Paranoia

•~{One}~•

Everyone was acting different today. Something strange happened.

I remember my mother used to tell me that when I would reach a certain age, something crazy, beyond my understanding would happen.

I think I get it now.

I think I understand why the rules told us not to tell the due dates.

I could see them. Like a blue hologram, on top of everyone's heads.

How did I discover this? Lily.

She was the first one I saw, it was weird, knowing when your little sister was going to die, I mean. It said:

Lily Knight
18/02/2031
24/09/2038

That meant she only had a couple of months left.

September 24th, this year, my sister would die. How? Why? I had no idea.

Then, the thought hit me, maybe I could see my own hologram!

Not even bothering to greet my sister, I ran back upstairs to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked on top of my head where the hologram was for Lily, and it wasn't there. I saw my eyebrows knit together in confusion in the mirror.

"What?" I quietly whispered, still staring at myself.

"Technology isn't as advanced for mirrors." I heard a voice utter behind me, looking in the mirror, I noticed my mother, standing in the doorway. "Why do you think they don't want us to tell others?"

I turned around and glared at her. "So this is the crazy, beyond my understanding thing?"

I saw her lips tilt up into a small smile. "That's part of it."

"Part? There's something else?" I tilted my head a bit to the side, giving her a puzzled look.

She grabbed my right wrist, the tattooed one, and started jogging away, making me almost trip behind her.

We got to the front door and she glanced over at me. "You ready?"

"For what?" I started to say but she opened the door, revealing the town I was used to live in, filled with people and different blue holograms. Some of them had a small inscription underneath their due date. "What does 'controlled paranoiac' mean?" I asked my mom, slowly turning my head to look at her.

"Paranoiacs are a part of the rebellion, you know, the black spray paint drawings that were on old auntie's house?" She started, and then everything came into place, the tattoo on my wrist, the dean when he said I had paranoia, but something was off, what did the rebellion even do?

"Yeah?" I pressed for her to go on.

"That's the rebellion sign." She started, and then looked at me. "The rebels either get controlled or executed."

•

That day, I decided to take the bus alone to the park, just to clear my mind of a few things.

Everything was always peaceful there, the perfectly aligned circle of trees surrounding a water fountain in the middle of the park was my favorite place. I would just sit on the edges of the fountain and look around, sometimes bringing a book with me. Occasionally, Owen would be at the park too, giving me an opportunity to look at him. But today, the park was a bit more filled with introverts, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which I was really thankful for.

It didn't take long before I recognized a mop of black hair sitting underneath a tree not so far away from me.

Hands were resting on a book, from time to time flipping a page.

The hologram?

Kyle Lansdowne
26/01/2020
16/03/2103

Something about his hologram was different, it looked like it was fading away slowly.

Before I knew it, I was heading his way, my legs apparently moving towards him without my consent.

Without thinking, I sat down beside him and rested my cheek on my knee to look at him.

He was focused on the book he was reading, absentmindly bringing his lip ring between his teeth every now and then.

"What are you reading?" I whispered, making him quickly shut the book in fear.

"Sugar honey iced tea, you scared the heck out of me." He uttered, still trying to calm himself down.

"Looks like we're even." I smirked at him, as he shook his head slightly.

"I'll get my revenge." He playfully glared at me, softly slapping my shoulder.

"Sure you will." I smiled at him. He smiled back, showing off his teeth again, but that smile faded once he looked at the top of my head. He seemed to have a little debate with himself before he smiled again, holding up the book he was reading earlier. "That looks like a good book." I commented, making him scrunch his face up.

"It's not." He giggled, tracing the title with his finger.

"Then why are you reading it?"I asked him.

"Information." He simply replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"About what?" I gave him a perplexed look and he handed me the book, pointing at the title.

"Paranoiacs." He replied as I flipped the book around to read the summary. Seeing I wasn't going to respond, he decided to talk; "You know what they are, right?"

I glanced up at him and slowly shook my head. His eyes widened and a smile made its way to his lips right after. He quickly got up and grabbed my hand to pull me up.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, but I got no reply, he was already running away, with me hot on his heels.

•

After tripping on my own feet about ten times, bumping into at least six different people, falling twice and stopping to breathe once, we finally arrived to our destination.

Kyle still hasn't let go of my hand and I was getting used to the warmth of his own.

When I looked up at the house in front of us, it was covered in spray paint, the drawings were all the same; they were the same drawing I had seen on my wrist the day before.

I slowly moved towards the house and traced my finger along a few of the painted drawings. "What do they mean?" I asked, turning a bit to look at Kyle.

"Rebellion," he simply said, reminding me of what my mother had told me earlier. "Come on." He forcefully twisted the door knob and with a little grunt, he managed to open the rusty door. We both stepped in and I admired the surroundings.

From the outside, the place looked rusty and old, but the inside was gorgeous. Instead of the boring white color we were used to seeing all over town, the place was actually filled with bright ones, not forgetting black.

"Where are we?," I asked, still looking at the different colors around the room.

"You'll see." He smirked, softly letting go of my hand to walk away, with me following right behind.

•

So I remember saying I would post this chapter a week ago and uhh

I have no excuse sorry