Twenty Eighty Four | Teen Ink

Twenty Eighty Four

December 8, 2014
By Anonymous

Author's note:

I wrote this story because we were told to write an allegory, fable, or any other type of story about something that we think can hurt humankind if it goes unchanged. We were suppose to ask ourselves "What's the worst we can do?" when writing and planning this assignment. When looking for a topic one idea stood out to me more than the others; government surveillance. 

 
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It was a dark, cold, and windy night. Ryan and his girlfriend Sonya were on the couch watching movies just like any other Saturday. This night they were watching Enemy of the State. They heard it was good, but they both thought it was stupid because they knew that nothing like that would ever happen. They’ve also heard rumors about it being banned in the United States, but they never thought about it. Time passed by and the movie was over.
“Can you believe that?” asked Ryan, clearly believing it was all a lie.
“No, I can’t,” replied Sonya. “That movie was so incredibly fake.”
They continued talking for a while about the movie and then they both got up and looked for something to eat.
“We have nothing to eat,” said Sonya, while looking through the cabinets.
“I know,” said Ryan. “Want to go get something to eat?” asked Ryan.
“Sure,” replied Sonya.
Then they both proceeded to walk out the door. Sonya headed towards the car while Ryan locked the door. Ryan followed behind Sonya after he locked the door. They got inside the car once they got to it. They both got in and Ryan started the car and then asked where they were going. Sonya said Taco Bell as so Ryan drove towards Taco Bell. They arrived nine minutes later, but they arrived to find that it was closed.
“Huh?” Ryan said softly, wondering why they were closed.
“Why are they closed?” said Sonya. “It’s barely seven thirty two.”
Ryan got out of the car and walked up to the Taco Bell. He peaked through the windows of the restaurant, but it was empty. There was nobody to be seen. It looked as if no one had been there for days. There were no lights on, there was no cash register, the menu looked as if it’d been ripped, and there were no chairs. Ryan was confused about why the Taco Bell looked abandoned.
“Maybe they just closed down this location and moved somewhere else,” said Ryan as he walked back towards the car and got in.
“Maybe,” replied Sonya.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” said Ryan.
“Okay,” said Sonya tiredly as she was starving, “let’s go.”
Then they drove to Burger King. They arrived, but it was also closed. Sonya groaned once she saw that it was closed because she was very hungry.
“What’s going on?” said Ryan.
“What do you mean?” asked Sonya.
“Haven’t you noticed that something strange is going on?” replied Ryan.
“No,” said Sonya.
“Don’t you think it’s weird how both Taco Bell and Burger King are closed when they were just open a week ago,” said Ryan, “but they’re closed today?” “Plus, we didn’t see one single person while driving here,” said Ryan. “There were no cars on the road, but us.”
“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I do know that I’m hungry,” said Sonya.
“Let’s go to this place downtown,” said Ryan. “It’s funded by the city so it’s sure to be open.”
“I don’t know,” said Sonya.
“But you said you’re hungry,” replied Ryan, “and they hand out healthy and delicious food and it’s free.”
“I’m not sure,” said Sonya. “I don’t trust that place.”
“Nonsense,” replied Ryan. “You said you’re hungry so let’s go.”
“Okay then,” replied Sonya.
Then they drove off to their next destination which was sure to be open. They had to take the freeway since it was downtown. They surprisingly arrived very quickly which usually never happens because literally everyone in the town uses the freeway. Ryan got off the freeway and drove a couple of blocks to get to the food bank. They pulled up to the single story building and parked in the back. They both got off the car and walked to the front. The building was pale white, had no windows, was made out of bricks, stood fifty feet tall, and had illuminated letters that read “Local Food Bank,” but they weren’t lighted. Ryan knocked on the door at the main entrance once they got to the front. No one answered so he continued knocking on the door for ten minutes, but no one answered.
“Something is definitely wrong,” said Ryan. “I know it.”
“How do you know it?” asked Sonya.
“Because,” replied Ryan, “the freeway was empty which usually never happens because everyone in town uses the freeway.” “And the food bank is closed and that never happens because it’s ran by the city.”
“Let’s just leave,” said Sonya.
“No,” replied Ryan. “Something weird is going on.” Then he pounded on the door, but there was no response. He knew that no one was going to open the door so he examined it and figured that it could be busted down since it was very wobbly.
