Force of the Unnatural

I ran, lungs stinging, feet aching, but I didn't stop. I couldn’t stop. I had to get away and I knew that they weren’t far off behind me. I wanted to cry but I knew that the tears would blur my vision and I couldn’t welcome any inconvenience at the moment.

‘Why? Why was this happening to me? To us? What went wrong?’ were my thoughts while I was running, but I shook my head. I couldn’t let that distract me. My aim was to get away and that was what I was going to do. What my parents would have wanted.

I could feel the weight of it. It was bouncing as I ran, so I knew it was there. That was the only thing that I had, the only memory of them. I reached for it, clutching it tightly as I continued to run.

I peeked behind me to see no one. I sighed in relief but brought my guard up once more. They could be anywhere. They could be watching, no they most definitely are watching. I needed to erase my traces. All of it.

I saw a hanger of clothes nearby. It looked ragged, almost like it wasn’t washed. I scrunched up my face, having second guesses, I pinched myself. A and habit, but it brought me back to what was important and that was fleeing successfully. They could be watching but they always had blindspots. Everything did and there is nothing you could say to change my mind.

I maneuvered through the wires and changed in the dark alleyway nearby. I discarded my sweaty old ones and sat down to catch my breath. I am still only human. Then I laughed, hard.

There was nothing funny about this situation. I was currently running for my life. “I am only human,” I mumbled. Then I felt the weight of the locket on my chest. The beautiful heart-shaped locket, the only memory of my happy family. I opened it to see our smiles.

We were a family of three. My mother, father, sister and I. My mother wanted more children but nature, unfortunately, didn’t allow it. We were happy. We were HUMAN…

There still isn’t a name for them. One couldn’t exactly call them robots because they were certainly not robotic, but their minds definitely didn’t remain the same. It was like a parasite that wove its way into your body, your brain specifically.

The brain is one of the most important parts of the body. A very known fact. Your feelings, emotions, thoughts, all happen in the brain.

Well, what happens if the brain had a…force? A tenant? Whatever it was in your brain would help control your emotions. It would limit anger, heartbreak, anxiety. It was supposed to help. It was supposed to reduce negative emotions. It was supposed to ‘make things better.’

It was introduced no too long ago. They called it a way for people to get along more. They wanted to be the heroes, the saviours. They were so wrong.

When it all started to go wrong was when it started seeping into the positive ones. People would get happy for no reason, they would just smile. There was no problem, after all, it was natural to smile when you felt happy.

They disregarded the small anomaly.

When it was introduced to the public, the people were instantly divided. There were some for it and others against it. After all, you fear the unknown.

Then, like a trend, it started with one person, then two, fifty, hundred, hundred thousand and before you knew it, more than half the population had it. It had become a measurement of some sort which said ‘If you aren’t one of us, you cant be one of us.’

If you didn’t have it, then you were old, you were outdated and so on. So, peer pressure naturally forced others to get it. The government couldn’t be happier at the way their invention was spreading and had deemed themselves, saviours.

Then, one day an accident happened. A man died. Death was natural, but what made it a topic of interest was that the person died smiling.

People took pictures, posted them online. Then the conspiracies started. ‘Was it suicide?’ ‘Was he killed?’

No one even thought to blame whatever it was in their heads, in their brains…in their emotions.

Thankfully, the matter de-escalated. The man, forgotten. A few years passed by. Another death with the same smile. Wide, unsettling, creepy.

Then, someone brave enough to bring it up stated. ‘What if it’s what in our heads?’

Of course, people bashed him right away, but through time people realized the problem. They hadn’t even thought to go there, to suspect what they voluntarily had put in themselves.

Then people started complaining. They started asking the government for answers. They had forgotten; it was meant to get rid of every emotion. Then it was soon forgotten. Why? Why was it that when any attention was being drawn to them was when they would act? People started to notice that the more they doubted the force, the more it resisted and if they continued to, they would die.

Then, people started to freak out It trended. ‘The Smiling Death.’ It was everywhere. The government made no remarks. They ran away from it. Typical, or not. They could also have the force.

Those who didn’t get it were relieved. They were safe, or so they thought. They were forgetting that they were outnumbered.

By now, it had probably reached more than half of the world. So, were they really safe? The clear answer is no. No, they weren’t. So, they fled underground. Thank goodness for the earth. It was spacious in all rounds.

It didn’t work though. Most of them were found and joined either by force or temptation. The temptation to make their lives better. They gave up their free will for a better life. It had now advanced and become the way of the world.

People who weren’t among them were the outcasts of society. They couldn’t and wouldn’t be given anything. They obviously couldn’t act on negative emotions, so there was no killing, fortunately. One shouldn’t be happy about that though because there is a possibility that they do get control over those negative emotions or worse…create their own.

I sighed finally catching my breath. To my utter luck, it also started to rain. They don’t like the rain. I could move forward now. I took one last look at my locket. One last smile. One last kiss on it, and I put it back in my clothes. They were gone. I was on my own and I was going to survive.