Genesis

The Prologue OR Institutionalized Initiations of the Intermediate Isolationist

The Prologue OR Institutionalized Initiations of the Intermediate Isolationist

You find yourself in a comfortable living arrangement, hundreds of books to read, internet that could compete with the Swedes, television programs that could last you an eternity, and video games to give you a life to live. Friends can come to visit occasionally, but never in length.

Every once in a while, you catch a glimpse of the outside, a glimmer of light, while one of your friends exits. A glimmer so mysterious, so fascinating, that you almost consider leaving your perfectly constructed kingdom. That glimmer beckons, it calls for you with each particle of dust invading your home.

But once the door slams shut and your eyes adjust to the fluorescent lighting, you forget why it ever even seemed appealing.

This Exterior World. Polluted with the moans of the discontented masses, too afraid to make a change, too idiotic to strive for a better life. That world is filled to the brim with those who are empty between the ears, those who simply exist to fill the massive void that should be filled with sentience. Instead, it is filled with primarily emptiness and a few flickers of light amidst a shroud of darkness.

Countless days pass as the world begins to forget you even exist outside the realms of modern society. Television begins to lose its luster, even the most current shows appear to be in black and white. All video games feel as if they are the same, long, tedious fetch mission. After so many hours, even internet cats can lose their humor. Friends begin to visit less and less, claiming you had simply become a shut-in.

One day, you're alone with nothing but the ambient television in the background. Zoning into oblivion.

You sneeze.

As you lift your head to sneeze once more, a beam of light hits your eye.

You sneeze once more as you investigate this apparent hole in your kingdom.

Steal the dark, free the secret, infiltrating the mind.

It should be an easy fix.

More time passes as books begin to make your eyes swim with words nearly jumping off the page. The shows you watch seemingly begin to make ever so brief eye-contact with you, more than just an accidental glimpse at the camera. You generally find yourself repulsed at the idea of sharing your inner thoughts and feelings with people, let alone the internet- it never forgets. The characters you've made in the countless video games you play always seem to be in a far more sinister place than when you saved it last, breaking the fourth wall, looking directly at you.

You also find yourself polishing off blemishes of your kingdom, light having found a way to pierce through some of your most fortified positions.

You nearly forget you even had friends, on a daily basis.

Keeping watch of the kingdom has become your full time job. Even stealing the sleep from your life.

You keep finding yourself zoning in and out of your duties for the kingdom. One minute you're duct taping your curtains shut, the next you're putting fluorescent lights up in your closets. One moment you're checking the times on all of your clocks for precision, the next you are in a staring contest with Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina.

Cartoons with the wackiest color schemes and plots seem to be the only thing your conscious mind can stomach, programs with those other animals seem more unrealistic than anything Cartoon Network has ever broadcasted. Talking fish, a crystal boy, stretchy dogs, and dwarf sized superheroes became your best friends overnight.

But you find solace in no one being able to judge, being able to peer in on your existence.

Or maybe, everyone is watching you barricade yourself in your room.

And you're just crazy.

They want to know everything you know. Be everything you are.

That's it, they are only watching to see what makes you tick.

Break you down to just a formula.

Steal your humanity, your sentience.

You are sentient, right?