Television

This is for "Behind the Last Window" - A Vocal Challenge to write a dystopian fiction story that includes a window. The challenge is below.

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. He was her owner but he had no name that she knew of. She used to have a name but she had forgotten it, she had forgotten the last time she saw anyone but him.

The window was not a real window, it was just a television screen behind a window frame, so it was a sort of real window and there was a field and trees and the sun rose and set followed by the moon and that was when she slept, or rather just did nothing.

Before the room she had lived a normal life, even though every year it got harder. The government kept telling people they had to tighten their belts as the economy was difficult to manage, and services were continually being cut. To manage the country properly they said that elections would have to be suspended indefinitely. The media told her this was a good thing , so she voted for it in the referendum.

Eventually the media told her that paying people wages was ruining the economy and people should be just proud to work. The media told her that this had to be done, and she joined the queues to get on the buses to take her to the factory where she would remain to help improve the state of the country.

He chose her off the bus and took her to the room where she was now. Though he never said it, she now thought her life had ended, she had never left the room and spent her time doing her job for the good of the country. She was totally subservient because the media had told her it was best for the nation.

Her new job was creating food parcels for distribution to other workers. She was allowed to keep a week’s food for herself until he delivered the next blocks and food boxes. She cut up the blocks of greenish protein substitute and created the food packages. Whatever the stuff was, it was edible and kept her fed but subdued.

At the end of the week he came and picked up the food packages and left her the new week’s materials. He weighed what she had produced to make sure she had not taken too much. On the one occasion that she had taken too much for herself he beat her badly and left her with a black eye and broken tooth. She would not do that again. He owned her completely.

She sometimes thought she remembered somewhere else, but then slipped back into her room with her television window, cutting the blocks, making the food packages for him to pick up for the good of the nation.

Since she came here her humanity had all but disappeared, she was not even an animal, just a device to create packages to be distributed somewhere else, but she now almost did not know why or even care about it. She no longer thought, she just did what she had to. That was her function and her life.

Then she started to feel sick, and after eating, had to vomit into the toilet in the corner of the room. She started to feel weak, but still continued doing her job for the benefit of the nation.

He came and said:

“I think you are no longer up to the job, come with me”

She was led out into the square that her room must have opened on to. He led her to a large black bus.

“Get on there”

She got on the bus and sat on the final seat. Everyone looked absolutely white and drained.

He watched the bus go, the sign on the side said “SOYLENT CORPORATION”.