their hands right now. You know who you are if that's you. For reference, if this doesn't sound normal to you, I'm writing this 10,000 years after president Dr. Jacson Duniclay was elected and then declared himself supreme ruler over the United States. He's still ruling now, although nobody knows how he could live that long. For some reason, Congress and the Senate thought it a good idea for the president to make the laws and verify them when Dr. Duniclay showed up. Maybe they stepped down because they were afraid. I certainly would be.
Well, when Duniclay was elected, things happened fast. We went straight to war with South America and won, though many, many people died. It took about 30 years for our army to get back to what it was, then he sent us to war against Canada. So the cycle of war time and recovery continued, until Dr. Duniclay was happy with controlling the entire world over the spilled blood of millions, maybe even billions, of people. So basically, the entire world is in poverty and disarray, under the rule of one very powerful and power-hungry person. But that's not the story I want to tell you. The story I want to tell you is about me and my friends, and the various roles we played in the making of this horrible world. It's a deep secret that I am truly ashamed of, I hope that you can forgive me.
Now, let's go back to when it all started, just a few days before ballots were handed out for voting. The choice? President Ogniz Bifnel or Dr. Jacson Duniclay. Every sensible person knew that both of them were horrible people who would only break down every good thing the US had ever done, but I'm getting ahead of myself. It was a wet and windy April day as I drove to high school, the rain splattering like paintballs against my windshield. I had the heat turned on full blast as I pulled up to Ember's house, and I honked once to alert her of my presence. A few seconds later, she hurried out of her house, brandishing a purple and blue umbrella. Despite her obvious effort to keep her clothes dry, her left side was completely soaked.
"Well, you managed to keep at least some of yourself dry, but I think you'll probably need this" I chuckled as I tossed her a plaid towel. In return, I got a mumbled "whatever, thanks", and then a slightly louder "hey, it matches my outfit". "That's no surprise", I responded. "You got me this towel, and you always wear plaid". "Oh, yeah" "Hey, are you okay? You're usually a ball of energy this time of the morning". Ember looked out the window, pretending to ignore me. I sighed. "Ember, I know you heard what I said. What's so wrong that you can't tell your best friend?" "Nothing", Ember mumbled. "There has to be something wrong, but if you don't want to tell me, then fine" If Ember wasn't going to tell me up front, then I would have to find some way to get it out of her. Ember gave me her famous side eye. "Saying you're going to stop trying is your go-to tactic for getting information out of someone. You're just gonna keep asking me, aren't you?" "Yep! So it's probably best for both of us if you just tell me now" Just then I pulled into the school parking lot. Ember smiled mischievously. "What's so funny?" I asked. "I can't tell you right now" she responded as she started running towards the school building "You'll have to wait all day to hear what I have to tell you!". "Ember! You can't just..." I started, but it was too late.
-Seriously? What in the world, Ember!- I said to myself as I walked towards the school. I probably could have caught her if I'd tried, but the thing is, I absolutely HATE running. I would probably be a decently fast runner because of my long legs, but I avoid it at all costs. I flunked my PE class just so I didn't have to run, and I probably wouldn't run if my life depended on it. Come to think of it, maybe I'm just incapable of running. Just then, I walked into class and immediately stopped thinking about Ember. What can I say? I had to. My brain just switched gears by itself when I walked into class, and I found myself doing whatever classwork there was without even trying, no matter how hard the class was. After yet another dazed day of school, I finally walk to my car. Ember was already there, waiting for me with our other friends. Sicily has long blond hair and blue eyes, and she could probably be a role model with her dazzling appearance, except for the huge, red, blotchy birthmark on the side of her face. Well, it might be a birthmark. None of us know our parents, so I can't say for sure. The 'birth mark' also made her blind in her right eye, so she sat on the left side of the car to be able to see out the window.
Next to Sicily was my second-best-friend, Zeni. Her black rimmed glasses had inched their way down her nose, and I could tell she was about to fall asleep. Sicily was also my second-best-friend, but that's besides the point. Ember was sitting in the passenger seat, and behind her sat a stranger that no one seemed to notice. I hopped into the car and as discreetly as I could I asked Ember who the stranger was. "An officer of Dr. Jacson Duniclay'' she shivered slightly "He told us he's here to make sure we vote for the right person". I was concerned, and as I started the car my mind was whirring with ideas of how to get rid of the stranger, but my mind shut them out as soon as they appeared. "You should drive to the police station," Ember suggested quietly. "That way we might be able to get rid of him". "That would not be a good idea" responded the deep voice of the stranger. "If you would like to remain living, I would suggest going to your house immediately" "He's right" I said without hesitation. It felt like the half of my brain that did whatever it wanted was now in control, I had no choice. My brain told me to start the car, and it directed me home. It had me park the car in my driveway, and welcome the stranger inside. Then it had me give over all of me and my friends' ballots while they protested. When the good half of my brain was finally in control again, the stranger had left, taking all our ballots with him.
