Vivid - Part 2

Rob walked into school the next morning to see the results hype was still in full swing. Everyone was still asking everyone what they got, people were either letting their happiness sink in, or worrying about what this might do to their end grade. Either way it didn’t effect Rob, he just walked through the crowds of people fitting into neither category. The school Rob went to confused him, it was all one building with several floors in places, but there didn’t seem to be much of a set space for many subjects. The science department had labs in all four corridors of the school, and they were able to keep their classes rooms. Some of the other subjects had a fight on their hands to keep rooms for themselves, and some found themselves moving every year. Or in the worst cases every term. Rob was making his way to home room, he had the morning off but his Dad wouldn’t let him lie in, especially not after last night. When he woke in the morning he was face with a renewed anger from his Dad, and he’d gone downstairs to get a few more bruises. Mainly around the topic of re-sits. The idea scared Rob half to death, if he could do well enough on these exams, what would it be like when he had those ones again and a load more. 

He got to home room, and sat down. By now everyone had either cleared out to go to class, only a few people were milling about. Rob sat down in his usual place, in the far corner of the room where no one really disturbed him. He didn’t really know what to do with himself, he’d hope that he could have a rare morning off after some good results. But that obviously wasn’t going to happen. He opened his bag, and got out all his notes from before he took the exam. He realised he needed to pin point where he went wrong in the exam so as to do better the next time. He got out copies off all the exam papers and started to scour for the answers to his failure. After a while, and a few ‘Oh God you knew that Rob’ moments, he was interrupted. 

“Are theses all the exams that happened in January?” A voice asked him. He looked up and saw Maria, and was instantly paralysed in the way a boy of seventeen gets when he sees his crush. 

“Um yeah, I wasn’t really happy with my Bs, so I’m seeing where I went wrong.” She raised her eyebrows. She had curly fiery orange hair, and brown eyes. She had, in Rob opinion, the perfect body, and the perfect face. He watched her walk over to English, or sitting around reading a book. 

“You got Bs in science, that’s impressive to me.” Rob shrugged, he knew it was, but he could hardly tell her that his Dad… he stopped thinking. 

“I know, but I just thought I’d done well. And I made some stupid mistakes.” She say down next to him, and looked over some of the notes. 

“I don’t even understand any of this stuff. But then I’m just a humanities girl I guess.” She put the sheet down and got a book out. It was Pride and Prejudice. Rob was baffled by the fact that she was sitting next to him, there was no one else in the block. 

“That books good,” he said. “Austen’s use of aphorisms clearly shows her discontent with the society at the time.” She looked up, eyes wide. 

“I thought you were a science kid.” Rob shrugged, blushing a little.

“I can still read.” He thought about telling her that he wished he’d done English, but that would leave him open to the question of why. 

“I’ve read this a few times. But I finish the books we get given in English to quickly so I have to re-read or buy more, and I never have enough money for books.” He smiled, not really knowing what to say. 

“I prefer Sense and Sensibility.” He put in. She looked wide eyes. 

“How much of Austen have you read?” 

“Well everything I think. Northanger Abby is pretty good to, because it’s mock gothic rather than mock romantic.” She looked stunned again.        

“So are you some wannabe English student or summit?” 

“No. I just don’t sleep a lot.” He said, hoping she didn’t think he was to weird. 

“Oh, well sounds like you’d make an ace English student.” She looked back down to her book, and read for a bit, and Rob went through his exams for a while. But he couldn’t concentrate properly. All he could think off was the girl sitting next to him. The strangeness of what was happening. But she kept looking up to him, and he kept making eye contact with her without meaning to. The bell came signalling break and she got up to go sit with her friends, and he watched her walk away. She looked back over to him a few times, but Rob kept pretending he didn’t notice. When the room cleared again she didn’t come back over. But he wanted her to. He hoped he’d impressed her. But she obviously judged him for being a science kid, and he judged himself for that as much. He looked down at the paper. I hate science so much, he thought, and almost expected his Dad to hear him, and come bursting in ready to pin him against the wall again. “Rob?” She said. He was startled to find her hovering over him, he was just staring at the exams papers around him. It dawned on him that he’d never actually told her his name, but then he knew hers without having to ask. He was probably well know as ‘that kid who doesn’t talk to anyone.’ 

