The Puck is Born

The story opens on a university campus where students are coping with the anxiety of impending adulthood under the watchful eye of the CDA. We meet our protagonist, a nervous student named Leah, who is struggling with her existential dread as she attends a seminar on the implications of time management in a society where resources are strictly monitored. The glowing puck-device is introduced as a tool of the CDA, creating a pervasive sense of urgency.

The girl two rows ahead of Leah was wearing a thin cotton shirt the color of skim milk, and through it, just to the left of her spine, something pulsed pale blue. Once every second or so. Not a flicker. A breath. The light moved when the gi…

Leah attends a mandatory session where a representative from the CDA demonstrates the puck's functionality on a volunteer, causing a public scare when the volunteer suddenly collapses after the puck is activated. This traumatic event forces Leah to confront her own mortality and the implications of time being a finite resource, sparking a growing concern about the CDA's influence over their lives.

The volunteer was named Aaron. We know this because the CDA representative said it twice, the second time more warmly than the first, the way you say a child's name when you want the room to relax. He stood at the front of the auditorium u…

As Leah grapples with her fears, she begins to notice an increasing number of her peers acting out against the CDA's policies. An underground group emerges, advocating for the removal of the puck, and Leah is drawn into their cause. Tensions rise between the students and the CDA as they start to plan a demonstration, testing the limits of their newfound resolve.

The door to the stairwell was propped open with half a cinder block, and someone had taken the bulb out of the landing light, so the only illumination on the seven students gathered below street level came from their own bodies. Their pucks…

During a protest, an unexpected escalation occurs when the CDA retaliates with force, activating several students' pucks at once. Amid the chaos, Leah discovers that her own puck has been activated, leading her to confront her deepest fears about time and mortality. The event serves as a point of no return for Leah, forcing her to question whether she can truly fight against the CDA's control.

The plaza was the color of wet slate, and the students stood on it in a loose curve like a parenthesis trying to hold something in. Thirty of them, maybe a few more. Hand-lettered signs sagging in the drizzle. The cardboard going soft at th…

Leah and the surviving members of her group regroup in secrecy, grappling with the aftermath of the protest and the knowledge that they have become targets of the CDA. Paranoia sets in as they realize that anyone could be an informant, and Leah's fate becomes increasingly uncertain as she struggles to find a way to remove her puck or at least delay its activation.

The basement had been a darkroom once. You could still smell it in the walls, the chemical sweetness that does not leave concrete. Four sleeping bags on the floor, none of them used for sleeping. An extension cord ran under the door from so…

In a climactic confrontation, Leah makes a desperate choice to confront Dr. Harper directly at the CDA headquarters, demanding answers about the purpose of the pucks and their overall agenda. The confrontation ends with a shocking revelation about the true nature of the CDA's experiments and Leah's role in them, leading to a chilling conclusion that leaves her fate and the future of her peers hanging in the balance.

Before sunrise the office is mostly dark, and the only warm thing in it is the pool of lamp light on Dr. Harper's desk. The lamp is angled low, the way a surgeon angles a lamp. Inside the pool sit three objects. A cup of tea. A pen. And a s…