Harmonia

Welcome to Harmonia, the town of the future,” the TV blasted in the dorm room as Oliver packed up his belongings. “Harmonia was created by Vernon Trexil, the CEO and founder of Vertex. His dream was to create a place where families could focus on what truly matters—a town where you don’t have to worry about the mundane and monotonous—a town focused on giving you the space to discover your true potential. “How?” you might ask. Well, it’s simple, really. Using Vertex’s bleeding-edge AI, “Excalibur,” the majority of the town’s daily functioning is taken care of. Need to pay a parking ticket? Easy—just interact with one of our mini kiosks in City Hall. Hungry? Have food delivered by one of Excalibur’s drone delivery drivers. Every bit of administrative burden is addressed by Excalibur. So all you need to do is focus on what brings you the most joy.” Oliver half-listened to the DVD his mom sent him. “Now, what do you do with your time? Whatever you like. Want to try cooking? Take a class at the university one town over. Interested in history? Check out our fully stocked library. Whatever you want to do, you can now try—even working. But only if you want to. Because here in Harmonia, taking care of you is our business.”

Oliver felt sick to his stomach. He felt like a failure. He wasn’t able to finish one year of college before he flunked out. Now he had to move back in with his mom, sister, and Mr. Davenport. His dad died shortly after his sister Sophie was born. It was the three of them for most of his life. His mom worked as a hairstylist to make ends meet. The three of them were fairly happy until Oliver reached high school—that’s when his mom met Jim Davenport. His mom had dated after his dad died. Some of the guys were nice; most weren’t—but all were rich. It wasn’t until Oliver got older that he started to realize that most of the men his mom pursued weren’t just for love or romance. Oliver was a realist, after all; she did what she had to do to provide for her family, and he was grateful for that. But why did she have to marry Jim Davenport? Mr. Davenport was 48 when he started dating her—he was ten years older than her. He was a project manager at Vertex and a regular at her salon. When she introduced them for the first time, he was almost 15. Mr. Davenport clearly had an opinion of him. Oliver pretty early on identified as a “punk.” He hated authority and the 1%. Oliver blamed the whole broken system for everything wrong in his world. Mr. Davenport saw an angry young man who sorely missed the firm hand of a father figure. With Mr. Davenport’s “help,” Oliver managed to graduate and get into college. In return for that “help,” Oliver would blast his band’s newest speed metal cover, smoke excessive amounts of weed, and challenge Jim Davenport every step of the way.

Sophie had a different experience. She was smart, outgoing, and athletic. Where Jim had to ride Oliver constantly to get him to finish high school, Sophie seemed to excel with little effort. She was supposed to graduate the next school year, but she had already acquired enough credits to graduate early. She was set to start college in the fall—just as Oliver was set to move back home. She had just turned 18, too, a day or two ago—that at least was something to look forward to. He was set to arrive at his family’s home a few days before his sister’s 18th birthday party. Sophie, being the social butterfly she was, had already networked with some of the girls from their new town. She was going to have a few friends over for a small slumber party. Oliver was excited to “chaperone” for his sister’s new friends.

Oliver had about as much luck with his classes as he did with the ladies at his school. He had gone on a few dates, but they all ended with him comfortably in the friend zone. He hadn’t had a steady girlfriend since Aubrey—his high school sweetheart. They became friends sophomore year, started dating junior year, and then “took a break” after senior year. She joined a year-long internship with a charitable organization providing relief to third-world countries, and he started college. He secretly hoped they would start up again, but those hopes were dashed when he learned that his mom was moving them from the Chicago suburbs to middle-of-nowhere Indiana—to live in this model future city. He finished packing his belongings into his car and was ready to head to the airport—a short flight back to Chicago to pick up his sister, then a road trip to their new city and home. At least he wouldn’t have to put up with Mr. Davenport shaming him and his mom letting it happen. His mom and Mr. Davenport were taking an early summer trip to the Mexican Riviera and wouldn’t be back until after the Fourth of July. He hopped into his car and headed out.

After an easy flight, his plane touched down at O’Hare Airport, and, as expected, his sister was there waiting for him. She smiled and waved as he hurried through the gate with his bags. She had even made a cute sign that read “Big Bro” in black and green—his favorite colors.

“Oliver!” she said with a joyful wave as he ran to her and gave her a big hug. “How was your flight?”

“Fine,” Oliver said, actively trying to reject the bubbles radiating off his little sister.

“And how are you? We haven’t talked since, like, Christmas break.”

“I’m like, fine,” he said in a mocking tone. Sophie just rolled her eyes. She had an easier time tolerating her brother’s sass than the rest of the family. She was probably closer to him than anyone else was. They had been inseparable until Oliver got to high school and their mom remarried. Oliver would help her study because their mom was working multiple shifts at the salon. They cooked together. He defended her from bullies at school. He was a great big brother. But ever since he started high school, he began acting more and more like a jerk. Instead of cooking together, he told her to cook for him. He made her do all the housework while he smoked weed in his room with his stupid metalhead friends. It wasn’t until he started trying to intimidate her that she started to grow apart from him. True, he was older than her by about a year and a half, but he was hardly a “big brother.” He was maybe two inches taller and they weighed basically the same. They both clearly looked like their mother’s children—the main difference being that while Oliver smoked weed and played music, Sophie was a cheerleader, swimmer, and distance runner. So, even if he tried to physically overpower her, they both secretly knew she could take him. They had been growing apart ever since. Oliver was so angry at the world that he didn’t really care, while Sophie felt sad but hopeful they could get back to how they were.

“So, did you fill out your new citizen paperwork?” Sophie asked.

Oliver just looked at her, confused.

“Come on, Oliver. It was fun thinking about the future and your dreams.” Oliver didn’t respond; he just rolled his eyes. He remembered his mom sending him the forms, but he tossed them aside. It was hard to think about your wants and dreams when you blamed the world for all your problems. “Don’t worry—mom printed out a spare, and you can fill it out when we get home,” was the last thing Sophie said before they drove the rest of the way in silence.

They pulled up to their modest house in the Chicago suburbs. Oliver had no real connection to the place; it was Mr. Davenport’s, after all. He had only lived there for less than a year before moving off to college. He walked through the house while Sophie loaded the last of her belongings into the car.

“Aren’t you going to load up the rest of your stuff before Goodwill comes to pick it up?” Sophie asked as Oliver plopped down in his old room.

“None of this is my stuff,” he said, gesturing at the boxes filled with his high school belongings. Jim had a rule—his house, his rules. So he had to wear appropriate clothes, have acceptable decorations, and so on. Everything in this room was what Jim wanted to make him into. His real stuff was what he got when he went to college—band shirts, posters of sexy chicks on cars, and his collection of glass “sculptures.” Jim offered to get him a job in the mailroom at Vertex, but Oliver declined. He was making enough money with his Twitch stream and selling plasma to cover what he needed while in school. Oliver was proud of the world he built all on his own, without any help from his mom’s husband. That made his discovery that he had to rely on them again even worse. But not for long, he told himself. He had a plan—enroll in winter term at the nearby community college and get a job (or pray his Twitch takes off). Hopefully, if everything worked out, he could move out and be on his own again by the start of the new year.

“Alright, I think I’m all set,” he heard his sister shout from the front door. He soon joined her as she locked up the house. As Oliver opened the passenger seat, he saw a fresh, clean “New Citizen Welcome Packet” ready for him to fill out. He shot daggers at his sister, who gave him a passive-aggressive smile.

“What? The drive’s going to be a couple of hours,” she said