Anna couldn’t go to work anymore. Too many people took notice of her now. They saw her come in late or knew she hadn’t come in at all the day before. When she was there, they watched her. When she refused to do a task, their glares questioned her. And this brought on the fear. Everything in her screamed to join the group. It had become easier to resist, but the fear was still there, waiting for her do something wrong.

The fear wasn’t the only reason Anna couldn’t go to the office. In her time spent there, she actually thought about work. Until now, she had been a machine. Always following some unknown source of commands, but not ever knowing what she was doing. Now she observed herself and she realized she did nothing.

Days were spent filing, hundreds of thousands of papers in hundreds of thousands of files. All had to be neatly stacked, neatly labeled, and filed in the exact place it belonged.

But there was nothing on the papers. Nothing on the labels. Nothing in the files. Nothing on the drawers or above the cabinets. The hundreds of thousands of papers, the hundreds of thousands of files, and the hundreds of people filing them - they were all blank.

Why am I coming here every day, worried about being on time and leaving on time, if I’m only doing eight hours of nothing?

So Anna didn’t return. And since she didn’t go to work, she didn’t take the bus, or meet with her co-workers, or eat her turkey and swiss sandwich and apple for lunch. Instead, she rode her bike to the park or down streets she'd never visited. She found places she never knew existed. She sat by the water, feeding the birds and squirrels her healthy, whole wheat sandwich bread. She went for her run in the morning, as the red and orange sun began to rise.

After a short while, Anna started recalling memories of her childhood, her parents, moving to Chicago when she was twelve. She once had a dog. A cocker spaniel named Rowdy. No, Rusty. And she had a brother. She had a younger brother, but she couldn’t remember his name.

What happened to him? What happened to her family? What happened to her life?

She could remember how it all started. How the fear slipped in. How it carefully made a home in everyone, changing them, directing them, until they could no longer think for themselves. It was all to satisfy the fear and stay away from danger. But now she remembered, and this time she wouldn’t forget.

It wasn’t enough. She could see the bright blue sky, feel the warm summer breeze, smell the fragrant flowers and thick city air, and taste foods she'd never tasted before. But she was alone. She was finally free, she had defeated the fear, but the rest of the world was still trapped under its control. There was no reason for it. She had seen the world for what it was, and now she would make the rest see it too.