Category Archives: Short Stories

Quick fictional stories about anything and everything with recorded audio.

Short Stories

A neural parasite begs for its life

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What? I thought to myself. That’s not what I sound like in my own head.

I said, please don’t let them kill me. The voice was young and innocent, like a child asking their mom to please buy them some ice cream.

Hello? I ask. Not being able to think of anything more clever to say to a disembodied voice.

You can hear me? Oh that’s great. I just got the eyes and ears working when the big men in white coats told you about me. Please don’t let them kill me.

Well, um, that’s, that’s very odd. I’m sorry, who are you exactly? I wasn’t about to make any deals with something I didn’t know anything about. For all I knew this was some sort of psychosis caused by the parasite, and I was talking to myself right now.

My name is Tim. I’ve only been in here for a few minutes and I really don’t want to leave.

Thank you for telling me Tim, but that really barely scratches the surface of the questions I’ve got. I assume you’re the parasite? How one Earth can you talk?

I’m not entirely sure. And I guess I’m not really Tim, I’m a vessel for him.

This was taking a turn for the even weirder. A vessel? I’m sorry Tim but that doesn’t help me. A vessel for what?

A vessel for the boy in a coma in the next ward. He’s only got nine months to live and he wanted to have one last look at life. You’ve got a wife, kids, a nice home, a stable job, all of the things that Tim wanted out of life. So an angel heard his last wish, and allowed him to spend his last nine months inside you. I’m the vessel for his consciousness. You have a choice in the matter. That’s why I’m a parasite. If you don’t want this you can get rid of me. But please don’t let them kill me nice man. If you do, my consciousness will return to my own body. I don’t want to spend nine months in the dark.

The doctors were coming back with the anesthesia now. I thought about how ridiculous this all was. There was no way I could be sure that this was real. It certainly sounded completely ridiculous to me. And even if it is real, how do I know this ‘vessel’ or whatever, wasn’t going to do permanent damage to me.

Then I looked over into the next ward, and saw a kid on a ventilator. On the door to his room, the sign said ‘Tim’. I noticed he didn’t have any friends or family waiting with him, even though it was time for visiting hours, and during the holiday season too.

Of course Tim. You can stay as long as you like.

Short Stories

Aliens offer technology at a great cost

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“500 million lives, to be paid thirty days from now.” The aliens stated there terms and would have no negotiation. They did not say what the lives were for, or even what exactly would happen to the people. The deal was set, and they would have no bargaining to alter it.

An emergency council of the UN was convened.

“I can’t believe we’re even considering this.” The representative for China announced. “I know that being so heavily populated my country will bear the greatest share of the burden, and besides that, these are real people we are talking about. We can’t just throw their lives away for technology! They’re worth more than that.”

“I agree.” The Indian representative added in. “We represent about a third of the world’s population and you cannot move forward with this unless you have our consent. We are convinced of this and will not be persuaded otherwise.”

This firm stance from the two eastern representatives seemed insurmountable. The NATO country representatives glanced at each other uneasily. Some wanted this technology, others wanted the human lives to remain as they were, but regardless of their wants, the matter seemed concluded.

“How many people have AIDS right now?” The South African representative asked the assembly. “How many will get AIDS in the next fifty years?” Their was of course, no response to this. “I know in the next decade alone we will lose more than 500 million souls, and most of those are prevented.” The South African representative turned towards the Chinese representative.

“My fellow honorable representative, how many souls would you save if cancer were cured? Would that not alone be worth the cost?”

The Chinese representative shifted uneasily. “Even if it were, who would pay this cost? I cannot believe that many people would willingly sacrifice themselves, and if they don’t what you are talking about is mass genocide on a global scale.”

“Yes.” The South African minister replied. “Yes it would be, and if we cannot gather the volunteers than I suggest we reject the proposal. However, I believe we can obtain the volunteers.”

“How?” The Indian representative asked. “Surely 1 in 14 people in the world are not willing to make that sacrifice.”

“Are you so sure my friend?” The South African representative replied. “How many grandfathers and grandmothers, being not long for this world, would not gladly give themselves up for their offspring’s sake? How many already dying men and women around the world would not give themselves up so that their passing could take on greater meaning. Even if these people could be saved by this technology, how great a gift is it to have one’s death be that of a hero? Would not this event be hailed for generations, nay, millennia to come as an of absolute heroism, and would not all the names of those who committed themselves to this be hailed for the remaining history of mankind as the stewards of a new and glorious era?” The two eastern representatives were considering this now. Their faces were pensive, but they were still on the fence, and needed a final push to sway them.

