My grandmother warned me that the day would come that I would miss the old ways. I’d laughed at her. I had told her that I would never miss the days when I had to take turns with my siblings learning how to cook. I told her that going to school was a waste of time. I had told her that we were moving towards a better and bright future.
And we were.
I had everything. Friends who loved spending every spare minute with me, parents who took care of me, siblings who played with me, and a boyfriend who promised to love me forever.
What more could I need? My future was going to be epic…or so I had told her.
Until it wasn’t.
I didn’t realize what my grandmother was really warning me that I would miss. It wasn’t just the things I didn’t like doing or what the government and well-meaning influential people of the world could take away from me. She was warning me that my childhood was ending and it wasn’t going to be a soft landing into reality.
I wish I could tell her now that she was right.
The world had changed. Friends had been deemed unnecessary. Free time was superfluous. Family units were a drain on resources. And how could you have a boyfriend if you never interacted with anyone anymore.
I had two years of work left in the computer science division crunching meaningless data. After that, I would be placed with a ‘male of suitable qualifications’ so that we could reproduce and do our part to replenish the population. It was only after I had given birth to 3 live children or reached the age of infertility that I would be placed back in the work force. Those children would be sent to their assigned buildings where they would be forever lost to me. I was dreading it all.
The monotony was probably the hardest for my age group. I had been lectured weekly for the past 5 years, since graduating from the last class of our crumbling high school, that the transition to adulthood would be hard with the memories we possessed of our careless and frivolous childhood.
We were the last of the wasteful generation.
Those younger than me were too young to remember the freedom of learning how to drive or going to dances or sneaking out to the beach for bonfires with friends and classmates. They knew nothing but focused and steady isolation. Their ignorance chafed at my precious memories.
I was at work when it happened. A window popped up on my screen that I hadn’t opened. I blinked in surprise. Nothing new ever happened at work. Or the room I slept in. Or where I exercised for my minimum daily minutes of cardio.
Words began appearing and I was captivated.
Hello? I’ve been trying to get this thing to work but no one answers me to let me know if it is. So I am going to wait for 2 minutes then sign off. Just click on the window and type a response if you can see this. Press enter to send.
I clicked on the window and froze over the keyboard, glancing around the room at all the other people mindlessly working. I hesitated.
Hello.
After hitting send I panicked. What if someone was monitoring me and noticed I had stopped working. I hastily went back to my numbers. It was still senseless numbers, data, and html that constantly seemed to need fixing and rearranging. I don’t know why but it was my job.
It was several minutes before I had slowed my breathing enough to click back into the mystery window to see if ‘They’ had responded.
And there it was. Bold black letters.
Yes! Hello. Hello. Hello. My name is Ferris. What’s yours? How old are you? Oh and if you couldn’t tell by the name I am a man and old enough to remember when our names weren’t just assigned but lovingly picked just for us by our parents. I still miss mine. Sorry. Off topic. It has just been a really long time since I’ve spoken to anyone.
I nodded. Neither had I. There was no ‘need’ to stop and chat.
It has been a long time for me too. I’m Analeigh, named after my grandmother. How are you managing this?
His reply was immediate and I smiled.
I was a programmer before they decided to assign work details. I’m now an accountant in the One Bank. They don’t tell me what I am actually doing because I know enough to know that I am not doing anything banking related. Where are you?
I sat up straight and looked out the window. I could see the no-nonsense ‘One Bank’ sign from it. My heart thudded.
I work at Datuak Corp in Sierra Cruz. I added my city in at the last second, hoping he would confirm that he was currently in the building I could see.
When he didn’t respond immediately my heart sank. What if I had lost the connection to him? I didn’t know anything about computers. I think they had purposefully stopped teaching things, the important things, to people. They didn’t want anyone to learn too much.
Fighting tears and breathing deep I turned my attention back to my work. It seemed even more mind-numbing now.
You’re so close. So close.
His words blinked into being out of the corner of my eye.
Perfect! We can meet up for ice cream and play at the playground until my mom calls me in for dinner.
Let me guess. You’ll be the cute blonde in pigtails and a pink tutu.
For the first time in who knows how long, I laughed. Somehow I managed to turn it into a cough but it felt good. I quickly moved one of my work windows in front of the conversation in case a supervisor was notified and came to check on my efficiency.
I waited over 20 minutes before I dared to check it again. Another message was waiting.
Did I lose you?
I wasn’t sure if he would still be there after so long but I responded anyway. I didn’t want this to end.
You made me laugh out loud. I had to be sure I wouldn’t be caught. So I hid your window behind my work one. Please tell me you aren’t gone.
The minutes that passed were painful. I could barely breathe. I nearly cried when I saw him respond.
I’ll only close the connection at the end of the work day so we aren’t caught. I’ll reconnect in the morning too…just in case you want to keep talking.
Yes!
I like you already, Analeigh. I can tell we are going to be good friends.
She could practically feel him sending a wink her way.
