The children were fitted with Virtual Sight contacts at an early age. Everyone had perfect eye sight and everything in the world was in perfect high-definition. The Controllers questioned why anyone should view imperfection. So any flaws were quickly removed from view and everything looked perfect. Poverty,human suffering, or the elderly need not be seen. To prevent the population from tripping over unseen bodies in the street, the poor and sick were swept into hidden compounds. When people reached the age of 55 they simply disappeared. This arrangement was deemed sensible. No one should have to see the messy, imperfection of ageing. People sometimes felt uneasy though. A sensation of people walking beside or around, a whisper, a movement in the air, a shadow.
The disruption in the Virtual System occurred during a solar flare in the middle of the Summer Solstice celebration. People were disoriented as their brains fought to adjust to their natural vision. They froze in place as the creatures came into view. There were strange, imperfect beings standing among them. The older ones who had disappeared were still alive. They just had been unable to see them.
Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner is hosted by Roger Shipp. Click on link to learn more about this writing group.
I love Dystopian overall, but you did this so poetically, this piece really got to me. Love this, Deborah. ❤
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Thank you, Joey. Appreciate your feedback. ❤
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Wow. Biting! I loved this. A great smack at the end!
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Thank you very much, Susanne.
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Wow, is right! I’d love to read more about how this story unfolds. Imperfection teaches us to adapt. Like me learning to look around the blurry spots (floaters) in my eyes. Wait! What if the floaters are imperfect beings?!
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Kind of like looking at the world through rose colored glasses but high tech ones and somebody else is controlling what you see. And maybe we don’t want to see certain things, rather they disappear. Thank you, JoAnna. ❤
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From a political angle, I can understand this wish. But I cannot ignore that realm completely.
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I don’t think it should be ignored but people choose to ignore many things and live inside a bubble. By not wanting to see things or ignoring them we can make them disappear. I think a lot of people have been disappeared in our society. In the story,The Controllers like keeping people in their bubble like a distraction, being in a fantasy land.
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