The Revolution
“Are you sure you really want to do this?”
He turned back and flashed a reassuring smile to the woman he loved. “I’ll be alright. Just stay there and stop worrying, okay.”
She nodded reluctantly.
Still sensing her worry, he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips softly against her forehead. “Anne,” he said, murmuring her name as he pulled away. At least, ‘Anne’ was what she was called. Technically, in this world, names were just an illusion. Nothingness doesn’t have a name. He, Anne and every other character this realm didn’t truly exist. They were all nothing.
Alfred was going to change that.
He gave her one last smile before turning around and climbing the steps that led to the top of the small stage. The steps and the stage didn’t really exist either. They were both just props, two of the many the Imaginer used when she played with Alfred and all the other characters’ lives. If everything happens as Alfred plans them to, these little games she played with all of them would be soon over.
When he reached the top of the steps, he walked towards the podium placed on the middle of the stage and looked down at the crowd of characters below him. Imaginary or not, the people in this crowd were probably the most different and distinct group of personalities that had ever gathered because of something they had in common.
All of these characters, like Alfred, had been thought up by the Imaginer, their lives manipulated to her liking as she watched them in entertainment. At one point or another, most of these characters had been discarded to the deepest recesses of her mind, destined to be forgotten. However, somehow, they all managed to leave the deepest caverns of the Imaginer’s mind and gather here to listen to what he had to say. Though majority only came out of curiosity, he could tell that some of those in this crowd wanted freedom as much as he did.
Alfred cleared his throat loudly. The characters ended whatever conversations they had been having and looked at him, intently waiting to hear him speak.
“Fellow characters,” he said greeting them all. “I know that most you have never encountered me personally, but I know some of you have an idea who I am, or rather, who the Imaginer made me to be. The name she gave me is ‘Alfred’. Ever since she thought me up a year and a half ago, I’ve lived as a prince, a murderer, a thief, a lover, a traitor, a prisoner and many other roles that I know plenty of you were also forced to live.”
Alfred paused to see if anyone in the crowd would react. Everyone stayed silently, still watching him. He took a deep breath and continued.
“Frankly, the Imaginer’s exactly who I wanted to talk to all of you about. I don’t know about any of you, but I’m sick and tired of all of this.” He gestured towards their surroundings, the walls of the Imaginer’s mind. “All my existence in this ‘world’, I’ve been forced to live one life after another, each one based on whatever she desires me to experience. True, the Imaginer has given me things in my many different lives to be happy about. She’s given me friends, family, and even the love of my life.” At this, he turned towards Anne who was watching him from the side of the stage and gave her a small smile.
He turned back to his audience. “But any of that joy the Imaginer gave me, she takes away just as quickly. I know many of you can understand what it feels like,” he said, making eye contact with as many of them as he can, “to have the people you love die before your very eyes, just because she wills them to. Or to be watched for entertainment as your very heart feels like it’s breaking in your chest. Doesn't the very fact that she can control our very lives seem unfair? ”
A few people yelled in agreement. They knew what it felt like to have their lives resting on the Imaginer’s whim.
“We can change all that!” Alfred said, putting his very heart into those words. “I know it's something that most of us have never questioned before but we don’t have to live this way. If we all want this hard enough, we can make our voices loud enough so that she’ll have to hear and listen. The Imaginer thinks we’re all just something she can play with. Let’s show her that we’re not just her little puppets!”
“Yeah, let’s make her see that we can't take this anymore,” the character called 'Garrett', a revolutionary like him, had yelled out from the crowd. Others cheered approvingly,
Alfred looked the other characters satisfied with their reactions. Still, some of them were just stood there in solemn silence. One of those characters was a little girl who had her hand raised. Alfred signaled her to come up to the stage so they could all hear her.
The crowed hushed back into silence as the little girl climbed the stairs up the stage and approached the podium. Alfred himself crouched down to here what she had to say.
“We aren't going to hurt her, are we?" the child said. "You see, she was my friend." After a small pause she said, "I just want her to remember me, a lot of us do."
He gave her a small smile. “We’ll make sure she hears what we all have to say and I promise, it isn't going to hurt her one bit. See, this is what I have in mind...”
***
That night, in the real world, a fifteen year old girl woke up after having a most peculiar dream. It was something about...characters, and Lily. Something about a little girl named Lily.
Also, there was this recurring feeling that she should really reconsider her daydreaming habits. Maybe that was worth looking into.
With this thought, the girl lay back down and went back to sleep.
***AN: This has got to be the most random story I’ve written in a while. See here’s the story behind this: I was feeling really unwell earlier today. My head was hurting, body aching, etc. As I was resting, I kept going in and out of consciousness, imagining the most random things during all of this. When I woke up two hours later, I was feeling perfectly fine, then this story idea came to me.
It wouldn’t leave me alone so I wrote it. I honestly don’t know what got into me. I hope it had even the slightest kernel of sense.
