Paranoia

As I walk down the isles of the store, I check the ceiling and walls for cameras. I know they are watching, they're always watching me. Sometimes they are hidden, in gaps in the wall, in lamps, any small crevice they can fit in to. 

I never noticed any of it until after the accident. I was clueless, but I know now. Nobody else knows so it's like a know a secret. Before it happened, they were just simple thoughts that would enter my mind, I should have known better. I mentioned my strange thoughts to my mother, she told me that these thoughts were normal - since I was young and my imagination was still fresh. She didn't believe me. Despite my warnings, she told a doctor, saying she was worried about me. 

She should have listened. The doctor must have reported what she told him to the others, and they couldn't let anyone else find out. She came to pick me up from school that day because she wanted to discuss the doctor told her during our drive. 

"Dr. Walters said that most kids your age don't experience those thoughts, so he just wants me to drop you off on Monday to get screened just to make sure there's nothing wrong, okay sweetie? I think it's completely normal and if anything it makes you creative, but we just want to be sure. So, enough of this conversation for now, wanna grab some icecream?"

She smiled at me as I nodded, because it had been a long time since we had a mom-son day.

"So how was your-"

That was when a car smashed into the side of ours. I remember waking up feeling groggy and there was something sticky  dripping down from my head. Our car had flipped and we were upside down in a ditch. My mother was hanging upside down next to me, restrained by her seatbelt. Blood was dripping down from a large gape in her forehead.

I was confused and my mind was foggy.

"Help..." I said, unable to raise my voice. I looked out the window and saw a man running toward us. That was when my vision went black and I felt like I was falling.

When I woke up in the hospital, everything was blurry at first. After a couple of minutes of squinting, my eyes adjusted. I could see my father talking to a doctor right outside the door. He had his face in his hands and was sobbing; I had never seen my father cry before.

I don't know how long I was kept there, I had lost my sense of time, but it was only a couple of days before my release that they told me about my mother.

She didn't make it, she had died upon impact. 

For months I was constantly in a daze, unable to focus to the point where I was sent home from school several times. It was only after 7 months that I understood what really happened. 

They killed her - they killed her because I didn't keep my stupid mouth shut. All of my "strange thoughts" were actually true. I knew that I was next, there wasn't anyone I could trust, and nobody I could tell without putting their life in danger too.

It's been 3 years since then, but I re-live that moment every night when I close my eyes. Now I spend my days finding evidence, enough evidence so that I can show the whole world without them doubting me, because they can't kill the whole world. 

I wheel my grocery cart to the checkout. Whenever it's "happy hour" I do things my father can't do while intoxicated - like grocery shopping. 

I put my items on the counter. The lady scans them and types types in the different prices. 

"That'll be $34.99" She says as she looks me in the eyes.

I quickly look away and reach into my pocket and hand her the money, while I stare at the floor. I can't stand eye-conact. It makes me feel uncomforable because I get the feeling that people can peer into my soul. I can't have any other robot replacements finding out that I know their secret. 

Author's Note: Sorry I would write more in the first chapter but I just thought I'd introduce the protagonist first, and get to the plot in the next chapter! Hope you enjoy (sorry if it's a bit boring right now)