Mariah walked down the darkening street to her apartment, her heels clicking on the sidewalk and echoing off the brick walls of the buildings around her. The street was so quiet, and she knew it was after curfew, but she couldn’t do anything but walk as fast as she could. She saw the neon light on the side of a building up ahead, the one that said, “Please smile at strangers”, and she knew she was almost home. Mariah let out a huge sigh when she came to her apartment building, realizing she had been holding her breath in fear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the lights of a cruiser at the end of the street, and she rushed inside, closing the door and running up the stairs. With shaking hands, she unlocked the door to her apartment. She saw Jerry sitting quietly in the darkened kitchen, waiting for her.
“Thank God you’re here,” he said and embraced her. “I was worried.”
“I saw a cruiser, but I don’t think they saw me,” she said. She saw dinner was on the counter and Jerry had opened a bottle of wine. “Oh, thank you, I am starving,” she said and Jerry dished up food while she poured the wine. They ate and talked quietly, sharing the news of their days.
“The Master at our office is getting even more strict. That’s why I’m so late. He won’t let anyone go until our work is finished, despite knowing he will keep us out past curfew.”
“I think the Masters have had a program update, because the same thing is true at my office. I saw one Master standing over Elise, telling her to hurry, but she was so nervous she was frozen. I’m sure she got into trouble tonight. That means we’ll be short a person tomorrow and -“
“More work for you,” Mariah finished his sentence. They were both silent for awhile.
“Have you heard anything more about what is controlling these androids?” whispered Jerry. She shook her head. “I saw more neon signs on the walls today. One said “Please be obedient” and another said “Please work diligently”. It’s crazy. Did you see them, too?”
“Yes,” Mariah said, “I saw some new ones. One sign said, “Please report rule breakers.” She walked over to her bag and pulled out some papers. Being careful to lay the papers down so that Jerry could see them, but making sure that plates, glasses, dishes and wine hemmed them in. If there were cameras, it probably didn’t matter, but it might. “There’s a meeting on Saturday morning in the park. It will look like a volleyball game.”
“You’re kidding, right? They’re going to see right through that,” Jerry said.
“No, its been working. We can talk and pass messages while we play. Someone may know something and I want to know everything I can about why people everywhere are under the control of these androids and who is behind it. It gets more oppressive every day,” Mariah said and Jerry nodded, “People are disappearing,” Mariah whispered and Jerry clasped her hand.
“I’m with you, babe. You know it. I love you,” Jerry said.
Mariah brushed away a tear. “I have to get to the truth.”
#WDYS
A Little Bit of Everything, With Love 