Decennial (Short Story)
"Tomorrow was to be my decennial - the day I turn ten. That would be the end of my state-sanctioned life." A Lunar Awards short story entry.
Authors’s Note: This short story is a submission for Season 3 of the
. I’ll be honest, the Lunar Awards actually caught me off guard. So I found myself in an awkward position of publishing this while having an ongoing three-part serial at the same time. Some of you may notice that this story is in the Flash Fiction section even though it’s over 1,000 words. Unfortunate, but otherwise it’ll be lost in the archives.Without further ado, enjoy.
Standing on the sidewalk of the Memorial Bridge, I saw the raging waters below. I glanced at the back of my left hand; nine tally marks were etched there. Tomorrow was to be my decennial – the day I turn ten. That would be the end of my state-sanctioned life.
It was as the motto says: From the Earth you came, and to the Earth you shall return. I never question it.
Until that day.
Hard to believe that it had been exactly five years since I tried to kill myself. The railings of this giant suspension bridge were low enough that anyone could easily climb over. I would have jumped, if it wasn’t for that man.
***
5 years ago…
I had enough. If this was all that life had to offer, then I wanted no more of it! Just video games and porn. Just eating, drinking, and jerking off. It was all so empty. But such was life as a consumer unit.
Unlike the robotic worker units who were made to work without ceasing, we consumers were cloned to consume without ceasing. Right from the time we were cloned, we were fully mature. It was strange, of course. Dogs had puppies, cats had kittens, but we humans were adults from the very beginning.
Living in my pod, the pleasures of this life had been growing emptier by the day. Then, I realized that no one in this forsaken existence cared about me. Not the tens of thousands of “friends” I had gathered all over cyber-space, not my neighbors whom I knew little about, and certainly not the State.
Thus, I resolved to end it all.
I made my way to the Memorial Bridge. It was about noon, no clouds. I saw the mass of people going about their business, more people who don’t give a crap about me.
Just before I climb, I caught a glance of my left hand. I saw the tally marks that I had, there were four. Tomorrow, there would be five. And it would just happen automatically overnight. I had no idea how the State did it. Probably some nanomachines in our bloodstream – not that I care.
Not wasting any time, I made my way up. It did not take long before I stood atop the railing. Now, all I needed to do was jump. I was sure someone would notice. I was also sure that no one would care.
I was mistaken.
“Stop!”
I turned around in shock. “Huh?”
“Don’t jump!”
I looked down and saw a man below. “Why not? Nobody cares about me! Nobody loves me!”
“That’s not true,” he cried. “God loves you! He has a plan for your life!”
I didn’t really quite catch what he was saying. God? Who? But the fact that someone bothered to stop me, or at least tried to, was enough to give me pause.
Soon, I climbed down from the railings. I didn’t know why, I just felt like it, I guess. Then, I got a good look of my interlocutor. He had a grey suit jacket, which was unusual to begin with given how casual us consumers dress. But I was more surprised by his physical features. His pale face was marred by strange lines. His skin was flabby. His hair was grey, which to be fair could have easily been dyed.
And then it hit me, this man was old. I remembered reading about it over the web. This was a phenomenon before the State took over and ushered in our utopian society. That would mean this man was an outlaw.
Not that I care.
“Who are you?” I asked.
But before the man could answer, he was tackled to the ground by a bulky robot painted in black and blue. The police had arrived. Without a word, they took away the man.
I was left dumbfounded.
***
Having returned back to my pod, I was desperate to find out more about that old man. The man who had saved my life. But I didn’t know where to begin my search.
Well, there was one word he mentioned that caught my interest: God. Perhaps that was the name of his boss? Though he was not a worker unit, so why would he had a boss? It was all so confusing.
Thus, I turned to the handy AI search engine in my phone. Holding on to the contraption that was attached to my wrist, I pressed a button.
“Abby,” I said, that was the name I gave to my phone AI; don’t ask why, I just liked that name. “Who is God?”
I saw the screen of my phone blinking for a few seconds before Abby gave her answer:
“Ah yes, God. A primitive concept of an allegedly all-mighty and all-knowing being. We have debunked that claim.”
I groaned in anger. Out of frustration, I detached my phone from my wrist and threw it at the wall of my pod. I heard a loud thud, but I was not concerned. That phone was made to withstand stronger things.
Having grown weary of this subject, I turned to the black box attached to the giant screen of my pod. Time for some games.
***
Present day…
Mind-frying electronics weren’t enough to deter me from this mystery. From that point on, I made sure to stop by the Memorial Bridge at noon every day and wait for an hour. I hoped to run into that man. But deep down, I knew that it was in vain. He was most likely dead, given how ruthless the State was when dealing with those who threatened our utopian society.
Even so, I held on to hope.
That hope was running out. With my decennial tomorrow, this would be my last time on this bridge. I had entertained trying to somehow elude the State to extend my life, but I knew it would be futile considering the total control they had over society. They’d catch me should I dare ghost them.
And so, I waited. Fifty minutes had passed, and I was ready to give up.
