A most horrifying outcome. (HHWC)

beep beep beep...it's soft at first barely noticeable but it grows louder and louder until finally you are jarred out of your inky black sleep by the shrill cry of the alarm clock, you roll over with a groan to turn it off. It's 6AM time for another fun filled day of monotony. Yawning, you stretch the sleep out of your muscles and mentally prepare for the grim reality that is Monday. You're wife has left for work hours ago, you hardly see her anymore because you work opposing shifts. By the time you get home she'll be sleeping or approaching it. Your kids arn't home either, you're never sure where they are, they only seem to appear when they are hungry or they want money for something.

Throwing on a robe, you stagger out of your room, and head to the kitchen to throw on a pot of coffee, before shuffling out the front door to collect the morning paper. The chill morning air makes you feel a little more awake, and a draft finds it's way up your robe, making you remember your next task. The morning dump.

As you sit on your porcelain throne, the only throne you've ever known, you reflect on how even your bodily functions are monotonous and dull. "You don't even jerk off anymore you poor old sob." you think to yourself, as you flip through the pages of the newspaper. Nothing new in the paper, just more depressing headlines, about a world that's going to [crap], and as if to accentuate that point you hear a plunk in the toilet. You look down at it before you flush, it's just a little one, and you still feel bound up.

After you've finished in the bathroom, you make your way back to the kitchen to pour yourself a cup of the fluid that's been sustaining you for at least the last 30 years, and get ready for work. On the way there, you stop at some fast food joint for a breakfast sandwich, since you didn't have time to prepare breakfast at home. However you should have known the traffic would be horrible, because it always is, and you find yourself five minutes late for work, with a boss who's just itching to take his dis-satisfaction of his life out on you. You get verbally assaulted and written up, this will go in your permanent record.

You finally make it to your cubicle to start entering data into monotonous spreadsheets, cell by cell. The hours drudge on slowly, there's nothing to do for you but enter formulas and data, since the IT department has blocked any use of the internet, you're stuck actually doing work. At one time you would have looked for a different job, something more fulfilling perhaps but you've long since given up on that pipe dream.

Your lunch hour comes and goes, with 3/4 of it devoted to heavy traffic, and the other 15 minutes eating some fast food concoction that sits like a lead weight in your stomach now that you're back at work. An hour or so passes and you find that you're almost finished entering the data when your boss saunters over with a stack of files two feet long. "These need to be finished by the end of the day" he says smugly, "Don't let me down." You resist the urge to crack him in the jaw...and politely thank him. "Once you would have never stood for this [crap] man what happened to you." you think to yourself. You sit there having a staring contest with the computer, not able to understand where all the time went, how it came to this when you had so many big plans, goals, hopes and dreams. You hear the sharp sound of an irratated boss behind you clearing his throat and you realize he's probably been standing there the whole time, with a resigned sigh you pick up the folders and continue with your work.

The hours pass quitting time arrives along with your boss, informing you that you cannot leave until all of these files are finished. By the time you finally muddle through all the files and email the spreadsheet to your boss, you realize you've been there 2 hours later then you should and you've missed almost all your favorite shows. On the way home you pick up a pizza for dinner and when you get home just as you're wife is leaving for work. You watch the news, more depressing [crap], go figure nothing's changed. Finally the day winds to an end, and you find yourself setting the alarm clock and getting ready for bed.

You drift off to sleep and there you find yourself in a strange place... you wake up in the morning on your own time, with your wife at your side. The two of you make passionate love, the best you've ever had then just lay there tangled up in each other for a while, until finally you both decide to start the day. Your two kids come out of their rooms, they're being polite to each other, eating their breakfast and engaging in a fascinating discussion about physics of all things, funny, yesterday all they would talk about was jersey shore and all those other TV shows you would never understand. You and your wife exchange bemused glances with each other as you sip your coffee and listen to your kids debate the finer aspects of quantum theory. You excuse yourself and step outside to go grab the paper when suddenly you are confronted with a bit of confusion, this is not the house you remember living in, rather it has a more rustic appeal to it. There are sprawling gardens stretching out for miles, flowers, herbs, vegatables, all of it, here. You wander around your house taking in the scenery of the beautiful day, wondering what is going on. Eventually you return to your place at the table, your family notices your confusion, and ask you what's wrong, "n-nothing" you stammer. You look at the clock, and suddenly realize you have to go to work, when you announce this your wife and kids just look at you confused. "Work? You mean out in the yard?" asks your son, clearly perplexed.

"No, I mean...my job where I enter data, and work for the man, for money?" You trail off, confused by your family's confusion. Finally your wife interrupts. "Honey...we work for ourselves remember? We have everything we need, and we make everything we require. We are servants of no one but ourselves." Oh..my mistake you reply...I must have been thinking of something else. You finish up breakfast, all the while trying to figure out what is going on.. Finally you develop what you think is a good way to get the information you need without making your family too worried. "Son, could you give me a hand outside? I'd like you to pretend for today that I've never done any of this, and I want you to show me how to do it. I'm going to test you to make sure you've got it all, no pressure though." Your son casts a sideways glance at you but then smiles and agrees to help. The two of you get to work and have a fun day in fresh air, enjoying nature, when suddenly a bird lands in the tree next to you, chirping as it lands.

peep peep peep,

it's soft at first barely noticeable but it grows louder and louder until finally you are jarred out of your sleep by the shrill cry of the alarm clock.

The end.

reply to post by bekisu


I LOVE this story. Oh how I wish....

I will have a great day today....daydreaming.

Thanks so much.

This story kinda plays out like an Outer limits / twilight zone episode that never saw the light of day.

apologies for the inference,however i do believe this could be developed
into a legitimate screenplay. verging perhaps towards potential cinematic critique in it's own right.

imaginative, provocative, extremely well written, and oh so so so easy to interpret.
akin to reading a children's book in braille..
kudos!

Beautiful story while also very depressing as your brought back to reality by THE END. Well done

Is this a "test"?

Isn't the contest supposed to be in brackets?

reply to post by JR MacBeth


Brackets? I'll have to go re-read the rules. That's what I wanted to submit though, it was the most horrifying thing I could think of.

reply to post by bekisu


Horrible yes, because it sounds a lot like my life. Good luck in the contest!

Originally posted by Flatwoods
reply to post by bekisu

 

Horrible yes, because it sounds a lot like my life. Good luck in the contest!

Thank you, good luck with your life, I hope it isn't so horrible.

Not bad, though IMO too short. I wanted more, which I guess is a good thing. S&F for the effort!

reply to post by Ceriddwen


Thanks for the S&F! I'd actually like to add more to this, but I was crunched for time when I wrote it.