The Illuminati School and the Digital Revolution

You never saw it coming

     

     Julienne shockingly stared at the black envelope she was holding in her hand. Her fingers were shaking and everything was spinning out of control. An uneasy feeling nagged her, yet she could not resist temptation and her hands were itching to find out who would send her a letter. Who could it be? Could it be her father, who abandoned her and her mother years ago when she could barely talk or think? Or could it be her friend who moved away when she needed her the most? Or could it be the long-awaited answer from the arts university she applied to months ago?

    Outside it was raining cats and dogs. Julienne's mother, Lorena, entered the living room with a bag full of groceries and threw her car keys next to a picture of her daughter's father, which fell loudly on the floor. "Go to hell where you belong, you cheating bastard!" Then she took a cigarette furiously out of her cigarette pack and smoked it without even looking at her daughter. Julienne avoided her gaze.

   "Can you please tell me what just happened today at school?" she asked her in a cold tone while drumming her long, red fingernails against the table. This was never a good sign. She always used to do that during her arguments with her father. "Nothing," Julienne protested. At the same time, she tried her best to hide her black letter under her blue hoodie.

   "Nothing? So, um, I guess it's pretty normal to yell at the teachers, call them stupid and uneducated and let some mice run around wildly causing chaos and finally the entire class to be canceled!" Julienne rolled her eyes:" Ugh, for the love of god! His English was very bad and all the crap he was "teaching" us was outdated anyway! I could have found almost anything on the internet if I googled it! They don't teach us anything useful! I also find it stupid that they force us to sit through the classes! Sitting on a damn chair doesn't make you any smarter, more productive or useful to society!" Her mother put her hands on her waist and threatened her with her finger:" Oh yeah? Do you think it is your duty to change the system? You're a child now and you have to go to school! You're too young to decide for yourself!"

   "Bla bla bla," Julienne mocked her with her tiny fingers and accidentally pushed a cigarette pack out of her bag. Its contents flew out of it, while Lorena stared at it with an open mouth.

    "What's this? You smoking? You're just sixteen and should be a little bit more concerned with your health because quite frankly this won't do any good to you! Oh, so that's why you don't have any time for your lessons and you have poor grades!" "Of course, mom! Because grades define you!" Julienne muttered heatedly and tears of anger appeared in the corner of her eye. Her mother was continuously yelling. "Don't you understand how many sacrifices I do for you? I never had the chance to get a good education and regret it now terribly! If you do what everybody else does, you'll be happy, safe and live a peaceful life! Uniformity kept humanity going for centuries! If you have money, you have way less to worry about! As long as you follow the crowd, you'll be okay! At this age, you should be enjoying your childhood!" Julienne smashed a stuffed animal she received from her first boyfriend against the wall and gave her mother a disdainful look" What the fuck have you been smoking on, mom?"

      "Julienne, please open the window! I've got some cheese delivery for you!" a tall, thin boy with freckles yelled. "Oh no, Pete! Not now!" Julienne thought to herself and pretended not to know him. "What? What do you want?" she squeaked with a very girly voice.

       "Thank you for the cheese, Pete! Now go to school and maybe you'll get later a real job!" Julienne's mother snarled and took the peculiar box in her hands. She opened it and read aloud from a little piece of paper:" Here you go, Julienne! Hope you're having fun tonight with your friends! Your partner in crime, Pete!" Julienne watched her helplessly as she took the content out of the box. "Weed? Seriously? And beer and vodka? Who are you? I thought we were on the same page about your future, Julienne. I thought you wanted to do something for humanity worthwhile to remember! We had a plan. It was us against the world. Me, a future award-winning writer, perfect mother and you, a loving, normal, fitting daughter who goes to school, works hard for her dream is to get into Ranchy, the crème de la Crème University, having normal friends who don't do drugs, smoke or drink. I don't know who you are anymore! I don't like anything you do! You're a disgrace to me!"