“Oof!” he yelled as he gave the door a mighty kick. “Oof!” again he yelled as he continued ramming his foot in the door repeatedly until the door flew open. “Let’s go,” said Ryan to Sonya as he walked in. They couldn’t see anything as it was very dark and all the lights were off. Ryan walked along the wall while putting his hand up against to find he light switch. He found it, but the lights didn’t work. “I got a flashlight in the car,” said Ryan.
“I’ll go get it,” said Sonya.
“Let me go with you,” said Ryan. “I don’t trust the town right now.”
They went to the car and got the flashlight then they walked back. Ryan turned on the flashlight and looked around. The food bank looked abandoned; just as, the Taco Bell and Burger King they went to. There were rats on the floor and they were in the boxes of food. There was nobody in the food bank besides Ryan and Sonya.
“There’s some food,” said Ryan, walking towards a box that read “Canned goods.” He took it off the shelf and opened it up. The box was clean and the food was unopened. There were cans that had fruits, vegetables, noodles, pasta, soup and sauce in there. “Let’s take this back to our place,” said Ryan as he walked out carrying the box while Sonya followed behind him. He dropped the box by the exit and turned around believing he saw a box that read “Meat.”
“Let me go check that box really quick,” said Ryan.
“I’m going back to the car,” said Sonya. “I’m really cold.”
“Okay,” said Ryan. “I’ll be there shortly.” “I’ll go after I check that other box,” added Ryan. “Here are the keys,” he said as he handed Sonya the car keys.
“Okay see you in a while,” replied Sonya.
“Be careful,” said Ryan as she walked away. “Scream if you need help or see something weird and lock the doors.”
Sonya went back to the car while Ryan turned around and walked towards the box that he saw earlier. He found it near the place where he found the canned goods box. He took the box off the shelf and opened it up. He saw that there was meat, but all of it was tuna, which he hated.
“Yuck,” he said in disgust as he closed the box and put it back on the shelf. He walked towards the exit and got out of the food bank. He picked up the box filled with canned goods that he left by the exit. He closed the door to the food bank and picked up the box walking towards the car with it. He thought about what was happening in the town while he walked to the car with the box. When he arrived to the back he noticed that the car was gone along with Sonya. Ryan dropped the box of food and tried to stay calm as he knew that panicking wasn’t going to help. He tried to remember if he heard Sonya scream, but nothing came to his mind. He knew that he had to go somewhere safe, but he was stranded downtown without a car. He thought that if anyone were to be in the city that they would be at the police department so he went there. Ryan has always been a brave man, but he was pretty scared because he didn’t know what was going on. He continued walking downtown for around fifteen minutes until he hit the police department. Once there he was pretty sure the front door would be locked and sure enough, it was. He walked to the back very cautiously and was very aware of his surroundings. The back door was unlocked, but it was closed. Ryan opened it and said “Hello?” and of course no one responded.  Then, Ryan flipped the light switch and all of the lights turned on. “Thud,” he heard something fall; his heart rate rapidly increased. He heard it heart beat because the police department was very quiet. He was scared, but he thought that it was something rather than someone that fell. He walked over to where he heard the noise. He took a turn and he found a baton on the floor. He bent down and picked up the baton; it was a heavy as a brick. He carried it around for self-defense. He figured he was alone, but he explored around just to be safe. He went from room to room until he was sure that he was alone. First, he started off by going to the cells to make sure that there were no prisoners. He didn’t find anyone there, but he did notice something about the jail cells. It looked like there were signs that something was there not that long ago. The bed was undone and there were food crumbs on the floor. He proceeded to walk to the office sections of the police department. All of the computers were gone and there were no monitors. There was no one in any of the office cubicles. He found a water cooler near the bathroom that was at the end of the office. He was extremely thirsty and nervous so he got a cup and drank some water. He dropped a couple of drops of water because he was very shaky. After that he knew he was alone so he ensured his security so that no one could get in. First thing first he secured the building by closing and locking every window and door in the building. Then, he searched for a radio to see if he could check what was going on.

