[Year 10 | 2262-63]
Artur’s tenth year was a blur. The child was simply not sleeping; every time his body started to drift away, his mind pulled him back from the brink of sleep, thanks to vivid nightmares. These were no recurring dream, but they all followed the same pattern: a person one was strapped to a chair. Guards kicked and punched the defenceless man whose face was torn, broken and swollen. Sometimes the nightmares showed Artur his dad; other times, his mum; and occasionally, random people in the slums that Artur has no recollection of. Regardless of who he saw in his nightmares, at the tender age of nine, Artur knew that these nightmares were inspired by his dad’s torture the boy bore witness to.
Each and every week, Artur still met with his doctor. He has not told his mum what he saw; he was given a stern warning that his Nanny chip would report such conversations to YutopiCorp. While he still believes that if he were to end up in a re-education centre, he could find and somehow rescue Dad, it was pointed out that Mum would be more likely to suffer the consequences of such a decision. Artur does not want to be left alone.
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