“Even so.” The South African minister continued. “There is a final thing to consider, some people to go first. Some group needs to stand up and lay their lives down as the leaders in this great sacrifice. I think you already know who I suggest.” The South African representative stood up. “We are the leaders. Our peoples have chosen us. This is our burden.” The lone man looked around the room, his speech concluded, and made eye contact with each country’s chosen representative. One by one, as he gazed at them, they rose to their feet. It took a half an hour for some representatives. Some broke into years. Some fainted and had to be revived. Some made calls to their loved ones, but at the end of the day, every last leader stood up, and volunteered to lay down their lives for their country.

Short Stories

Iroh’s inaugural address

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“It is time to look, to start asking the big questions. Like who we are, and what do we want? We have two great and powerful parties, the democrats and the republicans, but they have become divided and lost balance with each other. We must remember that our brothers across the aisle are not our enemies, but our family. We are, after all, a Unite States, forged in the fires of war to have a fine edge and deadly purpose.

To restore balance to the parties I am enacting a new proposal. All senators and congressman must cast one vote to a bill sponsored by the opposing part for every three they cast to a bill sponsored by their own party. If things continue we will amend the proposal so that it is every two bills, and then every bill. If that is not sufficient, we will only allow bills sponsored by independent parties.

Now to address these lesser parties. For many years they have struggled under the weight of the two party system, with many wise and learned candidates failing to achieve election for lack of support. Therefore I will let the party chairman know that one half of all my parties funds will be distributed to these lesser parties, and I encourage my counterparts in the opposite party to do the same. I am showing weakness to you, my brothers in the other party, and will trust you to join me in aiding those of our brothers who are not so fortunate to have a strong supporting party.

We must not allow ourselves to slip into discord and despair, and surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”

Short Stories

Last men standing

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“Don’t shoot!” He calls out from behind the car. I had put a bullet through his windshield with my hunting rifle to let him know I meant business. It had been months since I’d seen a robber, but I was not going to lose another generator to carelessness.

“I’m going to come out now. I’ve left all of my weapons in the car, and I’m going to come out slowly.” He slowly rises with his hands raised above his head. I put another bullet through the passenger window. He doesn’t even flinch. He finishes standing up, and slowly walks over to me.

I put another bullet in the ground. I was not getting robbed again. I could no longer see properly out of my left eye because of bandits. He still doesn’t flinch. He just keeps walking towards me with his hands up until my gun is touching his forehead.

“If you’re not going to trust me you might as well end this right now, because I think we’re the last ones. I haven’t seen another soul in two years. Even if they exist we’re not going to find them.” I consider doing it. I consider giving that trigger a squeeze. How do I know this guy isn’t going to make himself the last man on earth when I go to bed?

Then again, if he does, I think he will have suffered the worse fate. I lower my rifle, open the chamber, drop the mag, and flip the safety on.

“Good.” He says. “Because I’ve also got the world’s last xbox in my car, and there are a whole lot of co-op games I’ve stockpiled.”

Short Stories

Alone in the dark

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Good day at work, lots accomplished. Time to switch off the light and go to bed. Now just need to lay my head down on my….. Where’s the bed? I know my room like the back of my hand. I could sketch it with my eyes closed. Where’s the bed? Better turn on the light to find it. Must’ve moved it and forgot or something.

Where’s the light? Where’s the light? Come on, just find the light. I swear that wall was right here a second ago. Yes, definitely here, why can’t I feel it anymore? Why aren’t there any walls? I can’t have fallen somewhere or else there would’ve been a drop.

Have I been drugged? I better sit down. I’m going to hit something walking about like this. I haven’t drunk much today, how could I be drugged? If it is a drug, am I hallucinating? Have I just been stumbling blindly around the house looking for my bed. I hope I haven’t hurt myself. Can I be sure I’m actually sitting down now? Maybe my brain is too messed up to tell. Maybe I’m sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs.

Why is there no light? My house isn’t this dark. There should be moonlight or starlight through some of the windows. There’s almost nowhere I know that’s this dark. It’s like someone just turned all the worlds lights out and just left me here in this barren lightless wasteland.

Is there anyway out? How am I going to escape this? What if I try yelling? Even if my brain is too messed up to make coherent words somebody should find me and help me.

Why isn’t anybody coming? I have neighbors, they have to be hearing this yelling. I’ve got to have woken up half the neighborhood by now. Does no one know what’s going on with me? I’ve got friends. I swear I do. Can’t somebody somewhere just show me this is going to be alright, that this is going to end.

Where’s the light? Where’s the light? Let me get up and try to find it again.

Now I can’t even get up. I can’t feel my legs or my body. I don’t know if I’m numb or completely immobile, or both. Help, just somebody help.

Wait, things are getting lighter. Yes, things are getting lighter. I can’t see anything yet, but there’s a shift from black to just dark grey.

