Everything is What it Seems by Anfisa Doroshenko

It was 2106, the height of the Cultural Revolution,
which has been raging for years. Long before that, thousands of years ago, it was considered normal to run half-dressed after some kind of wild beast, kill it in a fit of rage, and then tear his flesh with hands and eat. And now, in the 22nd century, it was considered normal to lead a life in which there is no anxiety, excitement or ecstasy. All you need to do was to come to work on time and leave on time, not to make unnecessary sounds except those that have a distinct verbal form…
(…)
Her name was Ode and she recently turned 16. In her world it was impossible to engage in any creativity. Reading books, especially old, was forbidden. As well as studying painting, music or dance. All the paintings, sculptures and other objects of her city that used to belong to the central museum (her grandmother worked there in her youth) were exterminated like hornets in wooden floor. Her teachers used to repeat: “An apple is just an apple. Everything is what it seems”. She could only agree, but even when she spoke calmly, there was a tantrum brewing in her — Ode was always uneasy at heart.
In 2106 everything was done by robots and computers for people, so even sciences weren't needed. Imagination and fantasy as thought processes were almost impossible. The brain could only feed on the events of the present, and the past and the future did not pretend to be different from this present. Creativity was believed to be a kind of mental disease. Writing, drawing, composing, etc., which was considered acceptable and even appreciated in the old days, was now recognized as signs of unreliability and emotional instability, which can lead to strife in society. The “witch hunt” and the brainwashing have begun soon.
But Ode managed to cope with strict rules... Her grandmother used to work in the museum; she knew a lot of things. And although other peers of Ode did not listen to their relatives, Ode could listen to her granny for hours, because art was her all-consuming love, which could allay any fear. Ode opened a new world, filled with bright stories. Grandma's books (saved carefully) and her stories made Ode different. Let's say, for example, that for her the apple was a symbol of health and fall, fertility and temptation, she knew about the Hesperides and Raphael's “Three Graces”, about the judgment of Paris, about Snow-white and the tiny apple in the picture of Arnolfini portrait, about Magritte and the symbol of the redemption of Christ and much more. Napoleon and Queen Elizabeth, Eden and Qin Shihuandi — they stepped from the pages. She could imagine them, that distinguished her from others. Words such as a window, a rose, a ship or a pearl, a skull or a star caused many associations in her mind. She understood words in figurative meaning and very soon began to write small poems. First about the knights and their ladies, in the spirit of the Middle Ages.
While all the information was stored on the computer and various media, she wrote in notebooks and used her own memory.
(…)
They came in the morning, her school superiors. They came because she became dispersed and inattentive, and her classmates said that she murmured something to herself from time to time.
They found her jewels — her books and deleted them by law. She has also left her notebook with poems in plain sight through an oversight.
— What is this? I can't decipher your scrawl. What an outrage!
— My poems, sir…
Everything was taken away and burnt. She was prescribed a special treatment. They took everything from her, except her memory. Therefore, finding the paper clutches, she wrote her poems again.