“The Government is here to help”
“It will always exist, and you will never betray it”
“Treasonous thoughts or actions are punishable only by death”
“Remember, religion may be a lie, but our Government is god”
“Nobody is ever hurt”
“Nobody is in pain”
“Nobody is suffering”
“As long as our Government reigns supreme”
“WILL YOU BETRAY YOUR GODS?” The Teacher yelled out, our education was about to come to an end. Our 10 years of scheduled lessons about how great our Government was. How well it kept us out of harm, and kept us alive. We were taught nothing other than how to live a legal life. It was infuriating, soon we would get our memory replacement chips removed and be returned to our parents. Their faces were always in the periphery of my vision, I could never forget the soft blue eyes of my mother and the striking green ones of my father. Their physical appearances were all I knew of them, as that was the point I was Snatched. We would have to yell back our practiced reply. I was quite excited, not to maintain subservience, but to finally, finally, meet the woman whose womb I burst from, and the man who put me there.
“NO, No we will not!” We yelled out one final time before we had to recite our anthem. Every kid was born to, as they said, “maintain this level of respect to their nation, and their Government” as without it, we would be dead a thousand times over. Anyone who slipped or stumbled when reciting, would, of course, meet the only logical punishment, a vicious shock. No mistakes were allowed when showing respect, and the shocks were another reason why I wanted the MeM Chip®️ removed, the shocks would finally go away. My monitor flashes red as I have a “non-permitted” thought, a little jolt hits my system as I calm down. GODDAMN IT. The anthem was about to start. The children around me line up in rows and columns, I hastily find my spot, 171. The Teacher yells out “Spots 157, 142, 145, and 171 lead off”
Fuck, I hadn’t lead since we were first here, and now. As long as I didn’t forget the words, I wouldn’t get shocked.The solemn melody starts as the first child opens his mouth and clearly cries.
“As the sun rises, and sets”
“As the sun rises, and sets” The rest of the group repeats in grave harmony.
“On our free, controlled, and great land”
“On our free, controlled, and great land”
“We will fight, to be the best”
“We will fight, to be the best”
“Of our abilities, under our Government”
“Of our abilities, under our Government”
“We will seek, to obey and revere, so that we may be liberated”
“We will seek, to obey and revere, so that we may be liberated”
“SO THAT WE MAY”
“BE LIBERATED”
“SO THAT WE MAY”
“BE FREE”
“UNDER OUR”
“GOD”
“OUR GOVERNMENT MAY REIGN”
“FOR ETERNITY TO COME”
“FOR ETERNITY TO COME”
Huh, I thought, maybe having this drilled into our heads was efficient. Another hour, and the chip would be gone, and I would meet my parents. I slowly walk into the doctor’s room and hear the annoyed gruff voice of the man who performed all of my medical procedures yell out
“157, 150, 040, 160, and 141, leave now. Nurse, send in 171, 040, 150, 145 A, 145 B, and 144.” Finally, I would be done. As I walk into the room, followed by the rest of the students, the smell of ethanol and antiseptic invades my nostrils as I see the blowtorch in the doctor’s hand go off.
“Well, what are you waiting for, kid?” I quickly apologized and came forward, remembering to lean towards the bed as the doctor pushed the button on his keypad and my consciousness quickly dissipated, I probably fell on the bed, maybe not. The hauntingly striking faces of my parents were my last coherent thoughts before the inky blackness of the edge of consciousness hit my system. My dream was very standard, as the infancy classes dictated, I was in a classroom, with students 167, 141, 153, 145, 040, 165, and 160. We were all laughing and listening to the Government’s anthem. Standard, happy, pure bliss. The mantra invaded my dream, I almost fought the grey Government created dream. I quickly realized that this would not be ideal. I sat, almost humbled by my understanding, as I watched myself laugh and chant the Government anthem. I was never really good at subservience, although I could never really tell that to anyone, I didn’t really want to be Flayed, it didn’t seem like a very dignified death. I would want to live till an old age. I smiled in my sleep as I imagined my wrinkled, aged body being called for the End. All it would take was a small shot and I would be in the afterlife. Whatever that may be. Universal inexistence didn’t really scare me, I mean, I’m only 10, I still have 50 years or so to go.
My eyes slowly opened and I felt as if a weight had been removed from my shoulders. Who was I? What was my name? Oh, it didn’t matter, as long as I remembered the Anthem for the Government and all their lessons. OH, OH OH, Oh my god, I remembered my parents. Their faces became clear once again at the edge of my vision. Finally, I would be able to meet them. I faintly heard them call my number.
“…163, 145, 162, 166, and 145, please report to hovercraft A for parental unit configuration” I jumped onto the hovercraft and helped two of my friends board. We would never see each other again, but I wasn’t that sad, I never really cared for them much.
“171, please exit the vehicle, your parents are at the front.”
