Side Effects Include: [1/2]
Summary: New Message for: Caitlin Snow.
Would you like me to play it?
In which, they’re trapped.
Pairing: Caitlin Snow x Reader
Read: Part 2 (coming soon)
Or,, the SING au loosely based off the music video by MCR.
Historic facts I changed for this story and a disclaimer: The Emergency Broadcast system wasn’t invented until the Cold War. I’ve changed this so it was invented earlier during WWII. FDR was President and none of this reflects my political views. He just happened to be our President during this war so he’s the one endorsing.
We interrupt our Programming, this is a national Emergency, important instructions will follow. The following message is transmitted at the request of the United States Government.
**This is not a test, repeat, this is not a test.**
Mandatory instructions will follow after the beep. I repeat, you are required to follow the upcoming text prompts.
This is a message from the United States Government...
...you will find a blue pill bottle.
We need you to bring it inside.
Once you have it in your hand...
...take one pill with a glass of water.
This is a national emergency...
...Failure to follow procedure will result in fatality.
It is your duty as citizens to serve your country.
...and the people fighting this war.
Continue to take one pill each day...
...This is for your benefit.
It is vital that you do as we say.
...You will not regret this.
Caitlin sat in her room, alone and tired. She felt as if the gray walls were mocking her, impeccably smooth. Too smooth.
She knew she was on thin ice with work, and staying up until 4 am wouldn’t help her but she couldn’t sleep.
Her mind... it was racing. She wasn’t used to it at all. It had started out small, when she saw a bird sitting in a tree outside her work. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. There was something mesmerizing about the way it flew before she just shook her head and returned to work, attempting to shrug the feeling off.
It continued, she found herself wanting to coo at the toddler as he held his mother’s hand every morning on the way to school.
When the screen in her room would report news, she found herself sad when a death was announced.
You had recently started a job with the same company, working as bio-engineers. More specifically, geneticists.
“EnLight Corp only wants to take away what’s natural! So let’s give in to what we all want to do”
Your task? To find a permanent solution. Eradicate the world of emotions. The pill had been developed 75 years ago during WWII. It was designed for soldiers so nothing would be compromised by our only weakness. Feeling.
“Keep our country alive. The solution is right here. Ingestible, sterile, safe. No more will we have to worry. I have been working with EnLight and together, we will win this war.”
Conspiracy theorists say that in the beginning of WWII, FDR and EnLight Corp. began to give civilians the pill but nobody has any record of that. To everyone else, it started to get pumped into society around 2010. It seemed every advertisement was pushing for this “enlightenment.”
Of course, nobody told the truth. EnLight and the government did whatever it took. They lied. Claiming that the lack of emotion was merely a temporary side effect for a pill meant to be an effective and easier way to vaccinate.
Over time, people stopped feeling, so they stopped caring. They took the pills, not realizing that as time moved on, they were being isolated. Government started to do whatever they wanted. Mercenaries hired by them soon littered the streets, eradicating the world of the sickly homeless. And people didn’t care. People continued to watch as these “Visionaries” (as the media called them) took lives away to serve EnLight.
“These mercenaries, they hide behind their masks and shamelessly pull their triggers over and over! We are being silenced.”
Nobody cared when they moved everyone out of their homes and into bland complexes. Nobody cared when they started to take away kids to raise as Visionaries. Nobody cared while the government and ELC continued to work together, slowly ridding you and everyone else of any differences. People wore the same white top and black pants every day, they ate from the same menu, they watched the same news program at the same exact time.
Slowly, that became life. To the population of your country, nobody else existed. You became sheltered.
People tried to fight it at first. Caitlin Snow watched as her own mother began to work at ELC. It pushed them apart as Carla stopped caring. Cait watched her dad get shot when he tried to escape with her. What scared Caitlin the most was that she didn’t cry at all. There was a tug in her chest but— after that? Nothing. Two weeks of being lied to and taking those pills and changes were already happening
“They do not care about us or what happens! To them, we’re a collectible safe and I, for one, can’t stand it! Throw away the pills, give in to what’s natural. Get angry! Fight back, make noise— do whatever it takes”
You had become the leader of a rebellion. But nobody else had to find out.
You took this job as a cover. You wanted inside information. And you were gonna get it.
When you met Dr. Snow, she was polite. Shaking your hand and greeting you that morning. Nothing really changed for a while. You would greet each other in the morning, but things were completely professional.
You had to keep the act up. Anyone to get caught would immediately be taken to isolation where they’d take away your pills. You’d slowly gain emotions back and it drives every person to insanity, almost always resulting in suicide.
But you just couldn’t help yourself. The chestnut haired co-worker was somehow enrapturing despite the lack of emotions.
You really didn’t mean to fall in love.
“They are stripping us of something beautiful. Today, I found myself desiring a partner. Not just to repopulate— it was more! You read about this in your books but it’s true. I felt love. Real. Fresh, undiluted, pure.”
You knew Caitlin skipped her pills. You could see in her eyes when she would feel. The way she froze when your hand brushed hers.
having an affection or liking for
You could feel her get nervous when you stood close, looking over her shoulder at a Petri dish. You saw her close her eyes and take a deep breath after you had walked away, brushing her hand with yours gently. Her hands were braced on the solid white counter after you had smiled at her.
responding rather too readily to something new or stimulating; too easily excited.
It wasn’t just a normal, polite greeting smile. She could tell there was something...human about it.
Two weeks later she heard you singing, it was unexpected but her heart pounded in her chest. She kept her back towards you while you paced around the lab, organizing materials.
Be filled with a feeling of love for
Caitlin hated to admit it but... she didn’t want to give this up. She had forgotten what a genuine smile felt like. She had forgotten what it felt like to wake up and be excited for once.
She knew it was wrong. She knew the consequences. She knew what could happen to both of you if this continued.
a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation
but she couldn’t stop herself from lightly intertwining her fingers with yours while you worked. She couldn’t stop herself from crying when you had hugged her for the first time. She couldn’t stop herself from kissing back with the intensity of a thousand supernovas.
An intense feeling of deep affection.
She— she couldn’t stop herself from the anger coursing through her words as you had been dragged away, the redness of her cheeks matching the way her eyes burned.
(of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.
Caitlin Snow had always been a rule follower. Now she reads the rules before she breaks them.
dededos
areudirty
janainaart
theartofmadeline
titsay
