Calista Monroe awoke in her bedroom just as she did every morning and unplugged the machine that rested on her nightstand. She couldn’t remember her dreams from the night before- she never could- but she knew that the machine now had them and was sending them to the government’s office for dream and thought analysis the minute she opened her eyes. It never bothered her that she had not remembered a single dream in all her seventeen years of life, mostly because nobody did. The chip that was installed in every person’s brain when they were born collected their dreams and sent them to the machine, where they were collected and sent to the Dream and Thought analyzation organization at the end of every week.
A person’s thoughts, no matter how private, were also sent to the DTA. However, people got to hold on to those. Any harmful thought would be monitored as if someone had marked it with a red flag and sent to the DTA for further analysis. Most people never had a problem with this because they were raised to believe everything good about their government. They were told that their ruler wasn’t a snake, that the ruler was a saint- that he wasn’t using his citizens to form an army that other countries were too intimidated to go against. Calista believed that the Supreme Ruler was a saint because she didn’t know any better. Everyone thought this way. Everyone thought the exact same way to make conflict a minimum.
After turning off her dream machine, Calista continued with her morning routine: getting dressed, pulling her auburn hair into a ponytail at the center of the back of her head to keep her hair out of her eyes, ate breakfast while having the usual conversation with her little brother, Tyler.
“How’s your day going to go, Ty?” Calista asked as Tyler shoved spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. He was running late, as usual, and he still had on his pajamas that had the characters from his favorite video game on the front. His untamed orange red hair that his mother was always badgering him about had yet to be brushed, and his glasses that he claimed not to need were nowhere in sight.
“Should be alright,” Tyler said in between spoonfuls. “I got a big math test today, though, so I don’t think it will be great.”
Around 7:30, there was a knock at the door. Tyler got up quickly walked into his bedroom to get dressed. He must have realized that he was going to miss the bus if he didn’t start moving.
“Coming!” Calista said as she made her way to the door. She pulled the large oak door open to see her best friend, Silas Webster, already smiling at her and taking a step toward the inside of the house.
“Hey,” he said, “you never called me back last night.” His grey-blue eyes shone with silliness while the rest of his face scrunched up in mock anger.
A pang of guilt shot through Calista. “I’m sorry! I completely forgot! I guess I was so caught up in my History paper. I didn’t finish until two in the morning.” She had been up all night writing a paper on the era before the government changed over to a dictatorship instead of a democracy. Before the county was called The United States of America instead of Ubraria. Back when people didn’t have chips implanted in their brain at the age of five ears old. Back when anybody could rise against the government at any given time. Part of Calista wanted to feel that. Another part of her knew that the way the government was being handled now was best. Everything in order and a great sense of peace. She didn’t dare think otherwise. If she did, she knew it would mean horrible things for her and her family.
Silas let out one of his laughs that always made Calista feel right at home. It’s the same laugh that he’s had since they were children, the same laugh that could always make her day.
“You always get so worried about that sort of thing,” he said, smiling at her. “You really should just chill out a bit. That paper isn’t even due for a couple of days.”
“I know but-” She started before being cut off by the sound of Tyler’s footsteps as he ran down the stairs to grab his backpack.
“Bye guys! Don’t tell Mom I’m late!” With that he sprinted the door to head to the bus stop down the street.
“We should get going, too,” said Calista as she grabbed her things. “I really would rather not be late today.”
“We’re going to make it on time, I promise you wont be late for your ever so important calculus test that completely dictates the rest of your life,” said Silas with usual sarcastic banter.
Calista playfully glared at him. “Haha, very funny,” she said, returning his sarcasm. Truly, she was a bit worried about this week with all of her finals. She wasn’t sure why, but she’d always been like this. Always worrying over the smallest things and never really having a reason.
“Oh by the way,” Silas said while digging a small wrapped present out of his bag. “Happy birthday.” He smiled as he handed Calista the box.
