Parental Controls

In the far future, when mandated implants were enforced to keep an evolving infectious disease under control and monitor the people of the world, human beings no longer saw each other by the color of their skin or had any desire of greed and temptation. The implants muted all human free-will that God blessed them with.

Crime had been almost non-existent. Homelessness had also been eradicated with assisting local governments on monitoring and readjusting citizens’ mental states before they were deemed an issue to the well-built utopia of society implemented by the . Children with learning development issues were moved to off-sight facilities for testing and separate management. Because of the implants, the parents of these children had their feelings neutralized to prevent any parental hormones from releasing.

In one of these off-sight facilities, was an adorable young girl that played by herself and was always by herself - humming. When the nurses and doctors weren’t looking, she would pull out an old rustic golden heart locket that she would hide, which carried a picture of a woman that looked like her. She would smile and lightly touch the picture while continuing to hum.

“Doctor, the intelligence and immunity stats on Patient 12 has been high throughout all our tests. Her immunity levels show her body can counterattack all diseases known to this world. She could be the key to creating natural immunities to the disease,” the nurse stated as she showed the doctor the charts from the years of data collected from testing on the girl. “Hm… we’re going to have to report this to the superiors. They will be able to provide better direction on how we should proceed. Quarantine her from the other patients and consolidate on the data we have on the girl,” the doctor directed as he reviewed the information provided by the nurse. “Yes, sir,” the nurse replied as she left.

After a few days, the CDC and world government arranged for a few directors, military officers, and scientists to come to the facility to review the little girl’s case.

“Is this Patient 12?” inquired the female director of the CDC, while looking at the girl through a one sided window. Inside a small gray room, sat the little girl, shackled to the table. She was playing with wooden blocks and humming a lullaby. “Yes, Director Menza. She is the patient with the high level of antibodies that continue to counterattack the disease based on our testing.” “What is she humming?” asked one of the military officers. “I’m not sure. It’s been years since songs have been heard. We think she created the song as a coping method,” the doctor answered. “Interesting…” Director Menza replied as she reviewed the documents handed to her by the attending nurse.

BOOM!

The facility shook and the alarm began to ring.

“What’s going on?” asked the military officer as he tried to stabilize his footing. “I’m uncertain. Let me call security to see what is going on,” the doctor reassured them as he grabbed the phone within the observation room.

“Hello, this is Doctor Foster in Room 39A. We heard the alarm. What’s the status of outside?...Ok, I understand,” Doctor Forster nodded and looked at the team within the room. “We have some insurgents that are trying to break into the facility. The West Wing has been compromised. They have assured me that we should be safe in this room,” he said as he turned to the group, “Let’s continue with testing Patient 12.”

“Excuse me,” Director Menza raised her hand. “Yes, Director Menza?” Doctor Foster asked. “The CDC has their own agenda for testing. I was wondering if it would be possible if I could administer our own test that was directed by the world leaders. As you know, the world leaders are not keen on the idea of removing the implants from the citizens. They have sent me here to administer a dosage to prevent this knowledge from being leaked into the public and take care of this girl before it becomes a liability,” she stated as she pulled a long syringe from her briefcase. The other scientists and military officials nodded and looked at Doctor Foster.

“Since this is what the superiors would like, I have no objection. Please proceed,” said Doctor Foster as he nodded to the nurse to guide Director Menza to the patient.

Once inside the room, Director Menza took off her blazer and turned to the little girl, “Hello Patient 12. I am here to give you some medicine. Please show me your arm,” she directed as the little girl looked up at her and smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you,” the little girl whispered while showing her forearm to Director Menza. “Indeed,” the director nodded as she injected the little girl with the unknown substance.

Once injected, Patient 12 started to become sleepy and pale. Her little body slowly slumped onto the table. “Director Menza, we have just been informed by security that we’ll need to evacuate,” Doctor Foster’s voice rang over the intercom into the room. Director Menza looked through the one way mirror and calmly replied, “I understand. Please allow me to take Patient 12 with me for autopsy. We need to understand if her immunity level is a one off case or if we can foresee this happening to other children in the future.” “Of course,” Doctor Foster agreed and the nurse re-entered the room to place the girl in a corpse bag.

Once out of the facility, Patient 12’s little body was placed on the back of the unmarked black SUV. “Thank you, Doctor. Please let us know if you see any more cases like hers,” Director Menza said as she shook the doctor’s hand and entered the car.

As they were 60 miles away from the facility, the driver of the SUV pulled over to a hidden road. Once driving about 20 minutes down the beaten road - deep into the forest, the SUV with Patient 12’s body and Director Menza stopped. Director Menza rushed to the backseat where Patient 12’s body was.

She frantically pulled open the zipper, which was completely different from her calm and serene state at the facility. She sees the little girl’s face and starts to pat her cheeks to wake her up, “Baby, it’s mommy. Mommy came back to get you. Please wake up. Please wake up.” Patient 12 slowly opens her eyes and looks at Director Menza. The little girl’s mouth forms one of the brightest smiles that Director Menza had ever seen. Tears start to roll down her face. She pulls the little girl into our embrace and begins to hum to her.

Even with the implants that tried to suppress some of the citizens’ parental hormones, there were some that weren’t affected. Patient 12’s mother was one of them. Having spent years trying to locate her daughter that disappeared from her home, Director Menza knew that only by assimilating with society would she become closer to locating her daughter. With Patient 12’s unique body, she would be able to open new doorways for other families and prevent separation.