Imagine living in a society where you always had to be happy. Sad people were considered criminals. Even the smallest bit of sadness put them on the radar of police. To distinguish sad people from happy people, the government manipulated people's DNA. Whenever people felt sad, a pattern of red stripes showed on their skin and they were easily identifiable.
Amanda lived in such society. She was feeling sad because she broke up with her boyfriend. He was her first very boyfriend. People in her situation took special pills to prevent them from getting sad and arrested by the police. Amanda refused to take the pills. It was happening, the stripes on her skin showed themselves. It was like a rash, but worse. She regretted not taking the pills.
She couldn't leave the house because she would have been arrested by the police. The only solution was to be happy again, so that the stripes on her skin go away. She called her mother and she talked about how she used to play when she was just a child. She told her some funny stories about her childhood, and Amanda immediately felt better. The stripes on her skin started to go away, all thanks to her mother. She was so close to be arrested.
