Anisha Remembers

Chapter 5

Alison stood at the large, smashed window, the very one that was forbidden to everyone. It had a direct view to the City of Lights. She was thinking about the Director of Newbies. She was only 7 years old and she was in charge of all the new babies they brought in daily. She sighed. Soon, the girl, Jenny, would bring the newest baby doomed to this hard life to her so that they could decide on a name for it. Sure enough, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" she called. Jenny walked in, holding nothing, looking shaken. "Jenny? What's going on? Where's the baby?"

"Here I am." A robotic voice came from behind Jenny. It stepped forward. The robot was about 1 foot tall. It looked like a bad imitation of a human, except that it was metal. Its eyes were two small blue circles and its mouth was a thin gap. Alison's mouth dropped open.

"I-I don't know," Jenny stammered. "The man gave this to me in a bundle of blankets and said that we had to save everyone. I- I don't understand. Why is it different this time?"

"Who are you?" Alison demanded. "What do you want? Why are you here? By the way, move one nonexistent pinkie and I'm smashing you to pieces."

"Mr. DiLaurentis sent me through his nephew. The City of Lights has not abandoned you, they have just forgotten. The government has silenced their memories to take their newborns away and only return them when they turn 18. Apparently, they are messy and disrupt our utopia." There was a second of shocked and slightly confused silence.

"We need to kill the government. Every single one of them. We're going now. I will not let them condemn these children to live this horrible life. They deserve better."

"No," the robot responded to Alison's angry outburst. "We need to make them remember, and after that the people will take care of the government. You children are not nearly strong enough to kill them." Alison gave a cry of outrage and raised her hammer. Before she had a chance to smash the rude robot to pieces, the door slammed open.

"Wait! I heard what you guys said. I know what to do." It was Jake. Alison glared at him, throwing the hammer towards the robot and missing in her anger.

"You were eavesdropping?"

"Yes, I know, it's horrible. It's also beside the point. The robot is partly right. You can't just march into the city and kill everybody! Look, I have an idea. Alison, you're turning 18 tomorrow, right? When they come for you, we can steal the helicopter, fly it to the city, infiltrate it, and find a way to make people remember their children."

"That's a stupid, completely unreliable plan with a bunch of flaws and a million possibilities of what could go wrong. I love it. You know, besides the teeny tiny problem that nobody here can fly a plane and we don't know how to get around the city." Jenny finally joined the conversation.

"I've been watching the City of Lights through this window for years. Yes, I know, I'm not supposed to, but now I know the streets by heart."

"The helicopter flies automatically; it doesn't wait for anyone. All you have to do is get on it on time." The robot, once it spoke, had gotten everyone's attention again. It walked over to the hammer that Alison dropped, picked it up and raised it. "I cannot remain online for much longer or I might be hacked. I must disconnect permanently. Before I do so, there's something else that you must know. Mr. DiLaurentis also created a switch that would turn off all electronic devices, including the chips inserted in the humans' brains so that they forget. It is located in the heart of the city. You will know it when you see it." And with one movement of the robot's arm, it smashed itself into a million pieces.

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