Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Four

Exiting the Animus Fitting Station was much easier than entering it. I walked back out the way I came, except in the first entrance room, the lady at the metal detector directed me towards a door I hadn't seen before. I quickly made my way out of the area, trying to put as much distance between myself and the place as possible.

As I was walking towards Fox Park, where my sister had told me to meet her beforehand, a sudden ding erupted from something on my arm. I looked down in surprise, only to see the black screen of my new bracelet had been lit up with bright white words.

L O A D I N G . . .

I stared at the simple word that had popped into existence, curious what was about to be loaded onto it. What even was the purpose of the bracelet? Originally, I'd hypothesized that it would be used as a tracking device or maybe even an indicator that could tell if someone was holding a weapon or not. The latter idea might've been more confusing, though, since people tended to use knives for culinary purposes also. But who knows, maybe they had something on them that would just be able to tell.

White words continued to light up the screen.

N O V A C A R L S O N

Suddenly lists of information followed my name, most likely a list that mimicked the sheet of information the doctor had been reading back in the small beige room. It scrolled down the bracelet quickly, and I didn't bother even attempting to read it. I already knew most of the facts it was telling me.

W E L C O M E , N O V A

The screen went black once again, and stayed that way for such a long time I began to wonder if I'd already broken it.

But....

No.........

N O

Two bright white letters, that didn't make any sense. No? What was that even referring to?

N O ? W H A T W A S T H A T E V E N R E F E R R I N G T O ?

Why....

My mind was jumbled already from the confusion of the actual Animus Fitting, the panic that was still racing through my veins. I stared at the screen, reading over the words in my mind so many times that they ceased to be words. Was...was....what did that even mean?

Was confusion and complete inability to process thoughts a side effect of the Animus?

Slowly, I began to piece together the puzzle, as more white words appeared on the screen, matching every single clear thought or word that was going through my head. A weird trance of tranquility came upon me as I worked it out.

And then I understood.

Then I realized exactly the purpose of the Animus, and what the doctor had done to me. I finally realized why so many people didn't like it, and why the police officers were so touchy today. It all was making sense now. What President Alliath had said...what he'd described and announced on the television what felt like years ago.

The Animus was a device that showed the world what was going on in our heads.

The Animus was a device that took the most personal, most human part of humanity, and let the world see it.

And I couldn't go back.

I couldn't give it back or take it off.

I was stuck.

And then I realized another thing.

This was how they were finding out who were criminals. They didn't mean just present criminals, they meant past ones, and maybe even ones who had yet to actually do the deeds they were considering. I shuddered, dark thoughts coming to mind, as I thought over everything in my life, inspecting myself. Inspecting my history. I knew that I had secrets, I knew that I'd lied before. I knew I wasn't the good person that everyone seemed to see me as. The beautiful, smart girl with a GPA higher than everyone else's, and a promising future. What if....

The white lettering on the screen froze momentarily and I watched in horror, realizing everything I'd just said to myself could appear any second....

....but it didn't. Nothing appeared after my last revelation. Why? Could it have been because of how dread-filled I'd been when I said that? Had it covered it up, and hidden it deeper in my mind than the Animus could reach? There were always problems with technology. Had I lucked out and gotten one that was broken? Even if it were broken, every thought that wasn't that deep would still be sent to whoever had to be monitoring the Animuses. What use would they be if someone wasn't watching them at all times?

Before I could question further on the new device that I was stuck with, there came a sudden yell from not too far away from me. I turned around, and it took me a moment to see what was happening. There was a woman standing in line....but not really. Her feet were slightly out of line, one in front of the other with arms outstretched...and in her arms...

...was a shining metal gun.

Across from her stood a police officer in full black uniform, gun also drawn and pointed.

I stood frozen in place, too scared to move. The entire world seemed to stop for just an instant to watch the tension build between the drawn weapons.

Then, there came a yell. A boy, who looked around nine-years-old, clinging to the hand of someone who was probably his mom. His face was horrified, as his mom, seeing what was drawing her son's attention, began tugging on the boy's arm and attempting to run in the opposite direction.

That seemed to set everything off. The first domino was pushed, creating a chain reaction of panic.

People began shouting and running in every direction frantically. The panic spread through the crowd of people still waiting, and in seconds bodies were streaming past me, banging into my arms, the entire crowd trying to push me away from the scene. For some reason, I couldn't move. I could only stare in fascination at the two guns pointed at each other.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and a louder chorus of screams rang out.

"NOBODY MOVE!" demanded a voice that rang above the entire crowd. The voice belonged to the woman with the gun. She'd shot it. My eyes followed the angle of her gun into the air. She hadn't been trying to kill anyone.

I was doubting that her tactic would work when people began slowing down as more gunshots rang out into the air. The police officer across from her stood his ground, but seemed exceedingly nervous. He looked tempted to fire a shot, but probably knew the consequence if he missed. He could kill a civilian.

The woman's arm was almost shaking as she began to speak. "Citizens," she whispered almost imperceptibly, "if you have yet to be fitted with an Animus, run. Run away as fast as you can and don't come back, not for your families, your homes, or anything. I promise, you'll regret not leaving, running is a much better fate than what you'll face here." I was surprised she'd even gotten the words out; her entire body was shaking so much. The tremors had gone from her arms, down the length of her body, until she was shivering uncontrollably. At first, I'd thought it was nerves or adrenaline, but now...

....no....

Foam began forming around the woman's mouth as the police officer watched in terror. My own eyes were glued to the scene. White bubbles exploding from her cherry red lips, exponentially growing and dripping slowly down the sides of her face. Her fingers left the gun's handle, and there was a loud clatter as it fell to the ground. I saw her stumble quickly as the foam covered the entire bottom half of her face.

And then, I was being pulled away by a warm figure, comforting hands gripping my upper arms and trying to turn me around. Trying to push me away.

"Don't look," Zander quietly said from behind, his hands still on my upper arms.

But it was too late. I'd already seen the woman's body fall to the ground with a thump.

Dead.