WINNERS

Jase, Don, and Emma were the winners of 2040, 2042 and 2043 contest that happens every two years. Their lives became a living dream, a magnificent villa for them and their respective families, interviews, roles in movies, fashion shows... You would know that because you could see them everywhere you went. In the billions of screens everywhere in every town of every city, you could see them at your home; partying on your TV but mostly you could see them on what they live by; Social Media.

Aida knew personally one of the winners: Emma, she was her friend. At least before all of this. Emma had Instagram before she was born, her mom’s echography was her first post. Ecographys give out a lot of likes these days, everyone likes a cute baby. Not yet born even. Emma was the perfect candidate for the contest, she was drop-dead gorgeous, really popular and could wear anything. There was only a period when she was only 14 years old where she “rebelled” for a year, that rebellion was hidden by her parents and explained on her file as a “year of discovery in a foreign country” in reality, she was locked in her room from the moment she got that outrageous tattoo; it was a bird that she got on her shoulder, it was a Robin. Only Aida knew about this, they used to communicate by letters when Emma was a prisoner. She kept all the letters. Now, Emma is one of the most cherished winners of the contest and has probably so many letters from her fans that Aida’s letters are probably in the trash. Only Aida noticed how Emma managed to hide her tattoo for the world, one of the rules to participate is no singular sign of difference on the body. She thus always wore sleeves.

Aida also wanted to win the contest, or maybe she did, she was not sure. What she knew was that her mother wanted her to participate so badly when her dad left. The day he abandoned his family was the day her mother posted her first picture. Empathy is good for likes, but not too much, I mean no one likes a sad girl, but they do enjoy a story. She was fit for the contest, looked a bit mature for a 14-year-old girl but not too much, which was perfect. She was never the rebellious type and kind of let her mother decides for her. The only thing that she did without her mother’s consent was reading. She read a lot, her dad’s book collection was full and very rare. You see, children nowadays, they... well they don’t read a lot. It was declared that school was not appropriate as they led to rebellion. So children are self-taught. Their parents teach them to read, write... However, most of the time, the only education that is taken seriously is how to manage to have 100K on Instagram. Therefore, books are old and often stay on the shelves.

Aida knew that her mother struggled to keep the fridge full and her winning the contest would change their lives, she owned that to her mother, or at least that’s what she told her mother, her biggest motivation to win was so her dad would see her. That, she kept for herself. She hated him but she wanted to remind him that she exists. She wanted that every day of his (surely) miserable life he sees her everywhere he went, that he sees his guilt standing on a screen every day. Aida’s mother saw her chance when she got 100K on Aida’s first post, she was only 10 years old then. Grief works great on her Instagram personality. The likes conversion would be equivalent to at least 20 points. To be selected to participate in the contest you needed a sponsor, and you can get sponsors for 50 points.

By the age of 14, she had a sponsor, it was a brand of trendy umbrellas that she would promote on her Instagram, rainy days were her paydays.

When the day came, a black limo came to pick her up. The drive lasted a few hours as she lived in the suburbs, she always dreamed about the big city and was dreaming about her walk through the building when the car stopped, the door opened as she wondered if someone was driving or if it was just another “magic” car as she called it. The door opened directly in a room, it was an office, so clean and so white that you could not differentiate the desk from the ceiling. She thought that if God had an office, it would look like this.

A robotic-like voice of a woman interrupted her thoughts: “SUBJECT 345, STEP UP”. So she did. Right then appeared a “flying camera”, she though. A drone came into the room and analyzed every part of her body by flying around her a few minutes. It almost looked like the drone had eyes. She felt uneasy. The drone looked everywhere, I mean really everywhere, she reckoned. The drone stopped suddenly as if his piercing eyes could read her thoughts too.

The screen started to calculate her cumulated points and her number of “friends”. It took a few minutes for the voice to finally say:” Congratulations, Aida. You have the chance to participate.” She felt relieved, Mother will be so happy. She also felt a bit scared, but she didn’t know why. The voice added “You only need to complete the confidentiality contract that will be displayed on the screen. Do not worry, it is easy, you just have to say your full name.”

She never signed contracts without her mother. She wondered why the contract was not explained to her because most of her friends could not read properly, You see as her friends would have very little understanding of confidentiality contract, needless to say, that they all had no idea of what they were put into before accepting. A bird voluntarily flying into a cage, lured by a shining fake diamond.

