Chapter 1
Satiah stared up at the ceiling, watching the holographic image of the Northern Lights swirl and dance to the background music. In magnificent fluorescent reds, yellows, greens, and blues, each color seemed to have a life of its own, twirling and intertwining in a mesmerizing display. She closed her eyes and imagined being transported to another world, to another time, far more normal than her own, letting the moment’s beauty wash over her.
Satiah rolled over, propping herself up on her elbow to look at the scenery. Wildflowers, framed by a blue sky and a distant waterfall on rugged cliffs, burst into color where subdued tones had once been. The soft noise made her sleepy. She sat up in bed, brushing off the feeling. She wanted to explore the area.
Weeks earlier, her friend, Robin, secretly accessed the library archives and obtained a comprehensive collection of historical documents, including videos, images, old films, social media posts, news broadcasts, television programs, and other materials.
They weren’t supposed to have these things—secrets kept from the community. Those in charge thought no one would search the library archives; 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 the row of fruit trees scattered across the landscape, their ripening fruit visible. 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 reality 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. The lifelike quality of everything astonished her.
Each morning, she would wait for her sister to arrive and open her door.
The authorities have enacted a law requiring all children to stay in their rooms by 8 pm every evening.
They locked the door, her closet, and dresser drawers. All she could do was wait.
Was it her practice each morning to remain in her room until Suzanne let her out?
Satiah, Jason, and Suzanne’s rooms resembled a small studio apartment, with a kitchen that was just a small part of the room.
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 regular storage in her small refrigerator, and it changed out every week with fresh ones. Tick, tick, tick.
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 must 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, faces, 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 wore either a bohemian cap, a large, knitted cap, or a skullcap 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 garments to their workplaces and at home. Only those who are single do not wear a head garment.
Satiah stood out on her balcony, which differed from the others that had standard railings. She had attempted to escape once but fell twenty 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 different 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 like 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 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 had 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. 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 was responding to Jason’s complaint.
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 rolled over on her side, yawned, and closed her eyes.
Suzanne glances up at the ceiling.
‘She is going to wake the baby,’ she thought out loud.
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 she would 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 music's volume and intensity, 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 fifteen 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 more years to go.”
Satiah sat motionless. She then reminisces on her parents.
“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 blanket and threw it on the bed.
“They will not know.”
“How do you know that?”
Suzanne looked at her inquisitively.
“He switched out the pictures.” Satiah continues.
“Who switched out the pictures?”
“Robin.”
“You’d better hope that’s what he did. Where did he get these files?”
Satiah didn’t respond.
“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.
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 want never 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, wondering what to do with the files. She didn’t want to lose her father, but she didn’t want to lose the files either. The files contained too much information.
Suzanne and Satiah’s parents left early in the morning. They didn't like wearing head and face coverings around their children. So, they chose to 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 result in their execution.
