In a near future that's harsh but not hard to imagine, can a young woman find the power to free herself from the pain of her past without becoming the perpetrator herself?
Introducing... Milly: a woman of the future. Her journey spans twelve birthda...
Milly never dared sit in Father's plush office chair at the Homestead.
She'd left only months prior — alone.
At Milly's high school, the principal's chair looked almost as comfortable.
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"Your test scores are excellent, Mildred! Your attention span is off the charts. How was summer school?"
"Call me Milly, please."
"OK. Play by the rules, stay out of trouble — no exceptions for your status. You're a freshman at seventeen — and a senior. One year and you're done with high school!"
"I've only read about high school in books."
"Milly, did you understand what the AI was asking with the personality questions?"
"Not really."
The principal chuckled. "No one does." She stared at her screen.
Milly couldn't see it.
— Empathy: 49
o Affective: 18
o Cognitive: 81
"Odd, but you average out to normal."
Milly tilted her head. "What is normal?"
"Never mind. We're an all-girls public school." She glared at Milly — "No boys!" — then smiled. "Corporate funding. Know what that means?"
"No🎵," Milly said, like a tiny melody.
She sometimes speaks single-syllable words as two notes: up, down — "No-oh." Milly seems to do this in a curious, indefinite, or prodding way — to move the conversation.
"Do you have an accent, Milly?"
"No."
"Corporations will be watching for scholarships. College?"
Few could afford college, but scholarship was a misnomer. These were loans bound to an employment contract.
Milly nodded.
"Many girls don't have families. You can make friends."
"How?"
"You didn't have friends?"
"I was a hunter."
"On your farm, you killed animals to eat?"
Milly nodded again.
"Well, that explains these." The principal unchecked two buttons on her screen.
— Self-reported Red Flags
o Killing animals
o Excessive time alone
"Milly, I heard it was hard out there. Would you like counseling about that? With someone? With AI?"
"I don't know what to say."
"OK, I'll put a note in your file. Do you like sports?" Their mascot: Archers.
"I don't see how they matter."
Actually, Milly ran track: the heptathlon.
"We have a pool."
"I can learn to swim?"
"That's the first I've seen you smile, Milly. Swim every day if you like. Nice meeting you."
"That's all?"
"Yes, I have another girl waiting." The principal waved. "Welcome!"
"What do I do after high school?"
"Go to college? Get married? Join the Corps? Whatever ... you're more adult than most already."
Milly stood up, blinking rapidly, and fumbled open the door. She plodded the route from a paper map to her dorm, alone — until Monique.
