You Topia
Silence. That’s all there was. The whole world was plugged in now. There were no people to run the countless schools, stores, and hospitals. There were no janitors or technicians to maintain and repair grounds or utilities. Everyone was lost in their own world, their own utopia.
Connor was utterly alone. He lived five miles from the city and there was no one, no cars, nothing. It was seven days, and no one showed up.
A storm had passed through the night before. With no one to clean it, the neighborhood was a mess. The long, T shaped street was flooded. Soaked leaves and newspapers littered the road and cluttered the storm drains. Shingles fell off roofs. An oak lay across the road, its branches piercing a streetside car’s windows. A fire hydrant, ruptured by the tree the night before, had gone from spewing to dripping. Pre-programmed sprinkler systems still sprayed, unaware of the previous night’s downpour.
But the power didn’t go out. The world was still plugged into You Topia. “Your life, your way. You Topia,” was the slogan. The promise of a world where you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want led millions to get “plugged in.” All the celebrities were talking about it. Pop stars, stuntmen, actresses and athletes glorified a world where you can be just like them. Stars showed off the earbuds that were designed to plug your mind into You Topia.
Connor watched the DVR recordings of commercials showing high schoolers making slam dunks in the NBA, regular people transformed into decorated movie stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and office workers playing on stage with a football stadium of adoring fans.

His family was in You Topia somewhere. Their bodies were here, but there were only vacant stares from them. They were in a coma-like state, a trance that couldn’t be broken. He sat by his mother and father, whose eyes were locked on some point off in the distance. He saw his sister, Caitlin, with the same gaze. As much as Connor wanted to wake them up, to shake them, to tap them on the shoulder, to put together his fingers and snap them out of it, he couldn’t. At his house, he had been working on the earbuds for seven days in an attempt to reverse-engineer them, to find out how they worked and what happened to the people after they went in. What was going on inside their heads and keeping them from breaking the trance was a mystery.

Caitlin was living the good life. She had an entourage surrounding her down the school hallways. Heads turned as she walked by. She was involved in every sport and every club and won all of the awards. She was prom queen, track star, and voted most likely to be world-famous. There was no work at school. Classes were art, music, acting, gymnastics, and PE with only games and no workouts. Assemblies, events, and field trips were held in the school everyday, and she was the guest of honor.
She should be happy. For a while, she was, but it didn’t feel right. Walking down the hallway, she started talking with Angie, one of her friends in You Topia.
“Do you like me?” she said.
Angie raised both eyebrows in disbelief. She smiled and said, “Are you kidding me? Of course!”
“But you’ve only known me for a week, and you immediately liked me as soon as I walked through the door.”
“I know tons about you.”
“Okay, what’s my…favorite color?”
“Blue.”
“Favorite animal?”
“Dogs, especially Golden Retrievers.”
“What did I get for my tenth birthday?”
“A blue Schwinn model Mesa 24-inch bicycle, a Wilson US 19-inch Junior tennis racket, and an Adidas R50 X-ite soccer ball with cleats.”
Angie just stood and expectantly waited for more questions. For a moment, Caitlin didn’t know what to say.
She continued. “What about my credit card number, social security number, and online account passwords?”
Angie spouted them off as if she had memorized them on flash cards. How did she know so much about Caitlin?
“Could you be a little less...creepy?” Caitlin said.
“Configuring artificial personality,” Angie said with a blank expression, as if in a trance. She blinked and said, “There. Is that better?”
Caitlin excused herself, saying she had to talk with one of the teachers. She slipped into one of the empty classrooms and put her head in her hands. This wasn’t real. She was only the best in every sport and every award in her own world. She was the most popular among digital creations. None of it mattered. It was her imagination, and these people weren’t real. They couldn’t be her actual friends.

What about her parents? What about Connor? Where were they in the giant world of You Topia? Were they even in it? Had she been so selfish that she left them without evening announcing it? She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t go back to the comments, the cold stares, the sneers. The “sorry, we’re looking for people a little less… obstructive.” or the, “it is more difficult to play for someone of your, um, stature.” It wasn’t her fault. She had ataxia. It was a very minor case, the doctor had said, but she did not have the coordination to play sports. Her parents were always active, and she felt guilty not to be able to run with them or go to the rec center. She felt especially guilty when they had first found it out. It was a few days after her tenth birthday. She tried to ride the bike she got for her birthday, but she couldn’t get her legs to work together. She tried to play with the new soccer equipment she had gotten, but she always tripped over the ball.

