CONTROL

Zyad N'zoulou

CONTROL

        I woke up at 6 A.M to the music of the national party for truth and stability, my identifying chip was vibrating and sending messages to my contact lenses telling me to take the required dose of GBHX-120, a stimulant drug that all middle and lower class people should take. Within seconds of injecting the substance into my body, I was already feeling my heart beating faster and the blood flowing through my veins. Work started at 7:30, so I made breakfast using what I had, some 1-week old bread on which mold was slowly forming and a cup of orange juice with so much sugar in it that it would be enough to give you type 2 diabetes, turned on the TV, and sat on the dirty sagging mattress that I called sofa. As usual, only good things to report on: we apparently are the happiest people on the planet and we now have the lowest economic inequality ever. After watching 30 minutes of some old sitcom I took my lunch and headed to work.

Today, the smog was particularly strong, I could barely see where I was heading and for the second time in 30 years of my miserable existence I have coughed because of it, so if it happens twice every 30 years and I live up to the average life expectancy, I’d cough around 20 times because of the smog, “interesting”, I thought to myself. My eyes were burning and I kept following the light leading to the nearest Hyperloop station, but to my surprise, when I finally had arrived, the station was closed and there was a sign reading “The Hyperloop infrastructure is undergoing maintenance, please use the old subway trains”. The nearest subway station was about 3 miles from my localization, there was no way that I’d go that far, so I decided to go to work on foot, even though it meant that I’d be going through the dark narrow alleys, it was only 1.5 miles away from me, so it seemed like a decent compromise.

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CONTROL

Today, the smog was particularly strong, I could barely see where I was heading and for the second time in 30 years of my miserable existence I have coughed because of it, so if it happens twice every 30 years and I live up to the average life expectancy, I’d cough around 20 times because of the smog, “interesting”, I thought to myself. My eyes were burning and I kept following the light leading to the nearest Hyperloop station, but to my surprise, when I finally had arrived, the station was closed and there was a sign reading “The Hyperloop infrastructure is undergoing maintenance, please use the old subway trains”. The nearest subway station was about 3 miles from my localization, there was no way that I’d go that far, so I decided to go to work on foot, even though it meant that I’d be going through the dark narrow alleys, it was only 1.5 miles away from me, so it seemed like a decent compromise.

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The alleys were filled with trash, cockroaches and small rodents dominated the place, and it was hard to think that people were living there, in small polyester tents; sometimes you could even find whole families sharing a single tent. I was only 5 minutes away from my workplace when two guys approached me; both were pretty young, I’d say 16 years maximum. One grabbed from behind while the other took a switch knife and threatened me with it, they took everything they could before punching me so hard that I passed out. When I woke up, I found myself in a green tent with the sweet smell of cooking meat surrounding me. Clueless about what had happened, I got out of the tent, it was already 6 P.M, and the sun was setting, on the side of the tent was one man, cooking some rats on a rusty barbecue grill. 

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 When he finally noticed me, he said “Oh you’re finally awake; my children found you lying on the ground so I and my wife decided to take care of you. How are you feeling? ”, “My head is aching a bit but it’s not that bad, thanks for helping, what’s your name?” I answered, “My name’s Alex and you must be Jack right?” he said, “Yeah how did you know?” I asked, “Your chip went on emergency mode and it was telling us all about you, want to eat with us?” he proposed, “I don’t think I can do that, it 6 P.M already, and the curfew will start in 15 minutes, I need to make it home”, I told the man, “There’s no way you’ll arrive in time with smog this, I wouldn’t attempt it if I were you” he replied, “ Guess I’ll stay then!”. A few minutes after, the sirens signaling the start of the curfew were blaring, the man’s children and wife came, and he took out a foldable table and some chairs for all of us.

