Work Text:
I don't know how many days have passed since I stopped taking that cursed pill, I began to remember my old memories. Sometimes when I started to remember them, I could hear the sound of trains passing by or the sound of children laughing happily. Everything looks black and white and has a sad but also happy aura, maybe it came from my memories when I was a kid. Now I'm old, specifically, I'm now in my 30s, but people say I still look 20 years old, maybe it's because I rarely get angry, and they say, being angry can make you age faster.
When I was very deep in my mind, I fell asleep, and a nightmare woke me up from my sleep, I looked at the clock, "It's already 7 o'clock". My sleep was not very sound, but most of my energy have returned.
I get up from my bed and do a little warm-up before I move around, drink a bit of water, eat fruits, and then I come out of my bunker to breathe fresh air.
I see people starting to get out of their homes, some people have woken up since 6 o'clock and start to do their activities, such as sweeping, cleaning furnitures. Some are going to the office, and some are already going to the pub, even though drinking alcohol early that morning is not healthy. But, for what I care about, that's their life, why do I have to care about them.
When I finished observing, a woman watched me from across the street, she stared at me sharply, my fear began to rise.
'Did she know that I didn't take Joy?' I thought,
I immediately reached for my pocket to take the pill. Actually, I'm afraid to take the Joy pill, this pill can make me forget myself and forget everything, but not everything if I only drink just one pill, why would I be afraid if I'm only taking one pill? I am so paranoid.
I took the pill, but I chose to take two pills because, this place is full of Downer detectors, and the situation is going to be very bad if I didn't realise that I turned on the alarms and be shocked by the Spankers.
As soon as I take the pills, everything looks very colorful with the appearance of a rainbow in the sky. I began to feel happy, but this happiness is only false happiness and all these colors are just the hallucinatory effects of Joy pill that I drank.
No one thinks I'm suspicious because I have put on my happy face, even though this is all just delusions.
People might've asked,
'Why am I like this?
How did I get to this point right now?
What is happening to me?'
Actually, I want to ask myself the same thing, but I also don't have the answers and the reasons.
It started from a very long time ago, but I will keep it short.
At that time England was at war with Germany in the Second World War and lost, and there was no other way to surrender than if parents wanted to give up their children.
Of course, many people who wanted independence had no choice and were forced to give up their children to Germany.
At that time I was still around 14 years old and my brother, Percival, or better known as Percy, was 15 years old. Our parents were forced to give us to Germany, and at that moment, me and Percy were at the train station. Because at that time my mind was just about playing around, I was separated from my brother.
"Arthur! Arthur, where are you?!" Percy shouted
I did not answer back and continued to run through the crowd. Percy kept shouting,
"Arthur! Come back! Where are you!?! Arthur!"
But I still didn't answer and when the train was about to leave, I heard Percy's last shout.
"Arthur! Arthur!"
But it was too late
The train left for Germany and that was the last time I saw Percy.
Time passed very quickly and a lot of memories that I don't remember anymore. Many people are still depressed about the incident. Then came the pill from who knows who's the name of the maker, I do not really remember, I think it was Verloc or something, and the pill was called Joy, he said the pill can make people forget the dark past.
I also take the pills and continue my life happily and forget everything, I feel like someone who has just come back to life.
Until one day, I got a job in an editorial office that sorted out the news that if it needed to be published or censored and discarded.
I accidentally found an article about me and Percy, that we won a competition to collect scrap metals that can be melted back into material for making war machines. The article returned my memory of what had happened at the train station.
I began to hear Percy's screams,
"Arthur! Arthur, where are you?!"
I heard the scream repeatedly, and my head began to hurt. I took the pill bottle beside me and thought,
'Should I drink my Joy or not?'
And I decided not to and remember the incident, then everything went blurry and I fainted on my desk.
How many hours have passed and my boss, Miss Victoria Byng came to see me and asked me why I hadn't come out of my office since 10 and asked if I had forgotten to take my Joy pills, I answered no and she reminded me to come to the meeting room because of a colleague's birthday party and they have a piñata. I finish a little bit of my work and I get out of my office.
I had a chance to check out Prudence's room, my colleague who was away for a very long vacation, and I began to suspect why she had simply gone missing on "holiday".
I arrived at the meeting room and saw my colleagues hitting a piñata, Ms. Byng gave me a broom to hit the piñata and spurts of blood came out of that object and I saw that it was a rat that I had killed, not a piñata.
They ate the insides of the rat's stomach and I feel nauseous. Ms. Byng approached me and she said that I didn't take my Joy, she offered me a pill but I refused, and she immediately called the security to arrest me.
The officers were chasing me to the basement until I was unconscious and now here I am. Standing among insane people taking hallucinogenic pills and my journey is still so long until I can finally meet my dear brother, Percy, and I miss him very much.