S1, E1 | "Happy Birthday"

Series Premiere

“Please state your name, your date of birth and age, today’s date, and the generation you belong to” a soft voice asks, the man who makes the request taking a seat beside a filming camera, his eyes kept forward. Sat in a cold, outdated school chair, a girl in a sideless shirt and denim pants wipes away tears from her tired, red eyes. Feet crossed over each other, her light boots firmly placed on the floor, the girl places her attention on the camera, responding to what she’s been asked.

“My name is Sophie Amari, my date of birth is the third of April, 2016, and I am fifteen years old” the girl replies, pressing her lips together as her folded hands unclasp, allowing her to wipe persistent tears. Sucking in a breath of fresh air, the young girl looks around the room, hoping her mind can be taken away from the thoughts flooding her head if only her eyes would find something else to focus on.

The room surrounding her being sturdy in appearance, Sophie’s sights travel from one end of the steel-reinforced room, not a window in sight, the only light source coming from fluorescent tubes and the open door just behind the young man equal in age, where an older gentleman looks on patiently. “Sophie?” Caden calls out, regaining her attention for a moment, her eyes shooting back to him before falling with her head hung.

“Caden, we should just let her be with her-” the older man in the doorway begins to speak, immediately interrupted by the girl. “No, dad… I asked him to do this” Sophie answers, watching her father’s worried demeanor fade into something sadder. “I’m sorry” the man replies, head hung and arms folded, keeping himself from having to look at the sights, “please, continue.”

Turning back to Sophie at her father’s request, Caden repeats the questions remaining unanswered, directing her to respond with her attention to the camera. Her mouth becoming dry, Sophie faces the lens before the questions can be reiterated, making herself comfortable with staring into the overlooking recorder. “What is today’s date, and what is the name of the generation you belong to?” Caden repeats, his eyes kept upon the girl, who’s focus remains upon where it’s requested.

“Today’s date is the eighteenth of January, 2031” Sophie answers, quickly becoming overwhelmed with emotion once again, forcing herself into silence once more. Placing his clipboard to the side, Caden removes himself from his chair and waves off the girl’s father, approaching her himself. Resting his hand upon Sophie’s shoulder, Caden climbs down to his knees and tells the girl to look him in the eyes, her puffy face struggling to maintain eye contact.

“We don’t need to do this” Caden assures, beginning with the reminder he’s already uttered multiple times by this point, arguing upon it just the same as he had each time prior. “We do… we do” Sophie replies, her hand falling from her face as she nods. Accepting her answer, Caden rubs the ball of her shoulder with his thumb and sheepishly returns to his seat, not wishing to continue with the request, though, forcing himself to do so at his friend’s behest.

With a sigh, Caden lowers himself into his seat and picks his clipboard back up, eyes falling upon the girl again. With a deep breath, Sophie turns away from Caden and looks back into the camera, preparing herself for the final piece of her opening statement. “Please state the generation you belong to” Caden repeats, Sophie’s eyes going cold, no other preliminary question to save her once this answer is given, the floodgates soon open themselves with a roar.

Refusing to live in fear of this impending line of questions, Sophie bears through the final inquiry with an emotionless stare, her thoughts turning off as if she had just chosen to flip a switch. “I belong to the Hidden Generation...” Sophie answers, both Caden and her father looking on with bated breath, knowing what waters will rush through the open channels with the conclusion to Sophie’s response, “...Referred to as ‘Generation Alpha’.”

= Generation Alpha is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

} The following events take place on the 3rd of April, 2030 and the 18th of January, 2031 {

> 3rd April, 2030 <

“Happy birthday to you!” an older man and a younger daughter sing, surprising a semi-groggy Sophie, who remains partially tucked beneath her bed covers. Without warning, the younger daughter races past her father, who instinctively pulls a tray of food back in the nick of time, watching his eldest offspring be taken into the embrace of his youngest. “Thanks, Liv” Sophie mutters, looking to her father as her chin is pressed into her sister’s shoulder, “and thank you, dad.”

Without a word, the girl’s father leans in and presses a kiss onto the top of her head, his younger daughter being taken into his arms and lifted over his head to a chorus of giggling. “Let’s let the birthday girl eat before she gets ready for school!” the man amusingly tells the child above his shoulders as he departs the room, his attention immediately called for. “I still have to go to school!?” Sophie calls out, watching her father look over his shoulder with a smile.

