By: Grace Zhang

“But sir, this woman stole my family heirlooms; those jewelry pieces have been in my family for centuries!” I cried desperately to the judge.

“I’m sorry ma’am but we cannot state that she is a criminal until we have more evidence,” the judge retorted.

“Well, that wraps this case up, you are free to go, Miss Rose,” the judge said.

Back at my pod, I looked at the empty hover safe that had contained my family’s prized possessions just a mere week ago: a 4-carat diamond necklace, an ankle bracelet that had borne a beautiful eagle feather, and one beautiful 5-carat taaffeite tiara. As we left the courtroom, my face reddened with anger and disappointment. That woman had clearly stolen from me, but how could I obtain more evidence?

5 months later, I forgot all about the jewelry and moved on with my life. I had my husband Bennet, my daughter Elliana, a roof over my head, and a cat named Leon. We were a complacent family. On a cozy May day, I went to the grocery store to buy food. Suddenly, I heard blaring gunshots outside. The entire store fell silent, listening for other sounds. We heard glass shattering, and then din broke out again. I caught a glimpse of a screaming woman who looked very familiar to me. I thought about who it might be, and when it suddenly struck me, the woman had already trashed the vegetable section of the store. That woman was the one who had thieved my jewelry five months ago.

I darted out of the store, but when I got outside, all the robots and people of the town were screaming, “GET THAT WOMAN RIGHT NOW, SHE’S IN THE GROCERY STORE! QUICK! GET HER!” I rounded the corner and then ran into Bennet and Elliana.

“Are you alright, Rose?” Bennet asked.

“Yes, I’m fine, but that woman there is the one that stole our family heirlooms!” I responded.

“Leon was squished by the robots mommy!” Elliana cried.

“Seriously? But how?” I asked desperately, turning towards Bennet.

“Yes, Leon was struck by the charging robots while playing outside.” Bennet responded as if he could read my mind. My heart sank into my stomach. Why did everything bad happen to me?

That night, when everything had been resolved, the news reported that the woman earlier in the store had been caught and sentenced to prison for twenty-five years. The woman’s name was Eucerinia Jones, and she apparently came from a prolonged generation of criminals. A couple of days after the incident, we acquired a call from a lawyer that had been at the court on the day we went. He said that Eucerinia’s house had been searched, and they discovered the tiara I had described that day in the court. Eucerinia must have pawned the other two pieces of jewelry. He said that robots would escort the tiara back to us in a couple of minutes. He wished us a good day and hung up.

As much as I wish that everything stayed the same, life isn’t always perfect and you really need to accept that fact.