a bitter fate

Wake up, Mia.

Mia blinked her eyes. She could not believe it was morning again, and time to go to her meaningless job. Again. She laid still, refusing to budge.

Wake up, Mia. This is your second warning.

That robotic voice in her ear was enough to motivate her the second time around. Mia groaned, but sat up — a few extra minutes of sleep would never be worth the consequence of ignoring one of the hundreds of daily directives.

It was always the same: a robotic voice came from the nearest speaker, gave some sort of command, and people were expected to obey immediately. In her bedroom, the speaker was above her bed. In the bathroom, the voice came from a speaker behind the mirror. In the living room, there was a speaker in each corner. And of course, out in the streets, there was a speaker every fifty feet — Mia was never alone.

Luckily, the directives were the same every day. As long as Mia woke up on time, went to work without complaining, and came straight home afterwards, she barely needed any reminders. She could have time to think without constantly hearing that metallic voice. But if she ever stepped a toe out of line…

Mia shuddered as the memory of her friend Rosario flashed across her mind. One moment they were standing dutifully together in the assembly line, adding synthetic vitamin powder to the mass-produced meals like they did every day. The next instant, all Mia could see was a swarm of white armored suits and Rosario’s curly hair as she was dragged away. Mia could still imagine her screaming as if it had only just happened moments ago.

All Rosario had done was ignore a directive to get back to work. She had seemed distracted that day, like she had something on her mind. She kept fiddling with the little heart-shaped locket that she wore around her neck. Mia wondered who gave it to her, and if she was starting to get tired of the way things were, too.

When Rosario heard the second warning, she stood up to leave instead. Mia wondered how the Directive Enforcers found them so fast — as if they were waiting for something to go wrong. More importantly, though, she wondered what kind of a soulless person would ever agree to becoming an Enforcer.

Mia shuddered again. She had never seen Rosario since then, and probably never would. And after witnessing her only friend get dragged away, nothing in the world could ever convince her to go past that second warning.

Or so she thought.

Wake up, Mia.

Again. Mia sat up right away this time. The warning she received yesterday left her with a sinking feeling; she had flashbacks of Rosario all day and did not want them to continue today. This life was painful enough without a constant reminder of loved ones lost.

She pulled on her gray suit deliberately, zipping it all the way up to her neck. She looked in the bathroom mirror and sighed. The day loomed before her like a storm cloud; how could she keep this up every day while still wondering what happened to Rosario?

Walk to work now, Mia.

She rolled her eyes as she shut the light off, and trudged out of her dormitory.

While she walked the three miles to work, Mia kept her head down and walked as quickly as she could. As she got nearer to the factory, she had to slow down; the foot traffic had increased. Mia suddenly realized this was due to some sort of commotion up ahead.

“I didn’t do anything! Let me go!”

Mia strained to see where the voice was coming from. She could barely tell whose it was, as her view was obstructed by a mass of white-clad Directive Enforcers.

“I’m sorry! I swear!! Let me go!!” The woman’s cries sounded desperate, as if she thought they would actually make a difference. Tears sprang to Mia’s eyes; it reminded her so much of that day two months ago at the factory. She knew it was better to keep her head down and keep walking, but she couldn’t look away. If she could catch a glimpse of where they were taking this woman, she might get some sort of clue about what had really happened to Rosario.

Continue walking, Mia. The voice from the speaker startled her.

“I can’t get away with anything,” Mia muttered to herself — but not quietly enough.

Continue walking silently, Mia. This is your second warning.

Mia’s heart dropped as she realized how foolish she was being, that she should just stay focused. As she turned away from the scene in fear, though, she caught a glimpse of something that would change her life forever: a curly tendril of brown hair sticking out from one of the Enforcer’s helmets.

The wave of nausea that overcame Mia when she saw that lock of hair remained with her throughout the entire workday. She scooped the vitamins numbly for eight hours, barely speaking a word, but her mind was running the entire time. Was it really her? Why was she an Enforcer? And how could Mia get her out? While Mia wasn’t sure about the answer to any of these questions, she was certainly going to try to find out.

It was impossible to hide her sweat as Mia clocked out of work at the end of her shift. As the sun went down and the wind kicked up, she walked quickly through the streets with her heart pounding and her hands balled into fists. She could barely keep from running as she replayed her plan in her head with resolve: if she wasn’t lucky enough to run into an Enforcer naturally, she would just have to attract one herself.

When she arrived at her dormitory, Mia just kept walking. Not only could she cover more ground this way to look for an Enforcer, but she would also likely receive a warning.

Like clockwork, the voice came: Go home, Mia. This directive only spurred Mia on to go faster. She broke into a jog.

Go home, Mia. This is your second warning. The voice came from a different speaker this time. Mia was covering ground quickly. In spite of this warning that would normally stop her in her tracks, Mia pressed on.

Suddenly, as if she had woken up from a bad dream, Mia’s body jolted. A white-gloved hand was gripping each of her arms. Mia endured a split-second of panic before reminding herself that this is what she planned to do, what she needed to do. She whipped around as forcefully as she could and seized the helmet of the Enforcer with both hands.

“Rosario?!” She yelled, as she pulled the helmet off with all her might and threw it to the side. With a loud snap, the front screen cracked as it hit the sidewalk. Mia looked into the Enforcer’s face hopefully. Instead of being met by Rosario, though, Mia saw the face of a young boy. He couldn’t have been more than 14 years old. He blinked, stunned, and remained motionless — as if he no longer knew what to do.

Suddenly, she was swarmed with Enforcers. “Stop! You’re under arrest,” one voice bellowed. Fueled by adrenaline, Mia ignored this command and planted a foot on the Enforcer’s chest. She grabbed the helmet and in one swift movement, kicked the Enforcer backwards and threw the helmet behind her. It was another stranger, now sprawled on the sidewalk.

Mia wildly ripped off two more helmets as if in a craze. The adrenaline pumping through her veins and the anger she felt for her friend and others like her empowered her to resist more and more Enforcers. Mia never knew she had so much rage; it was as though she had channeled all of the emotion that she kept inside for the past sixteen years and could have fought off Enforcers forever.

In a moment, though, this rage disappeared: she whipped off another helmet, and instantaneously recognized her closest friend. Rosario.

Mia could barely choke out her name. “Rosario?” she asked, in almost a whisper, as she lost what felt like every ounce of strength in her body. Mia’s eyes searched Rosario’s face for a sign of recognition. But Rosario only blinked and did not say a word.

Mia hardly had time to regain her bearings as she felt the hands of nearby Enforcers seizing her. She stood limply, the fire no longer within her. Her best friend had no idea who she was. Just as this reality sank into Mia’s heart, she felt the sharp prick of a needle in her arm, and her world dimmed to black.

Wake up, Directive Enforcer 9003.

Directive Enforcer 9003 blinked her eyes, groaned, but sat up. She could not shake the feeling of déjà vu, that she had experienced this before. And for some bizarre reason, she could not remember the previous day, or how she had arrived at that dorm. Nevertheless, she got out of bed, pulled on her white suit, and trudged off to work.