Reprogramming Needed

My world was perfect. Everything I did was successful. I was popular. I was rich. I was what everyone wanted to be.

           “Good morning, Dollie!” My neighbors greeted me as I walked down the street with my perfectly groomed poodle, Ollie.

           “Good morning!” I smiled and waved back. My morning was routine as usual. It was a sunny day, like always, and I had started the day with a healthy breakfast. I was taking Ollie for his morning walk and greeting all the neighbors who were out on their lawn as I walked past. I stopped when I noticed that my best friend was not sitting on her patio eating her own breakfast like usual. “Annie is late to breakfast.” I said to Ollie. “We better go wake her up.” I smiled as Ollie, and I made out way up to her house. I noticed that the bright pink house had no signs of Annie’s presence. I knocked on the door, only for it to swing open. “Oh Annie! You are late for breakfast!” I laughed as I entered her house. While the house was bright pink on the outside, the inside was completely grayscale. I looked around for Annie and made my way to the back of the house, to her master bedroom. “Wakey wakey, sleepy he-?” I stopped when I saw Annie, fully dressed and laying on her large gray colored bed. Her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling. “Annie?” I asked as I approached the bed.

           “Hey!” I jumped when two men in black suits appeared suddenly. “You are not supposed to be here.” They yelled at me.

           “You need to leave here and forget what you saw.” The other instructed.

           “Y-yes sir.” I nodded my head and frantically ran out of the house with Ollie. For the first time in my life, I felt afraid. “Ugh.” I felt an awful pain shoot through my head. The brightly colored neighborhood before me flashed from colorful to grayscale a few times before returning to full color. I looked at my hands then at Ollie. “Time to go home.” I said to Ollie. I rushed home, ignoring all the neighbors who waved to me as I walked past them.

           “Hi, Dollie!”

           “Where are you rushing off to, Dollie?”

           “Why the hurry, Dollie?”

           “Whoa! Slow down, Dollie. A lady should never run in heels.” Everyone who addressed me made the fear inside of me grow more and more until I was finally running with Ollie back to my house. Once I reached my house, I slammed the door shut and tried to lock the door.

           “Why are there no locks on the door?” I asked aloud. I began to panic. I released Ollie from his leash and began to search my house. I could not find anything to use like a weapon. “Wait…why do I need a weapon? Why do I need to defend myself?” I asked myself as my head started pounding again. My house flashed from colorful to grayscale repeatedly. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” I screamed until everything was color again. I ran around my house, trying to lock the windows and doors that lead outside. “There are no locks! Why are there no locks?” I screamed. I ran to my bedroom and closed the door. I could not even lock my bedroom door. I ran to the bathroom and saw that I could not lock the bathroom. I had the overwhelming need to have a weapon. “Why do I need a weapon?” I started to pull at my luscious blonde hair, eventually yanking out patches of my hair. “This is wrong! This is wrong!” I screamed repeatedly.

           “Alert! Alert! Glitch Recorded!” A loud voice blared throughout my house as red lights descended from the ceiling and started flashing. “Reprogramming required!” The voice shouted as bars shot up over my doors and windows.

           “Make it stop!” I screamed as several men in black suits swarmed into my house.

           “She was the one who saw the other reprogramming.” One man said.

           “It must have triggered a fear response. Let us get her to the lab so the doctor can reset her.” Another instructed.

           “No!’ I screamed as they grabbed me. “Let me go!” I struggled against them as everything turned grayscale and my head felt like it was going to explode.

           “It is okay, miss. We will make the awful feelings go away.” One of the men reassured me as they dragged me through the back of my house. A door I had never seen before was opened and I was forced through it. My sight was once again able to process color as I saw the wall the door was in. A large wall with flashing lights and wiring that went on for as far as the eye could see.

           “Where am I? Why are you doing this to me?” I began to sob.

           “Oh dear. Another one, and so soon.” An older woman with long blonde hair came over to me. She had on a white lab coat.

           “She saw us putting the other one away.” One of the men said to her.

           “I told you to be careful.” She scowled at them. “Bring her to the chair.” She told them.

           “What are you doing to me?” I screamed as they forced me into a large metallic recliner chair. They strapped me down as I struggled against them.

           “Do not worry, Dollie. I am going to fix you.” The woman said as she smiled softly at me.

           “What is wrong with me?” I asked her. I watched in horror as she brought a large needle over to me.

           “You just suffer from the human condition.” She said as she stuck the needle in my arm. “My job is to fix that in you and all your friends.” As she spoke, a wave of calmness came over me. “That is a good girl.” She smiled. “Set up the helmet.” She turned to the men in suits. I stayed calm as they attached a helmet to my head and put strange stickers all over my body that had wires coming out of them.

           “All set, doctor.” A man said as he gave her a thumbs up.

           “Wonderful. Now, Dollie, tell me what happened.” She asked me as she stood next to me with a notebook.

           “I saw Annie, then the men in black suits. The neighbors were all strange. There are no locks on the doors or windows. And nothing I can use as a weapon in the house.” I answered slowly. She wrote in her notebook as I spoke.

           “Typical fight or flight response. That is an easy fix. Two jolts should be enough to reset her.” She turned away from me and made a strange hand motion.

           “Stay clear!” A man yelled. A moment later I felt an excruciating pain shoot through me. Once it stopped my mind became fuzzy. “Stay clear!” I passed out…

           “Good morning, Dollie!” My neighbors greeted me as I walked down the street with my perfectly groomed poodle, Ollie.

           “Good morning!” I smiled and waved back. My morning was routine as usual. It was a sunny day, and I had started the day with a healthy breakfast. I was taking Ollie for his morning walk and greeting all the neighbors who were out on their lawn as I walked past. I stopped when I noticed that my best friend was sitting on her patio eating her breakfast.

“Good morning, Dollie!” Annie waved at me with a smile.

“Good morning, Annie!” I waved back.

“It is such a lovely day today!” Annie said.

“I agree! We should have a picnic!” I laughed. Annie’s smile drooped a bit.

“Do you have something in your eyes?” She asked me.

“Why?” I asked as I lifted my hand to my eye. I had tears flowing from my eyes.

“Huh?” I said to myself. “I wonder what that means…” I looked at Annie as the color faded from around me.

           “Alert! Alert! Glitch detected! Reprogramming needed!”