It was a dark day. The clouds coated dark sky that hung above the school... Today felt off. Something was coming, but I wasn't quite sure what. Well, the moment I got to class, I was given the news. From now on, all students would have to use a e-hallpass to go to the bathroom. I was shocked, stunned, flabbergasted. Though my body was frozen in shock, I could sense a feeling growing within me. I hadn't peed before going to school... I opened up my dingy computer and created this new 'e-hallpass' and left for the nearest bathroom. I felt an odd sensation beneath my feet as I walked. I walked faster and faster, trying to escape what was rumbling beneath the school grounds. I burst into the bathroom, yanking the stall open. As I opened the stall, the toilet burst, a figure exploding from the toilet. It was Donatello, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each of the four turtles emerged from one of the four stalls. "Hello, Y/N, we are here to take you to Master Splinter. He would like to take you on has his protégée," Michelangelo told me. I was shocked, "I cant.. I-I have to get back to class. If I don't, the e-hallpass will put me on an FBI list..." I tell them, my hands trembling with fear and excitement. "That's to bad," Leonardo comments, "You know where to find us when you're ready," and with that, all the turtles went back into the school sewer system, awaiting my eventual or possible arrival. I can’t pee with out a timer and 5 passes a day isn’t enough 1 star

It was a dark day. The clouds coated dark sky that hung above the school… Today felt off. Something was coming, but I wasn't quite sure what. Well, the moment I got to class, I was given the news. From now on, all students would have to use a e-hallpass to go to the bathroom. I was shocked, stunned, flabbergasted. Though my body was frozen in shock, I could sense a feeling growing within me. I hadn’t peed before going to school… I opened up my dingy computer and created this new ‘e-hallpass’ and left for the nearest bathroom. I felt an odd sensation beneath my feet as I walked. I walked faster and faster, trying to escape what was rumbling beneath the school grounds. I burst into the bathroom, yanking the stall open. As I opened the stall, the toilet burst, a figure exploding from the toilet. It was Donatello, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each of the four turtles emerged from one of the four stalls. “Hello, Y/N, we are here to take you to Master Splinter. He would like to take you on has his protégée,” Michelangelo told me. I was shocked, “I cant.. I-I have to get back to class. If I don’t, the e-hallpass will put me on an FBI list…” I tell them, my hands trembling with fear and excitement. “That’s to bad,” Leonardo comments, “You know where to find us when you’re ready,” and with that, all the turtles went back into the school sewer system, awaiting my eventual or possible arrival.

The Sad Story of Emma: Trapped in a Digital Cage Emma, an 11th grader, loved reading and escaping into her books during the quiet moments between classes. But that peace began to fade when her school introduced the Securly app, meant to keep students in class. Instead, it felt like a digital prison. Then came the e-pass system. It required students to request permission to leave the classroom via an app. What seemed like a small inconvenience soon became a trap. Emma was blocked from leaving class when she needed to go to the nurse due to a migraine, with the app declaring, “Exceeded allowed exits for today.” She felt trapped—not just by the physical walls, but by the system that controlled her every move. The worst part was the silence. Emma was too scared to speak up, too overwhelmed to fight back. She wasn’t alone—many students were quietly suffering under the weight of constant monitoring. The technology that was meant to help her had instead stripped away her freedom and joy. The dreams of college, of learning without limits, felt more distant every day. In the end, Emma withdrew. The system that was supposed to protect her had crushed her spirit, and the thrill of learning was no longer enough to make up for the constant surveillance and control. She wasn’t just a student struggling with rules; she was a casualty of a digital world that stifled her growth and sense of self.