“Yeah?” He said, looking up to her. 

“Do you wanna, maybe go out, and see a movie with me on saturday.” He was taken aback. 

“Um yeah sure, what time?” 

“Oh say we meet at one at the odeon?” He knew his Dad was going out to a match on that day, and wouldn’t be back until the early hours of the next day. 

“Yeah sure that sounds great.” She smile. 

“Good, I’ll cya then.” She turned away, and Rob tried not to feel to excited. 

A bright light, bursts forth. 

It blinds you at first, you can’t see past it. 

You shield your eyes, brace for the impact. 

But the light runs up the wall, and chases away the shadows. 

Your eyes adjust, you lower you guard. 

The thousand dark birds start to turn white. 

Like pin pricks of light through a giant black canvas. 

Vivid - Part 1

A story is real. Consider the idea that in the universe, which is ever expanding, there is infinite potential. Therefore there is potential for there to be a world out there where the story your reading right now is real. And if the universe is infinite, and still expanding, then is must be real. So middle earth, disc world and Hogwarts are all out there somewhere. There is also a copy of earth where everything is exactly the same, in fact there should be infinite copies of earth.

Rob sat alone in his bedroom, looking out his window at the cloudy sky, only a few patches of blue shining through. Rob, sitting quietly, was scared. The fear of what he knew was to come was rushing through him, he shacked, paced and held his head in his hands, but he could not get rid of the fear. He knew that soon his Dad would come home, and he’d see the results sheet he’d left on the mantel, it would tell him he’d only got Bs in his first set of A-Level exams. Most people would be happy with that grade, but not Rob, or his Dad. That rage would pulse through him in almost an instant. He’d shout at Rob, and Rob would have to try and navigate the maze of his fathers rage. And try and avoid earning another bruise. But he knew today that it was inevitable. 

Rob is currently seventeen, and study the three sciences and math at six form, much to his displeasure. He hated science, but if he ever told his Dad that he’d probably end up with a broken arm. He longed to tell him that sometimes. He read a lot, when he could. But he knew now that he might have to go through another book burning. Last time he got a bad grade his Dad had burned all his books because they were, apparently, a distraction. Rob longed to study English, he watched the English students walk to there class, and had to fight the strongest urge to follow them. Rob stood again, he was around six foot, and skinny. He was taller than his Dad, and that had shocked him when he first realised because he didn’t feel like he was. 

He had chocolate brown hair, and dark green eyes. His face was round, but his eyes always had dark circles, he never stopped revising. But then it hadn’t been good enough this time. His chest was covered in bruises, his dad never hit his face, unless he was exceptionally made. After the time Rob was asked about a bruise once he’d flipped, and given him several new ones for letting people see them. His dad didn’t see anything wrong with hitting his son, he thought that’s how kids got disciplined. And Rob had quickly learn’t how to avoid it on the majority of days, but he knew this time it was beyond his control. Then he heard it, the sickening sound. It was the sound of the key in the latch. He knew he had a minuet, if that, until his Dad would burst through that door. He listened to his dad heavy breathing, the sound of his tossing his keys aside. 

And then a silence. It was like he could feel his Dad’s mood changing, building, as he looked at the grades, and grew angry. Rob thought about his Mum, she was dead, she’d died giving birth to him. But she’d loved his Dad, when he saw pictures of her and his Dad together it made him sad. He’d made his Dad like this, that’s what he told himself, that he killed the person that made his dad a decent, and happy person, and now he was paying the price for it. Then it came. 

“Bs!!” He shouted. “What a load of crap.” There was a pause. “Rob! Get down here.” His farther knew, he knew how much he feared him, but I think he liked it. When he was drunk he boasted about how much control over his son he had, and any achievement he made was his achievement as well. Rob made the solemn walk downstairs, it was never long enough. He knew the steps, the top one was his best friend, and the bottom one his worst enemy. And walked down, and into the from room. He felt the wind get knocked out of him as his fathers fist went into his stomach. “What the hell?!” He shouted, his fat unclean face just centimetres from him. “Are you brain dead of something? Ah?” 

“No.” Rob says quietly. 
“Well then what are these Bs?” 

“There not that bad grades Dad.” He pushed him against the wall, and grabbed a handful of his hair, and pulled. Rob didn’t yell. 