“I went to college in the middle of a pandemic, so you’ll be going on your birthday, cupcake!” the man calls back, the disappointment on Sophie’s face quickly vanishing upon the second look at the preferred breakfast assortment residing in her lap. “Sophie, Caden’s gonna be here soon!” the father shouts into the depths of the home, a half hour passing between his wishes for a happy birthday and the counting clock.

“You could always save yourself the trouble of getting us ready for school if you let us home it!” Sophie replies, adjusting her top as the doorbell rings, prompting a shift of all three heads in the room. “I got it!” Olivia shouts, racing for the door with little resistance from her sister or father. “Hi Ms. Kirkpatrick!” Olivia shouts, her arms wrapping themselves around the waist of the uniformed lady at the door.

“Hello, Olivia… How’s your morning, Andrew?” Ms. Kirkpatrick asks aloud, watching the home’s patriarch approach her with a sealed lunchbox. “It’s busy, Elaine” Andrew says with a warm smile, letting the container’s strap slip from his fingers to the woman’s. “Why don’t you get yourself buckled in the car, and I’ll meet you out there in just a minute?” Ms. Kirkpatrick enthusiastically mutters to Olivia, watching her dash to the van without another word.

“How’s she been doing lately?” Andrew asks, whispering toward the woman away from Sophie’s ears, “I’ve been asking for updates, but none of the teacher’s have been getting back to me reliably.” With a pleased look, Elaine brings on good news, taking a few steps into the home to ensure her voice gets within range of the man’s ears. “They say there’s little reason in their eyes to expect her to need the care after next year” Elaine answers, a happy look coming over Andrew’s face.

“Does that mean what I think it does?” Andrew asks, keeping himself from breaking out into a shout of excitement as Elaine affirms her declaration. “They think she’ll be ready for actual school in about a year’s time!” the woman answers, the relief over Andrew’s face being enough to bring a smile to her own. “It’s about time!” Sophie calls back, their whispers not having been enough to keep their words from her ears, “it’s already hard to tell she’s autistic apart from the hugging.”

Amusedly rolling his eyes, Andrew pats his daughter on the shoulder and tells her to finish getting ready before turning back to the woman and thanking her for all she’s done. “I’m ready, Ms. Kirkpatrick!” Olivia shouts from the backseat of the large van, prompting Elaine to use that as her cue to move on with her day. “I’ll see you this evening, Elaine!” Andrew blurts out from his door, shutting it behind himself upon concluding with, “have a good day at class, honey!”

> 18th January, 2031 <

“What do you remember about that day?” Caden asks, a bright, orange light recently added to the limited space to better illuminate Sophie’s face, his question being a soft introduction to the following line of dialogue. “It was my birthday, Olivia and dad woke me up with their singing and served me breakfast in bed” Sophie replies, both arms folded in her lap as one leg lays across the other, her dominant foot pressed against the floor whilst her other dangles from atop her thigh.

“I was-” Sophie begins, choking up for a moment before subduing the urge to stammer over her words, “I waited for you to drive me to school, and left when you blew your horn at me… Like you always do.” His clipboard lacking a pen, Caden looks at the paper held to the board and asks the next question on the sheet. “Why did your father insist on you going to school that day?” Caden asks, Andrew immediately looking at his daughter, fearing what she’d answer with.

“He was born in 1996 and had me when he was a few months away from turning twenty…” Sophie begins, her empathetic eyes falling upon the man she knows blames himself for what is still to be asked. “...He went to college during Covid and didn’t like the lack of interaction with others- just like most people that experienced it” Sophie answers, wiping her hair behind her ear, “he wanted me to be around people as often as I could, but he didn’t really have a say in that.”

“Why not?” Caden interjects, specific notes on the sheet of paper in his lap demanding his interruption at specific points of interest, this point being of said intrigue. “Because most people I went to school with homed it” Sophie replies, “their parents didn’t want to waste time taking their kid to school, so they had them do it online and saved the trouble.”

