part one of alienation
A TALE OF ALIENATION FEATURING JOSEPH K. IN THE 21st CENTURY.
One evening, after waking up from watching television, Joseph looked around his living room and realized he had nothing. All of his furniture was still there, and the door was locked. He still had everything in that sense. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he had been robbed in a pernicious way; he had been robbed by his material possessions.
He looked around again. Everything was still in its place, yes, that was the problem. He still had everything he had bought and accumulated over the years, and surrounded by so much comfort, he felt a gaping hole in his life.
He turned off the television in order to gather his thoughts. His eyes had a hard time adjusting to the darkness of the room. The moving images of modern man’s best friend still flashed before his eyes. He waited a bit and tried to focus.
Nothing came to mind, he didn’t even feel like having coffee. He hated it when this happened. Even with the tv set silent, he always had something to hum or some work story to think about. But once in a while, he found an overwhelming blank spot in his mind that forced him to think about more serious things. And this he hated more than anything.
Moments like these scared him because he felt completely alone. And he felt helpless as he was forced to face an obscure part of himself, an uncomfortable facet of his personnality, someone he rarely visited. At first he heard something like a faint voice screaming non-sense. “I’ve been robbed! Help me!” That was when he awoke from his trance and glanced around the room. He was covered with sweat.
“I’ve been robbed? What’s this about?”, he said aloud. He then realized there was no one around to answer him and was a bit embarrassed by his reaction.
“That tv show is giving me weird dreams...” he thought, to himself this time.
This is the first part of a short story i am currently writing for my upcoming zine Exiled.
Out in a couple of months.
One evening, after waking up from watching television, Joseph looked around his living room and realized he had nothing. All of his furniture was still there, and the door was locked. He still had everything in that sense. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he had been robbed in a pernicious way; he had been robbed by his material possessions.
He looked around again. Everything was still in its place, yes, that was the problem. He still had everything he had bought and accumulated over the years, and surrounded by so much comfort, he felt a gaping hole in his life.
He turned off the television in order to gather his thoughts. His eyes had a hard time adjusting to the darkness of the room. The moving images of modern man’s best friend still flashed before his eyes. He waited a bit and tried to focus.
Nothing came to mind, he didn’t even feel like having coffee. He hated it when this happened. Even with the tv set silent, he always had something to hum or some work story to think about. But once in a while, he found an overwhelming blank spot in his mind that forced him to think about more serious things. And this he hated more than anything.
Moments like these scared him because he felt completely alone. And he felt helpless as he was forced to face an obscure part of himself, an uncomfortable facet of his personnality, someone he rarely visited. At first he heard something like a faint voice screaming non-sense. “I’ve been robbed! Help me!” That was when he awoke from his trance and glanced around the room. He was covered with sweat.
“I’ve been robbed? What’s this about?”, he said aloud. He then realized there was no one around to answer him and was a bit embarrassed by his reaction.
“That tv show is giving me weird dreams...” he thought, to himself this time.
This is the first part of a short story i am currently writing for my upcoming zine Exiled.
Out in a couple of months.