“Silas, you really didn’t have to get me anything,” she said, knowing good and well that they always got each other presents on their birthdays. Truth be told, Calista completely forgot that it was her birthday. She was eighteen now, and she had completely forgotten. How could she have forgotten something so big?
“Just open it,” Silas said. He was getting a bit antsy, fidgeting with his fingers like he always does when he gets nervous. Even after the twelve years that he had known Calista, giving her gifts still makes him nervous every time a holiday or birthday would come around. Watching her unwrap the gift now sent a tiny stab of anxiety through his stomach, even know he had a feeling she was going to love what was inside the box.
When she finished unwrapping the gift, Calista opened the box and pulled out a necklace with a tiny silver feather shaped charm.
“It reminded me of when we used to go to the park when we were little and play pretend. And feed the ducks. It might be a little stupid, but-“
“No, I love it,” Calista said, cutting him off. Those were some of her favorite memories. They would walk down to the neighborhood park and play all sorts of games. Sometimes they would pretend to be the action heroes from their favorite movies. Other times they pretended to be spies that went on dangerous missions to save the world. They would always make sure to have bread with them so they could feed the ducks in the pond. They would name the ducks and come up with entire life stories for them. Calista cherished those memories. She cherished being innocent and childlike.
Calista put the necklace on and adjusted it to ft perfectly around here neck.
“There,” she said with a smile as they walked out the door to start their three block walk to catch the hover train to school.
 
 
Later that night, after her family had had a birthday dinner for Calista complete with her favorite meal (tacos) and a birthday cake, Tyler had gone to bed and Calista and her parents were standing  around the kitchen talking. Her mother started to get weepy about how old Calista was getting.
“I can’t believe my baby is already eighteen!” She said, pulling Calista into a hug.
As her mother hugged her, putting her hand on the back of Calista’s head, Calista felt a pressure she didn’t know was there slip away. It was as if everything in her body had been tended up for so long, and all of the sudden she was completely relaxed. The feeling was so overwhelming that her knees gave out for a second, causing her to fall into her mother.
“Calista, honey,” her mother said just slightly too loudly. “Are you alright?”
“I just feel a bit… strange,” she said, not really sure how to describe the feeling that was coursing through her body.
“You’re probably just tired,” her dad jumped in as soon as she finished her sentence. “You’ve had a lot of exams this week, not to mention the extra running to prepare for the big meet next week. Why don’t you go to bed?”
Calista knew this was different. She’d been overworked before, but this was a completely different feeling. She wasn’t about to argue, however. All she really wanted to do was go to bed .
“You’re probably right,” she said. “Goodnight. Thank you for dinner, it was great. Love you guys.”
With that, she turned and headed up the stairs, gripping onto the railing as she took every step. Though this may have been unnecessary, Calista felt as if she could float away at any moment. When she got to her room, she plopped down on the unmade bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to decide if she should take some medicine or something. She’d never felt anything like this, and frankly, it was scaring her a bit. Her hands wandered to the necklace around her neck, reminding her that she had promised Silas that she would call him.
Will he really be too mad if I don’t call him? She pondered this for a moment. No, he wouldn’t be mad. Which is why she resolved to call him. He wouldn’t be mad, he’d completely understand, and she’d feel guilty about making him wait up for nothing. Reaching for her phone, she pulled up Silas’s contact and hit the call button. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” he sounded energetic, and a feeling Calista had never experienced rushed through her. It was what all the classic movies and novels (at least the ones that were government-approved) described as butterflies: a little filtering feeling that almost feels like anxiety, but much better.“I was starting to think you had forgotten again.” There was a teasing tone to his voice, but there was also a bit of sadness, and Calista felt a lump rise in her throat at the thought of upsetting one of the most important people in her life.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “My parents got home later than I thought they would, and then I started to feel a bit off, so I was about to go to bed. How was rehearsal?” Silas was the lead in the school play that year, to no one’s surprise. He was a very talented actor and singer. Calista always envied his talent. She sounded like an animal in pain when she tried to sing.
