CHIPPED

Chapter 1

I hadn't been in prison for too long, maybe a couple of weeks. The election was what put me in the facility. Rushwood was not supposed to win.

The 2036 election was rigged, and I had every intention of making it right. The opposing candidate for Rushwood was Briar, the rightful winner of the presidency. Although I despised politics as a whole, I knew Briar won. To everyone's surprise, Rushwood was announced as our next president of the United States. I was behind the final calculations of the polls. They were wrong.

Everything was wrong.

The government may be corrupt and I hate every aspect of it, but I was still encouraged to follow in my parent’s footsteps and play some role in politics. I took on a position in a government office, collecting and tabulating ballots. As the final votes came in on that chilly November night, I placed one box on top of another as I continued counting.

“Orlon!” Someone called my name, and I jerked up in surprise. It was usually pretty quiet in this building, and no one was supposed to bother us when we counted. It was a crucial, tedious process that took 100 percent concentration.

But it was my fiance’s voice that had screamed my name, and she was nowhere to be seen. My heart raced as I panicked to jump up from my cushioned desk chair. There was a part of me that looked back at the ballots for a millisecond. I ran out of my office in search of Aspen.

“Aspen?!” I yelled down the barren hallway. Everyone was working in their offices, counting their own sets of ballots. We were told to keep our doors open during this time, so there was no reason for conflict to occur. When I continued to holler for Aspen, a fellow co-worker came out in the hall.

It was Willder Gordon.

“What's wrong, Orlon?” He was the only man who would talk to me on this hall. Willder had a full head of hair, but it was salt and pepper colored due to his old age. He walked with a limp but didn't let it stop him from walking down the stairs alongside me during breaks.

“Aspen - she just… did you not hear her scream?” I stood in the middle of the hall, baffled.

“Son, I'm afraid I didn't hear anything.” Before he could go on, I ran to the stairwell and bolted down the steps. A fear I've never experienced coursed through my veins.

“Aspen! Aspen!” I frantically called out. When there was no response, I stood still on the steps.

The ballots. I rushed back up the steps and past a bewildered Willder to zoom into my office. The box I had last finished was missing. My stomach flipped.

“Orlon? Orlon!” Willder pushed past me in my office doorway to look me in the eyes, “What's wrong?”

“Aspen… screamed… ballots… missing.” I panted. His hazel eyes widened.

“You have to report it.” Willder replied.

I gripped onto the door handle, “You were the only one in the hall when I ran out.” His eyes widen, realizing that this would turn around on him.

“I didnt - I wouldn't -”

“I know, Willder,” I didn't know. But I thought he was a trustworthy, honest old man. I felt my heart rate finally slow down, like I was seeing this all in a dream state, “But who did?”

We kept the mishap to ourselves, knowing that a mere 6000 votes would not throw off the entire election. Everyone knew Briar was going to win by a landslide. Still, I felt uneasy about the whole situation.

My thoughts wandered to where Aspen was. I imagined her tiny frame running around, looking for me, her long, auburn hair flying aimlessly behind her. Was I the only one who heard her scream my name? How was that possible?

That night, the results were announced, and Rushwood was declared as our president. I waited and waited for the tally of votes to come up on the screen. My pulse escalated rapidly, but I was in the comfort of my own apartment, knowing that whatever reaction I had would not be witnessed by anyone else.

Rushwood won by almost 1000 votes. If I remembered correctly, I counted roughly 5000 out of the 6000 for Briar. My head spun around as I realized my mistake.

Briar should have won, and I allowed 6000 ballots to go missing. I absolutely loathed Rushwood and his political views. Not that I liked Briar any more, but Rushwood had an aura that scared me. Me, a renegade since I could spell the word, was scared of this man. There was something off about him.

I did what I had to do to justify things. I headed back to my office a block away from my apartment. On the way there, I expected to see protests in the streets or celebrations. The town was silent.

When I entered the building and swiped my ID card through the slot, I rushed up to the second floor, sprinted to my office, and practically dived into my office chair. My computer was logged off, but I quickly punched in my username and password, along with several other security questions and identifications.

In my younger days, I learned how to hack computer systems. I had planned to attend MIT with the information I had collected over the years. Never did I imagine I would take my skills this far, but I didn't even blink as I made my way through a maze of questions through the election system’s network.

My intentions were quite simple, really. I was going to correct the numbers. I knew an estimate of how many ballots I had counted, and I entered them as best I could recall.

For a few moments, everything seemed perfectly fine. I almost felt like a hero, despite the fact I helped the government. The results of the election rested on my shoulders, and I finally felt a weight lifted.

That's when the alarms went off.  

My first instinct was to run away, like I would when I was a teenager. I took a second to think it over. Yeah, running seemed better than being caught without a fight. I dashed out of the office and ran down the staircase, not bothering to log off of my computer. Well, obviously I was already on the run. They knew someone was in the system. Was there any reason for me to log off?

My casual dress shoes were horrible because of their lack of traction. I was perspiring through my Polo shirt. This was a terrible decision. Wearing my business attire, that is. I didn't regret correcting the system.

All of a sudden, as I dashed out of the building, red, white, and blue colors flashed around me, followed by multiple sirens. Biting hard on my lip, I made a bee-line for the closest alley.

Alleys are a big mistake. It's like the police knew that's exactly where I'd go.

“Freeze!” One of them pointed a gun at me, to which my arms shot up in the air. I was surrounded in seconds.

The rest of the night was a blur. I felt the cold handcuffs latch on my wrists, and the hard seat in the back of the police car. That night, I slept in Federal prison for the first time.

It was full of people just like me: renegades, idealists, and revolutionaries.