I woke up feeling dizzy as if I was hit straight in my head before I went unconscious. I blinked twice,white ceilings was the first thing I noticed, secondly, I started to absorb the fact and flashbacks which crashed toward me uncontrollably like an ocean wave. I was ill, justified by my parents who sent me here in this white room with nothing but a bed, white-padded well and myself. I sat up straight, looked around the room, looked down on my hands and realized something unusual on my wrist. My clear skin was full of suicidal scars, which was usual but among those straight lines, appeared a small green square chip embed in my skin, not too deep but visible enough for me to notice. We all had one chip in our bodies when we were born but it was invisible somewhere in our brains. So this visible chip was counted as my second chip and I didn’t even know what it was for and where did it come from.

          Then the knock came from the opposite white-padded wall which I guess on the other side must be a metal door from the sound I heard. I didn’t flinch or panic as I always was. That was weird but I guess maybe that was how the chip worked. Came in the room was a woman with a kind face, I felt comfortable staring at her face. She was wearing a white gown so she was a doctor—I noted.

          “Good afternoon, child, it’s 3 pm, sleepyhead, huh? Too bad you don’t know the time because there is no clock allowed here in this room.” She said with a kind face but I didn’t feel comfy with her words comparing to her face.

          “My name is Dr. Linda. I am here not to introduce myself but to introduce you to the one account system or the chip embed on your right wrist.” She continued. “One account system is the system invented here to make sure all our patients and doctors' relationships are visual, stable and trustful. To put this simply, our purpose is to build a world full of trust and honesty so we decided to visualize relationship bonds that we all can count and hold on to it. Sounds perfect, isn’t it? One chip created you one account which means each of you only got one account. The relationship was divided into 5 levels: 1) public 2) acquaintance 3) friend 4) close friend and 5) safe zone. All accounts start at level 1: public. We had an average time to request promoting our status with each other: 1) week 2) 2 months 3) 1 year 4) 3 years and 5) 5 years up.” She paused and then smiled before continued. “But if you both wanted to upgrade your status before your average time, no problem, you both can send a request to each other. We’d be glad if two accounts can get close to each other quicker than we expected. And if the system runs to an average time, you can choose to postpone promoting relationship for one month to reconsider.” It was creepy to hear she said two accounts rather than two people.

          “I hope we would get closer soon, Praewa.”

          And that was how my new life started in this system.

          Everybody I met here was rapidly recovered. Although I was here for one week and couldn’t be anywhere far except my own room and the aisle. I met Dr. Linda daily. She remained calm all the time but between that calmness of her was a cold chilly feeling that made me wanted to be far from her as possible.

          “It’s been almost one month, child. How do you feel about the system here? Did you make many friends here? Peerada, your neighbor in the section next to you is looking forward to be your close friend.”

          I remembered her, the girl with a very talkative personality and for what she desired, level 4: close friend, I thought it was way too quick to promote that. We hadn’t known each other that well.

          “I don’t think I can make it to level4 for anyone here. It is too quick. I don’t feel comfortable. Is it okay if I remain level 3 for the rest of my stay with everyone here.”

          “I don’t think that is a very great idea, child. I’ve also been looking forward for our relationship to promote to level 5: safe zone. This system isn’t made for this purpose. We improve our relationship together not to prevent and shoo our good friend away from being our best friends. ” Dr. Linda said and narrowed her eyes toward me which I thought isn’t a good sign.

          “Well, well, I think we should try something new after been stuck here for so long.”

          “One month isn’t long.”

          “That is why you’ve been sent here, child. You always think what you have and where you stand is the best you've ever gained and wished for. But, it is mentally wrong. You need to develop yourself. Push yourself a bit more for better performance and result.”

          Her words triggered me real hard. I wanted to protest, to oppose her but my mind raced so fast I couldn’t think straight. I was unimproved. I was useless. I was the one who made all these mistakes and I had been here because I caused so much trouble to all my love ones.

          Please blame everything on me.

          “Is it okay if we tried level 5, child? We talked daily and discussed a lot of things together and you know you can always tell me anything if you feel uncomfortable.”

          Dr. Linda’s voice started to spin in my brain and I slowly nodded without a second thought. I suddenly felt the tension of electricity sparked through my entire body. My brain trembled as if there was an earthquake happening. Dr. Linda’s words for the past few weeks flooded into my mind again and I felt really close to her. I felt like all the words, advice and sarcasm she talked back then were such a really funny and loveable things to hear. I felt like I should take the person in the white gown in front of me importantly.

          The last thing I could think of beforebeing brain-washed completely was the system didn’t work worldly but internallychanged the whole nervous system.

          “This isn’t…right.”

          “Oh dear, you’ll get familiar with them in a few hours. Don’t worry. Just rest and sleep tight. We’ll make sure our system will not harm you.”

          I opened the door for the first timein two months here. I remembered things clearly but didn’t feel threatenedanymore. Like what Dr. Linda and the system did to me was some silly joke thatI easily let go and apologized as well.

          “Hey, Praewa. Wanna hang out in my section?I’ll make sure this time we can talk and make it to level 4!”

          That was Peerada’s voice, my neighbor next to my section. If it was me in last month, I would have refuse her immediately but now I was changed. I was a new developed person. I was successful and ready for something new. I was cured by this system.

          “Of course, I would love to.”