2. ISU Short Story (Dystopia)

“Sigh, it’s time for me to go then, right?” said Ted.

“Yes, it is time. You’ve volunteer willingly for this job. Are you turning back on your words? There are serious consequences if you turned back from this.” said Snow.

“No, I am ready for this. I am a man of my words.” said Ted.

“Okay then. You may be our last hope for our planet, Tori. You would have to find a town named Garian, there you’ll find one of our people who have been there for 10 years. His name is Oscar. He’ll help you with your mission.” said Snow.

It’s time for you to go Mr. Ted Periwinkle. Have a safe journey down to Earth.” said Snow.

“Goodbye. I would not let our people down.” said Ted. That was his last words to his people.

Ted went into the portal of all worlds and vanished. The people of Tori returned to their daily lives after watching Ted going into the portal. He was the very last hope of Tori. Tori arrived at Earth in a fast pace as if a second just passed by. He arrived at a deserted land where nothing exists, nothing could survived at this deserted land as it was hot and nothing could grow as no rain could come down from the sky. He looked ahead and saw dead bodies around the land, all decomposed, left there to rot. He looked ahead again, and saw a town fully guarded with walls and an enormous main gate in the center. He assumed that it should be the town Mr. Snow had mentioned “Garian.”

The town looks like a jail or a safe house compared to the desert land. There were guards at the main gate who question why he’d come to Garian. Ted said, “As you can see, the outer land is deserted and I want to find my friend,” “What’s his name?” asked the guard. “His name is Oscar.” said Ted. “Come on in but first we have to do a blood test on you.” said the guard.

After a few blood tests, Ted was allowed to go into the town Garian. He was still wondering why they had to do so many blood tests on him. They approved Ted’s stay as a visitor from the outside world. Ted notices the teenagers were acting strange from the moment he stepped in that gates. Strange as in they were willingly helping people on small matters such as crossing roads, taking their groceries, and not talking rudely. The teenagers were like the perfect citizens of Garian.

“Here’s your friend, Oscar’s house.” said the guards.

“You can go back to your work; you wouldn’t need to bother about me. Where’s Oscar?” asked Ted.

“We insist on staying beside you. Oscar’s at work, the Garian’s highschool.” said the guard.

“Can I wait for him in his house?”

“Yes, you may.”

He entered Oscar’s house and closed the door behind him. The inside of Oscar’s house looks fairly normal like what he’s learned about humans living habits in school back in Tori. After a few hours, Oscar returned from work. “You’re finally here!” said Oscar. Ted greeted him with his hands closed together and bows before Oscar. That was the way people of Tori greet each other. 

Ted asked all sort of questions about the humans in Garian like “Why are the teenagers so kind? Is there a kindness competition going on? Why are there bars around the town? Where are all the adults? Why is deserted outside of Garian?”

Oscar said, “The teenagers weren’t the same 10 years ago, but they started acting strange a few years back. They weren’t acting kind and there isn’t a competition going on. They’re just like that. There are bars around the town because Garian is thought to be the only place where human could live. There was once a virus 20 years ago, it hit the humans and many died from it. Garian is the only town where the virus hasn’t get to yet, that’s why they had to do so many blood tests on you to check if you’re infected. The adults are all at work since it’s still daylight. They rarely come home.” 

Ted nodded and said it was strange. “I would like to go and have a tour around town.” said Ted. 

“Sure. Ted you’ll be staying at a guesthouse. It’s actually a student of mine named Ashley. You’ll have to stay low over there to avoid suspiciousness.” said Oscar. 

Ashley was one of the perfect citizens of Garian. Ted could see that she follows curfew and doesn’t question her parents.

Ted looked around town. There was a big clock tower in the middle of the town. He felt like someone was staring at him. Every day when the clock struck 8, the people would walk back to their houses like they’re robots. He asked a teenager and he just said, “It’s time to go home. Go home.” And he walked away. Every single day, the same thing happened like it was on reloop. But once, a teenager asked him to meet him after dark at 10pm.

Ted said okay. He smiled and walked to the housing area. At 10 that night, Ted sneaked out of curfew to meet that teenager. They met up behind the big clock tower. “Hi, what’s your name?”

“My name is Redsy. I want to tell you what happened in Garian. Something strange happened to the people.”

“Okay, tell me all that you know then.”

“It all started few years back, there were malls then. My friends started to change one by one. They were all happy, free, and mischievous once. Suddenly, they changed. They were like robots who obeyed rules and do not question the authorities on anything. My friends changed and I was considered an anti-social person in school. My friends weren’t my friends anymore, people started ignoring each other. No one talked in class; the teachers gave questions and answer the questions a minute later. They don’t want us to think much. It’s like they’ve been brainwashed. The adults in Garian were stranger than ever too. They would meet up for a meeting once a week.”

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“I was actually spying at them for a few months now. I know what they do at a certain time. Who are you exactly Ted? You aren’t from the outside aren’t you? Because nothing can survive out there.”

“You’ve guessed correctly. I’m actually from another planet named Tori. I’ve been sent to earth to observe on humans. I was the last hope for the people of Tori. Now, I’ve seen what may be the problem. Let’s find out what the parents might be up to. When will they be meeting up?”

“Tomorrow night, at 8. I want to have my old friends back. They’ll be at the clock tower.”

The next day, Redsy turned up. Redsy was strange. He’s changed! 

Ted called out to him, “Redsy! Redsy! Can you hear me? I’m Ted, your friend! 

Redsy replied, “Oh, do I know you?” 

Meanwhile, the clock struck 8 and people return to their houses like robots. Redsy did what he did too. 

Ted said, “Redsy has changed. I’m all alone on this plan now. I would still have to go to the parents tonight.”

At 8, the time where all truth comes out. Ted went to the big clock tower to wait for the parents to show up. He saw a teenager getting dragged up and into a secret cellar. It was Redsy! He’s been captured. Ted followed them down the cellar. There he saw the parents cuffing Redsy to a table.

 Redsy was shouting “No! No!” They injected him with a type of liquid and he fell asleep.

 Ted came out of the dark and said “Stop this nonsense this instance!”

 The parents laughed instead. “Do you think you can stop us? We were suspicious of you at the very beginning. You see, nothing could survive outside these walls.”

Ted replied, “Oh really. Have you let your people out these walls then? You hadn’t let them try and you’ve already determined humankind couldn’t survive outside these walls. What did you inject inside Redsy?”

“That’s a thought we could consider. Redsy is injected with a type of chemicals which would brainwash the teenager’s mind and make them into perfect citizens of Garian. He’ll be like one of us now. It’s called social conformity, Ted. Haven’t you heard of that? We’ll have to make all citizens of Garian to be equal like one had said before “People are made equal.” Like giving them curfew, and not asking them to think, they’ll be like the perfect robots of Garian.” 

Just as the parents finish their sentence. Two huge guys grabbed Ted by the arms and cuffed him to the table.

Ted remembered saying “NOOOOOOOOOO!” 

That’s all he could remember of his life down at Earth. He figured the people in Tori would be hopeless as there isn’t any hope on Earth now. As for Ted, he became one of the perfect citizens in Garian and nothing had been hurt from him since….