ULTRA-Violet

She remembers seeing butterflies at a young age, Monarch to be specific. Everywhere. In her dreams. In her yard. In her memories.

It was the year 2040. Violet lived in the New World, where nearly every action, decision, and moment was decided for a person.

She lived in a small city pod by herself. 20 years old, she only knew emptiness. In fact, she lived through World War III, or what we now know as the War of Western Aggression. It goes by many names, of course, but that did not matter to Violet.

She was just happy to be alive.

At times it even seemed as though she lost parts of her memory. After being diagnosed with PTSD, she took a slew of psychiatric pills daily to cope with the pain.

She was alone. Sure, virtual reality was pleasurable, but once you can have whatever you want, the wanting goes away.

Once a week, Dr. Lawrence, whom she had known since childhood, did a checkup. However, she adoringly referred to him as Larry. Even though he was a little odd, and sometimes even a little mean, she liked him.

"You look nice today," he said, gently touching her shoulder.

He always made her blush.

She smiled.

"What are you here for today, Larry?"

"Well, you know my routine. I have to do your checkup."

He put on some gloves and did the normal evaluation routine. She was used to this by now and usually zoned out.

But this time, something happened.

In a flash, she was harshly thrown into a childhood memory - one of her crying and screaming with Monarch butterflies floating around. It went as quickly as it came.

"Are you ok?" He said calmly, as if he already knew.

"Oh yeah, you know me. Just having one of my crazy moments,” she laughed.

Dr. Lawrence laughed, a rarity Violet noted.

"I'll see you again next week."

Cold, he usually was, but before he left, he gave her a hug. In 2040, some forms of touching were punishable by law.

She nearly melted.

☆☆☆

That night she couldn't get him off her mind. Perhaps it is because he touched her. While she was fond of him, that was hidden in a secret place in her mind.

In the 2020s, Pandemics I, II, and III created a world without touch; Violet grew up in a world without hugs or handshakes.

There were also strict rules about family, and marriage and children applications were strictly regulated by the government. Family was now an anachronism.

The substitute for family was the NeroNetwork. All was done through virtual reality that now could be integrated with the mind. Still, Violet would rather stare out her window, wondering about a world she never knew.

One night, she had a little wine, and she decided to do some research. She logged onto NeroSearch and looked up Dr. Lawrence. She figured since he was a prominent figure, there would likely be some information on him - maybe awards for his spectacular social credit score.

She skimmed the first few links, and then something caught her eye. A Monarch butterfly.

With her mind, she entered the NeroLink. It was actually a "conspiracy” page, so it was dangerous for her to access.

This page claimed Dr. Lawrence was a MKUltra New World agent. It said this government program was a follow-up to the CIA mind control MKUltra program that mainly took place, on the official record, from the historic 1950s - 1970s.

That night she could not stop researching, descending into the rabbit hole. She read about the series of MKUltra experiments that took place in the 1900s. She discovered the program was also known as Project Monarch, an experimental government program which focused on ways to manipulate victims through subconscious triggers and transform them into someone entirely new.

She passed out, a little drunk.

☆☆☆

That morning she heard the NeroSignal that he was at the door. Her head was pounding, not just from the wine.

"Violet?"

"Yes, Agent Lawrence, I'm coming."

He looked at her incredulously.

"Why did you call me that?"

"Oh, it just slipped. I-I’m tired. I'm sorry"

"Were you drinking last night?"

"A little."

He paused.

"Were you somewhere you weren't supposed to be last night on Nero?"

She looked down. She already knew he could tell everything about her in her eyes. There was silence for a few moments.

"Are you my handler?”

He came closer to her, his eyes stormy and fierce.

"You know I can’t answer that."

For a moment they looked at each other, and she saw his eyes soften. Tears leaked from her eyes, and he touched them away lightly.

And then he kissed her, but before she could kiss him back, he stopped and left abruptly.

With nothing else to do, Violet sat on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

☆☆☆

Larry once told Violet she was an Indigo child, who are known to possess supernatural and spiritual strengths and abilities.

Once in a while she would have visions, through the ultraviolet color spectrum. She ultimately realized this may have been one of the reasons the government targeted her in the first place.

As she was about to fall asleep, one of her ultraviolet visions hit her. In this dreamy state, she saw Larry in trouble with some men in black suits. They were hitting him hard, and for once, she saw tears in his eyes.

Did she get him in trouble? She couldn't sleep that night.

☆☆☆

At about 3 AM she heard a subtle knock on her pod window. The windows were more like stained glass, but she could make out that it was Larry.

