A collection of fantastical short stories.
Fairy Tale Retellings both simple and convoluted.
Inspirations abound!
Original Tales made up from who knows what strange crevice of the mind.
All having two things in common: all writte...
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Genre: Science Fiction
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It was quite ridiculous really. Androids having a breeder mentality when they cannot even breed. Nora's family never approved of Elena. They did not hate her, but a human woman was of little use to an android family and of course whoever Nora is with must be useful to them.
Nora was always a very obedient child. If her parents and family had been more reasonable, she might have happily lived the rest of her life in service to them.
What many of the people, who demand obedience from the obedient, fail to grasp is that obedience is a privilege, not a right. When someone gives you their obedience, it is because you have promised them something.
In Nora's case, her family had promised that her obedience would be met with trust and support and the absence of derision. This is something that many parents promise their children. And sadly, like many other parents, those promises were not kept.
So when she was forbidden from seeing Elena, she did not go quietly and when she was given no choice, she was quiet and quietly began to plan.
She could not leave the house, her parameters had been confined to the house and yard. She got them to include the yard because she was the only one who ever remembered to get the mail. Or at least was willing to always get the mail.
She had to work from home now that her body couldn't leave. It was unreasonable. It was ridiculous. But she was fine. She didn't need to leave yet, there was always time.
But then, they blocked her from even interacting with Elena online, all her profiles, blocked.
They weren't monitoring her internet activity, it was merely a preemptive move. They had been fast and efficient in separating Nora from Elena.
Her obedience was a privilege they had lost long ago.
***
The first piece of mail was a plain white postcard. It was an invite to take surveys from home. Send in the survey, receive a small check. Her family thought it was silly. She already had a job with them.
They had created a dating website of all things. It was popular with androids, being created by and for them. It got popular enough to expand to humans and various other organic races. They were all separate of course. Androids could only seek androids, humans could only seek humans. If anyone questioned the premise, Nora's family made sure she had never heard them.
She suggested they should pay her more if they didn't want her taking on extra work.
She sent her information and waited for the survey. When it came she filled it out randomly. Likes, dislikes, agree, disagree. It didn't matter as long as it wasn't true.
The next survey came. It was short but full of lists. List your likes, dislikes. What do you buy a lot? What are you willing to spend extra money on?
The next survey came. Brands. She filled it out randomly again.
The next survey came. Longer than every one that came before. Three hours of filling in bubbles, looking at faces. Is this woman's face trustworthy? Do you find this smile pleasant?
Each survey would come and she mailed them when completed. Simple, repetitive, unassuming.
And then the check came, packed in with another bulky survey.
She went about her day and when afternoon breaks came, the others left and she continued to work.
When she was left alone, she took out the check, and entered the data.
She got up and checked the common area.
Her mother sat on the couch, her arm frozen in the air, in mid reach for the remote.
Her sister stood, back against the wall, reading the latest magazine, she had taken on impulse out of a waiting room.
Everyone was still.
She had time now.
***
She opened the website and created her profile. She went through each question and filled them to exactly match the answers to her first survey. When she hit publish, everything went dark, everything went fast, and everything was done.
When she woke up, she was in a new room. The room was dimly lit, clean, and sparsely decorated.
There was a floor length mirror. She went straight to it and was relieved. Her tastes and instructions had been followed. She did not need to look different, she just needed to get out.
The table had a folder. In it, only a map, an address, and an invitation.
She put on the shoes laid out for her and left.
***
She approached the cafe table quietly, cautiously, afraid that any sudden movements would wake her up and reveal this to be nothing but a dream. The other woman was just sitting at the table, reading a book, as if this date were the simplest thing in the world. As if it wasn't the work of near miracles.
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A/N:
I've been meaning to write a collection of short stories like this for awhile now! With this exact name and everything. If I make a substantial amount of them, I'd like to start a podcast :D
The stealing a moment cover up top was the first cover I made for an original work on wattpad, not to say that I've made many since then but I'm really proud of it so just pointing it out :P
Please comment and tell me what you think of the story! And don't forget to vote!
