Deeper
The luminous spirals reflected in Ashton’s eyes, pulling him deeper and deeper into an altered state of mind.
“Slave…” A woman’s voice purred.
“I’m not…” he muttered.
“Slave…” She repeated. Ten times, one hundred, a thousand.
“Slave.” He finally complied, sinking to the floor.
Without thinking, he forwarded the app’s link to all his friends.
I mentioned in the past I’m not much to use my phone. I’m old-fashioned that way and I like it. I often forget it’s even on and, on multiple occasions, I’ve let the battery die completely and stay that way for days without plugging it back in. I did it again, today.
I don’t know for sure how long it was off, most likely since Sunday as I do remember the low battery sound. After plugging it in, I checked to see if everything was working and then forgot about it again. That’s just how much I worry about it.
Anyway, fiddling with it did give me an idea and you’ve just read it. All hail hypnotic spirals and technological brainwashing/enslavement.
The Future
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“Gina? How long was I asleep?” Alex asked.
“I’m not her but a hologram created to help you cope. You were asleep 3000 years.”
“What? Not possible!”
“Please look outside.”
He did. The transparent buildings and flying cars blew his mind.
Gina laughed on the inside. She loved playing with his perception.
Yes, another perception-themed piece. You know I love those. I improvised this one after lunch but had internet problems during the afternoon and couldn’t really post it until now. Consequences of the lockdown, I suppose, as operators are now able to divert resources as they please to aid in work-from-home situations and distance learning, for instance. It’s not the first time this happens this month and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Anyway, that was it. Alex is quite suggestible, it seems. How about you?
Played
Jake rose from the sofa, walked to the refrigerator, grabbed Mary’s aloe vera juice, and returned to her in silence while she fiddled with his console’s controller and grinned.
“Do you still love videogames now that I turned you into a playable character?” She asked.
“I love you.” He replied.
“Hypnotized boyfriends are the best…”
While video game characters aren’t real, there’s something to be said about the fact when you play a game, you are controlling them. They’re basically your digital slaves forced to do your bidding even if you don’t know what you’re doing. Fail and they suffer the consequences. If you’re feeling sadistic, you may even “kill” them of your own accord in the most egregious ways possible.
While I don’t play games that much anymore, I still enjoy a small escapade from time to time and today I started thinking what if I were a character and someone else was holding the controller? Eventually, I wrote this.
Not a Drug
“Thomas? Can you hear me?”
“What’s up, brother?”
“Help! Melinda’s drugging my food!”
“This story again? Coriander’s a seasoning, not a drug. Please, go back to sleep.”
“No. That’s not it. You’ve…”
“Sleep and forget, Joe,” Melinda whispered in his ears. He had snapped out of conditioning twenty times already. There wouldn’t be a twenty-first.
If you’re thinking, you’re totally having coriander in your food tonight, aren’t you, I’m here to tell you that… you’re absolutely right. It’s cooking as I type this and it seemed like a good idea as any other for today’s challenge piece.
Today has not been a particularly good day. It’s been raining non-stop since about 9 am and one of my dogs has been indisposed/sick since around that time, too. I hope it’s nothing serious.
Anyway, I hope you’re having a good weekend. Don’t try to resist your programming, folks. You can’t.