Satire

Beacon
11:11 a.m. Corridor A girl with bluish hair, her name is Auburn, whirls around and locks the parlor door with a key that she found on the mantle beside her grandfather’s clock, a grandfather clock, that arrived no less than twenty-four hours ago shipboard from the continent. Her grandfather accompanied his clock. Both are quite grand, her grandfather and his grandfather clock. Both are ornate and full of crannies, one chiseled by tool, the other by time, talking and ticking with metronomic precision during a tea-time rant over the state of Grandfather’s affairs on the continent and why his stocks have fallen, and his blood pressure risen, and why he has come alone and not in the company of Grandmother, who would have insisted Grandfather still loved his clock more than his wife.
By Hugo Lasalle5 years ago in Fiction
Forfeiture
Nobody had been expecting a rate hike, but when the anxious crowd standing around the screen at the Battery grew, Saara knew something was terribly wrong. Faces went pale, there were tears and one co-worker bolted for the toilet. Saara felt something inside her plummet as she joined the viewers and watched as the news broke.
By Houssam Alissa5 years ago in Fiction
Giant Killer Spiders
I seem to remember my parent’s house having a roof over it. And also a lot less giant killer spiders hanging out around it. Maybe that was just me though. I wasn’t always the most observant kid in the world. Especially before the world went topsy turvy and started spitting out stuff like giant killer spiders. I won’t bore you with the details. Mostly because I can’t really remember most of them myself. Nuclear holocaust this, crippling cyberattack that. You know the drill. Long story short, all electronics have been rendered useless, hyper intelligent mutant insects now roam the globe, and I had spent the last six months traveling across the country to get where I was standing: Muncie, Indiana. My old stomping grounds. Weirdly enough, the whole town looked just like I had left it. Give or take about twenty to twenty five bug monsters.
By Ben Van der Meer5 years ago in Fiction
Veni Vidi Vici
It was birthed onto the bustling production line of a lifeless factory floor. Inauspicious beginnings to say the least. Mothered by cold, mechanical arms and fathered by intense, scorching flame, the locket braved its entrance into the world with steely resolve and was all the prettier for it. Its skin was sterling silver, with ever so delicate machine-engraved swirls marking its lustrous surface. Its skeleton was well-oiled hinges and chain links that moved without friction or discord with its neighbours. Its body was the stylized heart charm that, of course, looked nothing like a true human heart, because who would want that? But while pretty, no one could rightfully say that its make nor its genesis were unique. Far from it. In fact, this particular model had been flagged as highly desirable after its commercial success in the previous season. When you combined that fact with the upcoming money-making bonanza that was Valentine’s Day, it was little wonder that the locket happened to have thousands of siblings, not just alongside it on the factory floor, but also all around the country. Some destined to be loved, some to be worn before being cast away, many to be lost or stolen, even to be destroyed. But for all the divergent paths of its siblings, none had quite the journey ahead of them that our little locket had.
By Brian Do5 years ago in Fiction
LAUGH
DEAD ON SIX O’CLOCK. Sentries stand in two straight, parallel lines, sporting the logo of the Taurus government – the Blue Bull – over the place where their hearts should be. Rain chants and thunder claps. The weather’s pulsating, war-inspiring song provides the Sentries with the single-minded determination needed to complete their work. They snap to attention, saluting sharply to the Tauritsar. Black leather gloves reach for cold metal rifles.
By Marco Cardoni5 years ago in Fiction
A Guide to Parenting During the Apocalypse . Top Story - June 2021.
1. Do not complain, you did not ask for this. The world is now full of children who live with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, distant cousins, friends of the family, or total strangers. You are not special because you are raising a friend's child. You have not been singled out. This is the way things are.
By Mikaela Bell5 years ago in Fiction
Ultrastar
The year was 2137 and everyone was finally famous. Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though. People still had weight issues, and holidays were still exploited by advertisers too far in advance. It was during Christmastime that the E-G men took Samuel and Sharon Neerborg’s nineteen-year-old son, Rale, away.
By John Howard Matthews5 years ago in Fiction
Pluto
*HELLO, WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU IN REGARD TO YOUR B-Z DEVICE WARANTY. WE URGENTLY NEED TO SPEAK- “God, stop! Close window! Get out of the way – can’t fickin’ see!”
By Ryan Keller5 years ago in Fiction
M Here, With My Tips For Joyful Living In 2060
Hey everyone! It's me! M. Short for M4159374. Worker for Pod 321 in the Northern California carbon sequestration pit! Go wildcats!
By Justin Streight5 years ago in Fiction
Influencers
I woke up realizing two things – I was no longer cold, and the others had gone. I wasn’t sure where I was at first – hazy recollections of running through the dark mall, ivy covered pillars and broken escalators. Looking around I realized I was in was some kind of a storeroom. No windows, shelves stacked floor to ceiling with boxes containing who knows what. A department store, perhaps, judging on the thick duvet and pillows I was wrapped in. I hadn’t been this comfortable in months.
By Angel Whelan5 years ago in Fiction
End Of The World By The Sea
'Did you want one frozen waffle or two?’ Sally wasn’t listening to Mac’s muffled cries from the diner freezer. In fact, she resented everything that had come out of his mouth recently. In the last week alone, it was mostly a mixture of sibling verbal abuse and dictated rules. She remained seated on the plush red sofa of the booth and continued to stare out of its broad window facing the sea. The more she gazed at the receded tide, the more she became immersed in its stillness. It was almost hard to believe that such a beautiful thing could ruin her life in such a horrendous way. Everyone she has ever known now float in there. She was afraid that one day she might too.
By Kiana Rad5 years ago in Fiction
The Pendant
Stan intently watched the pallid glow of monitors surveilling his once-suburban stronghold, scrutinizing every movement of the progress now surrounding him on all sides. Under the grip of a frenetic paranoia that informed his every perspective, he seldom left the omniscience of his bedroom reconnaissance of the dangerous world outside. The occasions were fewer still that he left behind the security of his split-level, pedestrian refuge.
By Andrew Rounds5 years ago in Fiction