We were all wearing the same bunny mask, the same buck teeth hanging out from the edge of the mask. Our fake fuzzy bunny ears protruded out from the mask, curving to the side. I could barely see through the mask. A dim light hung above us.

We had to wear masks. No one could be different. I looked over my notes. 



——————

 Suspects 

——————



   Susie

   Lily 

   Ian 

   Shawn 



——————



I knew I hadn’t done the crime. This is what they always did. They had to record us and interrogate us to find out who the murderer was since everyone wore masks. There were always faults in the system of ‘equality.’ I poked at my gloves that were itching irritably. We had to wear gloves over any exposed skin to hide our race and identity even further. Even government agents wore them. The makers couldn’t break their own rules either. 

I looked straight into the camera. A red blinking dot rapidly recorded us. I knew they were watching. They always were…

“She’s not who she says she is,” Lily accused Susie, my best friend. 

“I was with her the entire time, there’s no way she could’ve faked it,” I argued. 

“Are you stupid. We all wear the same masks, anyone could be pretending to be her,” Lily snapped back. 

“Then how do you explain that it was her voice?” I blurted 

“Guess what, there’s this thing called a voice changer that we have. Anyone can mimick someone’s voice by just recording a sample and then having an AI transform their voice,” Lily said.

She was right. Technology was too advanced. Anyone could easily pretend to be someone else. I heard a booming voice from the black speaker that also had a camera planted inside it.

“Where were you all at the night of the murder?” A mechanical voice said, but almost too humanized. 

Technology has gotten to a point where Artifical Intelligence runs the nation. Every house has built in AI’s that take care of simple things. Humans barely do anything. Our country is run by an AI trained to make challenging decisions and create the best society. Turns out it only made people more infuriated. People have no individually anymore, we’re all the same person. People smarter than average go to seperate schools across the world with other smart kids, just so they don’t interfere with our below average people. 

“I was with Susie, I’m sure of it,” I say. “We were walking home from the Feel Good coffee shop.”

“What Amy said,” Susie says. 

“I was alone getting something to eat, there’s no way I could’ve had the time to plan an entire assassination,” Lily backed herself up. 

“I was celebrating Chinese New Years with my family,” Ian shared. 

“And I was at a concert,” Shawn said. 

“I think it’s Susie,” Lily repeated.

Susie placed her gloves over her face before she retaliated.

“Come on, you’re just pointing a finger at me, I bet you’re the one who did it. You randomly accused me in the first place,” Susie angrily said.

“Oh shut up, you’re just trying to cover yourself up,” Lily replied.

“I did nothing wrong and you started accusing me as soon as this interrogation started!” Susie yelled. 

Lily slammed her fist on the table and they both argued back and forth. 

“Why won’t you just tell the truth?!” Lily screamed. 

It all went quiet. Shawn was frozen in shock. Glancing over, Susie was frozen as well. And Ian was just as confused as I was. 

Lily continued her argument.

“No I did not,” Susie blurted in the middle of Lilys accusations.

“Don’t even try to deny it!” Lily screeched.

“You won’t even listen to what I have to say!!!” Susie screamed at the top of her lungs.

“I won’t, oh what about you Ms. Perfect. You came in here acting like you were so innocent, why would you even be so nervous if you weren’t the murderer!” Lily pointed out. 

“Because your making me feel guilty for something I didn’t even do!!!” Susie growled.

Their voices got increasingly raspy and tired to the point where their threats just sounded like dying animals. 

“I’m so fed up with you Susie!!!!!!” Lily finally screamed. 

Then, Lily pushed over Susie. Her chair flipped over and Susie fell onto her back. From her mask, a voice changer fell out. A little mechanical arm stretched out from the device, it was the voice modulator. Everyone gasped. Susie’s mask fell off her face, but it wasn’t Susie. It was someone I’d never seen before. As soon as I was born, I was wearing a mask. They gradually increased the size and width as I grew. This, was a 69 year old man, almost completely bald. His teeth were rotting away. 

“Maybe if you could just shut up!” Someone that was definitely not Susie said, not realizing that his identity was revealed.

The fluorescent light bulb suddenly turned off, and in the darkness, I could see the old man standing in the air, now holding a large gun to Lily’s head. Suddenly, there was a loud, ear-piercing boom, and Lily wasn’t in her chair anymore. Blood was barely visible on the white walls. It was covering my face and dripping down my mouth. The taste of blood entered my mouth. I could still see the red blinking light from the camera. Then another gunshot went off, and the cameras light went black, glass piercing into my skin. I saw the old man’s eyes glowing an eerie yellow, and now he was staring right at me…