His intentions being to bring the conversation back to the start, Caden is interrupted when Sophie continues speaking, her introspection of society bringing him to silence. “That’s why we’re called that, y’know? Why you and I are in the ‘Hidden Generation’” Sophie explains, a smile forming in the corner of her emotionless face, “we do everything from home now, so the world never gets to see us. We’re hidden from it...and the dangers...”

Biting his lip, Caden watches Sophie’s head fall, her face tilting toward the floor, all three people in the room immediately knowing what she’s bound to add. Just as expected, Sophie ends her brief tangent with the same truth Andrew and Caden had begun to expect, re-entering the conversation immediately thereafter at Caden’s behest, “...Well, not all of them.”

> 3rd April, 2030 <

“No one should have to go to school on their birthday” Caden explains, his statement made amidst an already-ongoing conversation, hands folded in his lap as he sinks further into his driver’s seat. “We’re thinking the same thing” Sophie answers, the side of her head resting against the back of her seat, her feet pressing against the edge of the cushion beneath her as her eyes fall upon the man behind the wheel.

A silence coming over the two teenagers, Sophie interrupts the early-morning quiet with a question rooted in nothing good. “Have you ever taken this thing out of auto?” Sophie asks, a wide-eyed Caden looking at her with a look of refusal. “Number one, that’s illegal. Number two, my parents will get the alert. Number three, I don’t know how to drive!” Caden replies, listing all of the reasons to let the car do the navigation for them, all of which appear to be decent ones at worst.

“The road is empty!” Sophie enthusiastically shouts, her hands spread toward the street ahead, not a car within the nearest few hundred feet. “Again, my parents have phones, Sophie!” Caden answers, almost laughing at the suggestion, “not to mention, I don’t know how to drive!” Putting on a pouty face, Sophie tilts her head to one side of her body and sports a soft voice, trying her best to goade her friend into defying the rules.

“Please, Caden… It’s my birthday!” Sophie replies, her legs crossing as the teen driver begins to visually give into her pleas. “Fine, but only because it’s your birthday” Caden answers, the upset look shifting to one of joy instantaneously. With a deep breath, Caden pulls the seatbelt over his chest, the sensors in his seat immediately prompting a warning sign to appear on the dashboard.

“Warning, shifting to manual intervention will require a five second haste period” the car’s guide blurts out, automatically pushing Caden’s seat forward until it senses his foot’s presence on one of the pedals. “Please engage ‘manual mode’” the guide requests, an excited Sophie watching as her friend wraps his fingers around the ignition-occupying key. In a moment of bravery, Caden turns his wrist, a single pop in the ignition beginning a pre-arranged set of five beeps, counting down from five.

Hands clutching the steering wheel awkwardly, Caden pushes his feet down on the pedal until his foot is practically on the floor itself, causing the engine to roar. “Oh my- shit!” Caden shouts, a rush of laughter coming from Sophie as he lets off the gas, watching the vehicle slowly climb down from its regular speed. “Push down slowly!” Sophie exclaims, guiding her friend toward a higher speed the way she’s seen in videos, the process easier once the vehicle is already in motion.

His hands simply keeping the wheel within his palms ahead of the straight-pointed road, Caden puts on a smile, the day beginning with his first true encounter with the open road. “This is awesome!” Sophie shouts with child-like glee, watching the scenery pass her as Caden returns the vehicle to its automated mode, his phone buzzing just before doing so. “Shit, my mom’s calling me!” Caden shouts, pulling his phone to his ear and unbuckling himself from the seat.

> 18th January, 2031 <

“You played it off really well… Seriously” Sophie explains, a nod coming from her friend, one with little joy, yet obvious appreciation. “He said there was a driver ahead that was driving weird, and he wanted to slow the car down in case they got too close to them” Sophie explains to her father, watching an amused look come over her his face, suggesting there have been worse things to be worried for than some childish fun with a good ending.

The laughter coming to an end, Caden moves onto the following question listed, one that takes him a moment to muster up the courage to ask. “What- uh,” Caden begins, stumbling over himself as his eyes read the question faster than his voice can speak up to ask it. “It’s okay, Caden” Sophie explains, her eyes finally removing themselves from the camera lens, placed upon her friend as he looks up toward her, “I want to.”

A puff of air leaving his lungs through his nose, Caden nods briefly before looking down, memorizing the following question before returning his gaze to her. “Sophie” Caden begins, the start of the following question prompting the girl to return her attention to the camera lens, “what was your last day of school like?”