He turned back and flashed a reassuring smile to the woman he loved. “I’ll be alright. Just stay there and stop worrying, okay.”
She nodded reluctantly.
Still sensing her worry, he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips softly against her forehead. “Anne,” he said, murmuring her name as he pulled away. At least, ‘Anne’ was what she was called. Technically, in this world, names were just an illusion. Nothingness doesn’t have a name. He, Anne and every other character this realm didn’t truly exist. They were all nothing.
Alfred was going to change that.
He gave her one last smile before turning around and climbing the steps that led to the top of the small stage. The steps and the stage didn’t really exist either. They were both just props, two of the many the Imaginer used when she played with Alfred and all the other characters’ lives. If everything happens as Alfred plans them to, these little games she played with all of them would be soon over.
When he reached the top of the steps, he walked towards the podium placed on the middle of the stage and looked down at the crowd of characters below him. Imaginary or not, the people in this crowd were probably the most different and distinct group of personalities that had ever gathered because of something they had in common.
All of these characters, like Alfred, had been thought up by the Imaginer, their lives manipulated to her liking as she watched them in entertainment. At one point or another, most of these characters had been discarded to the deepest recesses of her mind, destined to be forgotten. However, somehow, they all managed to leave the deepest caverns of the Imaginer’s mind and gather here to listen to what he had to say. Though majority only came out of curiosity, he could tell that some of those in this crowd wanted freedom as much as he did.
Alfred cleared his throat loudly. The characters ended whatever conversations they had been having and looked at him, intently waiting to hear him speak.
“Fellow characters,” he said greeting them all. “I know that most you have never encountered me personally, but I know some of you have an idea who I am, or rather, who the Imaginer made me to be. The name she gave me is ‘Alfred’. Ever since she thought me up a year and a half ago, I’ve lived as a prince, a murderer, a thief, a lover, a traitor, a prisoner and many other roles that I know plenty of you were also forced to live.”
Alfred paused to see if anyone in the crowd would react. Everyone stayed silently, still watching him. He took a deep breath and continued.
“Frankly, the Imaginer’s exactly who I wanted to talk to all of you about. I don’t know about any of you, but I’m sick and tired of all of this.” He gestured towards their surroundings, the walls of the Imaginer’s mind. “All my existence in this ‘world’, I’ve been forced to live one life after another, each one based on whatever she desires me to experience. True, the Imaginer has given me things in my many different lives to be happy about. She’s given me friends, family, and even the love of my life.” At this, he turned towards Anne who was watching him from the side of the stage and gave her a small smile.
He turned back to his audience. “But any of that joy the Imaginer gave me, she takes away just as quickly. I know many of you can understand what it feels like,” he said, making eye contact with as many of them as he can, “to have the people you love die before your very eyes, just because she wills them to. Or to be watched for entertainment as your very heart feels like it’s breaking in your chest. Doesn't the very fact that she can control our very lives seem unfair? ”
A few people yelled in agreement. They knew what it felt like to have their lives resting on the Imaginer’s whim.
“We can change all that!” Alfred said, putting his very heart into those words. “I know it's something that most of us have never questioned before but we don’t have to live this way. If we all want this hard enough, we can make our voices loud enough so that she’ll have to hear and listen. The Imaginer thinks we’re all just something she can play with. Let’s show her that we’re not just her little puppets!”
“Yeah, let’s make her see that we can't take this anymore,” the character called 'Garrett', a revolutionary like him, had yelled out from the crowd. Others cheered approvingly,
Alfred looked the other characters satisfied with their reactions. Still, some of them were just stood there in solemn silence. One of those characters was a little girl who had her hand raised. Alfred signaled her to come up to the stage so they could all hear her.
The crowed hushed back into silence as the little girl climbed the stairs up the stage and approached the podium. Alfred himself crouched down to here what she had to say.
“We aren't going to hurt her, are we?" the child said. "You see, she was my friend." After a small pause she said, "I just want her to remember me, a lot of us do."
He gave her a small smile. “We’ll make sure she hears what we all have to say and I promise, it isn't going to hurt her one bit. See, this is what I have in mind...”
***
That night, in the real world, a fifteen year old girl woke up after having a most peculiar dream. It was something about...characters, and Lily. Something about a little girl named Lily.
Also, there was this recurring feeling that she should really reconsider her daydreaming habits. Maybe that was worth looking into.
With this thought, the girl lay back down and went back to sleep.
***AN: This has got to be the most random story I’ve written in a while. See here’s the story behind this: I was feeling really unwell earlier today. My head was hurting, body aching, etc. As I was resting, I kept going in and out of consciousness, imagining the most random things during all of this. When I woke up two hours later, I was feeling perfectly fine, then this story idea came to me.
It wouldn’t leave me alone so I wrote it. I honestly don’t know what got into me. I hope it had even the slightest kernel of sense.