I am Unexpected; I am Human

Note: This is kind of a repost…? I hate this one so much like, I HATE IT. I changed some things, so I hope ya’ll like it <3

Songs that go with this story:

1. America by Alec Benjamin
2. Money Money by Transviolet

At one point in life, you decide where you're going to work, who you're going to get married to, when you're going to start a family…

But no one has to anymore. The Algorithm decides that. 

Everyone in the city has a Watcher. They take that algorithm and graph your every move. That's the reason crime is so low. They know where you'll be.

Almost, everytime.

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I sit at the dining table, silently waiting for dinner. My younger brother Camden smiles as my mother sets his dinner in front of him.

A beeping noise comes from his E-band, telling him what to say.

“Thank you mom,”

“Of course,”

My mom doesn't even have to look down to see the suggestion from her E-band, she just knows what to say.

And I respect that. I just wish I was more like her. When she sets my dinner in front of me, I smile at her.

“Thanks mom,” my E-band beeps and I look down.

Next time add: Thanks mom, It looks delicious!

“Clarabeth, you look annoyed, what's going on?” my father asks. We are allowed to ask different things like that, but always answer using suggestions from the E-band.

“I'm fine, just tired,” my Watcher knows what the real reason is though. I turn off all the notifications on my E-band and take a bite of my pork chops. “Mom this is amazing,” I say. 

“Thank you. It's my secret recipe,” she winks at me, then sits up tall, and eats her dinner.

“So, dad. At school today, Danny told me that he and his dad were going hunting in the woods during the weekend, and a deer came out of nowhere and they shot it!”

“Wow buddy, that's very cool,”

Conversations like this, where we tell eachother about our day, don't require suggestions from our e-band, that's why we turn our notifications off. During conversations like these, we are free to say whatever we would like to.

“So Clarabeth, how was your day at school?” I swallow nervously. 

“Great,” I lie. It was horrible. I have never liked school, so maybe that's why, but I always get left out of everything, like break activities or lunch conversations.

I finish my sweet kale salad and put my plate in the sink.

“Would you like dessert Clarabeth?” Camden asks me. Not because he wants to, but because it's a suggestion.

“No thank you. I think I'm going to go up to bed,” I walk up the stairs calmly and into my bland room.

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I wake up, my room dark. 

Today’s the day, I think excitedly.

I finally got to meet my Watcher. The person who knows my every move. My every thought.

I get up out of bed and open my closet. I pick a gray long sleeve, blue jeans and my running shoes.

How should I do my hair? I ask myself.

“Braided crown. It’ll look great with your golden blond hair,” my mother stands in the doorway of my room smiling.

“How’d you know?”

“I know that look. It was the same look I had when I was debating on how I should do my hair,”

“Thanks mom,” I walk over and hug her. That wasn't even a suggestion.

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The bus to the Algorithm Headquarters is huge. All of the girls and boys in my Year are going, which is kind of crazy. Only 16 year olds meet their Watcher.

I sit on a gray leather seat and something insane happens. A girl sits next to me. She has blond hair and gray eyes, that smile when she smiles.

“Hi, I'm Jacey, nice to meet you,” she shakes my hand.

“I'm Clarabeth...nice to meet you,” my E-band beeps.

Add: How is your day?

“How is your day?” I ask robotically. I am so tired of my E-band telling me what to do.

“Good. I'm really excited to meet my Watcher. I mean it's so cool that we’re actually going to meet the person that has seen our every thought. And I've heard that they make the suggestions for our E-bands,”

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

“Wow, that sounds really cool,” my voice sounds strained, so I clear my throat. 

“Five minutes until we arrive at our destination,” the robotic voice from the speakers says from above. I bounce my knee, and I don't talk the rest of the way so that I won't have to look at my suggestions.

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Oh. My. God. Watcher headquarters is...crowded. There are multiple rooms of Watchers, looking at computers and coding things. I am shocked. I always thought that Watchers were in basements, like hackers.

“So today, as all of you know, you are going to meet your watchers. Please do not overload them with questions, remember, they're only 16, just like you guys,” our tour guide, Madge says. She has a more advanced E-band, which means she's a City guard. “Now, I’ll send you each a code on your E-band, and that code is how you'll find your Watcher,”

A bunch of beeps comes from E-bands around the crowd. I look down.

Code for Clarabeth Duckworth: 7612e

7612e. 7612e.

I keep this code in my mind as I search for my Watcher. They all have little cubicles with their codes written on them. 7608e. 7609e. 7610e. 7611e. 7612e.

I walk into the cubicle, where a dark haired boy with blue eyes waits.

“You must be Clarabeth. I'm your Watcher, Miles,” he smiles, and my eyes widen. How could this guy be the guy who makes my suggestions? Don't look at your computer, don't look, he's going to see that I…

Feel like I can trust him....and he's going to judge me.

I sit down and bounce my knee.

“We only get five minutes together and according to the timer, it's now 30 seconds. Ask me something quick,”

I can't speak. I'm am parylized with fear. For no reason.

“Okay, you have to go. Nice meeting you Clarabeth,” he sits down in front of his computer. I have to go, I have to go…

“I'm not leaving,” There. I said it. Miles looks at me with his eyes wide.

“Clarabeth, you just, broke out of the System,”

“What do you mean?”

“The Algorithm can’t graph what you do before you do it anymore. You broke the Algorithm. But that also means-”

The realization of what I had just done hits me like a bullet to my gut.

“I broke you out too,” I say. “Which is going to get us killed, if we don't leave,”

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Miles and I walk down the crowded city sidewalk, holding hands so we don't get separated. He has 2 gate keycards in his pocket so we can get out of the city. 

“Remember, public displays of affection like kissing and touching inappropriately are prohibited,” a loud voice comes over the city speakers.

I feel sick. I'm so nervous right now. We turn onto another street which brings us to the big city gate. The gleam in the sun, their black chrome hurting my eyes.

Miles takes out his keycard and scans it on the door. Guards are on lunch, but the security cameras are on, which Miles really doesn't care about at this point. The door opens and we run through it, opening the other door to get out of the city.

And we're out. Finally.

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“Excuse me? We need help, we just escaped from the city,” a guard in a red suit looks at us and pulls out his walkie talkie.

“We got two Class A’s here,” a response comes back and the guard signals to us to follow him. We slowly walk into a huge courtyard full of guards, where they all stand talking. A woman in a blue suit with short blond hair walks out, perfectly poised.

“Please follow me,” we walk into a room with a blue light. “Stand still,”

Miles and I look at each other. The blue light scans us and a voice comes over the speakers.

“Scan complete. Perfection confirmed,”

Wait, what?

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3, 2, 1, Live.

“Hey guys, I’m Clarabeth Duckworth and this is my friend Miles Austeen, and today we are coming to you live from the new city where we live now. You guys probably are wondering what this video is about, so I’ll tell you. We sent this video to everyone in the city. . And you can't delete it. We used to live in a nameless world. You were nameless, nothing you did mattered. Why would it? That’s why the Algorithm was created. So it had a tighter grip on you than any hand ever would. Everything you know is a lie. You can escape the Algorithm. We did. So I need to ask you one question. Will you let the Algorithm choose your fate, or will you make your own choices?” The camera goes off and I look down.. I can't help but think one last thought.

Because I did.