Chapter 1
Satiah stared up at the ceiling, watching the holographic image of the Northern Lights swirl and dance to the music playing in the background. In magnificent hues of fluorescent reds, yellows, greens, and blues, each color seemed to have a life of its own, twirling and intertwining in a mesmerizing display.
Satiah closed her eyes and imagined being transported into another world. Into another time, far more normal than her own, letting the moment’s beauty wash over her.
She shifted onto her side, propped up on her elbow, and took in the scenery. The once-muted hues transformed into a vibrant field of wildflowers, framed by blue skies and a distant waterfall tumbling down craggy cliffs. The soothing sound made her eyelids feel heavy. Shaking it off, she sat up in bed. She wanted to explore.
Together, she and her friend sneaked into the library archives and downloaded a vast amount of historical files, including videos, pictures, old movies, social media apps, news programs, TV shows, and more.
They couldn’t have these things—secrets kept from the community. No one will be able to get into the archives locked behind closed doors; that’s where they’ll remain hidden. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
He snuck into the library weeks before. They hid certain things from the community. The Library archives will remain unsearched. A while back. He came across some holographic moving images, which he then installed on her computer. Had he not set up the program, she would have been bored.
Satiah looked at a row of fruit trees dotted across the landscape, their fruit ripening. She reached up and plucked one off the branch that leaned over where her bed used to be. The holographic image made everything appear real.
She was astonished by how realistic everything seemed.
Satiah, mesmerized by the scenery, walked among the trees, only to be jolted back into realization when she noticed a door in the middle of the forest. Her bed became a grassy hill filled with wildflowers. Satiah rubbed her hand across the field of flowers. A wave of shock went over her.
A heavy wooden door opens automatically every morning.
Authorities confined Satiah and everyone else to their homes. There were rules they all had to follow. Every child needed to be in their room by 10 PM. A majority of the community’s parents had night jobs. However, there were more rules than just those.
They lock the door, her closet, and dresser drawers. All she could do was wait.
Each morning, was it her practice to remain in her room until Suzanne let her out?
Satiah’s, Jason’s, and Suzanne’s rooms resembled a small studio apartment, including a small kitchen that was just a small part of the entire story.
A small round table and chair sat next to Satiah’s bedroom window.
Order reigned supreme in the flawlessly organized and spotless kitchenette. Everything was to be kept in order.
The platinum, silver, and azure-blue metallic countertop resembled the waves of an ocean, and her cabinets were a petrel-blue-gray that unlocked if her sister failed to arrive in time.
Her sister must have been checking the time. Tick,
Tick, Tick.
They replaced the food every month to prevent spoilage. Fruits were freeze-dried or hydrated, then repackaged into quick, small, healthy snacks. There was also a regular store in her small refrigerator, and it changed out every week with fresh ones. Click, click, click.
The bathroom was at the back of the room, featuring a full-size tub and shower. A long pole attached her shower head to the ceiling overhead. The Binet toilet disappeared into the floor when not in use.
Satiah slammed her head against her pillow and screamed at the top of her lungs,
“My death here would go completely unnoticed.”
“You are being overdramatic!” Jason yelled in the intercom.
Satiah stepped out onto her balcony and looked out over the village. She sees the streetlights extinguishing one by one as night-shift workers hurry home. Dressed in their required attire.
These rules are absurd. I’m tired of waiting! It makes little sense. I have to wait until seven every morning.
Satiah was curious about their hair color and facial features. The law requires every married man and woman to cover their head, face, and hands. The women wore either large scarves, skullcaps, or bohemian head coverings on their heads. They pinned another scarf of the same shade to the headpiece and wrapped it securely around their faces. Soft, easy-to-manage gloves cover their hands. This was to make it easy for them to use their phones and pick up minor items. Some women secured their long hair by pinning it back tightly, wrapping it in a scarf, and covering it with a large knitted cap. The men either wore bohemian caps, large knitted caps, or skull caps and tied a handkerchief across their faces. They were also required to wear gloves.