So she did read the contract as the voice was getting impatient:” You must say your full name to sign the confidentiality contract.”
The last line said, “At 18 years of age, the Subject will give their legal image consent and Jones will be erased.”

“Erase my last name?” She thought. My dad’s name. He’s abandoned me anyway, I couldn't care less about his name.”

“AIDA VERONICA JONES,” She said with pride.

The door behind her opened and she found that same black car again. She wouldn’t be able to see the city.

Aida was excited to hear about the rest of the procedure, she had not heard about the contest for 4 days now.

Until one day that she got a text message :

Rule n1: If Subject talks about rules, Subject should be eliminated

Rule n2: If Subject shows signs of rebellion, rudeness, non-respect for society’s laws, subject be should be eliminated.

Rule n3: No winners without losers.

Before she could even think about those rudimentary rules she heard a buzzing sound like an insect trying to get to her brain. She recognized the noise, it was the two creepy eyed-drones. Except that this time, he brought his twin.

Two drones were following her everywhere she went, two pairs of eyes everywhere, she had no privacy and the buzzing sound was starting to get unbearable. She heard it when she was eating, went to the bathroom, even in her sleep.

The drone’s eyes became more and more real. She started to think that she was losing her mind as she saw those eyes in the middle of everyone’s face. One walking down the street would have those drone creepy piercing eyes, even her mother when she dared to come to her room (she didn’t want to get in the way of the camera.)

Also, she realized that her belongings were changed, moved, gone. She couldn’t find her old fluff, all her clothes were different they were all brands. She felt like her whole personality was taking away from her.

The contest was everywhere. In her street, all the screens of the town were a big countdown, they counted the possible winners left, “12”. “11”.

That’s when she realized it. It was all a game. She became what they wanted her to be and was seen as another subject, a “number”.

That’s when she saw him. It was this guy, she saw him on Tv the other day. It was one of the possible winners. She couldn’t remember his name. Anyways, it didn’t matter much as he was only a number, maybe “10” or “5”.

He was walking down the street with two drones behind him, he didn’t look very pleased, that’s when he pushed accidentally an old lady in his way. The lady stopped still and looked at him walking past her without even looking back at her or saying “sorry”. The drones also stopped still and fell to the ground suddenly. They broke into million pieces. The countdown was now changing to “10”. He was out.

She thought about her friend. Emma. She now started to realize that the contest should have broken her long lost friend. Maybe she can’t even contact me, she though. She wanted to see her, she wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Yesterday she was 18. Every birthday she thought of her, but 18 was important. It was an adult age. She turned on her screen to see her, Emma was always seen on some stream, 24/7h. She ended up on some dramatic soap opera and saw her friend. She still looked the same. She didn’t age. But that’s when she saw it.

Suddenly a wave of chills, feeling like cold knives ran through her body. She stood terrified and found herself stuck, she couldn’t move.

“Emma, what have they done to you.”

She left her house, started to walk. She had not thought of where she was going but she just kept ongoing. Emma always wore sleeves. She always had to hide that tattoo. Only now she didn’t.

Aida walked without looking back, she couldn’t even hear those terrific buzzing sound anymore. She just needed to get away. Her tattoo.

Emma’s shoulders were empty and she seemed to be empty of her personality, of her freedom.

“At 18 years of age, the subject will give us his legal image rights and Jones will be erased.”

Did Aida begin to understand? Yes, she did. Of course, she did. Because you probably did too. Does it bother you? Aida wasn’t the rebellious type I told you. She watches, thinks and only thinks, Aida is not a hero. She was not going to rebel against this unhealthy way of life, against this dictatorship.

Does that remind you of someone? If it bothers you it is maybe because Aida is you. Aida sees, knows but doesn’t act. She closes her eyes and ignores.
She started to run, she ran as fast as she could, got down the street though the drones were gone. She stopped and though.

Erased, erased. They killed her, Emma has become an image, a computer-generated image. She’s gone and if I win, I will die.

Children here are cherished, they are loved, for what they promote. However, at 18 years old, you become physically too mature so they kill you.

Aida heard the buzzing sound. This oppressive, terrifying sound of her freedom taken from her.

She waited that the lights in front of her turned red, took a deep breath, and crossed the road. As she crossed she heard the sound of the drones breaking on the floor.