When they took the hood off again, I was in a cell.

I gently massaged my legs, hissing as the blood came back into them and into my hands. Eventually I was able to stand, and then to pace. I heard other people talking, crying, shouting. I did some shouting too: “Jolu! Darryl! Vanessa!” Guards shouted at us to be quiet and that just made everything louder. The next thing I knew, a woman with a gruff scowl on her face and a severe haircut was slamming my cell door open. Without a word she tossed in a pair of white scrubs then motioned for me to come out.

They’d taken me from my cell and chained my wrists and ankles together. I paid attention to my surroundings as we went. I heard water outside and thought that maybe we were on Alcatraz — it was a prison, after all, even if it had been a tourist attraction for generations, the place where you went to see where Al Capone and his gangster contemporaries did their time. But I’d been to Alcatraz on a school trip. It was old and rusted, medieval. This place was new, white, clean. Too clean.


I was led through the hallways, around corners, turning this way and that way. Everything looked the same and there was not a single soul wandering about. Where was I? Where were my friends? Beads of sweat formed on my temples and lip. I wasn’t a prisoner, I was just a kid! Suddenly we arrived at a door and the two guards opened it and shoved me inside. “With the other Epsilons,” they asserted. What I had walked into was a giant room. An auditorium. I was in the back row of the highest section, a sea of white below me. Far away on the stage a tiny speck spoke to the crowd with a stern booming voice. I tried to listen, but the wheels were turning in my mind, planning my escape.

My head hurt and I was getting anxious. Closing my eyes and focusing on my breath, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Internet as the root of all society’s evil? This was madness! The Internet was full of wonder and limitless possibilities. Without it, where would we be in life? Without it I wouldn’t be W1n5t0n and I sure wouldn’t be Marcus. Right then I felt a fire burn up inside me. Who could believe the nonsense that was spilling out of this man’s mouth? I just wanted to be home, on my bed, SchoolBook on my lap, playing Harajuku Fun Madness.

I knew I had to get out. But how? There was one thing that was going to help me do it -- technology.