> 3rd April, 2030 <

“Good morning, class!” a teacher loudly calls out, her voice echoing amidst the largely empty room, only a handful of students walking through the doors by the time the bell sounds. “Good morning, Mrs. Danielson!” a full class shouts, the sounds of their voices being distorted by the stereo at the back of the room falling short of the ability to present the feedback equally.

“Everyone scroll to your textbooks and flip to page one hundred and thirty-eight” Mrs. Danielson calls out, the six students seated in real desks shadowed by the projected screen in the back of the room with a higher-capacity video call. “Does anyone have any questions about this week’s test?” Mrs. Danielson calls out, watching a few hands rise on the screen, all of which ignored by Sophie’s voice right beside her, not a hand raised before she had begun speaking.

“Is the test going to be handed out on paper, too?” Sophie asks, her question answered with a response that she hadn’t been hoping for. “No, it will be on the app, sweetie” Mrs. Danielson replies, her fingertips placed atop Sophie’s desk as another student on the video call requests her attention. “Happy birthday, Ms. Amari” Mrs. Danielson whispers, only addressing the online student once her wishes for a pleasant day have been offered.

“Raise your hand, Logan” Mrs. Danielson answers, her instructions falling on deaf ears, Logan’s question being raised the moment he recognizes her attention being given. “Why don’t the classies have to raise their hands?” Logan asks, a question which Mrs. Danielson is more than happy to answer. “Because they made the effort to come into school instead of doing it from home” Mrs. Danielson replies, taking joy in voicing her preference for in-school attendees, “they get to speak freely.”

“Isn’t that discriminatory?” another student asks, beginning to present a fleet of voices coming through the speakers at once, resulting in the sound of distortion filling the room. “One at a time, none of us can hear you if you’re all speaking at once!” Mrs. Danielson answers, earning little cooperation in return. Her eyes rolling, the woman returns to her desk at the front of the room and sits in her chair, her hands rummaging through her purse before emerging with two pills for her headache.

“If they wanna talk so bad, they should actually show the fuck up” one of the in-house students calls out, earning agreement from the small number of her peers. “Language, Izzy” Mrs. Danielson replies, not disagreeing with her statement, instead correcting her usage of choice words. Scrolling through the screen, Mrs. Danielson presses a button and refreshes the entire room, one video feed popping up in little windows at a time.

“Alright, the next time any of you at home speak without being called on, you’ll all lose voice privileges for five minutes” Mrs. Danielson explains, earning a few groans and eyerolls for her troubles. “Logan, would you like to raise your hand and then ask your question?” Mrs. Danielson proceeds to ask, a disgruntled teenager doing as instructed, asking the same question, which is answered in the same fashion.

“Isn’t that discriminatory?” Logan asks, a gesture which Mrs. Danielson scoffs at beneath her breath. “Discrimination is done by people using power against people they deem to be inferior to them” Mrs. Danielson answers, pacing around the front of the room with her hands folded behind her back, “I can’t discriminate against any of you, students that get to choose whether to learn from home or in person- a choice that I don’t get to make” Mrs. Danielson concludes, “any rebuttal?”

Her eyes watching one hand after another lift into the air, Mrs. Danielson takes a deep breath, preparing for a long class, an ongoing dread that Sophie shares a great deal of with her.


> 18th January, 2031 <

“It turns out, people don’t like when they don’t get to have convenience and superior treatment” Sophie scoffs, her cold exterior far from the lively attitude her father and close friend know her to have. “I’ve had a lot of time to think” Sophie continues, neither her father, nor her friend willing to step in and end her ramblings, preferring it more when they don’t have to talk.

“I love my dad, and I know he’ll always be my biggest supporter” Sophie explains, her eyes directed toward her father for a moment before finding the camera again, “but we’re all people… We need critics.” Looking toward the ground again, Sophie takes in a remembrance of the world, recalling its current state and beginning to question the way life is experienced in it.

“No one leaves their homes anymore… Everything’s done from the comfort of their own bedroom” Sophie remarks, a small smile rekindling in the corner of her mouth. “Our parents will never be anything but our biggest supporters at their very core” Sophie explains, licking her lips before looking back into the camera, “no one has critics now… Critics don’t exist, and parents can live forever without their kid being anything other than a perfect, undisputed work of art.”

