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The cell was a dank, dark place, every inch of it a dull gray, smelling of rotten things and the putrid fragrance of death.
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The girl slumped against the wall, wrists and ankles secured with a thick cord, keeping her completely and utterly trapped, incapable of moving the slightest bit. The white frock cloaking her figure, so downright stunning just a day before, tattered and smeared with the mystery fluid puddled on the cement flooring, dried blood, and dirt.
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She wasn't going to lie to herself; she knew exactly why she was where she was. She had said something she wasn't supposed to, gone against the carefully formulated statutes of the system that controlled all; she gave the people, enslaved and manipulated by the unethical regime that handled them, hope. And hope was a very dangerous thing.
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The door opened, and in came a tall, brooding man who, at a glance, seemed to be maybe in his late thirties. The moonlight pouring in from the tiny window bathed him in a silver luster as he carefully closed the door behind him and took great care in sitting himself directly across from the glowering girl.
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"What do you want?" She was the first to break the uneasy silence, her voice hoarse yet full of a ferocity that could not be tamed.
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"Oh, Ms. Aloise, what you must understand is that it's not what I want but what I need," he clicked the button atop a miniature device in his hand before raising his eyes to tack her face with his glare. "Now, what I need is to ask you a few questions; call it an interview if you will..."
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"Untie me," Aloise lifted her bound wrists.
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"You know I can't do that," the man scowled before continuing on. "First thing first, I need to know your full name."
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"Aloise Lissette Barrett."
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"Age?"
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"Why do you need to know?"
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"Age?"
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She grimaced, mumbling under her breath before answering him.
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"Seventeen."
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"Date of birth?"
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"September Fourteenth."
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"Parent's name and age as well as siblings?"
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"Annalise Carole Barrett, thirty-nine, Benjamin Leo Barrett, forty, Olivia Willow Barrett, fourteen, and Andrew James Barrett, eleven."
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"Where do you live?"
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"The west side of the agricultural precinct.
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"Height and weight?"
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"How is this relevant?"
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"Just answer the question, sweetheart."
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"Five-foot-three and one hundred pounds."
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"Such a small girl yet such a large temper," the man fixed his firm gaze on the girl as she stared right back, lips pressed into a line and eyes filled with valor that showed him that she was in no way intimidated by him. "Let's start with the real questions, shall we?"
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"Please, enlighten me," Aloise's tone was laced with venom as she crossed her arms, refusing to concede defeat.
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"What made you think to say what you did in the courtyard this morning?"
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"Because I should be allowed to voice what I think. It's called free will. Though you've probably never heard of it."
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"Ms. Barrett, what you don't understand is that our system is a very well-constructed institution, created flawlessly to govern the population and keep it in control. It is created entirely to protect humanity..."
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"You've got to be kidding me..." Aloise barked a laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "Protect humanity? That is the biggest lie that I've ever heard."
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"You are walking on very thin ice, Ms. Barrett; you don't seem to understand that you are jeopardizing your entire future. Every word that you say to me is being documented and surveyed by executives that have more authority and money than you have ever known in your entire life. And they could very well end your life right here and now if they wanted to; terminate every person you've ever known and wipe every trace of your existence from this world. It would be like you were never born."
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"You know what? I have a question for you, Mr. Reporter," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Why is it that you seem afraid of me when apparently it should be the other way around? If you truly think that your administration is powerful enough to control the population, then how come it seems that I'm a threat to your system? What are you scared of? That the people you've mind controlled into doing your bidding will finally start to think for themselves...?"
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"Listen here, little girl!" the man barked, reaching forward to shove her shoulders against the wall, fury carved across his features, radiating off of him. "If you think for one second that you are going to stir up some sort of rebellion then you are harshly mistaken. If you even take a stab at rebelling, we will eliminate every single person that you care for, or worse, bring in your family and annihilate them before your own eyes. We can do just about whatever we need to do to restrain you, Ms. Barrett."
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Aloise cocked her head, a mocking smile present on her lips as she calmly replied. "It must be a fragile system if it can be threatened by a little girl."
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And just like that, the man stood, clicked off the recording device, and stepped outside the cell door.
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"This interview is over."
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