ANOTHER WORLD OUT OF REACH
Wednesday, 6:15 AM
The alarm clock rings furiously, out of the window darkness and smog envelops The City.
Illuminated only by artificial light, the artificial morning begins. Roman Asymovitch has been awake for a while now, dreading the beginning of the day while thoughtlessly gaping at the ceiling.
His daily routine allows for no tardiness as he mechanically leaves the comfort of the bubble that is his tiny warm apartment, only to step into the blindingly cold gusts of wind that ravage through The City.
Although Roman is a regular, even hollow office worker, his existence cannot only be attributed to this fact.
Like many of his peers, he shares a love for creativity, culture and art. Yet his drained mind is not able to come up with anything more creative than the quarterly sales numbers of the almighty company or useless specks of information that he spouts to unsuspecting cold-call targets.
The insatiable need for spiritual expression is genially exculpated by state-controlled, utterly mind-numbing short-form entertainment which is made possible through the Looking Glass. A mandatory pre-programmed auditory and visual piece of technology.
The state programming turned out to be not so impenetrable as made out, for very quickly the tinkerers found a way to access content from across the border.
A whole new world seemingly at arm's reach, a beautiful escape from the mundane, ordinary life. Yet so impossibly unattainable.
Our Roman had also fallen victim to the idea of this perfect far-away world after one of his neighbors one day drunkenly revealed this exploit to him.
To the poor drunken bastard's luck, Roman had no interest to share this new-found fact with anyone, for it was a crime punishable by a long-time imprisonment.
'Can you believe it Mr. Asymovitch, the people out there are free, they have all the sun, all the *hiccup* women and all the alcohol they desire * hiccup*!'- the intoxicated neighbor exclaimed foolishly.
Roman had heard stories of life beyond his country's borders, but this was the first visual proof to bless his eyes.
Perhaps this was what troubled his subconscious as he headed to work, because when he gazed at the first page of the morning newspaper, he was met with shocking news.
In bold text was written:
" NOTORIOUS HACKERS CAUGHT- the unpatriotic exploits are over!"
The City Times had published a story about The Government's success in cracking down on the recent attempts to gain access to content from places across the border.
Reading further into the publication, there were mentions of others arrested, aside the hackers themselves. Many users of the so-called "modified" Looking Glasses were among the detained, reportedly being outed by a government tracking program found pre-installed in the devices' software.
Shaken by the recent revelations, Roman was plunged into a contemplative state, worriedly biting his thumbnail, only to be suddenly pulled out.
'Something wrong Roman? You seem out of it today.'- asked Katherine Nguyen inquisitively. Katherine was the Managing Director of Roman's department; she had recently begun to be more closely acquainted with Roman though.
'No... Nothing's the matter'- Roman replied hurriedly, as though having just been awoken from a strange dream.
'Well, if you say so... Listen, I just wanted to touch base with you about that whole accounting report deal. Where are you with it so far?'
'Uh... Oh yeah of course, I was meaning to talk to you about this matter. I'm close to finishing the report and I'll have it sent by the end of the week.'
'That's great to hear! Don't forget, this is important. You know how bad those Tax Agency guys can be, right?'
'The worst. Don't worry about it, I won't disappoint, I never do, right?'- Roman reassured his manager, knowing deep down that it is fully impossible to keep his word, for he had not even begun to write the report.
'...Alright then, I'll catch you later Mr. Asymovitch"- Katherine said rather suddenly in a cold and formal manner while heading towards her office.
A deep sigh left Roman's mouth but was not enough to ease the stress that was turning his insides, stress that hadn't ceased burning his soul during the entirety of that conversation.
He didn't know if he was safe to return to his apartment anymore or as a matter of fact, stay there trapped in his cubicle. He felt like a lamb in Schrödinger's slaughter. Nowhere to run to. Was he even in danger, or is this all in his head?
YOU ARE READING
with dust and rust
General FictionAfter Roman Asymovitch, an ordinary dull office worker, gained illegal knowledge about his world, his life is forever thrown out of balance as he tries to adhere to his daily routine to his best abilities. Dreadful feelings of fear and possible dan...