Ryan found a radio in the main office and turned it on and tuned to all the news stations he knew, which were only five. On the third one he heard a chant like noise; almost, like there was more than one person saying it, maybe a dozen. The people said “one fifty eight”, and then again, “one fifty eight.” They said it for a while and then they chanted, “Maple.” What could that mean thought Ryan. He thought about it for a while and stumbled across the idea that it could be an address for a place in town. He knew that Maple was a street in the southern part of town as his aunt and her family use to live there as his family use to visit them every Easter until his aunt moved to Oklahoma. He knew he couldn’t get to the southern part of town without a car, but then he realized something. He’s in main office of the police department so why not go to the garage and get a cop car. He figured that all the car keys and cars would be in the garage and sure enough, they were. He looked for the car keys once he got to the garage. He found them hanging on the wall all the way on the right side of the garage. All the keys and cars were the same so he grabbed two pairs of car keys and got in the nearest car to him. He drove off and got on the freeway as he was heading south. He was speeding because he was alone; however, he was still cautious as usual. He got off the freeway three miles down the road and then made his way towards Maple. He turned onto Maple, but the street was dark and no one appeared to be there. The first house on the street was two o’ one so he continued driving down the road until he reached one fifty eight. He eventually got there later down the road, but the house looked abandoned just like everything else in the town. It basic two story house, but it looked brand new and abandoned at the same time. There were no lights on in the house or noise coming from the house so Ryan got out of the car and walked towards the house. His heart was pounding as he walked up to the house. Ryan tried peaking through the windows, but he couldn’t see anything because they were covered with blinds from the inside. He knocked on the door repeatedly for five minutes. No one opened up so Ryan turned around and looked around the neighborhood to see if there was anyone there and at that very moment he heard the door open, but someone put a mask over his head before he had time to react. He passed out because the mask was covered in chloroform or something. Ryan fell down on the floor because the person had a lot of power and Ryan was restricted with bag. Ryan also became extremely dizzy with the bag over his head so he fell down and passed out. They brought him inside and he woke up about two hours later to the same chanting that he heard on the radio. He was tied up in a chair and was in what appeared to be an interrogation room. There was one way looking glass on the wall that Ryan was facing. There was a speaker on one of the walls. The room also had five cameras; one on every corner of the room and one on the floor looking directly at Ryan.
“Hello?” said Ryan. “Who’s there?”
A voice that seemed to be computerized as if it were an attempt to hide their voice answered. “Hello,” the voice said. “Who are you?”
Ryan thought that lying would get him into greater trouble so he spoke the truth. “I’m Ryan Rodriguez,” he responded.
“What are you doing here?” asked the voice.
“I was attracted when I heard ‘158 Maple’ on the radio,” replied Ryan.
“Why’d you really come here?” asked the voice.
“What do you mean?” replied Ryan. “I’m telling the truth.
“Who sent you here to watch us?” asked the voice.
“”I don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied Ryan.
“Do you or do you not work for the government?” asked the voice.
“I don’t work at all,” replied Ryan. “I’m a college student.”
“If so,” replied the voice, “then what college do you attend?”
“Southwest Mississippi Community College,” replied Ryan. “I’m a sophomore there.”
“If you don’t work for the government then why did you bring this cop car here?” asked the voice.
“I brought it here because I didn’t have a car to come here in,” replied Ryan. “I was stranded downtown at the food bank with my girlfriend, but she’s gone.”
“Where is your girlfriend now?” asked the voice.
“I don’t know,” said Ryan. “I don’t she left; I think someone took her in my car.”
“And what is your girlfriend’s name?” asked the voice.
“Sonya,” replied Ryan, “Sonya Mortman.”
The voice didn’t reply for a while. Ryan could hear some noise behind the door as if there were people discussing something. Moments later the door opened and out came two men that looked slightly older than Ryan. One stood at about 5’ 10” and had a blue and green short sleeve flannel shirt with dark pants while the other was about six feet tall and had on a grey t-shirt with brown shorts. They untied Ryan and took him out of the room and into this other room that appeared to be the living room of the house. There were about ten other people there. There was about an equal amount of guys and girls. All of them were dressed casually and looked like college students; Ryan could’ve even sworn that he’s seen two or three of the people there at his college before. Ryan sat down on a couch next to one of the guys that brought him out of the room. 