“It was alright. Mrs. Beckingham made us run this one scene over and over again because Simon couldn’t remember his lines. I swear to God she almost kicked him out.” As he continued to talk, Calista was drifting off to sleep. She was interested in what he had to say, but she was struggling to keep her eyes open. After telling Silas that she was going to bed, she plugged in her dream machine and drifted off into a sleep.
She dreamed that she, Tyler, her parents, and Silas were in some far away place away from Ubraria, somewhere where they could be free to think. They were talking about the freedom of speech. They were saying thins about the Ubrarian government that they most certainly were not allowed to say. It was off putting that the conversation came o naturally. There was no hesitation; the opinions came without a second thought. But the strangest part of this dream wasn’t actually the dream itself. The strangest part about the dream was that when she woke up, she remembered it.
 
Calista’s head was spinning. Had she really just remembered her dream? That wasn’t possible. She had never remembered a dream before- no one had. No, she thought, I’m just imagining things. Maybe I’m just overthinking it. Or going insane. Oh my god, I remembered my dream. Something is wrong. My brain chip is messed up. That’s what’s wrong. Has anyone’s been messed up before? How do you even fix that?
Her mind was throwing out all the questions it could possibly think of. My parents, she thought. They’ll know exactly what to do. She ran out of her bedroom, feeling slightly dizzy, but stopped suddenly at the bottom of the stairs. Frantic, hushed voices were coming from the kitchen.
“Did we do the right thing, Phoenix?” Her mom asked her dad. “We could be putting her in danger.”
“We gave her the ability to think how she wants,” said Calista’s dad. “It was dangerous, but we did the right thing. We will just have to explain to her what is happening. She wont be able to tell anyone, and we have to make absolutely sure she understands us. If anyone knows about the device, the government will come for us. They’ll take Tyler and put him in an orphanage or in foster care and they’ll have to reprogram Calista. She won’t remember us.”
Calista’s breath fought in her throat. They did what to her? Her brain chip is off. When did they do this? When Mom hugged me last night. That’s when I started to feel weird. Did she have the device in her hand? Her stomach turned. She’d been lied to her whole life. There was a way to turn off the chip. Her parents invented it. Celia and Phoenix Monroe invented a treason device. She felt a sense of betrayal. How could they put her in danger like that? What about Tyler? He was too young to be put in such a situation! She marched into the kitchen.
“How could you?” The words left her lips in barley a whisper.  “How could you do this to your children?”
“Honey, just let us explain-” her mother said before Calista cut her off.
“No. There is no amount of explaining you can do to make me understand why you would put us in this situation. What would happen to Tyler if someone found out? They’d take him away from us. Do you understand what that would do to him? That would scar him forever.”
“Keep it down.” Said her father. “You’re going to wake up Tyler. Listen. Yes, we turned for your brain chip last night. But you need to stay calm. You are free now! No one. Can take away your most precious thought. Those are yours now. We gave you your thoughts back. This is not a bad thing.”
Calista took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts in order.
“Look,” she said. “I can understand your reasoning for wanting to turn off my brain chip. It’s wrong that the government has access to such a private part of us. A part of me has always understood that. I can even understand why you’d do it without my consent. The thought would have alerted the government. What I don’t understand is why you would do it to your children and then not tell them immediately afterwards. I don’t understand how you would put us in danger. We are innocent in this. You are the criminals.”
“We weren’t sure if you would notice if we turned it off. Some people don’t feel the side affects. We wanted to wait and see if you had any. Please don’t be too mad. This is harmless as long as you don’t tell anyone.” Her father’s tone was calm, but Calista wasn’t so sure about anything he said. She didn’t feel like fighting anymore, however, so she agreed not to tell anyone and went back upstairs to get ready for school. Tyler was at the top of the stairs looking sleepy, like he had just woken up.