These are the ones with families. Those who concealed their faces from their children and other children. They are required to wear these head coverings at work and at home. Only single people do not wear a head garment.
Satiah stood out on her balcony, which differed from the others' standard railings. She had attempted to escape once but fell fifty feet and sprained her ankle. Her father remarked that it could have been worse. Satiah’s balcony, unlike the others, had a plexiglass enclosure.
“Hello, is anybody down there?”
Kneeling, she peered through the plexiglass, watching the throngs of people heading home. Her parents had promised to wear the same outfits so that Satiah and her siblings could spot them from a distance in the crowd. When Satiah was only five years old, she once saw a woman wearing a head covering similar to her mother’s. Mistaking the woman for her mother, Satiah followed her home. Fortunately for Genevieve, the woman recognized Satiah and brought her back home. It would have been a nightmare for Genevieve if she had never seen her daughter again.
Genevieve and José looked really hard to find head coverings that no one else wore.
Satiah relaxed in a patio chair, picking up her PSP5 gaming system, which she’d left there the night before. Forecasters predicted rain for the previous night.
Satiah detested her nightly confinement and the wait it entailed. Although she wasn’t a big gamer, her mother bought her a PSP5 and some games to keep her occupied. She would rather read books. Books about adventures and the world around them. Some had very few because the government didn’t want them to know about the people outside. The only books they could read were those related to Home Economics. There was also a government book of laws and regulations that everyone had to read and memorize.
She got bored after just fifteen minutes. Placing the system on the small round table, she stood and went back to the balcony.
Her throat felt scratchy, sore, and inflamed, making it painful to speak or swallow. Every breath she took felt like sandpaper against her vocal cords. Maybe she had been screaming too much,
“Who makes up such stupid rules?”
Satiah clears her throat and throws herself back onto the mattress.
She changes the scenery on her hologram multiple times with the swipe of her hand. At least until she finds the scene she is looking for.
A herd of mustangs comes stampeding toward her. Her heart pounds against her chest as she watches. She ducks, covering her head with her arms. She then realizes how stupid that was. Satiah screams at the screen as she watches the girl on horseback chase her horses over a cliff. The girl stops her horse just in time.
“Why?” Satiah screams at the screen, “Oh, my God?”
She hated seeing animals being mistreated.
Satiah reached for the glass of water sitting on her kitchen counter. She swiped the screen several times. To have a drink near her bed, so she stands there scrolling through four more images before stumbling across one with a burning building. She hears screams coming from inside the building and watches as people, engulfed in flames, jump out of high-rise apartment buildings.
“Alexa, play music! Play Heavy Metal.”
Her voice sounded a little hoarse, but improved as the minutes passed.
Satiah keeps scrolling through images while the music blasts in her room. She planned to crank up the music volume so that Suzanne would feel compelled to come in sooner rather than later and tell her to switch it off.
Her brother, Jason, was only a few doors down. Frustrated, he rolled in his bed and placed the pillow over his head.
“Turn off the effing music!” He yelled into the intercom.
Suzanne was downstairs in the kitchen preparing their lunches.
‘If she doesn’t stop, I am going to scream,’ she breathes under her breath. ‘Better yet, I will ask Papa to remove the damn thing.’
“What, you can’t hear it?” Satiah said.
She turned the volume up even louder.
“Satiah, you are going to make us all go deaf, plus you are giving me a migraine!” he screamed.
Satiah could hear him complaining, but she ignored him.
“Oh, my god, what is taking her so long?”
Satiah rolls over on her side, yawns, and closes her eyes.
Suzanne glances up at the ceiling.
‘She is going to wake the baby,’ she thought.
Fifteen minutes later, the door creaks open as she turns the knob to Satiah’s bedroom. Neither the sound from the doorknob nor Suzanne’s footsteps affected Satiah as she rolled over in her bed.