“Do you think that’s funny?” He said, menacingly. 

“No I just meant...” he pulled his hair a little tighter. 

“You won’t get these grades again, will you?” 

“Yes, I’ll do better.” 

“Good, you got go lightly.” he let go and took a step back. “If I had any sense I’d throw you out, your an embarrassment sometimes. No son of mine get Bs. Your mother would be disappointed if she saw you.” She’d be disappointed in you, Rob thought. He looked at his farther, and then to the floor. He had to wait before he could go, he had to be told whether he was done or not. He could hit him again. 

“Why do you look at me like that?!” His dad suddenly shouted. 

“Like what?” Rob asked quietly, the fear etched in his voice. 

“Just go,” his Dad said, his angry gone as quickly as it had come. “I can’t look at you, or this.” He thrust the paper into his chest, which hurt. Rob quietly walk away, and back upstairs. He skipped the creaky one, because sometimes when his Dad heard it he got angry again. Rob knew he’d got off lightly. But it never felt like he’d done bad, or good out of a situation like this. He went into his room, and sat on his bed again, looking out the window. It was dark, he hand’t realized it was going dark until now. After a while of sitting quietly, reliving the event over and over Rob got up, stripped off and got into bed. He curled up into a ball, hugging his legs to his chest, his head resting on his knees. Everything around him was black, he heard his house creak, and felt his body ache. But worst of all was the screaming in his head. Because he’d forgotten how to scream out loud.   

Darkness descends in the dead of night, 

Washing over your world, rippling to the sides. 

Red stained fists blot your white skin, smudging, 

Staining. A word, a number, a letter, a movement. 

They all trigger the landslide, the crushing. 

Thousands of tiny birds cross the sky around you, 

You spin your head as you watch them fly, silently.

Upload

It began with earpieces. We couldn’t live without them, on the way to work, on the drive home. That’s how it infected us, through the parts of out life that we didn’t  really care about. When your commute is just thirty minuets of dead space how easy is it for you to just slip on headphones and listen to music, or have a book read to you. But then it infected other parts of our lives, silently at first. We’d crave the headphones, the ability to plug in and listen to that song that was driving us mad all day, or find out what would happen next to in our story. Then it became more. Someone asked what if you could watch TV on the go, in the same way you could listen to books on the go. I remember the announcement, it was world breaking news, that we’d be able to watch TV on the go. In our eyes. They implanted them in us, tiny little devices, that projected an image onto the optical nerve of our eyes, and we’d be able to watch TV or a movie, in our head. Equipped with wireless power, so they’d never run out, and the ability to never be without entertainment. The world went crazy overnight. People like me did question whether this was going too far. But you don’t argue with the technology Gods. 

It took about a year before it was made consumable by the masses. The rich invested in the devices first and that allowed the companies to make the technology cheaper, and therefore more and more people got the implants. The age restrictions in countries got lowered, and lowered. About five years after the initial announcement came the next breakthrough. Social networks were brought into the mix. They’d already implanted microphones in our ears so we were never without music or sound. Now we had the ability of total submersion. Through another chip, somehow implanted deeper within us. We could enter a virtual reality space. So what you’d do is log in through, say, your phone, and then you’d be in a different reality. It was dubbed the first virtual reality. Initially it was a massive city, where you could walk around, and meet with other friends who were online. You could do this from anywhere. I’d walk through a carriage on a bus, and see people that looked passed out with glazed over looks in their eyes. But this was the new norm, no one but me looked at these people like they were weird. 

This new reality exploded. Online dating became something totally different, you’d actually meet in cyber space for your first date. You could change your appearance with just a few clicks, become thinner without dieting, and gaming became something extraordinary. Online worlds became actual worlds. But with these things came bad. When you met someone online, you’d have no idea what they were actually like, and it became a lot easier for people to convince you to meet in reality. You can only imagine what this did to the rape statistics. If you looked good in cyber space, then you became less bothered about your appearance in the real world. Obesity and diabetes sky rocketed. But gaming, I saw no drawback, it was brilliant, I imagined living my life in a fantasy world. They were building them all, Middle Earth, Disc World, Narnia. You could fall down a rabbit hole and go to wonderland if you wanted.

