Hey guys, thought I’d try something different. This story will be completely improvised, with no planning. Everything will be made up on the fly, and going back later to edit things will be forbidden. I have some time to kill, so let’s see how far this will go. Thanks for reading, and I hope you get some entertainment out of this.
Improvised story:
Jane sat at the lunch table with the closest thing she had to friends. Normally she would have been at least a little nervous to break the news to them, but today she just didn’t care. It’s not that she hated them or anything, she just couldn’t bring herself to care. She was completely incapable of caring. “I’m dropping out of school.” She said flatly, interrupting the conversation the others were having, which was about nothing really. Bucky, Candice, and Ally all turned their heads to her. “Sorry, what did you say?” Bucky asked. “I’m dropping out of school. Just got all the paperwork taken care of today. It’s official.” Jane answered. “Since when did you plan on doing this?” Ally questioned, seeming a little irritated. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this.” “Yeah, I didn’t tell any of you.” Jane said. “But yeah, today will be the last day you ever see me in school.” The three looked at each other and shrugged. “That will send your social credit score down the crapper.” Candice chimed in. “You won’t have much of a future.” “It’s already pretty bad actually.” Jane replied. “The constant failing was tanking it, so I figured the best course of action would just be to drop out. I wasn’t going to graduate anyway.”
“Have you been taking your medication, because this isn’t normal.” Bucky asked, in a voice that was more curious than concerned. “Yeah, I’m a law abiding citizen.” Jane lied. “Have you been taking yours, because it’s not normal for you to give a shit about me.” Candice and Ally glared at Jane, but Bucky just chuckled and shrugged. “You shouldn’t say that, you could have offended him.” Ally said, putting an arm around Bucky. Jane didn’t give a flying fuck. “Well good luck out there, your going to need it.” Bucky said, still smiling. Jane nodded, knowing that he really didn’t care. “We’ll miss you, sorta….” Candice mumbled. “Sorta.” Jane repeated to herself in a whisper. “Well, I’m gonna go now. See ya.” The lunch period was still going, but Jane needed to excuse herself. Things were getting a bit too sad for her. She got up and walked away, looking back to wave when she got to the end of the calfateria. The three had already resumed their conversation about nothing, and were laughing loudly to one another. They didn’t notice her. Jane felt her eyelids start to feel heavy. She didn’t want to look. She lifted up her middle finger to them, and walked out. Jane knew she wouldn’t really be missed, and maybe things were better that way.
The school day was only halfway over, but Jane knew when she had overstayed her welcome. It was time to go home. Walking to her locker gave her the chance to view everything one last time. The halls, decorated with rainbows and television screens, the classrooms, and that goddamned counseling department. It was funny, here Jane felt somewhat at home, and she hated that she did. As she approached her locker, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Bunny, her english teacher. “Hey Jane, are you walking home?” She asked. “Yeah.” Jane answered. “My social score isn’t high enough for public transportation.” Bunny nodded, she knew all too well of her poor grades and inability to live up to the standard that was in place. “Just thought I’d let you know that there was another incident at Pleasure Land, the place was completely wrecked. All the androids were smashed.” This caused Jane to raise an eyebrow. “Was it Remmy the Ripper again?” She asked. “Either him or a copycat. Look, just be careful walking home. Don’t want you to end up like all those androids.” Jane nodded in agreement. She knew that if it was Remmy, she would have nothing to worry about, seeing as he only killed machines. If it was a copycat though, then who really knew? “Well, have a good day.” Bunny said, and walked away to her next lecture. Jane knew it would be a long walk home.
The lukewarm air made contact with Jane’s porcelain face as she walked through the glass double doors. To her, it felt like simply walking into another building or room. The atmosphere felt stuffy and warm, making her feel more tense. She looked up from the ground, and her eyes were assaulted with the piercing neon lights of the city. Sure enough, the brothel “Pleasure Land” was closed due to the recent attack, and this gave a bit of a chuckle to Jane. “Most students go straight from school to that damned android whorehouse across the street.” She thought to herself. “Well not today. Guess they’ll have to jerk off while peering inside the windows.” She had a certain hatred for that one brothel in particular. While prostitution, sexual deviancy, and indulgence were all things encouraged by her current society, she never really got into it. And she hated that brothel, she would try to have deep conversations with Bucky at lunch, only for him to ignore her and tell the other two girls about his latest endeavours at Pleasure Land, describing every explicit detail while they eagerly listened, getting aroused themselves. Of course, Jane was no nun either. She had occasionally indulged her own sexual desires, but she viewed it in a different way the others did, in a way she couldn’t really explain. Regardless, she sure as hell wasn’t proud of it, and didn’t go off sharing it with people. Across the street Jane could see a line of naked androids with exaggerated features, being marched to the back of the brothel by a young teenage boy wearing a uniform.
