Citizen Zero

In Sector Nine, names were illegal. Everyone was numbered. Emotions monitored. Smiles flagged.

Citizen 1420 felt wrong. Not sad—off. Like a memory just out of reach.

One night, his monitor blinked red: “Anomaly detected.”

He froze. Thoughts are not allowed to wander. Memories must match the record.

He whispered a name he didn’t remember knowing.

“Sarah.”

The walls vibrated. A hatch opened in the floor.

He was escorted below—to the Adjustment Wing.

There, in a mirrored cell, he saw her. Eyes wide. Mute. She mouthed: “You knew me.”

They erased him that night.

Citizen 1421 was compliant.