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Set your story in a society where everyone is constantly aware of unwanted surveillance.

Posted in Dystopian on Jan 20, 2023

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✍️ 27 stories

Government Stew

Submitted to Contest #182

“Sometimes I think, when the scheduled clean comes on, the little vacuum wakes up and says ‘Aw, do I have to work today?’ because his job is to vacuum, and it sucks.” “Yeah. Maybe he wants to roll away to a better life.” “Yeah. He just slides out of the house and rolls down the street.” “… With a little blue baseball cap on.” “Aw.” “Poor guy. Something good will come of him. I can feel it.” Announcer: Give a vacuum a good life. Adopt and convert a robot vacuum of the past, to take into the futur...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Don't Look

Submitted to Contest #182

On days like these I liked to focus more on what I was feeling than what I could see.  What I was physically feeling, touching, on days when it was so hard not to look. On days like these I fought my every instinct to contemplate the images entering my eyes, and instead created new ones that came from every inch of my body.  The wind was slow and winding and it held only the smallest chill when it brushed against my cheek. It was the only interruption from the beating sunlight that tingled against the right side of my body, I coul...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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The Follicle Chronicles - Pt 2: A Fistful of Follicles

Submitted to Contest #182

Apparently, the best spot for a clandestine wig-slinging operation is the basement of a laundromat whose opening hours are zero. Well, zero for everyone except those clutching a fistful of follicles, like myself. I’m fresh off of my first job with Mace, laden with more hair than I dare carry in the streets, and I’m wondering how much the wigmaker pays for a spectacular haul like ours. There’s 15 grams of my own hair, 42 grams of my wife’s, and a sheaf of blonde lifted from the elite madam whom Mace and I robbed like the highwaymen of old. Or...

10 likes 14 comments 14
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Blind Spot

Submitted to Contest #182

4:02 am and my alarm goes off. I reach over lazily and hit aimlessly, hoping one of the attempts will be successful in shutting the beeping up.4:11 am and I have made it out of my bed, by some miracle unbeknownst to me.I am brushing my teeth, the little red light I have grown so used to blaring at me from the corner of the bathroom. I look away. 4:16 am and I have just popped a slice of bread into the toaster.A quick spread of avocado, a light sprinkle of sea salt and pepper, and voila, breakfast.I shove it in my mouth as I crouch ...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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EYES IN THE SKY

Submitted to Contest #182

Run Morgan run, don't let them see you. The drone is over my head watching me, watching my every move. I don't let them see what I have or else I will get arrested. Look up at the sky Morgan wait until they leave, keep looking Morgan. Don't let them get you nervous. Don't give them any reason to arrest you. You are doing good Morgan. They will leave soon and move on to their next target. There they go, now quickly get inside before the next drone comes. Thank God the drone left me alone. I run into my building, up the stairs and into m...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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ParalleLife

Submitted to Contest #182

The Richards family--William, Teresa, and Jenny-- just moved to Verdant Valley. The neighborhood is just what they all wanted, a bustling small town of friendly people full of big opportunities where one could be anything they put their mind to: a breakout star, a superhero or supervillain, a high-ranking politician or businessperson, a master of many skills, a master money maker or even just a well-read, well-traveled or a faithful family person. After a couple of quick meals and refreshing themselves in their fully-furnished abode, The Ric...

9 likes 3 comments 3
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Tyranny By Any Other Name

Submitted to Contest #182

The walls have eyes. Everyone knew it, it wasn’t some big secret. Most didn’t think much of it, surrounded by eyes all their lives, most didn’t realize the importance of it. They saw them at the street corners, they saw them in the corners of rooms, they saw them on their computers and laptops. For just like the walls, the streets had eyes, the tables had eyes, eyes were held in everyone's hands every day and none thought anything of it. None realized the simple truth that naturally followed that fact. Eyes capture information and relay it. ...

9 likes 3 comments 3
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Everything Is Superlative!!!

J K

Submitted to Contest #182

Explicit: sex, substance abuseBy Visit #3 you realize that, all your life, everyone's been judging you for your actions, which stem from an illness that you didn't even know that you had. They're watching you, just like they're all watching each other, too; suddenly the world seems entirely too judgmental about one another. It's just that you've never cared before. You still won't care, unless the medicine works.You're 40 and confused. This initial mental health appointment was supposed to be helpful, but things are even more bewildering now...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Dinner Party

Submitted to Contest #182

“Kate, could you pass me the salad please?”  “Of course! Let me just… Sorry, I can’t quite… Thomas, could you scoot back?” “Huh? What?” “Scoot back please.” “I can’t. No room.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, look!” “I just need to reach-” “Are you guys trying to get the salad? Here you go.” “Thank you John. Here you are Alice.” “Thanks Kate.” Ding ding ding Everyone turned to the front of the table. Mark set down his spoon and raised his glass. “I thought it was high time for a toast in honor of our lovely couple’s engage...

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The Wall

Submitted to Contest #182

Two streets forward then turn left. Avoid the camera, high on the wall of the opposite corner. Three hundred steps down the street, left turn into the alley. One minute to catch my breath and steady my nerves. Four seconds inhale, seven seconds hold it, eight seconds exhale. Repeat, concentrate on the breathing and nothing else. And again. There’s no time to waste but controlling my breathing means I control my anxiety. My heart rate’s dropping, the tingling in my extremities dying down. The next step is the most difficult and I need to be ...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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The Watchful Eye

Submitted to Contest #182

Tevia took a deep gulp of air that filled her lungs and quieted her mind. She eased the breath out of her lips and then parted them so a gust of “negative air”, as her yoga instructor called it, filled the room. How is that supposed to make a difference? She thought. She pushed her bedsheets from her sweaty body and walked to the bathroom to take care of her daily business before starting another long, long day. When she stared at herself in the mirror, she could see the tiny lines growing thicker around her eyelids, and her warm, almo...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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Ersksts'thulan

Submitted to Contest #182

I am old, oh my master. Older than perhaps even you would believe. Of the lost continent on which I was born, or of the life I lived there, I can remember nothing. But I can remember when I remembered, and I know I was a mighty necromancer in my day. For seventy-five thousand years I lay dormant in the buried ruins of Herud Hiti, master-less and motionless until you found me. But it was two hundred thousand years ago when I perished in some nameless land which time has obscured from all memory, even my own. I have passed through many masters...

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