Codes

Chapter 1- Thoughts And Introductions

 "Cora, it's dinner time!"  I heard my mother yell from downstairs.

"One second!" I replied putting down my game controller before running downstairs to join my family at the table. I took my place at the end of the table, the way I did every night. My Brother was to my left and my parents were sitting beside each other on my right, this was how it had been every evening for as long as I could remember.

My mother has brown eyes and long brown hair that frames her face much like the way a curtain frames a window. She says it used to be blonde like mine. She always liked to say that I drained the color out of her hair, she has eyes that used to sparkle but don't anymore. She would have been pretty if she wasn't working at her boring job for the code just like everyone else. Just like my father does, and just like my brother and I would eventually because it's what everyone is expected to do. My mother is a very big supporter of the code even though it consumes most of her time, the code is the complex system of computers that have taken the place of humans in leadership and many jobs since the year 2500 when it somehow just popped into existence.

Mom always tells me the code is what keeps the peace and serenity but I bet if you ask where it came from and who created it you would only get shrugging shoulders and I don't know's. 

         The code cuts jobs and now you work for them or you are a nurse, doctor, or teacher. If not then you sit in front of a computer all day every day making sure the bots are working as they should. The only reason for the teacher, doctor, and nurse positions are held by actual humans is simply that humans look friendlier. The bots look nothing like humans but I heard Japan is close to creating more humanoid ones. But I also heard that they might start replacing human teachers with the more creepy ones in the schools for older kids.

My mother believes working for whoever is behind this "wonderful" invention is a way to show that we are grateful for everything they have done for us. My dad, unfortunately, is no better, He thinks these robots are more reliable than our own kind! Every time I said one measly thing against the code he and my mother lectured me on how humans have a lot of room to make mistakes but robots don't if they are monitored and programmed correctly. I disagree.  

"Cora please pass the mashed potatoes." My brother, Evan says snapping me out of my thoughts.

I pass the potatoes catching his eye in the process, He gives me a concerned are-you-ok? look. I ignore him and continue eating.

When we are all done eating my brother and I go upstairs while our parents clean up. "Cora, are you OK?" he says

I know  I have been quiet, which isn't normally a thing for me so I simply say "yes" his face goes all serious and he runs his fingers through his dark hair

"Cora, your thinking about the code again aren't you?"

I bow my head a little bit waiting for him to criticize me but he doesn't. My older brother, Evan is like me, he is also curious about the code maybe even suspicious of it. He just doesn't show it in front of our parents, Evan is a good actor he can hide things extremely well. He can also persuade almost anyone to do almost anything, Specifically the girls. He is the type of boy that every girl swoons around, with black hair and bright blue eyes and a jawline that is sharp as hell, Heck even his friends are attractive he must be ashamed to have boring blonde hair, green eyes, unpopular me for a sister.

"Cora? Are you even Listening?" Evan says interrupting my thoughts once again.

"I am now" I mumble.  

"You know we aren't supposed to question it. Mom and Dad are starting to worry that you'll go rogue" he says. 

Rogues are exactly what they sound like: people who won't follow something they don't know anything about. "What?" I say, shocked. Going rogue is more than frowned upon.

"Why would they think that?" I ask.  

"You question it too much," Evan responds. He is the only one that will listen to my bizarre theories about the code so it wouldn't be a good idea to argue with him.

"oh," I say "thanks for telling me."

I hug him and he hugs me back.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed now," I tell him before heading towards my room.

"ok, night Cora," he calls.

"Night" I mumble in response. 

      As I got ready for bed that night I had no clue that our lives were soon going to change forever.