It often changes around us

The dark sky was slowly making its appearance on this cool, spring night and several people were walking past the shops on Arms Street. It wasn't always called Arms Street, in fact he remembered it used to be Garden Avenue not that long ago. Then again, it was hard for him to keep up with all of these changes. He felt a vibration from his device and observed a notification prominently displaying an urgent message.

Samuel's Market will no longer sell Milk and other assorted dairy products. Click here for the full list.

While glancing at this message, he noticed the time change from 6:07PM to 6:06PM. For most of his life, the time would count up but one day, it just started counting down with a brief explanation informing everyone that Global Informatics decided this would be a more efficient way of telling time. No early notice had been given. It just happened and yet everyone accepted it without protest, at least it seemed that way.

People just went on with their lives as if nothing happened. While shifting his glance away from the device and towards the street, he didn't think about why this change had occurred in the first place. And nobody spoke about it. It almost didn't make any sense.

And yet, there was a widespread feeling of unease. It seemed to be reluctantly accepted by everyone. Only...he didn't quite see it this way. Asking questions was usually met with a combination of dull confusion and apathy. The other day he asked someone at the pseudo coffee shop how they felt about the new caffeine ordinance. They simply replied with a small gesture; that of their right eye almost closing, indicating miscommunication.

This seemed to be a pattern to Robert. And there wasn't much variation in people's reactions. Has the world really become this desensitized to everything? It sure seemed that way. While the sky grew dark, another alert went off on a giant screen, informing the public of a planned nightly surveillance, due to start tonight. A video now played on the screen, showing a couple of aerial drones called Nighthawks flying through the air. The video panned from their point of view which contained a HUD, or Heads-Up-Display, that scanned walking pedestrians and various vehicles as they travelled through the city. Outlines of these figures were scanned from the HUDs and multiple pieces of data sat adjacent to the traces that were formed.

Somehow this became the new normal. There were rumors of these supposed watches that would take place but Robert thought it was just that...a rumor and nothing more. Now that this was planned to happen, he would think that there would be some type of reaction and yet nobody seemed to care, at least not on good old Arms Street, the former Garden Avenue from Robert's memory. It was business as usual.

Simultaneously, he now heard a whirling sound in the distance. It was growing closer and as he looked up, he could see an oval formation of lights not too high above him. The formation seemed to be hovering, as if watching his movements. Then it produced a loud amplified siren with the oval of lights now flashing in a brightly colored spectrum.

The sudden horror now filled him with dread as he now realized this oval was indeed a Nighthawk. It quickly descended and within a few seconds, it stared Robert right in the face. Nobody in the street paid any attention to this scene.

"Do not move. Officials are on the way. Please wait for their arrival." The voice from the Nighthawk actually sounded so human and yet it was cold and lifeless. Robert was nervous but he still obeyed its command. Less than a minute later, a black vehicle, obviously from the authority branch, had arrived and a couple of stocky figures emerged from it.

"Come with us." Said one of the men.

"What is this all about?" Robert asked inquisitively.

"We'll explain on the way. Please don't make this difficult."

He complied by getting into the backseat of their vehicle. The two figures soon joined him by sitting up front and then he heard a couple of clicking sounds. Then the vehicle made a sharp one hundred eighty degree turn in the middle of the street and quickly darted off into the distance.

It was now flying down the street, zipping past various other vehicles without hesitation. This whole scene didn't seem to make any sense to Robert.

"Where are you taking me?" He felt compelled to ask after sitting in the backseat silently for nearly a minute.

"We have been instructed to take you to the adjustment center."

"What is the adjustment center?"

"Its where you're going. We don't make the decisions."

"Why am I going there?"

"Because it has been decided for you. That is all we can tell you for now."

Robert knew better than to continue probing them for more questions.

A few minutes later, they had arrived at a dimly lit building with a sign on the front of it that read "Center of Adjustments".

Didn't this use to be a library?

He didn't know when this change took place but he knew this was indeed a town library not too long ago. The vehicle stopped near the front entrance and the two stocky figures got out to escort Robert. They led him towards the large double doors of the front entrance. When they reached them, one of the officers waved a keycard a few inches away from a scanner next to the right door. As it flashed green, a buzzing sound went off and the officer opened the door to allow them entry into the building.

Robert's memory was indeed correct. He recognized this place at once when they stepped into the main hallway. In his recollections, there used to be rows of bookshelves lined up everywhere. Now, the room was divided into sections containing narrow entrances, which he remembered were called cubicles at one time before being replaced by open spaces. He couldn't see inside the cubicles since the walls were nearly touching the ceiling.

A tall man wearing a white coat now appeared from the maze of cubicles.

"Follow me." He said rather plainly.