She opened the front door and instead of him, she saw a note and a box. She went to her room and hid under her blanket so the cameras would not see. First she unwrapped the note, which read like a poem:

Ultra Violet

You see all through your eyes

I give you this heart

If you will only be mine.

She opened the box carefully, and inside, was a simple gold chain with a heart-shaped locket. Engraved on the heart was a butterfly. She grasped the necklace in her hands as she fell, for the first time in her life, happily asleep.

☆☆☆

They started meeting secretly, away from the cameras.

They had to be careful. In front of the cameras, Larry acted as Agent Lawrence and he did his normal evaluation and procedures. He let her pretend to take the medicine, so that her spiritual abilities could blossom.

This was a bittersweet process for Violet. It unlocked the abusive nature of her childhood through the hands of the government - mind and thought control experiments and torture. Through her visions, she learned her parents, who she thought died in the war, had “signed her over” in some sort of contract to the government at an early age.

Though Larry was in the program, she also had vivid recollections of him helping her, often sacrificing himself in beatings. She could see he always cared for her, and although he may have hurt her at times, she felt that was not always his intention.

You see, everyone is assigned where they are supposed to be. There is no movement in this system. You get your predetermined assignment at birth, and you follow through with it until death. There is no way around it. No escape.

Deep down she knew these moments could not last forever, but when she snuck away with him into the refuse meadows beyond the pods, away from the cameras, she knew she could finally die happy.

☆☆☆

The next few months were magical and almost incomprehensible. By 2040, romantic love had nearly been eradicated from society. All interaction, love, and affection were now virtual, and ultimately, superficial.

Yet with Larry, it was different. It wasn't lust. It wasn't an obsession. It was something she never knew before. It was dangerous, of course, but what did she have to lose? She was more worried about what he had to lose.

One day, in their secret spot in the meadow, as the ultraviolet butterflies danced around, she simply said, "I love you."

He said, "I love you, too."

They kissed, but the otherworldly moment was soon broken as they looked around at their reality, surrounded by pools of sludge and polluted air. It was silent.

☆☆☆

One morning Violet awoke to pounding knocks on her pod door. Her heart sank.

The men in the black suits walked in, none of whom she recognized, but she noticed Larry was not there.

She remained silent.

"We have come to do a series of evaluations on you, a lie detector test, as well as properly administer your medication. Do not worry. All you have to do is tell the truth."

Violet knew what this meant.

Luckily the pills they had given her wouldn’t kick in for a while, so she could still access the ultraviolet spectrum to get an impression of what the men would ask. This helped her control her subconscious reactions to the questions. They asked the initial questions to set a baseline, and then began.

“Have you had an intimate relationship with Agent Lawrence at any time in your life?”

“No.”

“Has Agent Lawrence ever given you a gift?”

“No.”

She shifted inside and saw the flash again, the Monarchs swirling around her. She heard Larry’s voice echoing faintly. Another vision came of her locked somewhere, completely blacked out. She was not Violet anymore. She answered the rest of the questions without the visions, in her duplicitous mind.

“Do you love Agent Lawrence?”

“No.”

The questioning went on for at least another 45 minutes before the men went outside to discuss the results.

Again, she used her ultraviolet vision to try to access the conversation.

“How could she pass the test? We know she is lying, Boss.”

“Eh, we know who she is and what she is capable of -- we will bring the data back and store it. We aren’t done with her yet.”

The Boss paced around, smirked, and walked back in, while she pretended to read on NeroNet.

“Well, you passed. We will be checking in on you again. In the meantime, we are not allowing Agent Lawrence to see you anymore.”

“But--”’

“Listen, you got lucky, girly. You know you did. So, leave it as it is. If you are in love with the man, let it go. Besides, he doesn’t love you. He only used you anyway. You’re an object to him. Somebody he can capture.”

She looked down.

“One of these days, I’ll bring the files. And you’ll see who he really is. But in the meantime, if we catch you with him again...well, I don’t even have to say.”

That night, she really did not do much. The world was so empty. She had no job - all income was provided. She had no real friends - they were all virtual beings. She had no family - they abandoned her. She had no children - they were only for the rich. She had no love. Violet was alone.

☆☆☆

Months passed by, and her therapist told her to give up all hope of him returning.

Violet sat in her bed and stared at the ceiling, until she heard rustling by the door.

She didn’t see him, but he slid a gold key under her door. She ran to her room and hid under the blankets.

She opened the locket carefully and out fell a little microchip, which she implanted into the NeroSystem. It read:

Do not think you will never see me again

In your Lucid dreams, we will begin.

On the streets, I’ll see your eyes,

And you will see through all their lies.

This is not the end, you see

I hid a code to unlock the key.

I’ll see you tonight in your dreams

Start your search, and we’ll be redeemed.