But then, I saw someone over the railings. It was a woman. From behind, all I could see was her blue jeans, white hoodie and long, neon-red hair, probably dyed. In any case, it was clear that she was about to jump. I knew I had to act.
“Stop!”
The girl turned around. “Huh?”
“Don’t jump!”
“Why not?” she said with anger. “Nobody cares about me! Nobody loves me!”
I was struck by a sense of déjà vu, but I pressed on. “That’s not true! God loves you! He has a plan for your life!”
There was a brief pause between us. I was acutely aware of the small crowd that was gathering around us. Perhaps something like this had happened five years ago, but I simply didn’t notice. To my surprise, the girl began to climb down that railing; my plea had worked. Even more of a surprise was that I believed what I said.
Even better, the crowd had started to disperse. I took a sigh of relief.
Soon, the two of us stood face to face. I now got a good look of the girl in front of me. She was pretty, though so was every female in The City. But even so, something about her was just different. Maybe it was her green eyes that complemented her red hair. Or maybe my brain was just acting up because I stopped taking my pills.
“Thanks for saving me,” she said earnestly.
I put a hand behind my head in embarrassment. “Heh. Don’t mention it.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Consumer Unit NO-414, but my friends call me Noah.”
She chuckled. “Nice to meet you, Noah. I’m Consumer Unit AB-316. You can call me Abby.”
“Abby!?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said hurriedly. Surely it was a coincidence that the girl in front of me had the same name as my phone AI.
“Um,” she said nervously. “Are you free today, Noah?”
“Well,” I began. “Tomorrow’s my decennial, so I really don’t have any plans or appointments.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointment evident in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “Never mind that. Up for some ice cream?”
***
The City’s Memorial Park was beautiful with all its well-placed trees and shrubs, thought I couldn’t say I care for its ugly statues. The imposing figure of the Memorial Bridge could be seen in the background.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sweet taste of my strawberry ice cream. I gobbled it up pretty quickly. On the other hand, Abby was taking her time with her cup of vanilla. She looked pensive.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“You said tomorrow’s your decennial, right?”
I nodded.
“That means, we have the same spawnday,” she said.
“Wow! Really?”
“Uh-huh,” she responded, nodding. She then showed me the back of her left hand, I could see four tally marks on it. “Tomorrow, I’ll turn five.”
But those tally marks reminded me of why I was at the Memorial Bridge in the first place. It was then that I decided to share my experience to my companion. It was not a difficult decision at all, given that tomorrow was my decennial.
***
“What?!” Abby cried.
“I know,” I said. “Crazy, right?”
“That’s where you got that phrase, huh?” she said. “Here I thought you’ve been listening to the dark web.”
“Dark web?”
“Yeah.” Abby nodded. “There’s this preacher man, he looks like he’s lived past his state-sanctioned life. He likes to use that phrase: God loves you.”
I perked up, hope sprang within. “What does he look like?”
“He’s black, and…”
“Oh,” I said, disappointed.
“He’s not the man you met, if that’s what you’re thinking. He has this strange clothing, black all over. I had to look it up, it’s called a cassock,” Abby explained.
“Hmm. There’s probably some sort of organization those two belong to,” I mused. “Though I’d say the State is not exactly a fan.”
“Do you want to join them?”
I paused. I was probably sweating bullets at this point. “I… I don’t know.”
“What do we have to lose?” Abby said. “Our state-sanctioned life?”
I took a deep breath, trying to consider my options. I looked at her; for some reason, she seemed to be more beautiful than I remembered. I placed my hand on her chin.
“You might be right,” I began. “Even so, I don’t think this life is all bleak. I found something worthwhile. Or someone.”
She wrapped her arms around me. “I know what you mean, Noah.”
And we kissed. I was in heaven.
But not for long.
The next thing I knew, I found myself on the ground, prone. I was pinned down. Feeling cold metal pushing down my neck, I knew immediately that it was the police. To my right, I could see Abby also pinned down by a police robot.
I was a fool. I realized that we had just committed one of the most serious crimes according to the State: Unauthorized Sexuality. For a man and a woman to be sexually involved outside the State’s authorized zones was simply beyond the pale.
The robots forced us up. With the two of them keeping us in their grasps, another one stepped towards us. It then began to speak in its unnatural voice and intonation of words:
“FOR THE GREAT FELONY OF UNAUTHORIZED SEXUALITY, WE SENTENCE YOU, CONSUMER UNITS NO-414 AND AB-316 TO DEATH. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”
“Abby!” I cried. My love was to be the first executed, a gun held to her head.
Before the robot was to take Abby’s life, I caught one final glimpse of her. I looked at her guiltily, but she smiled serenely. It was clear that she did not blame me; not just, she welcomed this.
I smiled back. I thought of what that old man had told me five years ago: God loves you. He has a plan for your life. For the first time, I truly understood those words.
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I really like it. It gave me Orwell’s 1984 vibes. That biter-sweet energy. The ending... I’m crying internally.😭
Excellent, as always, Michael.