After making a series of left and right turns through the maze, the tall man motioned for them to enter one of the sections. The space inside was minimal where it contained a single reclining leather chair that was bolted to the ground, a screen mounted to the wall across from it and a wooden table possessing several drawers.

"Please have a seat." Said the tall man while motioning to the chair.

Robert slowly approached the chair and upon resting on it, he felt straps holding down his hands and feet. Their grip was rather tight and uncomfortable. Once the restraints were in place, the tall man motioned for the two officers to leave.

"Don't be scared. These are just to make your experience more pleasant."

But Robert was now a little scared. Here he was sitting inside what used to be a library that was converted into some type of "adjustment center" as the officers had called it. Now he was restrained inside a small space and he had no idea what this all meant.

"You're probably wondering why you're here. Well I'll explain. It has been brought to our attention that you are not quite adjusting properly."

"Adjusting to what?" Robert asked quickly.

The tall man gave him a blank stare before answering this question, as if his patience was being tested.

"I think you know what I'm talking about Robert. Do I have to remind you of your recent inquiries or can we just both agree that we're on the same level?"

It took Robert a moment to comprehend what this man was referring to but things were slowly starting to make sense. He slowly shook his head in acknowledgement.

"Good. I really prefer not to argue with people, it just makes things easier." The tall man slowly walked over to the table and opened the top drawer. He reached inside and pulled out what seemed to be a syringe.

"Hopefully you're not afraid of needles." As the tall man approached him, he noticed a small metallic ball immersed inside some type of liquid. "This will only sting for a second and it'll be fine."

"What are you giving me?" Robert asked nervously.

"The adjustment." Said the tall man definitively. "This will make things easy for you moving forward." He quickly jabbed Robert's right arm with the syringe. He did it rather forcefully and after several seconds the needle was removed.

As the tall man went to discard the needle into a container mounted against the cubicle wall, he then reached for a rectangular object sitting on the corner of the table.

"You're now going to watch a short video that will help you understand things more easily."

The tall man then left the cubicle and then pulled out a device from his pocket. Upon tapping his device, the lights in the space went out and the screen on the wall displayed an icon of a shield with the words Semper Incedendo written across it.

A random collage of images began flashing behind the shield. Some of them portrayed people walking down city streets, using public transportation, hiking through forests and even smiling at a restaurant. A voice started speaking as the collage continued.

"You want to enjoy life. We...want you to enjoy life too. We...want to help you. We...are here for you." Now an image of an older couple sitting together on a park bench was displayed. The woman slowly rested her head on the right shoulder of the man sitting next to her. A sunset stretched across the horizon, overlooking what appeared to be a bay sitting in front of them.

Robert began to feel a slight numbing sensation flow through his body. His hands felt a little tingly but yet he remained calm, albeit somewhat sedated.

"You may notice some changes. You may feel...some changes. That's ok. You are ok."

Now the video showed a young man jogging on the track inside a stadium with a smile on his face.

"You can still live a normal life. We're here to give you a normal life."

Then the video transitioned to the young man standing at what appeared to be a bar. He stood next to a young woman and they were both engaged in some type of conversation. They were each holding a glass of liquor.

"You're not alone. You'll find a place where you belong."

The slight numbing sensation somehow allowed his mind to relax. Robert didn't hear any questions run through him, which he still found a little odd given these circumstances. It was a weird yet satisfying feeling.

"Enjoy your life. Experience it. Live it."

As that last sentence was spoken, Robert felt the restraints from the chair return to their slots. The tall man now returned to the cubicle and pressed a button to light up the room again. He used his hands to gesture towards the cubicle's exit.

"You can leave now." He said coldly.

Robert got up from the chair and slowly walked out of this space. At the exit, he found the two officers waiting and they led him back to the black vehicle parked outside the front entrance. Several minutes later, they dropped him back off onto Arms Street.

When Robert got out of the vehicle, one of the officers spoke to him. "Have a good night." He said with a chuckle.

After he closed the door, the vehicle soon sped down Arms Street and disappeared into the night.

The tingling in Robert's hands grew a little stronger and then he felt one of his cheeks tighten. He wasn't curious as to why this had all happened but instead felt compelled to continue walking down the street towards his original destination, which was his apartment. With each step, he now began to feel this sensation in his feet too and it continued to be felt for the rest of his walk.

The next morning, Robert was standing online at his usual pseudo coffee shop. While standing online, he stared off into the distance, not really focusing on anything in particular. Behind him, he could hear a muffled voice speaking and at first, he could not interpret the words. He slowly turned around and saw a young woman looking at him.

"This caffeine ordinance is really something else!" The young woman said rather quickly. Robert's right cheek began to tighten and he felt his right eye slightly close while staring at the woman blankly.