It Was Just a Story (Short Story)

It Was Just A Story

    Imagine a world, in which everyone is equal, no one is better, and everyone sees things the same. People who would usually be color-blind can see colors normally, people who would be deaf could hear and those with mental disorders no longer had them. Everyone looked the same, a bland copy of one another, the only thing making you different is your voice, your hair color, and eye color. The government insisted on it, other than the number on your upper back, there was no way to tell one another apart.
    As a child you heard stories about the world before, always described it a brief manner, no one knew the true story. They told you about how some people had curly hair, other's straight, some were bigger, some were smaller, some taller, some shorter. And as they told stories about the fights coming from this, you would hold onto your pillow or the carpet, fear filling you like a turned-over hourglass.
    Every night as you drank the vial of a magenta liquid, you let the metallic taste fill your mouth and drowsiness overcome you. The taste makes you shake and your body tries to reject it, but you swallow anyway. And as you fall asleep, you push away the thought pulling at the back of your mind. Every morning as you wake up, you shiver from the nightmares you had, you should be used to them though, they happen every night. You report them like the good child you are, just to get an increase and nightmares that taunt you more.
    It's like this every day, you drink the vial, you fall asleep and when you wake up everything that happened the day before seems like weeks ago, but you don't know this, no one does. But as the days move on and memories seem to repeat in your mind, telling you to do certain things, restraining your actions. If you were strong enough you could stop it, but if you were, the government would take you away.
    You were forgotten, never to be thought over or spoken of. Sure people told stories, about people they took away. Everyone knew they were taken away, some even saw it happen, but their faces were erased from memory. You could have been married to the person, but you wouldn't remember them. The remains of your amygdala would still make your heart hurt, as if throwing rocks at it and yelling that you should remember, you HAVE to remember.
    But what if it wasn't someone else you watched get dragged away? What if it was you who was strong enough to fight it? Of course, this isn't a hypothetical question, nothing in this world is, you and your fellow citizens are incapable of such things. But this question is where our story begins.
    It started as an average day, you got up, changed into a gray shirt and white pants. Once you eat and leave your house to go to school or work, you see the other citizens dressed in gray and white. You don't put on shoes, there's nothing sharp enough to harm you. The buildings are just as bland, with beige walls and windows tinted with dust. As you walk singlefile on the sidewalk with other people to get to your location, you can see the barcode imprinted on the back of their neck at birth peeking out from their shirt. You ignore the conversations happening between people and you can hear speaking coming from a building that's usually quiet.
    Your brain tells you to go see who's talking, and no matter how much your programming tries to keep in line, you run off anyways, ignoring the citizens yelling warnings at you. You keep running until you stop by a window, when you peer in you can see a young child standing by his father. They're watching the magenta liquid being poured into vials and out into boxes. "You'll work here one day, you'll be better than the dirt inhabiting the streets outside."
    You can hear the sound of something moving, it sounds similar to wires. The child turns towards a box containing filled vials, they take one and take out the cork, holding it to their mouth. As sudden as they had it in their hands, it's gone and on the floor. The father stands there, "You can't drink that, it drains you from any humanity, programs you to be a mindless drone."
    After the words leave his mouth, your jaw drops. A beep rings through the alleyway, causing a sharp pain to travel through your head as everything seems to blend together. The father looks up in confusion and his eyes land on you. He grabs the child's hand and runs to a doorway, slamming a square button on the wall that sends a warm colored light flashing through the building and a shrieking noise through the speakers.
    Everything happens quickly, you hold your eyes and fall to the ground. The color flashing is new to you, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck rise and sends adrenaline rushing through your system. You want to run, but your legs won't move no matter how hard you want them to. Black rims your vision, every noise and sound echos in your ears and sounds muffled and far away. You can hear what sounds like metal moving and footsteps.
    Sleep pulls at the back of your head. You can see a blurry face appear above you, they seem to be speaking to someone. They nod and rummage through something behind which is our of your view. The stranger takes out a bat and grip it in both hands, they bring it above their head and next thing you know it's crashing down onto your forehead. Everything goes black and you succumb to the drowsiness.
    "We can't just erase their memory, you remember what happened last time!" You can hear a female voice in the dark. You try to open your eyes but a ray of light blinds you and you close your eyes again.. You try to move, your obviously standing up, but when you try you can't. The ground feels cold under your the soles of your feet. A male voice responds "What else are we supposed to do! The government hasn't been putting effort into preventing this!"
    "Don't say that! They're the government, we can't do anything," The high voice assures him. Their voice lowers as they whisper to the other, "Plus, they could be watching." You're tied to a wooden rectangular column. Feet shuffle across the ground, you strain to hear them whisper to each other. Metal hitting metal echos through the building.
    One last whisper reaches your ears as the sound of a pop echos, but then all goes silent. The breath is knocked out of you, your eyes shoot open and your jaw drops. You can feel reality crumble around you, like a pane of glass breaking into a million pieces.

    Suddenly you're overcome by light, there's a girl laughing in front of you. She has freckles that seem to dance across her face and long orange hair that drapes over her shoulders. The girl is wearing overalls and a black tank top underneath. She has a button nose and a smile that could illuminate the world.
    "You should see your face! You got so into that!" She's sitting, you appear to be too. You look down and you see that you're wearing jeans and a loose white shirt. You bring up your hands and stare at them as they shake, you look up at her. Who is she? Why is she laughing? You can't remember. Her laugh stops but she still smiles, showing off her dimples and a name pops into your mind, Jamie.
    You immediately know it's her name, it just fits like a missing piece in a puzzle. You look up, your mouth open and concern fills her face, "Are you okay?"
    You don't answer, you can't seem to get the words around the lump in your throat. Birds chirping fills your ears and you look around. Wheat blows back and forth at your feet and the rustling of leaves from nearby trees reaches out to you. Sun shines down on you and Jamie, but not in a bad way. It's not hot out, and if it was, the light breeze was enough to cover it up. You lean back and put your hand on the wooden bench, giving you a clear view of the picnic table you're sitting at. "Hey," her voice surprises you, you almost forgot she was there.

"Don't worry..."

"It was just a story."