The Joy State Mandate

**Chapter 1: The Joy State** Fifty years ago, the sky burned from nuclear war while some of the seas and rivers boiled into lifeless toxic waters. Some land was left with nuclear dust; terrains were left like a gloomy death landscape. After the nuclear war, only three big protected cities were left in America. No one knows what happened to the rest of the world. Maybe bad groups and scary gangs live outside in the dust, but nobody can check. Inside Sector 7, aka **The Joy State**, the government told the people a nice story. They said good leaders built the city to save human life. But this was a big lie. Before the war, the new rulers were not good politicians. They were scary military generals who took over secret underground bunkers and hoarded heavy army weapons. When the old government collapsed, these generals took control of everything. They wore nice suits and called themselves the new government. Underneath these generals were ordinary, low-ranking army soldiers. These soldiers fought bravely on the front lines during the war, trusting their officers. But after the war ended, they saw the terrible truth. In secret, the President and his generals lived a very rich life. They ate good real meat, drank expensive alcohol, and had warm baths. But they showed a fake kind face to the poor citizens. They gave small food rations, while the people were left in tireless labor. Disgusted by this selfish betrayal, many of the President’s former low-ranking soldiers broke away from the army. They escaped into the dark beneath the city and formed the underground Rebel resistance. However, as years passed, the generals became very afraid. People were angry about small food portions. The President feared the citizens would rebel and discover their fake government. The generals knew using guns against twelve thousand angry citizens would cause a big war. So they paid a group of scientists a lot of money to make a special medicine. The medicine was named Sola. It was a small blue pill. The TV screens everywhere said it was a "happy vitamin" to stop stress and keep everyone healthy. In real life, Sola was made to suppress strong hateful emotions like anger and deep thinking. It did not erase all feeling; it preserved relaxation and joy. It turned normal humans into compliant, obedient workers who still smiled. Almost everyone took the pill. Except Chloe Vance. --- **Chloe's thoughts** My throat still hurts when I remember the cold medical room from two weeks ago. I look at the small blue Sola pill in my hand. The big TV screens show smiling people and say: *A Healthy Mind Makes a Happy City.* They say it is just a vitamin to protect us from mental stress. They are lying. I know it. My hand shakes at my table in the public diner. Here in The Joy State, simple food is free for workers, but every meal comes with a price. Before anyone can eat, a single blue pill sits on a small tray beside their plate. Every citizen also gets a full bottle of pills sent to their apartment at home. One pill a day may be enough to suppress anger, so giving us extra at meals and at home may just secure the state's control agenda. Hundreds of citizens sit around me in the diner. Almost none laughs loud. No one looks sad either; all they have is a blank, chill smile. They take their pill, drink their water, swallow, smile at the wall camera, and eat their food. They feel relaxed, even joyful in a shallow way, but like quiet robots to me. Surveillance hung on the walls like publicly accepted as normal. Two weeks ago, my office boss gave me a paper for a random lab exam. The exam itself felt completely normal and routine. Nothing felt suspicious at first. The doctor gave me a quick check-up, scanned my chest, and spoke in a calm, polite voice. He did not suspect at all that I had already stopped taking my medication months ago because of the hidden document I found at work. He just reminded me gently: "Make sure you do not skip your medicine, Citizen Vance, or else strange things will happen to your body and mind." Then he looked down at my medical papers. The doctor rechecked the numbers many times. He looked up at me with cold, confused eyes and whispered: "Your body is strange, Citizen Vance. The medicine does not work with your body in quite a few re-examinations." I realized the government or the laboratory doctors might have only caught that I skipped the pill on the day of the exam—not for months. My tests showed no Sola that time, which could mean one missed dose, but they might have also seen incompatibility. Or they may have sensed a system failure. They sent me home right after, but I was so scared. They don't know I have been tricking them. For months, I hid the pill under my tongue, smiled at the camera, and spit it into the drain later. I started doing this three months ago because of the secret folder I found at my desk job. I was cleaning old file cabinets at my office. I pulled a broken drawer too hard, and a secret folder fell out. It was signed by the President's office. Questions kept bothering me since then like... how did that folder end up there? I had cleaned those cabinets before, and I never saw anything like it. Was it really an accident, or had someone placed it there knowing I would find it? Inside, there were secret lists of citizens with strong emotions. Beside the names, the government wrote notes: *Cried too much about food cuts*. *Showed anger to the Guard.* At the bottom, it said: *Send for high-dose Sola or permanent removal.