“What’s going on?” asked Ryan as he looked around.
“Well now that we know you’re clean,” replied the man, “we might as well tell you.” “This is a conspiracy against the government and their spies,” added the man.
“What?” asked Ryan. “For how long?”
“Well, we believe that the government has always been watching us, but now we know they are,” replied the man.
“How do you know?” asked Ryan.
“Sonya,” replied the man. “She’s a spy and she’s also the one that tricked all of us,” said the man. “That’s how we knew you were clean.”
“This can’t be true,” said Ryan. “I’ve been with her for five months now and she wouldn’t do anything like this.”
“But she is,” said the man. “None of us believed it was true until she put us all in jail.”
“But she hasn’t put me in jail,” said Ryan.
“Not yet,” said the man. “You shouldn’t trust anybody and I mean anybody,” added the man. “Eventually Sonya and the government are going to put this entire conspiracy into the ground unless we take them down first.”
“Where’s everyone else at?” asked Ryan. “Why is the town empty?”
“It’s not empty,” replied the man. “People are just hiding after they found out that the government was spying on all of us.”
“What about the entire country?” asked Ryan. “Is this happening everywhere?”
“It’s happening all over the country,” replied the man, “and the maybe the world.” “People are hiding, some people left the country, some people went crazy after they were being watched, some people that told everyone the government was spying on us were killed, and other people are imprisoned after the government found them,” added the man. “It’s Sonya’s job to find the people that are hiding are plotting to overthrow the country and imprison them.” “Would you happen to know where any of the other conspiracies are?” asked the man.
“No, I didn’t even know the government was doing this until now,” said Ryan. “But why would the government do this?” asked Ryan. “They’re here to serve and protect us.”
“That’s what you think,” said the man. “They’ve been planning to control us ever since the beginning of time and they do it secretly by watching us,” added the man. “They probably know we’re here right now and they’re watching us.”
“Really?” asked Ryan.
“Yes,” replied the man. “That’s why we always move our headquarters every week.”
“This is unbelievable,” said Ryan as he covered his face with is palm.
“I know it is,” said the man. “That’s how it was for all of us at first.” “So are you in or out?” asked the man.
“I’m in,” answered Ryan.
“Alright, welcome to the conspiracy,” said the man. “My name is Daniel by the way and I’m the leader of the conspiracy.”
“What do we know about the government?” asked Ryan.
“We know that they’re headquarters are in the state capital,” replied Daniel.
“How can we bring them down?” asked Ryan.
“The only way to defeat them is to get rid of their leader, Patrick,” replied Daniel. “Without him they’re nothing; they’ll be unorganized and it’ll be extremely easy to bring them down after that.”
“So they’re extremely vulnerable without Patrick,” said Ryan.
“Yes,” said Daniel, “indeed they are.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” said Ryan. “Let’s go.” “Jackson is only like an hour drive from here,” added Ryan.
“We can’t just over there like that,” said Daniel. “We have to plan our attack and move fast and silent.”
“But they’re not fighters,” said Ryan. “We’re fighting against the government here not the army.” “They have intelligence and we have force.”
“But we’re greatly outnumbered,” said Daniel, “and they have mighty weapons and we have nothing.”
“But if they’re already watching us then why don’t we just go fast and get them with a violent surprise attack before they discover our plan and control us?” said Ryan.
“You know what?” said Daniel. “You’re right.” “Even if we do lose we’re going to do down fighting.” “We’ll travel in groups,” said Daniel. “It’s too risky if we travel as a whole.” “We’ll need another car because we only have one,” added Daniel.
“We can stop by the police department and get one,” said Ryan, “and we can also get weapons there.”
“Alright listen up everybody,” said Daniel as he stood up and everyone quieted down. “Tonight is the night that we take down the government and take back our freedom.” “We’ll travel in groups of four and the first four people since there are twelve of us and we’ll get a car at the police department along with weapons,” said Daniel. “It’s too risky for all of us to travel together so when one group leaves towards Jackson the next group will wait thirty minutes and then follow behind and then the next group will go thirty minutes after until we’re all at a nearby hotel that closed down years ago.” “We’ll meet their, regroup, and plot out the rest of our attack,” said Daniel. “Brad and Steven will go with me along with our newest member, Ryan, will be the last group to go over there.” “Now the first group head out.”
The first four group of people headed out and then two people of the people that left came back in a cop car since they need a car. The other two people that went to the police station before came and picked up the two people they had drop off the cop car. Then, they headed towards the hotel in Jackson. Thirty minutes passed and the next group of people left. Now it was Daniel, Ryan, Brad, and Steven left at the house. They waited thirty minutes and then got in the car and headed towards the police department. They got there and loaded up the trunk with weapons then they took off towards Jackson. Ryan wondered if he’d ever see his family again or where they’re at now. He wondered if he’d ever be at home again sitting and down enjoying life. The time passed by and they pulled up to the hotel and hour and thirteen minutes later. The hotel was four stories tall and was black. They parked in the garage which was in the basement of the building. There were hundreds of cars down there. He even saw a couple that looked like his. Daniel parked the car near the elevator. Brad and Steven went up to the second floor where the conspiracy was meeting up at while Ryan and Daniel opened the trunk and took out some weapons. Ryan took out an assault rifle and Daniel took out two pistols. Ryan didn’t load the gun as he didn’t want to shoot it on accident, but he carried some ammo in his pocket. They got in the elevator and went to the second floor and walked down the hall until they reached room number two hundred twenty two. They knocked on the door and Brad opened up. Ryan locked the door behind him after he entered.