Her eyes returning to Caden, Sophie uses the glance to suggest a move onto the next question, a gesture which only helps to further lessen Caden’s spirits. Looking down at the paper, Caden quickly averts his eyes, looking off into the corner of the room. “I’m okay with this, Caden” Sophie calls back, knowing where the hesitation comes from, the man’s rebuttal confusing her at first, her thoughts not having included the response of everyone else.

“What if I’m not okay with this?” Caden replies, holding back the tears forming in his eye, the memories of a simpler time making the following months even worse to look back on. “I need you to be” Sophie answers, seeing the white markings of Caden’s teeth on his lip, his posture presenting someone without much power to continue. Removing herself from her seat, Sophie approaches Caden, who watches each step she takes, his eyes looking directly up at her face.

Crouching down, Sophie places her hand against her friend’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes before explaining again that she needs him to follow through on his promise. “It’s tough for the both of us, but I need you to do this for me” Sophie explains, watching Caden’s lips pucker, pulling themselves into the corner of his mouth, “I need this.”

Nodding in silence, Caden agrees to continue, prompting the girl to wipe away a tear from her smile-adorned face, her feet carrying her back to the seat she had just left. Preparing herself, Sophie looks back into the camera, preparing for the next question to be asked. “Okay…” Caden says, mentally preparing himself for the next question, mustering up the courage to ask it all in one quick line of speech, “how did your next eight months begin?”

> 3rd April, 2030 <

“Hey, hold up!” Izzy’s voice shouts, prompting the pair to turn back, immediately asking for what she needed. “I got Logan’s address out of the attendance book before class started” Izzy confesses, bringing a smile upon both friend’s faces, “I wanted to know if you guys wanted to egg his house after school?” Looking toward each other, the difference in expression becomes instantly noticeable.

“I’d love to, but my mom wants me to come back home right after I drop Sophie off” Caden explains, citing the earlier driving experience as the cause for his parent’s concerns. “Oh, come on! It’s my birthday!” Sophie replies, trying to gode Caden into defying the rules one more time, her efforts ultimately proving fruitless this second time around. “I can’t… She’ll keep me from using the car” Caden answers, his priorities set on keeping benefits he has rather than squandering them.

“I totally would if I could, though!” Caden clarifies, his eyes set on Izzy as he answers, prompting her attention to be redirected toward the celebratory lady. “What about you, Sophia?” Izzy inquires, her eyes falling upon Sophie with hope, the enthused expression on her classmate’s face suggesting she’d found herself an accomplice. “Yeah, I’m in!” Sophie replies, her answer prompting Caden to roll his eyes.

“I hope you don’t get yourself in trouble” Caden answers, spinning himself, his feet carrying him away from Sophie, who responds to him as he walks away. “It’s my birthday, my dad can’t get mad at me!” she shouts back, her humorous answer being the final thing spoken to the man before the end of the school day. “Meet me by the green out in the front” Izzy explains, promising to make this a birthday she’d never forget, “hit the grocery store, do our duties, and then I’ll bring you home.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Sophie replies, splitting away from Izzy and walking off, their plans coming across as nothing less than bulletproof. A few hours pass and the final bell rings, dismissing the students for the rest of the afternoon. “Enjoy the remainder of your days, everyone!” an older teacher calls out, the four students in physical attendance packing their bags as the online students power their cameras down.

Bursting through the front doors, Sophie immediately spots Caden just as he slumps into the driver’s seat, a crowd of exiting students that barely numbers in the double digits making it easy to spot him out. “I’ll see you back at home, Caden!” Sophie shouts, noticing her voice to have failed to reach her friend’s ears, his door already having slammed shut by the time she ends her sentence.

Stood in the lot for another few seconds, Sophie watches Caden’s car slowly roll out of the parking lot, navigating the narrow roadways before finding the main street, a single left turn allowing Caden’s presence to vanish from her sight. Now standing in an empty front lot, Sophie turns her attention toward the green, the one strap of her backpack draped over her shoulder rattling as her bag shuffles from one side to another, each step taking her closer to her destination.

