Fear
Prologue
I traced the back of my head again, feeling the ugly, circular port that was implanted in the base of my neck. I abominated the cold metal. But I hadn't had much of a choice in whether I wanted it or not. It was just a given. It was a source of excitement for most kids my age. But they were just stupid. All they care about, is seeing this "amazing" virtual reality world you could access using these ports. They wanted to join the Other Side, where all people, aged 18 and up resigned. But I was perfectly fine where I was. I liked running outside, feeling the mud between my toes, and smelling flowers in the air. They just didn't appreciate the beauty around us. They want to be locked up in their rooms, designing little avatars of themselves for when they go to the Other side. I lived the first 5 years of my life thinking that I was alone in this world obsessed with technology. Those 5 years were miserable for me. But on the day of my 5th birthday, I found a friend. It was like God's gift to me, an apology for making me different. I still clearly remember that first meeting. It holds a special place in my heart, a day where I was purely innocent, and was desperate for a friend.
I had been sitting in the green field, staring into the Forest, my back to the Other Side. A big daydreamer I was, and at that moment, I had been pondering what lay beyond the forest, and why the Government took such strict measures to ensure that no one ventured into it. A boy sat next to me, surprising me. I had no friends. I was the freak who had arrived at Little Ville 2 years younger than the normal age. He asked me what I thought of the wall of soldiers lining the forest enterence, and the tall electric fence behind them. It was the right question to ask. And for some reason, my intuition told me I could trust him. I spilled my story. I told him everything.
"The Government claimes it was for our own protection from the beasts that lay within, but I distrust them. There were many nights where I neglected taking my daily sleeping pill and just laid there in bed, listening to the silence, the complete, dead, silence. Every night I spent awake, I felt as though something was wrong. It seemed too quiet. It didn't match the Legends. My mother had told stories to me as a baby, told me the forbidden Legends. I had listened, gurgling quietly, and absorbing the stories that came out of my mother's mouth. Of course at such a young age, I couldn't comprehend what my mother was saying, but I remembered tone, the pitch, the words. Another one of my secrets. My memory. I have a eidetic memory. I can't experience anything without having it imprinted into my brain. Everything I see, smell, touch, and hear stays with me for the rest of my life. This made me a bit more intelligent than most my age. It was at the age of 3 that I finally deciphered the meaning of the sounds she made. And those Legends that she told me... they would set me apart from the rest of them. But as I made that discovery, again, on my 3rd birthday, my mother was taken away. I had no one left. I never had a father, he refused to stay with my mother to take care of me. I never even saw his face.
By then I had a general understanding of the society. You receive your connecting port at the age of 18, which allowed you to connect to a virtual reality world, called Illusion. At that age, you move to the Other Side. The Other Side, was where the adults lived. They lived a free life, able to log into a virtual reality world whenever they want. You had the choice to choose your spouse, or be assigned a perfect match. Between the ages of 20 and 30, you were expected to have one to two babies with your spouse. During this period, you would be forbidden from entering the virtual reality world. You have to take care of your children until they turn 5, and after that, they would be sent to Little Ville, and you would return to the Other Side, free to live your days in technology. When your children turn 18, they undergo the surgery to have the circle port implanted into the back of your neck. And the cycle would repeat.
But you see, my mother was taken away from me when I was 3. Not 5. When I was still a mere baby, aged 3. I had woken up on my birthday, hyped up to be spending the day with my mother. I padded to the room over, expecting my mother to be a lump on her bed. But when I open the door, there was no one. And it smelled different. The smell of my mother's perfume, jasmine with a hint of vanilla, was replaced by something more spicy. The smell burned my throat, and gave me a headache. I later identified the smell to be cinnamon.
I searched the kitchen, the basement, even the bathrooms. I looking the flower garden, the garage, tried holographing her. But she was gone. I called the Government, informed them of her disappearance. An agent came over, a tall, sharp eyed woman, with a scowl seemingly permanently etched on her face. I started coughing as the cloying smell of cinnamon filled the air. I squinted up at her, and stammered.
"My-my mother. She- I can't find her."
I realized my mistake then. That smell, it matched the one from my mother's room. I should never have called the Government. It was that moment that I realized how separate I was from the rest of my peers. It was then that I find myself distrusting the Government. It was then that the smell of cinnamon became enough to make me throw up. It was then, that I became a rebel.
They had taken my mother.
And for that... they will pay. "
He looked at me very solemnly.
"I will help you." he said. I was startled. That was the last thing I had expected to come out of his mouth. He continued.
"I will always be with you." He smiled, placing his hand in mine, squeezing gently.
I smiled, and squeezed back.
From then, we were inseparable.
His name was Kim Myungsoo. I called him L
My name was Bae Sue-Ji. He called me Bae.
And we were... we ARE... the best of friends.