There’s nothing here. It’s almost normal room levels of light now and I can’t see anything. I can’t even see me. Do I have a body? Where is this? It’s getting midday in full view of the sun bright now, and there’s a dull rumbling sound, like hearing people talk underwater from a great distance.

It’s almost painfully bright now, like someone shining a light in your face. The sounds are getting louder. They are voices! I can start to make something out now. What’s that? It sounds like….

“Doctor! Doctor! Somebody come quick, he’s waking up!”

“I’m here, somebody call the rest of the family. He’s been under six months and he’s finally coming around.”

My eyes flutter open and I see the bright light is a hospital light shining directly in my face, and the voice was that of my mother, calling me back.

“You’ve been under six months.” She tells me. “You hit your head going to bed, and have been lying here for six months.”

“How long have you been waiting here for me to come back?” I ask my mother.

She smiles. “Six months.”

Short Stories

A question of eyes

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“Dude, have you seen the new vision 4.2 patch? You can actually taste things you look at now!” Jason says to me, practically drooling as he says it.

“No man, you know I don’t go for that stuff.” I respond. We’re calmly taking a walk around the lake like we usually do after class gets out. It helps us relax. At least it used to, he’s been kind of off the wall since getting his enhancement suite installed.

“You should totally hop on board for this one mate. See that large oak tree over there?” He points to a towering white oak that stretches a hundred feet up and over fifty feet out.

“Yeah I see it. It’s kind of conspicuous man. I’ve been looking at it for about a minute now.” I kick a pebble on the path into the lake. He’s been going off about his updates pretty much every time we have a walk. At first I was happy for him. His ocular implants made for certain he would never have to have any kind of corrective lenses ever again. It was even cheap enough to be economical. Then somewhere around the 3.0 update it started to get out of control.

“You just see that tree, but man, I’m tasting some delicious peanuts right now.”

“Peanuts don’t grow on oak trees.” I inform him.

“I know that, but you can set it to whatever you want. You can even set it to random. I did that once. It made math class so interesting dude. Or that lake, tastes like shrimp. Those clouds? Ice cream.”

“I noticed you’re not looking at that tree anymore.” I tell him.

“What?” He says.

“The tree, you’re not looking at it. With all your enhanced vision, your telescopic retinas, your taste-o-vision, your multi-spectrum vision, that tree could not hold your attention for more than a few seconds. Yet I’ve been admiring it’s natural beauty for close on to three minutes now.”

“Are you hating on my technology man?” He asks.

“No, I think it’s marvelous technology, but the fact remains. Your technology has led you to be constantly updating, constantly experimenting, and constantly searching for new stimuli. You’re not happy unless there’s always something new. While I can look at a simple tree for hours. Tell me, which of is better off?”

Short Stories

Every conversation has two sides

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Two sides of a phone conversation.

Side 1:

“Oh hey John, yeah my special lady is here. What’s up?”

“That’s horrible, when did you find out?”

“I’m so sorry man, is it chronic? I mean, is it going to be permanent?”

“Oh man I thought they had a cure for that.”

“Failed phase three clinical trials? That’s just terrible.”

“How long have you known?”

“Just found out, were there any signs or warnings to prepare you for this?”

“Got tested on a whim before there were symptoms. That’s a rough way to find out.”

“No, no, I can stay on the line as long as you want.”

“Are you sure? It’s really no problem.”

“Okay, I’m going to tell my wife. You two call us if you need anything. Seriously, our house is always open to you. You know that right?”

“Okay, take care man.”

Side 2:

“Special lady huh? That’s the code phrase for that ridiculous thing from high school. Well you’re going to love this then. Mary’s pregnant!”

“Oh hah hah, you know your wife is probably freaking out right now right?”

“Of course it’s not permanent! She’s due in eight months. Are you seriously going to do this for the whole conversation?”

“Now you’re just being mean.”

“Alright, well, you remember the deal right? You take a video of whoever is listening to you have this conversation when you tell them.”

“Oh just a few minutes. Thanks for asking a real question.”

“Surprisingly not, no morning sickness or anything. She just took a test because we had some that were about to expire.”

“It was pretty sweet actually. Like having Christmas come in the middle of August. Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now go calm down your panicking wife.”

“No no, really, get off the line before she has an aneurism.”

“Now you’re repeating what I say? Okay, I’m hanging up now.”

“It’s been great talking to you dude.”

“Remember, take video

Together:

“Oh hey John, yeah my special lady is here. What’s up?”

“Special lady huh? That’s the code phrase for that ridiculous thing from high school. Well you’re going to love this then. Mary’s pregnant!”

“That’s horrible, when did you find out?”

“Oh hah hah, you know your wife is probably freaking out right now right?”

“I’m so sorry man, is it chronic? I mean, is it going to be permanent?”

