Linda stumbled out of the waiting room in a daze. She barely heard the whoosh of the door as it slid open, didn’t recognize the slight momentum as the walkway whisked her along to an unknown destination. Several minutes went by before her head cleared enough to realize that she was almost in front of her office building in the downtown sector.
Other faces passed by on the belts; dazed or not, they all wore the same blank expression. Another day had begun, life continued on. Tomorrow had become today, written in yesterday’s ink. If left to her own imagination, Linda might have pondered the point of it; as it was, she couldn’t.
Signs extolled the virtues of constructive teamwork, placed at intervals deemed beneficial to the hive of human drones. Linda paid scant attention to them, forcing her mind to remember what she might have lost. In the deepest hours of the night, she’d perfected the recall trigger that allowed her to compensate for the early morning invasions.
Sitting down at her desk, Linda plugged her interface into the console and waited for the day to begin. A thought surfaced briefly; one to be savored before carefully tucking it into that secret compartment. Despite the electroshock treatments, she would pursue her forbidden dream. Some day, she would be a writer.
Wow. Two #fridayflash posts up so far and today seems to have taken on an air of Orwellian nightmare. Love the opening, the narrator stumbling out of the 'waiting room' has a disturbing air to it even before we get to the 'shock ending.' The automated walkways are a neat metaphor for the way modern life is moving Linda to places she doesn't want to be. Great stuff.
ReplyDelete'written in yesterday's ink' - I loved that phrase even more than the rest of it, which I loved lots.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us feel this way. Forced to endure day jobs while our dream is to write. Nice atmosphere and setting.
ReplyDelete"Despite the electroshock treatments" I'm sure we all can relate to this line and what we have to do to find time to write.. Very nicely done.
ReplyDelete"Tomorrow had become today, written in yesterday’s ink." - I have to agree. There is ART in that sentence. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAnd the "Despite the electroshock treatments..." caught me. Wonderful, terrible image.
Check out Sir John Betjeman's poem "The Planster's Vision". The lines,
"From microphones in communal canteens
"No Right! No wrong! All's perfect, evermore."
were brought to mind by your "Signs...placed at intervals deemed beneficial to the hive..."
Good work Laura.
How close we really are to all of this. Eerily realistic.
ReplyDeleteAnd the possibilities those electric shocks will produce in her writing will be greater than anyone could have imagined... ;)
ReplyDeleteGood job.
I love the idea of the thoughts surfacing in spite of the thick layers of insulation. Those thoughts carry daydreams, which is what the writer induces us readers to have, guided by your written words. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteForbidden dreams in spite of reality. Nice.
ReplyDeleteGood one, Laura. To dare to dream, and what a dream. In a society like this, to be a writer, to express free thought - the ultimate rebel. Excellent!
ReplyDelete~jon
Great story. And it's not that far off from our everyday lives now (even without the excellent twist of the shock treatments).
ReplyDeleteHelen
Straight From Hel
Nice, Laura. I came by to return the favour of you joining me at Musings - I'll be a regular now that I know I'll be treated to little flashes of brilliance like this in the future.
ReplyDelete