I was giddy with excitement. My heart was pounding and my entire body was sweating. Would they like me? We spent so much time apart, would they hate me? Oh god, they’re right there. I felt as if I would have a heart attack. My mom and dad slowly approached me, enormous smiles on their faces. Oh they look so wonderful. I looked at their shoes, my dad wore boots while my mom wore Hover-shoes. We must be a high class family, I continued upwards, staring at my mother’s beautiful purple polka dot skirt and my dad’s work pants and suit. As my eyes traveled upwards towards their faces, I was careful to note down my mother’s beautiful smile and my dad’s mischievous smirk. Their noses both crinkled in the effort of smiling so widely. My mother’s grey eyes shone brightly and my dad’s blue ones were striking. What, no, wait that couldn’t be right. These were NOT my parents. My mother’s eyes were a dull blue and my dad’s were bright green. These people weren’t the ones who gave birth to me. These people were strangers. My monitor flashes red, then orange, not shocking me but causing the guards on the side to glance at me and my monitor. They were ready to Flay. I have to pretend that these posers are my real family. I resisted the urge to run away and shriek when they both bound over and gave me a long hug.
“Oh son, we missed you so much!”
“We haven’t seen you in 10 years”
“They showed us photos, but they were nothing compared to the real thing”
“Oh you’re so handsome my son”
“We have so much to show you”
“Are you okay? Was the trip long?”
I slowly took a deep breath and calmed my nerves before answering. It would be a bad idea to let them know that I was not their son, and I knew that they did not, in fact, give birth to me.
“Oh mom, dad! I missed you so much! I’m great! The trip was relatively short, how are you guys?”
“We’re great, let’s go back home and I can fix you up some supper”
“That would be awesome! Thanks mom”
It was nauseating, talking like that, acting happy, when all I wanted to do was run, run away from these imposters. Alas, I would have to pretend until I figured out an answer. As my dad boarded me into the Hover-car and we took off, my ‘parents’ looked like they were about to interrogate me, so I pretended to sleep.
As we reached the home, my dad slowly led me to my room. Complimenting me and calling me ‘his champ’ and ‘slugger.’ I was not his anything, I was not from either of them. As soon as I walked into the room, I quickly pulled out my monitor and plugged in my DNA, plucking one of my hairs off to try to find my parents. The monitor flashed blood red, then orange, then bright yellow. I was completely fucked if anyone were to see. I bypass the defense system and get into the DNA search tool. Slowly putting my strand of hair on the monitor. Another error message showed up on my monitor. A line of binary flooded the monitor in front of me. 00110100 00110000 00110100, fuck fuck fuck.
I tried to access records to get names. I got a hit on a Madison Lee and a Gregor Kyle. I couldn’t even comprehend how many laws I was breaking as I accessed police records to see why they weren’t on the DNA file. A message popped up on my screen. My blood ran cold and all the hair on my body stood erect as it seemed the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped. “Gregor Kyle Status: Flayed; Crime: High Treason…” My mother, though, was not on file. She must still be alive. The person just downstairs was not his mother. They would never be, the Government be damned, these people were not his true parents. The re-education center had delivered him to the wrong people.
I ran downstairs, my monitor still flashing, sweating, eyes bloodshot. The one who called herself my mother looked up, concerned.
“Are you alright? Do you want some water?”
“Where’s my real mother?” Her eyes narrowed, but she answered cheerfully.
“Don’t be silly, son, I’m your mother”
“My mother is MADISON LEE”
“Don’t be silly son, Who’s that?”
“STOP CALLING ME YOUR SON”
“John, come in here quickly”
I got up to run, these people were not who they seemed. I didn’t know them, I didn’t know them. They certainly didn’t give birth to me. These were not my parents. Not my parents, not. As my ‘father’ ran into the room with rope, he quickly grabbed me and tied me to a chair. I resisted, crying, screaming, begging for my real mother. The man slapped me across the face. My red, tear soaked cheek indicative of my useless struggle. I could hear the phone connect to the Re-education center.
“We have a defective, we think he remembers”
Another sob erupted out of my mouth, what were they going to do to me? I was royally screwed. I would be flayed, or worse. Oh god, I was so fucked. The door to the house was knocked in as 3 guards entered. The doctor followed.
“171, WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER”
“THESE AREN’T MY PARENTS, LEAVE ME”
I cried hopelessly as the men came around me. I found solace, they couldn’t put me to sleep without my MeM Chip®️. My solace was quickly dashed on the rocks as the first guard raised a nightstick and brought it down on my head. Instantly, sleep claimed me. I didn’t dream, I just stared, lucidly, into inky blackness. The abyss, misery and despair were the only things around me. Suddenly, as if a plug was pulled, the darkened abyss emptied into a white universe. I was clean, happy, standard. I didn’t fight it this time, I didn’t need to. I was happy. I calmly woke up with a smile on my face. I saw two concerned faces in front of me. I almost cried out.
“DAD, MOM! Oh thank god, I had the worst nightmare, I didn’t remember who you were!”
My blue eyed dad and grey eyed mom slowly stared at each other, then at me, and smiled.
“Welcome back, son.”