Behold, a book.

Rebel had never left the city. Seventeen years in society and there was never a reason to leave the city. The monumental sky scrapers that were once comforting, now felt like ghastly reminders of how difficult life could be when families ended up on the wrong side of societies' favor. Today, her mother found out she did not win the house seat as the incumbent. For the first time since she could remember the events of her life, her mother was lost. She sat in their flat, with a bottle of wine and false lashes unhinged; tears streaking through matte foundation. None of Rebel's so-called friends even rang her, no video calls, no virtual meet-ups. Her inbox was depressing and silent. Rebel wanted to cry with her mother but her mother would barely let her see her anyway. The only person who Ms. Angleterre would allow witness to a breakdown was her assistant, Jack. Rebel took the elevator down to the lobby and stepped outside in the icy November air. She shrugged her jacket over her shoulders tighter and flipped up her structured hood with face flaps to cover her. She didn't want to be noticed and she desperately wished she could turn off her recognition ping. As she walked past strangers, she tried not to make eye contact. She was afraid they would connect with her ping and recognize her handle. Someone did ping her because she heard someone snicker as they walked past, a moment later they yelled, "Sucks to Suck, Angleterre!" Rebel broke out into a sprint, using her embedded peripheral vision to guide her without looking up. After a while, she stopped to catch her breath and found herself at the metro station. She looked up and a stranger pinged her handle, they started booing at her, louder and louder until others joined in. She raced down the steps and found an empty car; she sat down. The train door slid shut and crept into motion. Rebel sniffled, holding back tears. She wanted to make a status update to everyone, a grand, 'fuck you'. She said, 'open Social Setting' to her earpiece and the platform appeared in the foreground. "New update", she commanded angrily. A new window appeared in her field of vision and the typing line blinked. "Fuck you all", Rebel said. Her earpiece responded, "prohibited language detected, please restate your sentence". "F-U-C-K you all", Rebel spelled it out this time. Her earpiece responded once again, "Prohibited language detected, please restate your sentence". Rebel screamed in frustration and closed the platform. She stood up and slammed her palms against the plexiglas. She plopped back into her chair with defeat written in her bones. Tilting her head back, she slipped into slumber.

Something covered in cotton, caressed her cheek. She startled awake, blinking her eyes open to a strange man. "Hello, sweetheart", he said. His aura was uncomfortable and invading. "It's the last stop, let's go". She stood up and crossed her arms. Exiting the train and proceeding up the steps, his pace keeping in step with hers. "Headed home?", he smiled.

"Yea", she lied. She had no idea where she was. "I always sleep to the last stop", she said grouchily. She looked around and found herself somewhere other than the city. There were no skyscrapers, digital advertisements, or thousands of people. It was just the two of them. Internally, her alarm went off. Her eyes darted around trying to make sense of the place. She thinks it's the place her mom called the "slimy suburbs". She abruptly stopped, as did the man.

"How old are you?", he probed.

Her heart quickened, her eyes frantically darted around for an exit or another human. She sprinted to her right down the old asphalt road, hearing his footsteps catching up. Rebel panicked and screamed 'help, anybody!' She tried to access her emergency feature but she wasn't in the city, she had no idea if they would come. She saw a blur of red whizz past her left. Refusing to look back she turned right again and found herself in a cul-de-sac; a dead end. She turned around to accept her fate only to realize the man was gone. Hands on her knees, she heaved her chest in and out for fresh, cold air.

"Come inside for water", she heard a deep woman's voice to her left. Feeling unsafe outside, she obeyed.

"Marvin will be back after he delivers that man to authorities", she explained.

Rebel looked at her with confusion.

"He's my security android", the old lady said.

Rebel's face softened, and the old woman knew she understood.

"Sit", she commanded again. Rebel sat on the blue velvet sofa and collected her thoughts. The old woman set a glass of water down on the marble table in front of her, right next to a little back notebook.

Rebel's eyes grew wide with bewilderment. she stuttered, "that's, that's paper?"

The old woman nodded. Rebel looked past the old woman to find shelves and shelves of paper books on the opposite end of the room.

"Who are you?", Rebel demanded.

"Sage Appletree", she nodded her fragile head and stay-put hair cut.

"I'm Rebel. Nice to meet you", Rebel said automatically, just as her mother had taught her to do.

"You as well", she responded, picking up the black book.

The book hung ajar in the middle as though something was lodged inside. A long cylindrical item fell out in Sage's lap.

"What is that?", Rebel asked.

"An ink pen", Sage tilted the book forward and scribbled a non-distinct shape with her left hand.

"I thought books were for reading not writing in", she realized that was silly, "I guess someone had to write them first".

Sage clicked her tongue, "ah". Her eyebrows raised, she was intrigued.

"You have never seen a book before?", Sage asked.

"No, it was banned like, 30 some years ago", Rebel retorted.

"Oh, I remember", Sage said as she leaned back into the sofa, she flipped through another page in the palm-sized, sable colored, book. Sage scribbled something again, then tossed the book on the table. One green, rectangular piece of paper slipped out. Rebel's eyes fluttered in disbelief, she froze and locked eyes with Sage. It was a well preserved single American paper dollar. Who was this old lady really?

"That's worth, that's like...", Rebel paused. She stiffened on the sofa with her hands pressed into the seats.

"Roughly twenty thousand digital dollars", Sage finished. Smirking at Rebel, Sage patted her bobbed hair.

"What would you do with twenty thousand dollars?", Sage inquired.

"Leave the city. Like really leave. Go far away", Rebel admitted, her eyes glued to the floor.

Sage heartily laughed. An honest smile spread across her face and she sighed. "Pick up that book".

Rebel reached across the marble table and gently handled the book by the spine. She opened to the first page, and read "Adventures of Sage Appletree". Rebel softly flipped through the pages of descriptions of places, doodles of landscapes and old photos propped in between pages. She had never seen anything like it in person. When Rebel looked up, Sage had removed herself from the sofa and was fingering through the books on the shelf. Sage plucked out an identical black book and sat back down. She picked the old paper dollar off the table and placed it in the center of the second black book. Sage silently picked up the pen in her left hand and the new black book in her right and gestured towards Rebel. Rebel placed Sage's adventure book in her lap and received the pen and second book with the old money inside.

"Take the blank book, the money, and write down your adventures", Sage instructed.

"I don't know how to write", Rebel quivered.

"You will practice and you will learn", Sage nodded many times reassuring her.

"I can't take your money, my mom has-", Rebel was cut short.

"It's not about the money. It's about the adventure. I don't care what your mother has. It's not yours", Sage asked smartly.

Rebel stared off into the distance and thought about it. No, she's right.

"What do I do now?", Rebel prompted.

"Go wherever you want and write whatever you want. Marvin will escort you wherever you need to go", Sage insisted, pointing towards the android standing on the front porch.

"Can I write something right now? Before I leave?", Rebel inquired.

"Sure", Sage said, tickled with Rebel's excitement.

Rebel took the pen out of her pocket and opened to the first page. She smiled as she looked down at the blank vanilla rectangle. With the pen in her right hand, she scribbled, like a child, at the top of the page, "FUCK YOU ALL". Rebel met eyes with Sage and squirmed a bit before saying, 'thank you'.

Sage smiled warmly at Rebel and for the first time in a while, Rebel smiled too.