As a result, she put on weight. There was nothing she could do about it. Even when she ate right, she gained pounds. It had something to do with her metabolism. The eyes on her felt like ice, and the gap between her and others was a cold, hard wall. People cleared her path like ants scurrying away from an elephant.

In this world, she re-imagined herself as thin, blonde, and athletic and made herself the most popular person in school. Even if it wasn’t real, it was better than her old life.
She heard her phone’s alert and found a message with the subject, “All users come to the hub for seven day celebration! Transport to main hub now?” Caitlin pressed the green icon, and the light washed over her and blinded her. One by one, murmurs multiplied to a lively hum. Caitlin opened her eyes. She looked around at all of the people. Athletes, scientists, musicians, artists, socialites, and actors filled a large town square. They spoke English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Italian, and languages that she didn’t even recognize.
Before she could look around, thunderous applause filled the air, and music started to play. A man stood on a fifty-foot-high balcony at the edge of the square, and the crowd fell silent as he began to speak.
“Welcome to the celebration of You Topia’s seventh day of operation! As you know, you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want here. It’s your life, your way, You Topia! I hope you’ve enjoyed your new life, your new personas. You can be actors and actresses, celebrities and superstars, and philosophers and philanthropists. Whatever your heart’s desire is, you can be that here.”
The crowd applauded again for the man. His kind, confident smile and his perfect, upright posture captivated the audience. He made every single person feel like he was talking personally to them.
“I created You Topia to be a haven from the world’s criticisms and limits, a refuge from the expectations of your parents, friends, co-workers, bosses, and leaders. Your true identity can be free for all to see without judgement. Things you thought were only dreams can be your life.”
The smile slowly vanished from his face, and gripped the balcony railing with force.
“I’ve been dreaming of this for years. A place where you can be whoever you want. You know what I want? I want all of you to know the pain and the criticisms you placed on me. You to feel all of the pain and feel powerless. You will feel the blows that I have felt, the bruises I had, and the feeling of being isolated with no one to talk to. This my world. This is my utopia, where I can be the one to show you pain. You had seven days, the time it took for the entire world to get plugged in. Now you can’t pull out.”
The crowd turned into uproar of angry shouts. The people were raising their fists and trying to throw rocks at him.
“Silence!” he roared at the top of his lungs, leaning over the railing and looking down at the people.
The crowd froze in obedience.
The man resumed his calm but stern demeanor. He said, “Even your new personas can’t save you now.” He turned away from the audience, pressed a finger against an earpiece and said, “Seal the exits. Turn off all voice and communication features and round up the people.”
Countless numbers of uniformed people filled the square. The countless computerized no-names from the users’ fantasies rounded up people into groups and started taunting them and beating up some of the rebellious men and women to make an example of them. One of the uniformed guards was Angie. Caitlin stared into her cold, unmoving eyes, and heard Angie say, “Android status: Armed.”

A strong, heavyset guard ordered Caitlin and the others around her to kneel and face the ground with their hands on their heads. Caitlin couldn’t talk to anyone. She felt alone, just like she had felt in the real world. Suddenly light washed in over her and blinded her. She looked around her at a sight that she knew well. All the people were staring at her. They cleared out of her way as she walked by. Whispers and laughter filled the air as groups of girls looked her way. She felt even larger than she was in You Topia. Even the teachers couldn’t pull their eyes away from her.
Then the students ran towards her and yelling, “Caitlin the elephant! Caitlin the elephant!”
Like a dream, she felt like her feet were stuck in deep mud. She could barely run. She tried to reach the doors of the school, but the hallway seemed to stretch. The students surrounded her, laughed at her, called her names, and put “kick me” signs on her.
She couldn’t escape her powerlessness. Her pain followed her wherever she went. She wasn’t accepted anywhere. Just when she thought that she had found a home with endless doors and possibilities, she was forced into the cold, hard, corner. Her new life couldn’t save her. The creator of the world even said that their new personas couldn’t save them.
This was all fake. She wasn’t really this large, and people weren’t horrible to her compared to this dream. It was in her head, and the creator manufactured this to torment her. Her insecurities were all in her head and she was still playing this game of lies and self-loathing.