After a long and thoughtful stare into space, Jane made her way across the school’s small campus. She was feeling incredibly tired, and look forward to getting home and falling into bed. Each step felt a mile long, and every time her shoe made contact with the tiled ground she could feel a small explosion of pain in her feet. Somehow she made it to the crosswalk, and with her mind already cluttered, she didn’t think twice before meandering onto the road. There were no cars, but still the siren sounded. A large screen fixed on one of the surrounding buildings flashed on, showing a live feed of the crosswalk. “Hello Jane Avery, you have been caught violating the pedestrian traffic laws.” The speaker boomed in a monotone voice. “This will result in a penalty to be applied to your social credit score. Please move off the road before further enforcement will be applied.” Jane rolled her eyes and stepped of the road. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and the few people surrounding her gave her judgemental looks. After the signal had been given by the crosswalk, she crossed the street and made her way into the heart of the city.
Jane didn’t like city life, she felt way too small in such a crowded setting. Pacing through the gray tiled sidewalk made her feel alone, and yet at the same time crowded. So many people all dressed in vibrant and pastel colors packed the sidewalk, all staring hypnotized into their phones. In the corner of her eye, she could see an orgy unfolding on a park bench, with spectators laughing and recording the act on their cell phones. Jane chose not to look. Posters of naked cartoon characters and advertisements of useless products plastered the sides of buildings, and television screens showing clips of pop icons and movie trailers filled every shop window. Jane didn’t like this sensory overload, but learned to live with it. She would often see herself as a rock in a stream. Everyone was moving one way all at once, but she couldn’t bring herself to move with them. Instead, it simply wore down on her. Jane could feel her eyelids getting heavier, and tears were beginning to well up in the sides of her eyes. “I just need to get home.” She thought to herself. “Once I do, I can cry all I want without getting in trouble.” She could see the top of her apartment complex in the distance, it’s bright rainbow paint feeling somewhat out of place in the cloudy weather. Jane tried to focus on keeping her walking straight, and a smile on her face. If the cameras caught her acting distressed, she would be suspected of not taking her medication, and she didn’t want to have to go through that again.
Hiding her sobriety as best she could, Jane made her way to the entrance to her apartment complex. She was beginning to feel light-headed, and the sickly sweet air made her stomach queasy. Being inside a building was a relief to her, she didn’t like being in the outside world. “Welcome back Jane Avery.” The android receptionist said in a monotone female voice. Jane nodded to it, and entered the massive staircase. Her social credit score was not high enough to ride the elevator. After a long climb up fourteen stories, she had finally reached her apartment. She turned the brass knob, and pushed open the beat up metal door. Her younger brother was sitting across from the entrance, watching a horror film in the living room. “How goes it, shit for brains?” She asked in a dizzy and slurred state. Her little brother chuckled and raised a middle finger, not glancing away from the sixty inch display. “I’m going to take a nap, so try to keep that crap at a low volume.” Her brother nodded, and reached for the remote. Jane stumbled her way into her bedroom, and collapsed onto the mess of sheets and blankets. Despite the state of their apartment, she was actually middle to upper class. Jane and her brother Harold simply didn’t have any parents around to berate them on the absolute state of dismay their living conditions had become. Jane didn’t miss her parents, most people didn’t. She tried not to think too much about it. Jane felt a tear roll down her cheek as she pulled the soft mass of blankets up to her neck. “There are simply too many hours in the day.” She sighed, before falling into a shallow sleep.
Short Stories
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This was such an interesting concept for starting a story! I can feel your stream of consciousness showing through. It really makes it feel more human
One thing- whenever a new character gives a line of dialogue, start a new paragraph. It makes it much easier to read 🙂