“Morning, Tyler,” she said, trying to sound as normal as possible. Tyler didn’t respond. He just stared in front of him, almost as if he didn’t hear her. Must still be out of it, Calista thought as she went to her room.
 
Later that day at school, Calista was starting to get used to letting her thoughts take their own course. She was thinking about the dream she had, the one where they were all completely free. Maybe one day it could happen. Her parents could turn off Tyler and Silas’s chips too. They could move away, somewhere where no one would tell them what to think. They could be free.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Silas tapping her with his pencil.
“Hey,” he whispered. “I’m in the mood for ice cream. Want to go to Monty’s after school?”
The two of them had been going to Mont’y since they were seven. It was their place. They would go there and get two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream while they told each other their secrets and discussed their day and talked about which teachers were the worst. It killed her that she couldn’t tell him about quite possibly the biggest thing that has ever happened to her.
“Sure,” she said, smiling. “Meet you at my locker at three?”
He smiled. “See you there.”
They would never be able to meet.
Calista was sitting in her calculus class seventh hour when all of the sudden the classroom door burst open and two men in suits holding guns rushed in.
“Attention!” One of them yelled. Th class fell silent. The kind of silent that is deafening.
“Is Calista Monroe in this class?”
Calista’s heart was pounding out of her chest. Everyone in the class had turned to look at her.
“I- I’m right here,” she said, her voice shaking.
“You’re coming with us,” he said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of her desk.
“Where are you taking her?” Silas asked frantically.
“Sit down and shut up,” said one of the suited men.
Silas’s eyes met Calista’s in a moment of panic.
“It will be ok,” Calista told him, though she wasn’t sure it would be.
The men took her into the hall.
“How long has your chip men off?” asked the man who wasn’t holding her arms behind her back.
“I-I’m not sure. Less than twenty-four hours,” she stamped out. They had found out. But how? She hadn’t told anyone! Where are her parents? Where is Tyler? What are they doing to them now?”
“You’re parents thought that they were smart. Thought that they could hide from the government. They forgot that the government always has their ways of finding things out.”
Tears were streaming down Calista’s face. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t understand how they knew.
“Where are they?” She asked, fearing the answer.
“Federal prison, where they will be for the rest of their lives.”
A strangled cry escaped Calista’s throat as one of the men pulled on her arms a bit harder.
“If it weren’t for your brother, we wouldn’t have known so soon. His chip is being restarted as we speak.”
Tyler? How did Tyler know? He was asleep when my parents and I were talking. That’s when she remembered. Oh god, he was at the top of the stairs. I was yelling, he heard me. This is my fault, I did this to him. She was full on sobbing now, and orders were being barked as her classmates were being lined up against the wall outside of the classroom. More officials had shown up, and each of her classmates was being scanned, putting them to sleep.
“What are you doing to them?” Calista asked.
“Erasing their memories of you. Can’t have them spreading information.”
Silas was next. He looked at her, scared, betrayed, and sad. She couldn’t take it, but there was nothing she could do. Tears were coming faster, now, and she couldn’t make herself speak.
“Silas,” she managed to strangle out just as the scanner touched his forehead. He slumped against the wall. Her best friend in the whole world just forgot she ever existed. All of their memories- the park, ice cream, late night calls, school dances- were gone and there was no way they’d ever be back. The person that knew her the best now had no idea she existed. Her heart broke.
“NO!” She screamed. “Put them back! Put his memories back!” The man holding her arms twisted her wrist.
“Shut up!” He yelled at her.
The other man had pulled out a scanner as well, but this time he was holding it to her head.
“What are you doing to me?” Calista asked.
“We have to erase your memory as well. Don’t worry, it won't hurt, and you’ll only be out for a few hours.” He pushed the button that made the scanner turn on.
“Please don’t take them away. I was free,” she whispered as the world turned black.