Chapter 2-Censorship

The Office of the President sent my video out to many sources, including the WCO and the ASA government. Now, we waited to see what would happen. For a couple of days, there was silence. Nothing happened—we had received no threats or any sort of response from anyone. However, three days after the video was sent out, something very unusual occurred. The first thing we saw was on an ASA news channel. The reporter stated that a scared, helpless teenage boy was being held hostage by the government of the Eastern Provinces and that they still hadn't heard their demands in exchange for releasing me. Unbelievable. And, of course, they did not show my video on the news channel. They were blatantly lying about this, and I was infuriated. The epidemic of fake news that began around a century ago, I recently learned, was one of the main contributing factors of the USA's demise. Now, the people of the ASA were being fooled by their leaders. What cowardice. As I was watching the news in my apartment, I received a call on my iHolo from an unknown number. I decided to answer since no one really called me anyways. "Hello?" I said. "Mr. Elijah, this is President Huxley. If you are able to do so and have access, turn on your television to any ASA news channel. You won't want to miss this," Huxley said in an anxious tone. "Yes, sir, I just saw. What do I do now?" "It appears that only the government, the WCO, and the elite have seen your video. They are hiding the truth from the people. We've also just received intel that network access has become extremely restricted in the states, so anytime people want to look up what really happened, your video or any real information cannot be found. Most are convinced you are our hostage. Things are not looking bright at the moment, unfortunately. For now, stand by, and prepare to take orders." Without me even being able to acknowledge, Huxley hung up. The Allied States of America responded in a cowardly way, but somehow I knew that they were not going to stop there. Butterflies were in my stomach. What if they were out to get me? They knew the truth. They knew what I did. I was now an enemy of an entire nation and a soon-to-be hero of another.