Ryan turned around around after locking the door and he saw Sonya in the room and he was confused, but then he realized what was happening. He tried to load his assault rifle, but he couldn’t get the ammo in time. Brad and Daniel tackled him and put him on the bed. Sonya got up and walked towards him.
“You’re smart,” she said, “but you walked right into everything.”
“How can this be?” yelled Ryan. “This can’t be true.”
“It is,” said Sonya. “I’m a spy, this fake conspiracy is full of spies, and the government has watched everyone in an attempt to eventually control them.” Sonya pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Ryan’s head.
Ryan yelled, “TRUST NOBODY,” as Sonya pulled the trigger, “NOBODY!”
The gun had no bullets. Brad and Daniel pushed Sonya on the floor and Steven shot and killed Sonya. Brad helped Ryan up off the bed.
“So what’s going on?” asked Ryan while panting as he was out of breath and his heart was pounding.
“The government hired us as spies and they believe that we work for them,” replied Daniel,” but we don’t.” “We were put out in Summit to attract people that were rebels and we posed as a conspiracy.” “We didn’t get anybody and we thought everyone was gone,” said Daniel, “and the government was constantly watching us when we were at 158 Maple.” “They told us that they were going to kill us unless we brought you in because they said that you’re too smart and can destroy the government.” “They listened to us as you and I talked on the couch,” said Daniel. “They also watched us as we drove here and sent Sonya once we arrived.” “The original plan was to eliminate you and live the rest of our lives in paradise,” added Daniel, “but we felt so restricted working for the government and spying on people so we made a plan to eliminate Sonya and then take down the government.”
“But don’t they know we’re here?” asked Ryan.
“No,” replied Daniel. “They sent their best spy here, Sonya, to get rid of you so they think you’re dead.”
“Well then let’s go take down the government,” said Ryan. Ryan didn’t know what to believe. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know what was reality and what was make believe anymore and he didn’t trust anyone anymore. However, he was already here and the moment was happening and it was intense and filled with momentum. Ryan ran all these ideas through his head within a matter of minutes. He didn’t know what the government was up to or if there still was an operating government at this point. He talked without thinking. He thought about Sonya and his family. What’s going on he thought. He stumbled across an idea. He said to himself in his mind “I’ve already lost Sonya, my family, and myself.” Ryan was a breaking point and he’d do anything that someone said.
“Let’s go,” said Daniel as everyone exited the room with their weapons and walked down the hall, but then they heard people coming up the stairs.



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