How could it be with all the music blaring on? Satiah fell into a deep sleep.
Suzanne placed earplugs inside her ears before walking into Satiah’s room.
Suzanne faced a stampede of wild mustangs, blaring music, or other chaotic destruction. But today, she prepared herself.
Suzanne decided to teach Satiah a lesson. Rather than turning off the hologram and music, she positioned the hologram in front of Satiah’s view. She raised the volume and intensity of the music, making the illusion of approaching soldiers louder and more realistic. Suzanne observed with her arms folded as Satiah faced this intense hallucination.
Satiah’s eyes snapped open at the jarring sound of heavy boots hitting the ground in unison, mingling with distant screams that pierced through the air. Startled, she flinched, her heart racing as she struggled to grasp the surrounding reality. In a sudden rush of panic, she lost her grip on the edge of the bed and tumbled to the cold floor below, dragging her warm blankets down with her. From the doorway, Suzanne’s voice cut through the chaos like a sharp blade,
“Good morning. Be out in the hallway in ten minutes.”
“Good Morning,” Satiah groans, throwing the blankets off her. “Are you going to help me?”
“Help you?” Suzanne laughs.
Satiah looks down at her blankets.
“You want me to help you with your blankets?” Suzanne looks at her and laughs.
“Yes!”
“Ah, no.”
“You’re the one who caused me to fall out of bed. So, you can help me pick them up.”
“Turn down your sound, or I will have Father remove it!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Try me.”
The noise still blaring as the girls continued arguing until Suzanne stopped mid-sentence and turned everything off, catching Satiah mid-scream.
“Satiah, you are being inconsiderate. You are going to get us in trouble.”
I don’t care.
“What about Jason? He is facing the same trials.”
“He’s going to be seventeen in two years. I have another three and a half years to go.”
“Okay, then what about Lily Bella, once she turns five? She has twelve years.”
Satiah sat motionless.
“I don’t remember what Papa and Mama looked like back then,” she said.
“Let’s just get through today,” Suzanne said
/Satiah nodded her head.
“You have ten minutes to be ready,” Suzanne said
She heads for the door but stops. “And delete the hologram. Papa will be furious if he finds out.”
“Papa already knows.”
Suzanne turned and looked at her. “Does he? I will ask him.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Satiah, if the government finds out you have these files, papa could go to prison for life, or worse!”
“They will not find out.”
“Papa has to report everything to the government and show pictures.”
“But I like my hologram. It gets my adrenaline going, and besides, I tire of the old dull stuff.” Satiah said.
She picked up her blankets and threw them on the bed.
“They will not know.”
“How do you know that?”
Suzanne looked at her inquisitively.
“He switched out the pictures.” Satiah continues.
“You better hope that’s what he did, and where did you get these files, anyway?”
Satiah froze for a minute, trying to think about what to say.
“He doesn’t know, does he?” Suzanne asked.
“You don’t know Papa as well as I do,” Satiah snapped.
“I know him well enough not to lie to him.” She snapped back.
“Get rid of the files now.” Suzanne’s voice was firm when she spoke these words. She didn’t ask her to. She told her.
Satiah sat down on her bed without saying a word.
“Satiah, I’m serious; get rid of those files. I don’t care where you got them. Please get rid of them.”
She looked at Satiah sternly, then said,
“Unless you never want to see Papa again.”
“We don’t see him enough as it is!”
“That is not his fault, and you know it!”
Satiah shot her a sneering look. Suzanne rolled her eyes and went to the door.
She sat on her bed, contemplating what she should do with the files. She didn’t want to lose her father, but she also didn’t want to lose the files. There was too much information in these files.
Suzanne’s and Satiah’s parents left early in the morning. They did not like wearing a head and face covering around their children. So, they opted out of the fact that they would leave early and come home late. Did they neglect their children? Not at all.
This was primarily about shielding their kids. Discovery of their true identities by any of their children, at home or in public, would cause their execution.
