Chapter 1 |The Day The Computer Crashed|

Lily’s POV:

1,9,__,20AA (Monday September 20 2070)

I slowly opened my eyes to find my room completely dark. I climb out of bed and expect the lights to turn on like they always do but for some reason they don’t. I walk towards the door of my room and walk right into it. “Ow. Computer what’s going on?” I ask but there’s no response. “Computer?” I ask again, still nothing. I find the emergency handle and open the door. The windows in the hallway are open and sunlight pours in. I walk down stairs into the kitchen and nothing is working. Then I realized what happened. “The power is out.” I say almost not believing it. I’m shocked because this has never happened before or at least not in my lifetime. I head back to my room to get dressed but since the computer always picks out my clothes I don’t know what to do. So I just stood there staring at my dresser for a minute or 2. I finally decide to just pick something at random so I close my eyes and grab a shirt out of my drawer. I do the same thing for the rest of my clothes then quickly get dressed and look at myself in the mirror. I’m wearing a light pink dress shirt, dark purple jogging pants and knee high yellow socks pulled over the pants. I walk back down stairs, grab a piece of bread, put on my running shoes (after trying to figure out how to get the drawer open) and walk into the woods. I eat the bread and walk deeper into the woods for about 10 minutes when I see another human. 

Scarlet’s POV:

I open my eyes and check my watch. It's 6:00 am. I climb out of bed and walk over to my box full of clothes. I dig through it and find a black short sleeve shirt, a pair of black leggings, a forest green sweater, and dark gray socks. I change into my clothes, slip on my favorite black boots and grab my bag. I leave my room and walk through the halls of the rebel base that is my home. Rebels are people who don’t believe in allowing the computer to control your life. Being a rebel is enough to get you sentenced to life in prison. Which is why we live hidden underground. I walk inside the kitchen, grab a bowl of oatmeal, quickly eat it and wash the dishes leaving them to dry, then I head off into the woods. 

After around half an hour of walking I hear someone crashing loudly through the forest. I’m only around 5 minutes from town and no rebel would be that loud so whoever they are they probably aren’t friendly. I quickly climb a tree until I’m about 7 feet off the ground. High enough that I won’t be seen and low enough that I can jump down without getting hurt to escape if I need to. A few seconds later a teenage girl wearing the oddest outfit walks into view finishing a piece of bread. 

“The person who programmed the computer must have not had any fashion sense.” I say

Lily’s POV:

“The person who programmed the computer must have not had any fashion sense.” I look in every direction for the voice.

“Who said that?” I ask, my voice trembling. 

“Up here.” The mystery voice says. I turn around in the direction I came from, glance up and see the soles of a pair of black boots hanging over the tree branch. I look a little higher and see a girl who looks around 15. Her light brown hair, that’s a little past shoulder length, is in pigtails. She's wearing black leggings and a dark green sweater that let her blend in perfectly with the still green leaves. If she hadn’t spoken I wouldn’t have ever noticed her.

“No one ever looks up. That’s why it’s the perfect hiding place.” She says, then jumps out of the tree with the gratefulness of an olympic gymnast landing right in front of me.

“Wow, you are really good.” I say

“Uh…Thanks?” She seems a little confused by the complement.

“My name is Lily.” I say, holding out my hand to shake.

“I’m Scarlet but my friends call me Scotty.” She says and ignores my outstretched hand.

“It is nice to meet you Scotty.” I say

“Scarlet,” She corrects “You’re not one of my friends. And what is with your outfit?” 

I look down at my clothes. 

“The power went out at my house so I had to choose my own clothes.” I say. Scarlet looks at me over scrutinizingly and raises her eyebrow.

“And you chose that?” She says

“I didn’t think it’s that bad.” I say

“Well, you’re wrong.” Scarlet says then she starts to walk deeper into the woods and I follow her.

Scarlet’s POV:

“Well you’re wrong.” I say then turn around in annoyance and start heading in the direction of home. Lily being the annoyingly friendly girl that she is, decides to follow me. Her messy curls bounce up and down slightly with each step.

“Could you slow down?” she asks, getting farther and farther behind me with each step.

“Why are you following me?” I ask, not slowing down at all.

“Because I want to know where you are going.” She says

“Home.” I say

“Home is in the other direction.” she says

“Oh, so miss I-haven’t-made-a-decision-in-my-life-because-a-computer-does-it-for-me actually knows something.” I mutter angrily under my breath.

“What did you say? I’m afraid I did not hear you. Could you repeat that?”

“I said your home is that way.” I say pointing behind us “And my home is this way.” I point in front of me this time.

“There aren’t any towns that way.” She says

“I never said there was a town this way. I said that my home is this way.” I push a branch out of the way and let go accidentally hitting Lily in the face.

“Ow,” she says, rubbing her nose. “If your home isn’t a town then where do you live?” I suddenly stop and spin around.

“I have a great idea.” I say with the most obviously fake happy attitude ever. “How about you go home and don’t come anywhere near me again.”

“Why would I do that when you invited me to come see where you live?” 

“I didn’t invite you to come see where I live! I tried to walk away from you and you won’t stop following me!” I yell angrily at her.

“Oh… well then I guess I’ll head back to my home then. Bye.” She sounds upset and offended all at the same time. Then she stomps away alerting the birds until birds over a kilometer away probably know exactly what she’s doing. I huff angrily then start to continue back home when I see a rabbit watching me. I pause and calm down at seeing how peaceful it is then I grab my sketchbook and pencil. I sit down slowly so I don’t startle the bunny and sketch it.

Which unfortunately means that I’m still here when Lily returns. I hear her stomping through the forest from far away, and unfortunately so does the bunny, who looks frightened, then quickly hops away before I’ve finished my drawing. I glare at Lily when she finally comes into view. 

“Oh, great,” I say sarcastically. “You’re back.” She looks at me petulantly, sighs, then begrudgingly apologies. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t have acted like that, it was rude of me.”

“What do you want?” I ask, seeing through her trick immediately.

“What do you mean?” she asks, faking confusion. I raise my left eyebrow at her.

“Okay, fine. I got lost and can’t find my way back to my house.”

“So?” I ask, not understanding what she wants from me.

“I need help getting back.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“I want you to help me get back home.”

“I don’t know where you live. Just ask your perfect computer to do it for you or whatever. It’s not my fault you got yourself lost in the woods.”