* "Permanent removal." I didn't know whether those words meant punishment, treatment, or something worse. The government kept the process secret. The pills are not vitamins. They are for controlling us. They want to suppress strong emotions so we do not fight the President. Hmm.. I'm not really sure about anything, but maybe that's why people don't question the President... or fight back. I look at the blue pill on my food tray. If I swallow it, will it ruin my mind? If I don't, will they find out about my secrets? "Hey! Why are you staring at that pill like it's a monster?" --- The Public Diner Event Chloe was frightened and quickly hid the pill in her hand. Laurie Roberts put his big arm over her shoulder. He wore a neat Guard uniform with a gun on his belt, but he was smiling like a silly boy. "If you frown like that, your face will stay ugly forever!" Laurie joked. A spike of curiosity shot through Chloe's mind. Wait... Sola is meant to destroy human emotion and turn everyone into silent robots, why is Laurie still as cheerful and goofy as he used to be? Every other citizen stared at their plates like wooden dolls, but Laurie was still cracking jokes. Before that weird lab exam, she had always been a naturally loud, lively, and just as bubbly as Laurie. "Hey! My face is not ugly, Laurie!" Chloe shouted back, her voice ringing out loudly in the quiet diner. She crossed her arms and grinned, leaning into her usual playful self. "And I wasn't staring, I was just... thinking!" Laurie chuckled, as he hand her a drinking bottle. "I used my Guard pass to get you sparkling water. See? I am your loyal friend." Chloe smiled for real this time, taking the bottle. "Thank you, Laurie. You really are a hero." Laurie touched the bright yellow ribbon in her hair, looking at her with genuine care. Laurie was always like this—thoughtful, dutiful, and heroic to a fault. He possessed a bright, stubborn heart that always believed in the hope coming from the government. Laurie really believed the President and his generals were good. He thought the Guards truly protected the people, and he honestly believed the pills were good medicine meant to keep everyone safe. "You look worried today, Chloe," Laurie said softly. "Is work hard?" Chloe's heart beat fast. I cannot tell him about the secret files or my lab results. He trusts the state too much. "I'm just tired," she lied, keeping her voice light. Laurie looked at her kindly. "You can tell me anything. I am getting promoted soon. I can move us to better apartments with real lights and better food. Just follow the rules and stay safe, okay?" Suddenly, a loud crash stopped them. "NO! Get it away from me!" a woman screamed from a nearby table. A worker had knocked her tray to the floor. The blue pill rolled near Chloe's shoe. Everyone in the diner stopped eating. They turned their heads together like machines. The woman was shaking and crying. "It makes my brain feel empty! I can't remember my son's face! I won't take it!" Chloe wanted to help her. She stopped taking her pills. She is feeling real pain. Red lights flashed on the walls. An automatic speaker announced: "Citizen, take your medicine now." Beside Chloe, Laurie changed instantly. His smiling face became hard, cold, and emotionless like a real soldier. His hand went to his gun. "Laurie... please, she is just scared," Chloe whispered, grabbing his arm. "Stay back, Chloe," Laurie said in a flat, scary voice. Cold panic rushed through Chloe’s chest as she pulled her hand back. Oh no. What did I just do? She glanced nervously up at the high walls, where the black lens of a government surveillance camera was zoomed directly on them. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs. The government monitored everything. Showing sympathy for a rebel or trying to stop an active Guard was a massive violation. Did the scanners pick up my voice? she thought, her hands trembling. Did the cameras capture me grabbing a Guard's arm to shield a non-compliant citizen? If the security officers reviewing the diner's live feed saw her interfering, they wouldn't just flag her as emotionally unstable—they would flag her as a threat. Combined with her strange blood exam results, she was giving them every reason to send her for "permanent removal." Two heavily armored guards walked out. They grabbed the woman's arm roughly and injected a thick needle into her neck. In a few seconds, the woman stopped crying. Her eyes became blank. Her face turned completely flat and empty. She stopped fighting and let them drag her away like a heavy doll. The red lights turned off. The speaker said happily: "Problem solved. Have a nice day in The Joy State." The crowd started eating again like nothing happened. Laurie relaxed his body. The cold look left his face, and he turned to Chloe with his soft smile again. It was terrifying how fast he changed. "See?" Laurie said gently, touching her shoulder. "Some people are too crazy. That is why everyone must take Sola. It stops people from getting hurt." Chloe forced herself to nod, struggling to hide the horror on her face. She looked at the dark hallway where the woman disappeared, then at the hidden pill in her sleeve, and finally at the blinking lens of the wall camera above. She realized the terrible truth. The government were hunting anyone who felt real emotions. She had just drawn attention to herself under the city's watchful eyes, and even her best friend Laurie was trapped in their dark system.