The Owls Who Watch

Chapter 1 - The Forest with the Hilltop

And then an animated face of a female android appeared on the screen, replacing his credentials.

"Hello, and welcome to... This... Destination. In order to proceed without being flagged, you must pay the aforementioned sum of... Ten... Credits... Fifty.", it spoke with a robotic, automated London accent.

Kevin grudgingly reached into his black leather jacket and took out his wallet, searching around for ten credits and fifty motivators. Music concerts are probably cheaper than this.

"Shall we continue with this transaction?". The woman seemed to somehow be growing impatient.

"If you can wait". It was almost too dark to make out the contents of his wallet.

The robot in the hologram stared at him. After finding the cash, he then inserted them into the slot machine and the numbers on the screen slowly started to decrease.

"Thank you for this transaction. We here at MEPHRA prize ourselves in accumulating land throughout its local territories. We aim to fight injustice throughout our natural world here in Scotland and protect the homeless and infirm. We- ".

The voice continued with its corporate jargon for at least 10 more seconds, before an advertisement for some cleaning product interrupted, and then it resumed. "We hope you are safe and happy- ".

"Who is these days?", Kevin muttered to himself as he walked away. The voice cut off and the avatar's expression changed to that of anger.

"Non-compliance detected and recorded. You now currently have a Social Approval rating of... minus.. ninety... seven. Your Market-Allegiance rating has decreased and is now.. minus... seven hundred and.. eighty-six. Have a good day.", the android retorted, smiled, and shrunk back into the plaque. Being unemployed since he was 14 had destroyed his Market-Whatever rating. Caring about discounts and other perks he'd never use was futile. As if I care.

The bright picture of himself continued to annoy him. He had always hated how he looked; especially his messy black hair and a large forehead. Even though some claimed he was decent or attractive, he never believed it. His stepmother sometimes remarked that he looks like a rapist whenever she feels especially nasty. She was the reason he kept having to escape into this dystopia every night. He usually ventured off just before she arrived home from work at the council. But he did not want to think of her at all. He came here to forget.

After taking another puff of his inhaler, he gazed upon the dark surroundings and turned his phone's flashlight on. A forest rose to the left while a boring patch of grass stretched to the right, the lit windows from homes stretching on in that direction was distasteful. I want to get lost in the forest. I don't care who's in it. He soldiered on and entered the forest.

The further he delved, the more litter he encountered, a pet peeve of his. Most of the empty crisp packets and alcohol cans had the token stars of Starlord brand upon them. He did admire the retrofuturistic aesthetic of the cans, however. Starlord packaging was often black with stars all around, with three large stars surrounding the gold Starlord metallic banner with the drink's name. Calling them consumable is an overstatement. He remembered wishing upon the stars in Iceland when he was younger. He wished the smog would go away. He wished he could breathe properly again. Children that young shouldn't be thinking those things. He knew he was just being edgy, but he believed his contempt for the world was morally justified.

Kevin considered just leaving the forest when he noticed a small bridge, hidden to his left by some trees. Across the small stream was a run-down shack. Kevin promised himself he'd leave after investigating this shack. He didn't know what he expected, the shack was grey, flat, and boring, with broken windows while the outer walls were covered in graffiti. Peeking his head inside, he caught a pile of used condoms and other similar things and immediately retreated, quickly closing the door in disgust.