What if I told you your life was a lie?
What if I said someone was controlling your life using technology?
What if I said this is happening to you right now?

“Why are there no stars anymore?” The girl in the screen asked, shivering in the brisk air whilst gazing into the night sky.
“I don’t know, but they’ve disappeared for a reason, I’m sure,” her father answered. “Now we must go back inside, it’s time to sleep.”
The girl obediently followed, eyes still locked on the plain blanket that covered her world. Her mind was racing, with possibilities of disappearing stars ricocheting through her had like rockets. The screen slowly went dark as the pair retreated to bed.
“We took out the stars in her world because they seemed to be giving her ideas of adventure,” Mikela growled, pacing back and forward in front of the blank screen and around the room. “Unfortunately, her thoughts show that her stars mysteriously vanished have persuaded her to explore more, possibly to work out why the vanished. Does anyone have any ideas how we can control her?”
“We could kill her,” someone volunteered.
A sudden muttering erupting through the control room.
“Perhaps, if worse comes to worst,” Mikela contemplated.
“Why is she such a threat anyway?” I asked, keeping my face hidden in the dark shadow of the room.
“She has too many ideas. Her thoughts of exploring and travelling.” Mikela answered automatically, waving my question away.
“So?” I pressed the matter, ignoring the glares that my colleagues were giving me.
“So…what if she finds out?! Eh? What if she finds out that someone else is controlling her surroundings, what she sees, what she hears, and that someone can see her hopes, fears and thoughts?! Do you think she’ll sit there like a good girl, hmm?” Mikela drew back from his rant and sat down in a nearby chair. “No…there’s some rebellious blood in her. If we lose control of her, there’s a chance we lose control of everyone.”
“And how would she get out of an artificial world that exists only in her head?” Everyone was gawping at me now, faces contorted with admiration and annoyance. No-one challenged Mikela.
“There have been a few…exceptional cases where people have changed states out of their mental world and back to the physical one that joins us all together,”Mikela murmured.
“Oh? How?”
“We’re not entirely sure; we just think that they know they’re being controlled. I suppose there’s just a ‘click’ and you’re back.”
Faces stared at me again, waiting for a reply.
I wasn’t going to give one. I had all the information I needed.
A few minutes later, the conversation adjusted back to the girl and how she could be dealt with. Eventually, it was concluded that she should remain alive and well, but one more threatening gesture or thought and she would die a mysterious death.
The meeting ended and I slipped outside, pulling back my hood once in the fresh air and away from the cameras. I sniggered to myself, at the through that one girl managed to cause so much chaos. How stupid they all were. Not checking who I was when I entered the room. Not investigating my identity when I asked questions. Telling me all the answers I needed.
Taking a deep breath, I smiled.
I would free that girl and cause panic amongst Mikela and others in charge. I would free everyone from their own dreams.
With that in mind, I ran, I ran to save the world.