Never argue, never stand up for yourself, and absolutely never question what is happening before you. That is the law. Just do as you are told and no harm will come to you. This is the way our society conforms. Ever since Jeremiah Lancaster became leader. He is the one who makes the rules and he is the one who tells us what to do; we aren’t allowed to think for ourselves, for it is dangerous. This is why I am going to die.

I am going to die because I refuse to conform for Lancaster. He is not my leader, and he never will be. Don’t ask me what snapped in my mind, because I don’t really know, but it just kind of snapped out of nowhere. It took me a minute to actually register that the way we live, the way we have to hide our true selves in order to stay free…was wrong.

Now here I stand, in cuffs and shackles, before the man himself. All because I refuse. I refuse to do as I am told and stay silent, so I am going to speak my mind and he won’t stop me. Never. The thing is, the room was completely pitch black with not even a glimmer of light. I found it strange…maybe I am blindfolded? Or possibly they took my sight…or maybe even the lights were just plainly put out.

An eardrum-shattering noise erupted from my far right and the room suddenly filled with blinding light. In all honesty, I don’t really know how long I have been in the room or if I have even had food.

“Jericho Morison, Lancaster will see you now,” a man’s smooth voice echoed into the empty room.

Two men came in and grabbed me by my arms, standing me up. I hadn’t even realized I was in a ball. They walked me into the light, I squinted my eyes, the brightness burning them. We walked quietly down a pure white hall; I heard voices from ahead of us and I lunged back, recognizing the deep, calm voice of Lancaster.

Turning into a large doorway, I fought hard to get out of the people’s grips, so hard my biceps were bruising. I cried out in terror, not wanting to go into the room. I wasn’t ready to die. Then all of a sudden there was a sharp pain in my side, then absolutely nothing. My mind whirled and I couldn’t focus; I hadn’t even realized that I stopped fighting. They walked me to a cold leather couch and sat me down on it. My mind felt fuzzy, and all my limbs were heavy and limp. I looked around the room, my eyes seeming to be drooping, though they weren’t. Lancaster stood above me and I gripped the chair trying to get away from him, but I wasn’t moving. He stepped back and sat in a chair, all the while looking at me calmly. His suit was dark grey with a pale, sea foam green tie and he held the same clipboard he always did and he smiled down at me.

“Miss Morison, I apologize, but we had to give you a sedative to calm you, so you wouldn’t fight our nurses. How are you feeling today? Are you still being held by the vile Lancaster? Or are you here with us, here in the institute?” he asked me.

I spit at him and lunged out of the chair, and almost instantly there was a needle in my side and my vision faded to blackness…Lancaster had once again won.