THE GRID RE-PUBLIC

Chapter 1

"I couldn't believe it, it all made sense though I just couldn't. It was too much to take in, everything we were told was a lie. How stupid was I to think otherwise. I feel like my life has been torn from me replaced with the disgusting truth. The truth that my life would never be the same.

We didn't do it for us, not for you or me, but for those who will be here when we are dead and turned to dust. It is for those people we fight for. Though maybe I am getting ahead of myself here and you might get the wrong idea of me just like everyone else does. You see my world is the same as yours, only its different." -- The Black Swan

Chapter One

My breath runs short, heaviness on my chest builds. The weight of my arm, the weight of the world. I panic, sorting through the visions I just had in my sleep, grasping onto the details of it that are quickly fleeting away. I reach for my head as though I can hold these wild thoughts in.

Somehow I’ve become a sweaty mess, feeling moisture collect on the sheets it as I lift my body from the bed. Its so dark in the room it's as though my eyes have stayed shut. Squeezing my lids against my cheek I then flutter my lashes twice to call upon my LENZ device. Now I see the room through it, colours and light replace the darkness I was only able to see.

I pace my eyes around the room. Still I am in a panic over what I just experienced. Anxiety fills, and focus is lost. The silence is like a gigantic catalyst, and I breath heavier just to hear something other than silence.

“Damnit play!", The silence was too long.

I tap the VICE on my wrist, feeling the silicon and metal device fixated under my skin. Still there is nothing but silence. I resort to profusely shaking my arm above my head. What a crappy device.

“For the love of God!” I begin cursing.

It was definitely taking too long for my VICE to register my adrenaline and cortisol levels, and now I was left with the horror of my thoughts, while alone in this silent room. These damn Servants need to release a fix for this piece of shit device.

My mind getting more and more agitated. I tap my wrist again hoping it is not a chip replacement I need. Then there it was, a soft sound that slowly began blowing through my eardrums like the swiftness of the wind. The soft tune in Beethoven's Für Elise began playing in my ears.

Nostalgia fills my mind. It’s playing the music mom used to hum to me when I was younger. One of the last memories my mind has managed to hold onto all these years.

I must have been even more stressed than I thought, the VICE rarely prompts my audio insert to play Für Elise. Any other day this song would evoke fury, but tonight it is really the only thing to calm me from this nightmare.

I get up out of my bed and walk towards the lights coming through the curtains. Waving my hand across the glass door it slides open, and I step out onto the balcony. Bright lights of blue and green fill the night sky like stars. This city is truly amazing, these buildings reaching ever so closely to space so high up you can’t see the earth which stands beneath you. They make me feel at peace.

All my life I had prepared for this moment, it used to seem like it would never come to pass and yet here I am verging ever nearer to the eve of the beginning of the rest my life. I am not sure whether to be nervous or excited and yet I can’t help but feel neither.  Its strange for the past 3 weeks my friends have been feeling these two emotions exclusively and yet I feel something else entirely.  I just can’t place my finger on what that emotion is. Not yet.

The cool breeze is nice and relaxing, not that I’m not already relaxed with Für Elise still ringing through my ears. It’s also why I spend most my time out here. It helps take my mind off of things. My mind starts to slow down and my eyes are being rinsed with tears.  I let out a yawn and I know its time to sleep. I go back inside from my balcony and walk ever so slowly to my bed. When I fall onto it, I once again remember how soft and warm the covers are.

Lying down, I flutter my lashes twice and squeeze my lids against my cheek to command LENZ to shut of my night vision. Now its dark again, and I allow my mind to dance with the soft sound of the music playing through my ears. My audio piece fades the music into white noise, and with that my body slowly lets go and I have little trouble falling into a deep slumber.

Letting go of this feeling, well that won’t be so easy.