I Wonder

We. Log. Everything

It’s the rule now. Everything that we do must be tracked, cataloged, or logged into our phones. If you don’t do it, they will find out. And when they do, y’all don’t want to be around. 

Sunday, April 25th- 10:21:17 am

Ate two slices of french toast. A moderate amount of syrup. Was asked to put bananas and did so unwillingly. Two centimeters of the crust was left. Is now in the garbage disposal. 

I mic myself and head into the backyard. It’s finally spring. Even though the blooms and smells and birds are controlled by the Head, it’s still pretty compared to the barren winter. 

Plucked a cherry blossom (?) from a tree and inhaled its scent. Let the bloom flutter to the ground.

Yes, it gets tedious. Yes, we all have to do it. Yes, everyone’s brains are trash. We are all overridden by the number of rules that we have to follow. Some are what you would see in a pre-era society: wash your hands before you eat, write your name on every paper given to you, turn in assignments and work on time. Others are new to our era, I guess. We have to log every action, but there are some exceptions like walking and sitting down. The rule is if you’re changing something, then log it. Even if I turned up the thermostat I would need to log exactly what I did. Of course, that's not common now because everything is controlled either by the house or the Head. We are also provided with food every 4 hours starting at 9 am. Usually, the portions are exact to the person. Sometimes we’ll get a special dinner but that’s very occasional. We have to log this as well- what time we ate, if we didn’t eat anything, and if we disposed of any of the food. Sometimes the system asks for a satisfaction rating. Everyone knows, though, that we always give a 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars. Otherwise, there’s a whole fuss and it’s just not worth it. 

Monday, April 26th- 9:54:42 am

No school today so woke up ten minutes ago. Brushed teeth with a brand new toothbrush. Going downstairs to eat breakfast. 

School isn’t usually canceled here. The last time we had a day off was during the mandatory winter break every five years. We go to school every single day, besides weekends. Weekends have free rec hours that we are required to fulfill. If we don’t, there are consequences. Everything has consequences, which is what I should’ve kept in mind a couple of weeks ago. 

Saturday, April 10th- 8:45:58 am

Didn’t get breakfast delivery yet, but headed to the library to study with Kiera. 

That wasn’t 100% a lie. I was going to be with Kiera- at the library- but only momentarily. We were meeting up there to get a bit (like ten minutes) of studying in before our round trip flight. To Italy. There was a game show-type contest last week, and whoever won got a round trip to Venice and back. The catch was that we needed an adult with us. My parents would never let me go to Italy alone. Never. So Kiera told her parents she was spending the day at my house, and I told my parents I was spending the day at Kiera’s. We didn’t log any of this, but we made up scenarios and just did it to keep the Head off our tracks. This is when something went wrong. 

I got a phone call from my mom, and she said that there was an emergency, but she wouldn’t tell me what happened.. The word “emergency” is unheard of now, it’s like a pre-era term. Because of the Head and its superb tracking and logging algorithms, they don’t even occur that often. So when my mom said that there was an emergency, something was truly awry. 

Saturday, April 10th- 9:39:51 am

Going home, done studying and Kiera had to leave. 

I told Kiera to go on the flight without me, and take her sister instead- she said that she would NeuroLink me as soon as she got there. I could sense that there was something weird going on while I was biking home. No one was on the sidewalks, LawnBots were in place, and the air was perfectly still. This had to be the work of the Head. No one else or nothing else could make the environment so calm yet eerie in such a way. 

Let me remind you once again that unusually disruptive “items” were deemed unnecessary and are very rare now. Ambulances and police cars are part of that list. We have medicPorts which are synched to our logs- if anything seems off when we type or speak, a silent notification is sent to the Head, which keeps an eye on you. If the condition persists, medical personnel (what pre-era would’ve called doctors) arrive at the home. Similarly, the Head keeps PoliceBots under its control and deports them whenever it is necessary. 

#1: There was a police car and an ambulance parked in my driveway. #2: There were doctors and policemen (alive people) talking to each other in hushed voices. When they saw me, my heart stopped. They found out. And whatever excuses had rushed to the tip of my tongue were useless. I forgot to turn off the location tracking. On my watch, on my laptop, on my tablet, on my glasses, and, most importantly, on my log.

Sunday, April 11th- 6:31:05 am

With the authorities. They’re right outside my room. 

Apparently, this is unheard of. My family is making the news. We were all stripped of all devices including our watches and laptops. The Head’s employees are in our home, watching our every move. I haven’t gotten to talk to my parents or my brother yet. It’s almost been 24 hours. It didn’t seem like they wanted to talk to me when I saw them earlier. I just hope that they forgive me. 

Monday, April 26th- 12:08:48 pm

Lunch was just delivered. Medical personnel has installed tags and health trackers on me. 

Two weeks later, I am still under house arrest. Usually, people with medical conditions are prone to not logging or rebelling, so that’s why they’ve installed trackers on me. 

Here, you’re supposed to be the same. Follow the status quo. When you don’t, you’re arrested. I wonder what life was like pre-era, where you could get away with something exciting without keeping it a secret.