Then she realized that she didn’t need her persona. Just like the tormenting wasn’t real, her popularity in You Topia wasn’t real either. In You Topia, she was the queen of the school, but what did that amount to? Everyone loved her, but it wasn’t because they liked her for who she was. They were programmed to love her. She was selfish to force them to like her. It just wasn’t right. She had to go out in the real world. She didn’t care about fame and fortune. She just wanted to be home and have everything be back to the way it was. Even if she wasn’t athletic or popular, it was okay. She had to see Connor and her parents again. She felt a light wash over her, but this time it wasn’t blinding. She felt warm air wash over her instead of wind rushing towards her.
*
*
*

Connor sighed in frustration. The wiring was just too long and complex. Connor had to find out what was going on. If everyone was still in You Topia, there had to be something worth staying for, something that was too good to leave.

“Be whoever you want,” he said to himself.

He took the earbuds and from his bedside table. He looked at the earbuds, wondering if he was ready to make the next step. He put one in, and he lifted up the second one to his ear.
He heard the door opened in the next room. Caitlin walked in, bewildered. She looked at Connor, screamed “No!” and pulled the earbuds away from Connor.
“What’s going on?”
“I made it out.”
“What do you mean, ‘made it out’?”
“He’s--He’s trapped their minds. They are living their worst nightmares.”
“Hold on. Who’s got everyone trapped?”
“ Caitlin explained what had happened, both before and during the events in the square.
“What was the last thing that happened to you before you came back?”
“I needed to go home. I didn’t care about popularity or looks. I just had to go home.”
Caitlin’s earbuds were still on the bed. He picked them up and studied them. Wires, some as long as a foot, spilled out of the buds. To his horror, he understood what the wiring was for. There was only one place that the wires could go.
“The wires connect to your brain. That’s how Angie knew everything about you. That’s how the world could be created around your hopes and fears. It created what you loved and then transformed into what you hated. When you went to the square, the creator must have used an override code to change your surroundings to that nightmare,” said Connor.
“How did I escape then?” Caitlin asked.
“You were connected to You Topia by your brain’s need for it. The wires are connected to the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls your personality, especially in the regions controlling your wants and fears. It’s--It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. Who would be so malicious to mess with people’s brains and toy with them?
“We need to go back and warn the others,” Caitlin said as she grabbed the earbuds.
Connor yanked the earbuds from her grasp. “Not without a plan.” He thought for a minute. The creator of You Topia had to ear buds to enter the network like everyone else. He had to have codes to transport all of the users from their worlds to the hub. He had to have control over the androids and an override code to keep the users in You Topia.
“We have to create a kill code. It has to take down the network and transport people’s minds back to the real world. I can try to find the data log and signs of changes in the electronic pulses sent throughout the device. I can see if I can isolate the code and bring it into the server. We just have to get to the creator’s earpiece and put in the code.”
Connor hooked the earbuds’ wires into a small laptop and started to type in codes to get access to the data log. The constant clacking of the keyboard was interrupted by the occasional sound of Connor slamming his fist on the table in frustration.
After hours of typing, Connor found the code.
“You ready?” Connor said.
“Will we ever be ready for a giant, computer-generated world run by a crazy mastermind?”
“Good point.”
Connor took his laptop and plugged in his earbuds, and Caitlin did the same. He felt the floor drop from beneath him. With the blinding light, the rushing wind, and the feeling of motion and heavy G forces, Connor had to close his eyes.
The wind stopped, and the light was gone. When he opened his eyes, he saw a crowd of fans cheering and chanting, “Connor! Connor! Connor!” He looked around at the adoring fans and was blinded by the flash of the paparazzi. He looked down and saw himself with slicked back hair, a leather jacket and jeans, black shoes, and sunglasses. He didn’t know why they were cheering, but he liked it. A sleek, black stretch-limousine pulled up behind him and Caitlin. The chauffeur stepped out and said, “Mr. Connor Allen, you have a concert 7:00 and then a meeting with the President on live television.”
The chauffeur opened the door, but as Connor was making his way to the limo, Caitlin grabbed his shoulder and steered him away from the car.
“What are you doing?” Caitlin hissed.
“I’m just giving the fans what they want. A lot of people are waiting for me,” said Connor.
“What are you even talking about? Snap out of it! The creator is trying to distract you!” Caitlin said.
The sound of the applause drowned out Caitlin’s words. This was it. He could be famous. He had just the right looks, just the right walk, and just the right clothes. He was just like the musicians and actors seen on TV.
“He’s trying to take you off track! It’s not real!”
Caitlin shaked Connor to snap him out of it. They were pushing through the crowd when the cheering stopped and the former fans started to glare at the two. They were almost through when the crowd reached out and tried to grab Connor and Caitlin. The fans yelled and booed and cat-called. Connor and Caitlin pushed people out of the way, barely keeping balance from the feet stuck in their way and the pulls of the crowd. They barely broke free, running. They heard someone scream, “Get them!” Connor ran with Caitlin struggling behind from her lack of coordination. He ran back to her and put one arm under her for support. They ran into an alley near the edge of the square.
After the crowd ran passed the alley, Connor and Caitlin let out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, what’s the plan again?” Caitlin asked.
“I’m going to find the creator, take his earpiece, and insert the code. You’re going to be the distraction. You’ll rally the other users and cause a riot in the square while I sneak up on the creator.”
“How can we talk?” Caitlin asked.
Connor said, “Leaving You Topia must have broken you free from his muting. I wasn’t in here to start with, so it didn’t affect me. You have to rally these people. They have no voice, but you do.”
“A--A-Are you s-sure?” Caitlin said. Her stutter was coming back. She knew the answer. Connor was the only one with the programming knowledge. She couldn’t put in the code. She had to be the distraction. “Better l-late than never,” she said.
She walked into the middle of the square and stood on a stone bench for all the people to see.