“Of course it’s not permanent! She’s due in eight months. Are you seriously going to do this for the whole conversation?”

“Oh man I thought they had a cure for that.”

“Now you’re just being mean.”

“Failed phase three clinical trials? That’s just terrible.”

“Alright, well, you remember the deal right? You take a video of whoever is listening to you have this conversation when you tell them.”

“How long have you known?”

“Oh just a few minutes. Thanks for asking a real question.”

“Just found out, were there any signs or warnings to prepare you for this?”

“Surprisingly not, no morning sickness or anything. She just took a test because we had some that were about to expire.”

“Got tested on a whim before there were symptoms. That’s a rough way to find out.”

“It was pretty sweet actually. Like having Christmas come in the middle of August. Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now go calm down your panicking wife.”

“No, no, I can stay on the line as long as you want.”

“No no, really, get off the line before she has an aneurism.”

“Are you sure? It’s really no problem.”

“Now you’re repeating what I say? Okay, I’m hanging up now.”

“Okay, I’m going to tell my wife. You two call us if you need anything. Seriously, our house is always open to you. You know that right?”

“It’s been great talking to you dude.”

“Okay, take care man.”

“Remember, take video”

Short Stories

Humanity is defended from invasion by a secret force

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“Where did that giant rock come from?” I asked my friend. The flying saucer had been settling over the white house, and had been powering up some giant glowing weapon, when a large rock had sailed up and struck the device. The rock had done enough damage to power down the device.

“Look, on the horizon, something’s coming.” My friend points at a group of flying things coming from the north. I squint, they’re far away, but as they get closer I can make out the shapes of large birds. They must’ve escaped from the zoo, and there were thousands of them! Bald eagles, cranes, hawks, geese, even ducks, and they weren’t coming alone. Most of them were carrying small mammals and reptiles. Little snakes, poisonous lizards, small monkeys, even rabbits of all things.

In one giant flock they fly up into the center of the UFO. The small monkeys form a chain that extends down to the roof of the white house where slightly larger monkeys are ready to scurry up this ladder. These make a chain of larger monkeys, which then allows even larger still monkeys to climb up. Eventually there are multiple chains of gorillas that lions and tigers begin ascending.

I can see they’re wreaking havoc from the inside of the ship. Lights begin to blink off, windows get blown out, and the thing begins to tilt. There’s a mass exodus of wildlife, and then the ship crashes into the white house.

It’s a fantastic sight, but I can’t help but wonder, where did the boulder come from?

“Every planet with life has a dominant sentient race.” A deep booming voice to my left says. I fall over by the sudden sound, and I see that I’m talking to a tree. “You have not been the kindest of masters, but you’ve been good to us overall, and those monsters.” It points a branch at the UFO. “Have devoured countless worlds. If you will stand with us, we can stand against them, united as a planet.”

Short Stories

Mommy, why don’t I have dreams?

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“You’re a reconstructed person.” My mommy tells me.

“What on earth does that mean?” I ask. I was telling my mommy how the other kids had these weird hallucinations when they went to bed, and I was worried they were sick or something. Mommy had explained to me that it’s normal for other kids, and now she was telling me why it didn’t happen to me.

“You left us during the birthing process, and the doctors told us about this new treatment where we could, bring you back to us.”

“Bring me back? Bring me back from where? Where did I go mommy?” Mommy’s eyes are turning red, maybe she’s sick too.

“Far, far away sweetie, so the doctor’s had to replace parts of your body with metal parts, and they had to talk to your brain to tell it what to do.” That sounded cool! It was like I was a superhero.

“Is that why I can run faster than all the other kids? My metal body parts help me run faster?”

“That’s right sweetie, but you still have your fleshy parts to do all the normal things like breathing and making your heart beat. Here.” She takes my hand and taps it on the kitchen sink. It sounds like two pans hitting together. “That’s your metal parts making that sound.” She then taps her own hand and it makes a different sound. “And that’s what a non-metal hand sounds like.” Mommy’s eyes aren’t red anymore, I guess she couldn’t have been that sick.

“What about my brain? Do I have a metal brain?” I tap my skull with my knuckles and it makes a slight clanging sound. I thought all kids could make their heads clang, but I guess it’s just me. How cool for me!

“No sweetie, but they did have to connect your brain to a big computer to tell it how to be a brain. When you went away.” She pauses and searches for a word. “Your brain….forgot…. how to be a brain, so they had to teach it, but they couldn’t teach it how to dream.”

“And that’s why I don’t dream?”

“That’s why you don’t dream.” I start tapping my knuckles on the wall, the floor, my knees, anything I can reach.

“I’m the coolest kid ever!” I declare. My mommy ruffles my hair.

“Yes you are kiddo. Yes you are.”