My arm…
It was smoothly cut off.
I can't hold back my tears. A dam has broken and the reservoir of tears overflow my face. My tears does not stop.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
What is this feeling? I just want to die. It searing hot, in the way which it hurts.
I pull out the piece of paper from the pocket. The one from the Nepam Officer. I request the AI Phone to scan it and call the number.
"1-2-3 what's your emergency," the phone plays.
"Help, my arm… It's off," is all I can say before I pass out in the world of pain that I had just created.
I am introduced to a whole new world, one without happiness.
Beep-Beep.
I am back in the same room I end up. I hear the nervous chatter of the nurse and doctors that are worried sick about me ending up in the same hospital, the same room as I was once in.
Suddenly, I hear my room's doors burst open. I hear him yell as the nurses try to restrain him. I can tell by the voice its Carlos.
I missed him
I also hear my parent's voice. Their loving and caring voice makes me happy.
"Hii, mom, and dad," I croak as I try to lift myself before but oh wait. I'm missing a hand. My back feels stiff and I'm tired.
"Oh, my baby, are you alright, why is your face so pale," my mom says as she insects my face, my cheeks and my now bandaged missing arm.
Her voice.
It's different.
It no longer feels natural. Wait, natural?
It's the same voice, alright.
But it no longer feels real.
It feels fake.
It feels like it's being forced. The monitor on her advanced Nepam Air Watch reads "happy." But is she really happy?
No, it's her own body reacting this way.
"Oh, I don't remember what happened to my arm," I say, no longer feeling comfortable around them.
Then I proceed to explain my desire, my discovery to my parents and my friend Carlos. After a while, when I finished explaining. The room is shrouded by silence.
Suddenly, my mom stands up and leave, a look of "contempt on her face," so does my father follows. They slam the door and I am left confused.
"They probably don't believe you," Carlos says.
I am shocked, they not believing me. They always trusted me. A bright child with hopes of becoming a pharmacist at the Happy Pills Workshop. They say that my future was bright, my eyes right, my dreams about to take flight. But here I am in this room, wondering what's wrong with me.
"Do you believe me," I ask, ready for anything he says?
"Absolutely not, what kind of bull poop have you been listening, honestly you should stop reading these online fantasy stories, they seem to have started to have an impact on you," he says in a matter of a fact way.
No,
No
No
NO.
He too does not believe me, then..
I just close my covers and try to sleep. Before long, I no longer hear Carlos's confused words and I drift off to sleep.
Later that day, I am released once again from the hospital. This time, they give me a watch that displays current feelings.
Happy, Embarrassed, Nervous, Joyful.
The four feelings we the citizens of Nepam feel.
Have I truly found sadness? No, not yet.
Even if they truly no longer, believe me, I have already gotten this far. There is no reason to back down.
Even if my reasoning is broken, I need to fix it. I head off to the nearest workshop. The well-known workshop is known as the Hipparchiades.
Hipparchiades is a famous workshop known for creating robots and metallurgy. Its works have been known all around the world and as hailed as the country's best workshop.
I head to the workshop as I pass many streets. The blue and white hover bus whizzes past me. Dropping off more customers to the nearly arrived Hipparchiades.
Tick
Tick
Tick
The more I hear the alarm clock, the more unhappy I get. My clock reads ???, no longer reads "Happy." I see other people reading my clock with a look of worry and concerns spreading off their faces.
Their faces show hints of disgust in their bright wide-eyed smile.
Some move away while leaving the line.
I hear whispers, the same whispers from the passing buyers. I can see their displeasure, I can see what they must be thinking.
Is she sad? Ew could be contagious
They must think that because I can see it all.
I run away in tears, down the street, down the agricultural fields, and back home. I bump into many, for the AI works too slow for my running speed.
And my tears spill on the ground as the rain falls from the sky.
I see many pulls flip out their phones and start recording the scenario. It's like a drama unfolding right before their eyes minus the popcorn.
I reach home, lock the door, shut the blinds, and go to sleep.
I think for many hours about what I am feeling. I am no longer feeling the happiness the Nepam President promised.
Then what do I feel?