"Kat!" "What were you thinking!?" "What the heck, Kat!" I was bombarded by my friends' questions and insults and blame. It wasn't my fault, really. I tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen. They told me I had no excuse, and Zeni especially liked to remind me that now we would all have to live with the consequences of giving away our vote. "We'll probably live a horrible life now, controlled by that jerk who wants to be president!" I assumed she meant Dr. Duniclay. "Would you have done anything different if your life was on the line!?" I yelled at the three of them, letting out all my anger at them and my disappointment in myself. "If I didn't hand over the ballots he would have killed us all and then taken the ballots anyway!!!" My friends were speechless as I stormed up to my room and slammed the door. They had no problem blaming other people, but they never wanted to take responsibility themselves. "Well good riddance, K4T! Have it your way." called Ember. "NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN, EMBER!!!" I screamed through tears. I hoped I had broken each and every one of their eardrums. When Ember called me K4T, it brought back every horrible detail from when they replaced half of my brain. My friends couldn't possibly know what K4T meant to me, I only told them it was my real name because I thought they'd never use it. I had asked them to never call me that, but I couldn't prevent what had already happened. Memory after memory flooded my brain as I was forced to relive the most horrible moments in my life.
Strangers dressed in all black were dragging me down an alleyway, into a secret room. It happened when I had just gotten into high school, so I couldn't drive yet, and I had been walking home like I always did. This time would be different, though, and I would remember it for the rest of my life. The black-gloved hands muffled my screaming and held my hands tightly behind my back. I had thought maybe this would be the moment that I would have my hero story, that some handsome man would come save me from the torture that surely awaited me, but no one came. As they threw me onto a surgical table in the secret room, I told myself I would even settle for having an ugly guy save me. They tied me to the table, and I wished that someone, anyone, would save me. It could be the freshman bully, the girl who always spreads rumors, an ugly guy with no money and a horrible personality. Again, no one came.
A surgeon stood beside the table, holding a scalpel and grinning. "Sorry, but we don't have any anesthetic, so you'll have to be awake for the surgery" He didn't look one bit sorry as he made the first incision, and as I screamed he seemed like he may have even been enjoying himself. He cut open my head in a clean line, parting my brain in two. For a moment, I felt the sweet bliss of what felt like death. I couldn't feel any of the pain, and everything was turning black. Then the illusion failed, and the pain seared through me again. This time it tore through me so hard I fainted, and nothingness surrounded my conscience. When I woke up I was in my house. My head was throbbing, but I managed to move enough to find a note on my bedside table:
Dear Kat, we hope you were not scarred for life by this experience. :) Someday, you will see that it is for the better. We know you have questions, but the only information we can tell you is that you just went through a surgery that will help you in life and will help us in our quest for power. Also, your real name is K4T. Best Regards, ?
I awoke from my memories, clutching the letter in my hands. I had yet to figure out its meaning, so I had to keep it. I loathed it, I wanted to kill it every time I looked at it to erase the memory, but I couldn't. I threw it in the fire once, when I was in a very bad mood, and burned my hand trying to get it out an hour later. Somehow it was still intact, but that was in the past, and this is now. I don't know how long I sat there, crumpling the note in my hands until Zeni came up to my room. It could have been minutes, maybe even hours, before I heard her muffled voice through the door. "Kat, we talked it over, and we realized we shouldn't have blamed you for that. Any of us would have done the same ""Did you guys actually talk it over, or are you just saying that?" I knew Zeni had a tendency to apologize for other people. "We really did talk it over," confirmed Sicily's voice. She always had a strong voice, but this time it almost felt like she was in the room, and I jumped. "Sorry, did you not want us to come in?" "No, no, it's fine", I said as I quickly stuffed the note into my jeans pocket. "What was that?" Ember asked. Her voice was genuinely curious, not skeptical at all. Now it was my turn to dodge questions. "Nothing" "Come on, Kat. Is this still about this morning?" "No, but now that you bring that up..." I raised my eyebrows at her.
"I guess I should probably tell you what's up, but sit down, it's a long story”. So Ember began her tale. "Now, let's go back to when it all started. I had a serious case of deja vu as I was driving home from school last Friday, but I couldn't put my finger on what was causing it…
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