“To Izzy, I’m in the green and waiting… Are you on your way?” Sophie speaks aloud, waiting for a moment before a voice from her wrist speaks back to her. “Okay, I’m texting Izzy ‘I’m in the green and waiting, are you on your way?’” the electronic register speaks back, putting a humored smirk on Sophie’s face, “do you want me to send it as a message?”

Complying with her watch’s request, Sophie lets the text send off toward its target, allowing her to look around, a blooming spring painting the green in various colors. Head turning toward one side of the grassy null, Sophie squints toward a beige van parked on the sidewalk a few yards away from her, peaking the young girl’s interest. “To Izzy, is that you in the beige van at the end of the street?” Sophie says aloud again, immediately granting her watch permission to send the text.

Her attention fully placed upon the car, Sophie doesn’t move for a few daunting seconds, each tick of a clock beginning to feel like minutes of pins and needles shooting down her neck. Soon after the text is sent, the van begins to slowly wheel itself forward, a sight that brings a look of relief upon Sophie’s face. Picking her backpack up, Sophie walks away from her seat on the green and approaches the van, making it to the side of the road just as the van slows to a stop.

“Hey, thanks for driving me” Sophie says without a second thought, pulling the passenger’s door open and climbing inside as her watch begins to speak once more. “Messages failed to send, would you like me to try again?” the watch exclaims, prompting Sophie to stop everything, her eyes frozen in place upon the device on her wrist, realization beginning to set in that Izzy hadn’t responded to her voiced appreciation.

Keeping her eyes away from the driver’s seat, Sophie’s body begins to tremble, an ominous feeling coming over her as she slowly tries to lower herself away from the vehicle. In an instant, Sophie pulls her hand away from the passenger’s door and begins to return to the pavement below, a stiff blow to the back of her head bringing any attempt at escape to a stop.

With a grunt, Sophie’s head is thrown toward the door, the side of her face crashing against the edge of the window frame, the second impact being the one that put her into unconsciousness. In a hurry, the driver escapes the vehicle and opens the sliding doors to the backseat, all whilst Sophie begins to fade in and out of clarity. “What-? No!” Sophie growls, putting up a minimal fight at best, the concussion brought on from the consecutive shots giving her no hope for safety.

With minimal effort, the assailant wraps a pair of handcuffs around Sophie’s watch-adorned wrist and throws her into the backseat, clasping the free end of the cuffs to a piece of the metal interior. With force, the assailant slams the van door shut, running back into the front seat and speeding off into the mid-day. As minutes pass, the empty street becomes occupied once more, a flashy car coming to a screeching halt just beside the green.

Windows rolling down, Izzy calls out for Sophie, confused when she receives no answer, finding not a single soul for miles.

> 18th January 2031 <

Clearing his throat, Caden looks back to the clipboard, his eyes glancing at the young woman to find her continuing to stare into the camera lens. Just beyond Caden, Andrew peers into the distance of the room, unable to look at his daughter without a piece of him shattering into fragments. “And, when you woke up…” Caden begins, again being choked up before he can ask the question.

Without turning her sights away from the camera, Sophie tells Caden to ask it, keeping her instructions simple and unable to be misinterpreted. With a sigh, Caden nods to himself, continuing to ask as Sophie wishes for him to. “...When you woke up, what was the first thing you remembered?” Caden inquires, Sophie describing an awfully familiar figure stood in the same doorway her father occupies in this very moment.

“Their face was covered by their shadow, but I recognized their voice” Sophie explains, her eyes falling upon her father. “She said…” Sophie begins, struggling to go on herself, now choking up over her own recollection for the first time, tears beginning to run down the sides of her face. “She waited for me to wake up, and then she slid a bottle of water over to the bowl of food she left for me” Sophie explains, her response challenged by Caden as he was instructed to do.

“You said she had said something” Caden explains, Sophie clarifying that she said her first words to her just before locking her into the bunker-style room she sits in now. “What did she say?” Caden asks, watching Sophie’s pain-ridden smile appear, a single finger swiping the tear away from her cheek just as it threatens to leave her skin in favor of falling from her chin. With an unapologetically cold tone, Sophie answers with two simple words, a pairing that brings her great sorrow.

“Happy birthday.”

== Generation Alpha ==