“E-excuse me,” Caitlin said. The people were snapped out of their horrific nightmares and looked up at her. “The c--creator took away your voice. He’s trying to control you. B-but,” Caitlin took a deep breath and continued, “But you can break free. I came here to escape the world’s limits and criticisms, but I found out the only one hating me was me. It was all in my mind. I have nothing to change. I have nothing to hide. That’s the solution. I accepted who I was and I got out.”

A guard spoke into his radio. The guards grouped up and ran towards Caitlin. One man from the crowd stepped out in front of the guards. They pushed him out of the way. More men and women stepped in the way and pushed back against the guards. Soon, the entire square was swarming with guards and You Topia users fighting. Caitlin saw the guards from the balcony rushing down to control the situation. It was working.

Connor was running up a staircase to the balcony. He heard footsteps and pressed himself against the wall as the guards rushed past. With the coast clear, Connor ran through the open doorway to the balcony. The creator had his back to Connor and was looking out at the riot in the square. The creator was too busy watching and trying to control the situation to notice Connor. He was talking in his earpiece, issuing commands to the guards. Connor ran to the man and tackled him. He plugged the laptop into the earpiece, but nothing happened. Connor couldn’t remember the code. Becoming popular and “normal” had taken away his coding abilities, which he saw as nerdy and unpopular.

The creator said, “You don’t want to end this world. You’ll never get the chance to be famous. You’re trying to play hero, but you can’t. You won’t.”

The balcony was replaced with a long, narrow school hallway.

“Nerd!” “Wimp!” “Geek!” were names that were called out from seemingly nowhere. Laughter filled the air along with booing. A wide, six-foot boy with broad shoulders appeared in front of Connor. Connor felt tiny as the boy pushed him down on the ground.

“You’re nothing, you little slime. You can’t do anything,” the bully spat at Connor.

Connor tried to crawl away as the image of the bully was replaced by the creator with his earpiece intact.

“Do you really want to go back? Know one understands you. No one even notices you. You might as well be invisible. You are nothing. You won’t amount to anything.”

Connor looked at him in anger. He remembered Caitlin’s experience with this dream-like reality. It wasn’t real. All of this was the creator using Connor’s fears against him. Connor stood up, charged at him, pulled out his earpiece, and entered the override code.

A white light washed over him, and he woke up next to Caitlin. They collapsed in each other’s arms and let out a sigh of relief.
*
*
*
The world was back to normal. Everyone was back in their regular lives. You Topia was destroyed. The only one who wasn’t happy was 17-year-old Neville Crawford. His dreams were crushed. He had been bossed around and bullied all his life and it was supposed to be his turn to hurt others as the creator of You Topia. He was supposed to have his revenge, but his dream was taken away from him. What was he supposed to do now? Neville collapsed into tears.
He heard someone outside his room saying, “I tracked his IP address to this location.”
The two people who crushed his dreams walked into the room.
“What are you doing here?” said Neville.

Connor said, “You created You Topia. Before you took control, it was a perfect place for everybody. You can redeem yourself. You can make the world, the real world, a better place.”
Neville looked up to Connor, smiled, and said, “You really think so?”