Chapter 1: Alive

At birth our date of death is pre-determined by The Seer. She was chosen long ago because of her powers to foresee the future. All newborns are tattooed using a special blue ink with the date of our death. For those thinking it cruel and unusual, I assure you it isn't as bad as you think. The tattooing process is virtually painless and done with the utmost care. The government created this program as a new way of motivation to create a more harmonic society. My name is Lyric and my date says 02/21/2074. I was born on 10/27/2054, so I always knew my death would be when I was 20 years old. It never really bothered me, however. In today's society, death is a natural thing and people usually come to terms with it. I would often spend most of my time wondering how I was going to go. Car crash? Murder? Disease? Could easily be any one of those. I was, however, very confused when I awoke this morning in the best of health. Why, you ask? Well because today is the 22nd day of February year 2074. Yesterday was supposed to be the day I died. Last night, I got ready for bed like any other night pretty confident that I was going to die in my sleep. A peaceful death. Awesome! I considered myself lucky and was ready for the Great One to take me. When I woke up this morning, however, I glanced down at my arm about a hundred times expecting the permanent sky- blue ink to have magically morphed into some crazy new date. Nope. The date remained the same and I came to a depressing solution. I'm dead. This is my afterlife. Trapped here on this miserable planet until the end of time. I could still feel, though. I could feel the bedsheets caressing my skin and the air in my lungs. I could smell the scent of vanilla swirl from the incense burner. Taste the horrible morning breath saliva in my mouth. I could see and hear the living people bustling down on the street below. Was this possible for a dead person? Do the dead still feel alive? Then an idea struck my so hard I almost fell out of bed. I decided that since I was dead, perhaps I should make use of my next few hundred years finding out the truth about the world and stalking shady people to keep the boredom away. And maybe… just maybe, if I could see the living, maybe THEY could see me. A girl can hope, right? I got out of bed and threw on my best clothes (the dead can get dressed?) and headed for the door, but was stopped by the most curious of things. A letter, taped to the back of the front door of my one bedroom studio. On the letter was a name that looked to be printed from a computer. Not just any name… MY name. What is happening? I wondered. Hesitating and visibly shaking, I snatched the letter from the door and ripped it open.

Lyric Anderson,

By now I am sure you are confused as to what is going on.

I assure you everything is going to be ok.

You have been chosen for a very important task

It is time to change the world and YOU are the only one that can

Meet me at 2020 s. Columbus Blvd and I will explain everything

Try to stay hidden and make sure you arent being followed.

                        -S

P.S. No. You are not dead

 

Who was S? What did they mean when they said, “Change the world”? Why was I chosen? I had more questions than an episode of Jeopardy running through my brain at a million miles a second. I knew, however, that the only way to get answers was to go to this address and find this S character. Without further ado, I swung open the front door and flew down the stairs and into the street. I hadn’t got more than a few feet outside of my dwelling complex, when a sudden realization came to me. I don’t know how OR when I am going to die. The thought was so chilling it brought tears to my eyes. Anything and everything was now a danger to me and had the potential to end me and I would never see it coming. That was the first time in my life I had felt fear. This was it. I needed to get to the meeting place and I needed to get there fast. I knew I couldn’t use my sport bike because all vehicles have trackers in them and the note said to stay hidden and unfollowed. So I ran. I ran more than I had run my entire life. I had been to this address before and it was only about 6 miles from my dwelling complex. As a young kid, I would go to this address because other kids would talk of it being haunted. Odd and terrifying things always interested me, but this particular situation was a little too terrifying for me. I rounded the corner of the block and came to the old withered and run down dwelling complex. Ivy grew up the sides of the building like tentacles of an underground beast consuming it’s gloomy prey. Windows were busted and dirty with the erosion of time, and the silence was breathtaking. As I walked cautiously into the building, I held my breath. What was about to happen? The thought had barely escaped my mind and I had only gotten a few steps in the building when a voice spoke. A woman’s voice that was marvelous, yet cold. Similar to the tinkling of ice cubes in a glas of ice cold water. “Hello, Lyric”, she said. She stepped into a dim beam of light coming from the roof exposing her long, tall features that seemed to give off an odd glow. “I’ve been expecting you. We don’t have much time, and there is a lot of ground to cover.” “How do you know me?” I asked, “And how am I still alive. My DOD was yesterday.” “My name is Samantha, but I’m sure you may know me by the name of ‘Seer’. I know you because I know much of the future and have been watching you for many years now. You are alive because I chose you from the time of your birth to be the one to free the world from this darkness. As you well know, I predict all the deaths in our community and many other things for the government’s benefit. Unfortunately our government has taken upon themselves to implant small microchips into the newborns and pre-determine the deaths of the People themselves, no longer requiring a use for me. They know I have discovered this secret and want me dead. As I stated before, we don’t have much time. They will find me soon and YOU need to be gone.” Feeling very confused I asked, “Why me?” “Come to me,” she motioned, “I will show you everything you need to know and give you the power to be a powerful warrior. A Seer like never before.” I hesitated a bit. Part of me was freaked out, but the other part of me trusted her. SHE was the Seer. She kept me alive. This was CRAZY. How was I going to single-handedly take on this ‘perfect’ government gone corrupt? She is about to show you. The thought sent shivers down my spine and I swiftly moved toward her. She grabbed my head in her hands and pressed her thumbs to my temple. “I hereby present to you a gift,” she started, “a gift of sight. Not only into the future, but into the knowledge of how to bend and shape it.” She put her forhead to mine. It felt cold. Instantly my eyes snapped shut and there where blurs of shapes and colors whizzing by at high speeds, sounds and smells soaring to and fro. Soon, the colors and shapes formed scenes. Scenes of the past at first. Memories from all the Seers before. Then, futures. Many of them. All sorts of possibilities of the future in waves and demensions. Knowledge came in painful blows to my cortexes. Then as fast as it had come, there was darkness. I opened my eyes and saw the Seer panting and looking rather wiped out. “Now,” she said, “go. Get as far from here as you can and stay hidden. They CANNOT find you. You are the last hope for humanity. When you get to a safe place, access the memories of the past I gave you. Then you will know the truth. GO!!!! NOW!!!” As if I had known all along what she was going to say, I bolted out of the building just in time to see 4 or 5 military vehicles pull to the complex. Upon entry of the building there were gunshots and yells and a scream. I knew they had killed her. It is up to me now to save the world, and when I find a safe place, the Seer is going to show me how. 

Reviews

[Mr_M]

Firstly can I say how refreshing it is to read a sci-fi story like this. I for one love time travel and futuristic tales. What I also like is the fast pace of it. I really liked when she realized that she didn't know what she was going to die. The safety net had been removed and the survival modes kick in. I think you have captured that perfectly. I also like the scene with the implanted memories, very fluid. If I were to say anything, it would be the layout and text.

Even though I was glued to the story, I sometimes struggled at times. I think changing the font to Arial and making it bigger would help. Also more paragraphs to help the reader whiz through it. I am a big fan of this chapter and idea. I am glad I stumbled across this.