Efficient Perspective

Part 1: Clatter

The year is 5008. Technology has advanced tenfold and the world is practically made of iron and plastic. Cars fill the skies in place of birds, and buildings stand where mountains were once tall. People and bots alike roam the streets and flying platforms, each trying to get to their jobs, homes, and businesses. Everything is on a rush, nothing stops. Like everything is automated, autopilot. Nothing, stands still.

In this hustle and bustle city lives a girl, named Aloenet. A young girl of the age sixteen. She lives with her mother and father in the Anhaden district, middle class, second from the top of the city. She's an all honors student in the best high school in the district, Hagonford. Top of her class, and looking to skip a few grades, Aloenet is a shining gem. However, she has one problem. She can't stop her imagination from wandering. Aloenet has a very active imagination, at night while she sleeps, her mind carries her to different places, like timelines. In the morning, it's constantly painting pictures of events, some, actually happen. Due to her active imagination, Aloenet must wear a hair clip, much like a silver flower, that administers a controlled shock to the brain to stop her from thinking. Here, imagination is forbidden. Everyone has a set duty, and no time for thinking. But as of late, her mind has been becoming more and more active. She's shocked daily, about once every hour, and at night, she often shoots awake because of the pin in her hair. She has been loosing sleep, and falling behind in her studies. People are starting to question her...

. . .

It is another tiresome morning... I barely managed much sleep last night... My mind keeps flashing these images, and though I try to stop them, I cannot... It is painful, this pin... I am currently in Mr. Hill's class... Calculus... My mind keeps flashing to a specific image. An image of Mr. Hill trying to grab a box from a high shelf, and the stool he uses collapses under him... He lands head first, a crack echoing out...  A crimson fluid oozes on to the floor... 'ZICK!' I wince as a strong pulse is sent through my mind by the flower pin... It hurts... I try to shift my attention from my thoughts to Mr. Hill. Looking up, I can see him writing out a complex equation, for some, but child's play for me. Taking it as an opportunity to disrupt my brains thoughts, I quickly start writing it down to solve. So far, lately, I have been taking to writing down everything written on the boards in my classes to disrupt my thoughts, solving questions before they are officially asked... Sometimes, I feel like I write down and answer an equation before the teacher even lifts the chalk... I used to take to answering the questions, always raising my hand, and saying my answer. Although, I stopped, as the other students had started giving me dirty looks, and murmuring things about me... Occasionally, I did notice that I would be answering an question that either was not fully written out yet, or not written at all. Although, I could have sworn they were... I had seen them... So now, I stay quiet, and take to writing my notes instead... Things have been getting so strange as of late... My mind keeps depicting a great collapse of the city... Fire... Flying rays of light... Explosions... screaming... A cold smirking face... 'ZAP!' I wince again, my brain tingling... That was a big one... I emit a small whine and rub my head, I can feel the gazes of my peers, as their judging eye's fall upon me. It is uncommon, for someone with my status to have a Brain Stasis. Usually, they are administered to lower classes and students, whose minds have a particularly hard time staying focused. Usually those students are not capable of getting to where I am, as their minds are always too busy... I fear, being taken down to those levels.. I am afraid, it is something I have been facing as of late...

I let out a small labored sigh as I fight the tears brimming my eyes. I look back up to the board, my answer in, and Mr. Hill, only now writing out the problem... I could have sworn it was already written. I saw that it was! I swear it was! 'ZIPOP!' Another whimper escapes me as I grip my head. This time, it was because my emotions were getting to riled. Curse this pin... I can hear them. Their whispers... The other students are talking about me again... It is not my fault. I did not ask for this... You must surely understand that I do not wish for this! ... I try not to cry. Biting my lip hard with my canine tooth, I again, proceed to write, this time just small nothings to vent my agitated mind. It is hard, living like this... I do not know how much longer I can handle it. This pin, these thoughts, this, mind! It is all too much!... I can hear the pin rev up for another shock, and I immediately silence my train of thought. The buzzing dies... The wonder of how this pin has so much battery life.

Time passes. I switch in between ramblings in letters to solving problems before their time. I sigh, ready for the class to end. My attention is then suddenly snatched. "Alright Class. It is time to take notes in your journals. Open your text books to page 144 for your lesson." Mr. Hill's calm mundane voice speaks out as he heads to grab our journals from the shelf. Our journals in the box. On the top shelf... That he uses a stool to get... I can hear the pin start to rev up as I look up to attention, my eye's following Mr. Hill's movements carefully... The stool, that collapses... The stool... That causes his death... 'POP!' I wince as the shock shoots through my brain. A ringing fills my ears as my mind pulses. The images start rushing my mind, filling it with nothing but that image. The pin starts to rev up again for a powerful administration. My head shoots up to attention, Mr. Hill, standing upon the rickety old stool, reaching his short form up to grab the box. The stool teeters. The images flash. Almost instinctively I rush towards the teetering stool. The pin starts beeping at a fast rate, mocking my heart beat. I reach to call out to my Teacher. "Mr. Hill! Wait!" But before I could reach him, the stool tips forwards, his figure falls with the box and journals, and a white light fills my mind as the pin squeals and shoots its strongest pulse. And then, a dull nothingness, as I feel my body fall weightlessly to the floor... 'THUD!' 'CRACK!'

. . .

Slowly... I feel my conscience return. My brain tingles as if a colony of ants runs through it. As my eyes open to the fuzzy world, I can see figures in white coats running around trying to cover something... I can see two near me, their muffled voices calling out to one another... I can see three dark figures, near the door... I... I can see... My vision clears completely and my gaze falls upon a sight that causes my hair to stand on end, a chill to run down my spine, and a small sound of alarm to escape from me... I see... Mr. Hill... Lying in a pool of his own crimson... coming from his head... I shoot up with a small cry, to immediately flinch  at a sharp pain in my head. My form is grabbed and forcefully  pushed back down by the nurses. "Easy Miss. You are suffering a concussion. You need to calm down!..." My hands have instinctively gripped my head. The pin... I cannot feel it... I whine and do as told, just laying there. Out of my peripheral, I can see one of the darker figures walking to me. I look to them. Their suit stands out like a sleek shiny eel's body. Their form thin, like a small tree. Their face also thin, aged, and cold. A thin smirk on their lips, like a devils. He stops and looms over me. Looking down at me with cold blue eyes. It is Mr. Antrall!... The head of "Top Of The Wold" headquarters!... My eyes widen at the sight... "M-Mr... A-Antrall?!..." He smirks down at me and lifts the silver flower pin that used to dawn my black hair. "What a nasty charge, Ms. Aloenet." His amused tone is cold... "I wonder what could have caused it." He looks back to me from the flower. If he is here... My worst fears have been brought to life...