Disrepair

3.6 0
22.3K
22
3 min

The scene: An idyllic houshold, with no peculiarities. The cast: A traditional nuclear family, living caricatures from a Norman Rockwell piece. The parents make small talk as they all eat a breakfast of bacon and eggs. The children hurriedly scarf down the meal, eager for school. The mother picks up the dishes and together they walk out the door to begin the day. Their footsteps make no noise as they walk on the black dirt where grass grew once upon a time. The father takes a whiff of the toxic, poisonous air and declares it is a fine day as he waves goodbye to his family and begins the trek to work.

The brown and grey pollution that covers the sky shields the land from the scorching sun. The father whistles a tune as he carefully manuvers around the corpses and trash that litter the road. He decides to take the long way since there is yet another traffic jam made up of destroyed cars and fallen buildings.

“Morning, Jim.” He says to no one in particular as he steps into the decrepit office, with holes in the celing and decomposing bodies at the desks.

“Another day another dollar, eh?” He says for the 5,789th time to his cubicle neighbor. He types on the broken keyboard for a few hours, despite the monitor having a cracked, blank screen. Eventually he gathers up a few discarded papers, organizes them neatly, and picks up the suitcase he never opened, ready to go home.

“See ya tomor-”

He stops midsentence. Something…isn’t right.

“I…uh…morning, Jim…heh…wait. Uh…” Suddenly his head feels like someone has hammered a nail into it. He drops his empy suitcase and looks around. The father of two walks around the office, causing the rats to scurry away from their meal.

“I don’t feel very good…something the wife cooked maybe? Hah…”

A part of him knows there is no one here to talk to. Yet such thoughts feel …wrong. “Of course there’s people here! Richard, you sly dog, you were just over for poker night last week! Right?” No response of course. Yet he has heard his friend speak millions of times before. Why, he wonders, is Richard…and everyone so quiet today?

“I need to go home and lie down maybe. Sorry, guys, don’t let my episodes distract you, haha…haha…haha.”

He wanders out the doors and begins walking home, forgetting his rustic car. Glass crunches under his shoes in the very old parking lot. Head still hurting, he walks to the charred skeleton of a tree and sits aganist it.

“What’s wrong with me…feels like everything is falling apart..” He runs his hand through his hair and feels something odd. It feels like an ant has bitten his finger. Expecting to see see a red bump, he instead sees a small blue wire protruding from his index finger.

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Victor
Victor
1 year ago

Just Great! Never Expected Such A Twist In So Short A Story. 4/5

The.Curly.One avatar
The.Curly.One
5 years ago

I really like this!
Would it be ok for me to do a video reading of this story?
I’d be posting it to YouTube, and I’ll credit you the writer as well.

O
Oppoponax
7 years ago

A good addition to the last man standing type genre, reminds me a bit of Will Smith talking to mannequins in I am legend.

I kind of wish the beginning was a little more vague, like the part of him walking around corpses/the traffic jam crash. I would of loved to hear how the protagonist twisted it into something mundane in his fantasy. Still a great twist though.

TheMadGamer avatar
TheMadGamer
7 years ago

Dat plot twister.

mctammany13 avatar
mctammany13
7 years ago

This was confusing. Was he [spoiler]a robot?[/spoiler] I do like the idea though. Original. 6 suitcases out of 10.

l-o-s-t avatar
l-o-s-t
7 years ago

Oh fuck that’s so sad…[spoiler]he’s a robot started to malfunction and realize everyone is dead and everything is in ruins..shit man[spoiler]

TwillyTwirl avatar
TwillyTwirl
7 years ago

Amazing. Poor thing. This was good!!!

Creepa99 avatar
Creepa99
8 years ago

That ending was a huge plot twist!

R
RR_Hematite
8 years ago

I love this! It got my me asking questions such as: “Did the human society get replaced by robots?” or “Did robots cause the apocalypse?” It’s just great in general!

OliviaRomineD avatar
OliviaRomineD
8 years ago

Normally these short stories aren’t all that great, but your’s was amazing! I absolutely loved it and the twist was great! I wish you could have elaborated more, but overall it was great!

KoolShadow25 avatar
KoolShadow25
8 years ago

Miley the red is (scroll over [spoiler]insert spoiler[/spoiler]) My only wish is that we could get more. Elaborate on the concept. Everything is great, it just feels like a chapter rather than a complete story though.

OzzieDog2000 avatar
OzzieDog2000
8 years ago

Wh… Wha?
What did I read?
I kinda get it, ([spoiler]is the guy a malfunctioning robot?[/spoiler]) but I just feel the idea should’ve been elaborated on more. Good descriptions, though. 3/5

D
Darkventure
8 years ago

A fine story of human denial and n…misery. Until the ending throws you a curveball. Nicely unexpected.

Freabear avatar
Freabear
8 years ago

woah apparantly the human race has gone crazy

MeetTheCreep avatar
MeetTheCreep
8 years ago

Very nice. I love the way the writer describes death doom and destruction so nonchalantly. It’s beautiful.

mileymiacyrus2 avatar
mileymiacyrus2
8 years ago

How did you get the red?

mileymiacyrus2 avatar
mileymiacyrus2
8 years ago

That pasta was amazing!

madHatteress avatar
madHatteress
8 years ago

Wow that was just…..wow. I liked it. ^w^

Angel666 avatar
Angel666
9 years ago

[spoiler]If you don’t get it this man is a robot and he is breaking down. The blue wire was part of his party[/spoiler]

ian
ian
9 years ago

i dont get it.. call me dumb, but it needs to elaborate more