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 When he finally noticed me, he said “Oh you’re finally awake; my children found you lying on the ground so I and my wife decided to take care of you. How are you feeling? ”, “My head is aching a bit but it’s not that bad, thanks for helping, what’s your name?” I answered, “My name’s Alex and you must be Jack right?” he said, “Yeah how did you know?” I asked, “Your chip went on emergency mode and it was telling us all about you, want to eat with us?” he proposed, “I don’t think I can do that, it 6 P.M already, and the curfew will start in 15 minutes, I need to make it home”, I told the man, “There’s no way you’ll arrive in time with smog this, I wouldn’t attempt it if I were you” he replied, “ Guess I’ll stay then!”. A few minutes after, the sirens signaling the start of the curfew were blaring, the man’s children and wife came, and he took out a foldable table and some chairs for all of us.

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CONTROL

I had never eaten rat meat before, so I was reluctant at first, but hunger got the best of me, plus it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Half an hour after, Alex told me to get into the tent immediately, I didn’t bother asking him why as he seemed pretty serious about it, however, it didn’t take long for me to understand why as I heard cries and people screaming and when I peeked from my tent, and there I saw it, in the middle of the street stood three police officers beating a pregnant woman. The alleys seemed lifeless for there was no one there, not a sound except the woman crying and screaming. It took 5 minutes for the sounds to end and for the police to continue their patrol. No need to mention how frightened I was when one of them kept staring at me for a brief moment.

 It wasn’t until they finally disappeared in the obscurity that I dared talk with Alex:
“What the hell just happened!?”
“You see, the law says that no “regular” citizen should be out after the curfew, and since we are theoretically infringing the law, they do what they’re supposed to do.”
“But you don’t have anywhere to stay in, it should be illegal”
“Life isn’t always fair”
Never had I felt so much injustice before this event, I was so angry, so frustrated, I wanted to do something about it, but what could I do? I’m not rich, I’m not a genius, I don’t know any upper-class people, the only thing that I could do for the time being was lie in my tent, listening to the radio sounds until I could sleep. When I finally woke up, it was 5:30 AM, it must have been the first in my life that I woke up this early, my hosts still hadn’t awaken yet.

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 It wasn’t until they finally disappeared in the obscurity that I dared talk with Alex:
“What the hell just happened!?”
“You see, the law says that no “regular” citizen should be out after the curfew, and since we are theoretically infringing the law, they do what they’re supposed to do.”
“But you don’t have anywhere to stay in, it should be illegal”
“Life isn’t always fair”
Never had I felt so much injustice before this event, I was so angry, so frustrated, I wanted to do something about it, but what could I do? I’m not rich, I’m not a genius, I don’t know any upper-class people, the only thing that I could do for the time being was lie in my tent, listening to the radio sounds until I could sleep. When I finally woke up, it was 5:30 AM, it must have been the first in my life that I woke up this early, my hosts still hadn’t awaken yet.

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CONTROL

Unwilling to bother them and grateful for their help, I wrote them a note thanking them and with it attached all the cash that I had with me before heading to the main road. With time to kill and an unusual curiosity I decided to wander in the city for a few minutes, after what seemed like half an hour walking straight towards the north, I stopped. My hands trembling and my eye amazed by the sight that stood before me. Green grass, beautiful trees, singing birds, suddenly it all came back the memories of me playing in the forest with my relatives, awaking to the sound of singing birds, the fresh breeze blowing on my face. I looked back to where I had come from; all I saw were grey lifeless towers, industrial chimneys, and that disgusting smoke covering the city.

All of a sudden, my contact lenses were telling me to take my drugs and my chip was vibrating. Irritated by the sad reality I was living in, I took the lens, threw it on the pavement, and stepped on it, as for the ID chip, I bit into my skin and tore it away before throwing it into the river. I felt free, liberated, at last. But this was only the beginning.

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CONTROL

All of a sudden, my contact lenses were telling me to take my drugs and my chip was vibrating. Irritated by the sad reality I was living in, I took the lens, threw it on the pavement, and stepped on it, as for the ID chip, I bit into my skin and tore it away before throwing it into the river. I felt free, liberated, at last. But this was only the beginning.

To be continued

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