The world was going online, and less and less time was being spent offline. Everything became more real. Then one day, I read an article, from a shrinking group of people that didn’t go offline, saying that you could now go to a movie theatre in virtual reality. By now almost every major city had been rendered in this reality, but this kick was that people didn’t have to travel anymore, they could just decide they wanted to be somewhere, and then be there. So that dead space was gone. And now we were doing what we could have done anyway, but in another world. Because that’s what it had become by now. People had jobs online, I believe the first was a job as a journalist in cyber space. And then more and more people decided they’d rather never turn off. You can imagine that by now the companies were making humanity pay for their new addiction. But we needed money, and so we worked for it.

I could wander the streets of New York and meet no one. A massive class divide erupted. Those who could afford to stay online twenty-four seven, and those who had to work in the real world. Because the lower classes had to cater to the needs of those who wanted to stay online, they didn’t want to leave. But someone had to make sure our bodies, yeah remember them, stayed alive. But how were we still alive. It’s been fifty years now. Almost everyone is gone. I suppose people don’t remember that it’s the year 2092. I was born into an age obsessed by technology. I was born on the eve of the new millennia. And I have watched the world upload itself. Eventually we replaced what we didn’t like, we got rid of the lower class in favour of more technology. Robotics was a physical thing, so it took us a while to remember, but we did it. Now here I am. Probably one of only a handful of humans left with no metal in them. With humanity dying, and children being born out of bytes, what can I tell you. Anyone who is reading this. Life used to be different. Hardship makes us want to have better. But maybe we decided we already had better.

In a thousand years, I imagine that the system will still be going. That the cyber babies will have grown up to have cyber babies. And we will have reached the next stage of human evolution. Or we will have reached our extinction. 

I Have a Mind, Yet I Want to Think

Cold, the traveller stood, on the brow of the rise. He was looking out across a vast sea of green, which went on to the very extent of the horizon. He'd been travelling for several days across open country, never coming into contact with anything but animals. He had on him a large back pack; in which he carried a tent, five days (now two) worth of food, and spare clothes. And strapped to the outside was a sleeping bag. He was hoping to get to the ocean, which he should come to after another day or so's walk. This was the end of day three, so he choose a suitable spot, up against a stone wall, and set out his tent. In which he rolled out his sleeping bag, eat his specified amount of food, and lay back. From out of his bag he produced a journal, he looked at it, tried to think of something to write, and then put it back away. After darkness and want of sleep crept over him he let his consciousness slip.

He suddenly awoke in the dead of night to the sound of a howl. It came from the distance, but he was confused by what he heard. It did not sound like a dog, and there were no wolves in this part of the world. The sound unnerved him. He lay in the darkness, seeing his own breath mist in front of his eyes. He was clinging to himself, praying that he would soon slip back into sleep and that he would wake to a normal day tomorrow.

When he did final sleep in was short and felt like nothing at all. When he awoke he was immediately confronted with a new sound, it was the sound of waves. He quickly unzipped his tent to find he was next to the sea. On a beach in fact. The place where he had made camp gone from underneath him. The sea was around ten feet away from him. He re-zipped the tent, hoping that this was all in his head. But after a short while he realised it wasn't. He slowed his breathing and stopped panicking. He quickly dressed and left the tent. He walked a little way along the beach he was on. He looked away from the sea but saw no end to the sand. He walked and walked and walked but saw no end to the scene, it was just beach, and sand. He walked back the way he came, but when he reached the end of his foot prints he did not find his tent. Nor did he find tracks in the sand, other than his, leading away from the spot.

He sat down in the sand, pondering what he should do. All there was to the place was sea and sand. He looked down at his hands and noticed they were dirty, so he took of his clothes and dived into the water, swimming out to sea. The dirt washed of him in the waves, and he trended water out at sea for nearly an hour. The cold bite actually feeling good, as the temperature on the beach was sweltering. He swam back to shore, but found there were no clothes waiting for him. He ran to the left and then back to the right, but saw nothing of them.

And so away he sat on the beach, and pondered what he should do. He had noting left but his body and his mind. He began to see shapes in the sea, and statues in the sand. Out in the waves he saw horses and deer, cantering towards him then crashing down into oblivion. And to the sand he saw towers, and domes. So vast that when they became so fine they crashed in on themselves.

It was then that he decided to get back up and walk away from the sea. But when he tried to get back to his body, he realised it to was gone.