Dangerous to have no hope, a short story of fiction.

in #writing6 years ago

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I swim in an endless ocean. There is no beginning nor end. I search for something I can not reach. And all these monsters just watch me. To slowly expire in my own misery.

For a low middle-class Atlantian life is still nice. Take away the traveling and the world and you still got something. It may have been pride or maybe hope to achieve the heights of the wealthy one day. But I think we had all just given up and accepted our faith. We still had it, all that our hearts pleased. Well, most of it.

The history we had no access to. The outside of the city we had no money to see for. And it did not even feel like a prison as there was that proverbial carrot dangling in front of us. If you work hard, you might reach it one day. You just have to want it strongly enough. And if you fail, it was all your own fault. The system is spot on, you just did not try as you should have. And there was truth in that. But there were also so many lies...

My escape was the virtual world. The place that showed me the outside existence from the comfort of my bed. What fascinated me the most were the quantities of water that they showed us. Something you could no longer find in Old Atlantis. There were still oceans and oceans of cities and fishes. There were still animals that we thought of as a fairytale.

Some had grown so accustomed to their reality that they called it all lies, a stupid brainchild of those who were living outside. Those who wanted us to have dreams so we worked away all of our lives. But I had met too many not to be a believer. My family had had the money a long time ago. My grandpa had still seen the wonders that had been ripped away from us. He talked about all those things that they showed us in the virtual world, I listened with wonder in my eyes. But that was a long time ago, before the lies.

I guess it was propaganda to some extent. Who am I kidding, to most extent. The poor family that had come into possession of immense riches. The twins were the most popular entertainment in the whole city because people were rooting for them. They lived the dream that everybody feared to hope for. They had lived here before but as their masses of followers grew, people who hated them increased in buckets as well. So they left. They supposedly lived on the outskirts of the golden city now. The most affordable place of those living on top.

I sat in front of my screen and watched a new publication of theirs. It was one of my favorites yet as they went with their family, their little sister and mom. It was a dream to us all, to go to the old graveyard of whales. I know it sounds bad but we have a reason. In the ocean of hope, there is this natural phenomenon occurring. You can see all the fishes of the ocean, even the predators there, but none are attacking each other. They just swim around you and you are brought back to the times when we ruled the waters.

The grand sharks and enormous whales. Schools of fishes right next to those who eat them. It was a peaceful place and that was what attracted us all. But there was more, hidden behind the tall ore black rocks, there was a gulf. The graveyard we had talked about. It hadn't been a place where whales went to die in the very beginning. Legend said that when our world was born, we originated from that very spot. The tubes that now showed us skulls of majestic beasts had been where our first men and women had come from. Where the idea of beautiful Old Atlantis was born.

It reminded me of a better time. A simpler place where all of us could go wherever we pleased. When there was no money. Where there was no need for the law. When everybody questioned decisions instead of following orders. I guess it could not be that way anymore. We were too deep into the wheels of the machine. And why not? Wasn't the life here, in Old Atlantis good? After all, we were living in a city made by dreams...

I switched off the picture of the two brothers looking at or old birthing capsules. A single tear rolled down my cheek. I would most likely never see that beauty with my own eyes. I would probably never become anything. No one was great these days. No one was dreaming anymore. It was work and hope, but never out of the bounds of reality. So, my reality would be this. This house of small rooms all of my life. That job of long hours all of my life. The endless bills every month, all of my life.

I got up from my chair but did not get ready for work. I took my sleeping pills and filled my bath. I lay down and drowned the pills. I made sure the water did not go over the ledge, I did not want my neighbors to find me. I took a deep breath and looked at the plain white wall. I closed my eyes.

For the first time in a long time, I dreamed. My mind allowed me to hope. This had been my only escape as a child and now I would make sure that the reality never caught me.

That day the population in Old Atlantis dropped by 15%. The only thing a man needs after losing hope is acceptance. Acceptance of that fact. Then there is nothing to live for. Atlantis was not like us. We take arms when the last straw has fallen. We yell and we try when the situation passes that critical point.

Imagine if fighting for ourselves was a concept alien to us. Where would we be today?


This is part dream and part story. I had a very happy dream about the travels of two twin brothers. But I felt like I was not them, just watching from afar. That is why my bystander was born. I wanted to create something cripplingly close to reality but completely different from it at the same time.

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Have a great day, today, tomorrow, and forever!
Linda

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