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History tells us it wasn't always this way. Before the new system, humans like myself were plagued with pestilence, wars, famine, pain, despair and a great deal other negative afflictions. Everyone was always searching for happiness, but the world in its imperfect state could not provide it for longer than brief moments in a person's life, so the existence of the mankind in the past was a sad one. They were teased with short flashes of joy and then immediately tossed back into the rubble and depression of which the majority of their lives consisted.

As the story goes, an epidemic flu began to spread and kill many people. Because everyone was living in homes with others or going outside their houses and socializing, it was passed quickly and threatened to wipe out the entire human race. If not for a few brilliant leaders and technological advancement, I may not be here today telling this story.

The new system was developed initially as a way to keep people from having to go outside their home in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease. Each family was assigned their own apartment in one of many large sky scrapers and given everything necessary for their survival: bedrooms, bathrooms, gym equipment, a sun room (artificial sunlight because it still provided vitamin d without causing skin cancer), various electronic entertainment and communication devices, and robots to deliver food and other supplies at the push of a button. Life was easier and safer, but not yet perfect.

The perfection came when it became apparent that the negativity one feels in life is usually the direct result of other people. Not only was disease passed from person to person, but misery, false ideas, anger and destructive behaviors came from being around others as well. So, instead of families living in apartments, individuals were allowed to live peacefully alone.

"Alone but not lonely" is how it is described in school lessons. Because of the Internet, we are still able to talk to as many people as we want safely and at any time of the day. If we must see them, there are webcams. If we must hear them, there are phones. We can also implement direct connections with certain friends which allow us to watch shows together, listen to music together, or enjoy the same meal together. It's all very fun and even better than the old way because you have the added option to just disconnect a person and block them if they do even the slightest to make you feel anything other than happy. Everyone thoroughly enjoys this life. Well, almost everyone.

Let me tell you about the insane.

The insane are the people who have thought too much about life outside the system. You see, if life in the system is complete happiness, then life outside it is misery. Still, some people ponder dreadful things, longing to see the outside world (not being satisfied with the pictures on the Internet we are so lovingly provided) or grow a plant (we have a virtual farming program that allows us to safely grow and harvest plants online, so actually growing one is unnecessary) or worst of all, touch another person. For the most part, we ignore their loony ramblings unless they put on a suicide show.

The suicide shows will turn an ignored insane person into an instant celebrity for a moment before they disappear forever. When the web cam starts up and the user types "I'm going to kill myself" the views flood in with everyone anxious to watch this drain on society get what he or she deserves for questioning this world's perfection and the ways of the system. Not only is this person going to die for their crime, but they are going to administer their own death for our entertainment.

They always start out the same: The insane person explains their false view of our society. It's usually nonsense about people needing to feel and smell and be around other people to be happy or saying life without any conflict isn't really life at all. All of us watching, of course, realize this is just an example of their diseased minds. Touching others leads to death and disease, and conflict leads to unhappiness. Everyone knows this.

When their speech is over, they, of course, kill themselves. The entire audience gets to see the unhappiness end in an instant, and we are reminded of why it is dangerous to think that anything outside the system would be better. Painful death can't be better.

And so we turn off the screen and go on with life never even remembering the name of the person we'd just watched die.

And that about sums up life for me as it was before yesterday.

Yesterday, I had my television connected with two of my friends' televisions, and we were all watching a classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, together. Though the movie itself was enjoyable, we also took seriously the moral that scrolled beneath the picture: "Dorothy would have never gone through such trouble had she lived in the system for nobody would have been disturbed by her or her property nor would she have been disturbed by anyone." It was very true as usual. As interesting as this fiction was, had her dog not upset the neighbor, she wouldn't have felt the need to run away and would have been home to get in the cellar before the storm.

So I was sitting there, and suddenly the ground shakes. I jump up from my seat, but it stops. At about the time I'd convinced myself I was just imagining things and was going to reclaim my seat, it starts up again, but this time it continues and worsens.

I've read about earthquakes on the Internet, and I've seen a few movies, but I had assumed they, like illness and socializing, were a thing of the past removed by the system. For the first time in my life, I realized I did not know how to evacuate or even what floor of the building I was on.

The power goes out and I'm in the dark alone. The shaking had stopped. Even now I'm not sure if it really was an earthquake or something else, but in that moment of darkness I could care less what caused this. I just knew for the first time in my life I realized how completely isolated I really was.

The shaking started once again. Something fell on my head, and I passed out.

When I awoke, I was looking up at a computer screen of stars with a half moon lighting the night from the center. Well, I thought it was a screen until I gained my senses and remembered what had happened. If the power was out, this had to be the real deal. Upon this realization, I just stared at them for a moment mesmerized. I'd never seen the outside world before.

My daze is broken by blood running down my cheek and my body in pain for the first time ever. I realize that I'm buried beneath what was once my home, and no one would know I was there unless I got out. I start to climb through the debris.

I go toward the stars, and when I finally see the world outside the wreckage, I am taken aback by what meets my eyes. People, confused and miserable, all standing around watching me escape the rubble. No one offers a hand or says a word; they just stare.

I get out, stand up and join them in their quiet confusion; too afraid to move or do anything else. I notice and smell the dead around us and there is smoke in the air, something I'd only prior experienced when I blew out a candle. To my left there is a woman about my age. It takes everything in me to gather up the courage to ask her:

"Now what?"