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Speculative Fiction

If you learned to laugh before crying,

If you learned to smile before screaming,

You might still be human,

But you will never be normal





The Bunker


Eyn turned the little control box over and over in her hands, looking for the off button.


Some eight year olds, especially Eyn, had a weird quirk of not caring about the worst consequences, like the fact that she could kill herself, in an awfully painful way, if she pressed the wrong button.


Maybe it was the fact that she wanted to get rid of The Bunker so badly...


Or it was because of The Bunker itself, none of the bad possibilities entered Eyn’s mind.


The only thing Eyn saw was the few, golden, Bunker-free moments she would get if she figured it all out.


And this was her perfect chance, Min had to be taken to the hospital, so nobody was home.


Eyn’s eyes glistened as she found what she was looking for, a rubbery black button, the off button.


She pressed it, with more force than necessary. A shrill BEEP came from the box, a shiver ran down from Eyn’s neck, she flinched and inhaled heavily.


The green light disappeared from the control box.


Eyn stood straight and scrunched her eyebrows.


Nothing seemed to have changed.


Oh, why don’t it work!


She folded her hands, but suddenly her face brightened like a balloon being blown up.


“Oh it did work!, I am thinking na-ga-tive!”


The Bunker was turned off, for the first time since the earliest memory Eyn ever had. Eyn had lived an overly protected life till now, she was not locked up in a bunker, but The Bunker was rooted in her. However, it all had a reason, a hesitant reason, a reason that could rob the lives of Eyn and anyone unlucky beside her.


A reason, which the cheery eight year old, who was sprinting towards the door, didn’t know.


Eyn hopped out of the door and glanced back, no alarms were ringing, The Bunker was truly turned off.


For a girl who was strolling towards a few kids, who were playing, to say ‘hi!’, Eyn didn’t look even a bit shy.


She swung her hands and walked in a rhythm.


Probably because she was restricted to happy thoughts, until when she tripped over that stupid stone right now.


She fell hard, and all the kids turned towards her. For a person laying face down, Eyn heard all the giggles quite clearly.


She pushed herself up.


Her eyes filled up and the fresh cut on her knee started bleeding, bleeding out quite dramatically.


But something more dramatic started bleeding too, bleeding in. The Bunker had kept Eyn underground, protecting her, but also making her weaker.


She looked up, her face was getting paler.


Her mind was drowning, it was normal for a girl with a scratch on her knee to cry,


It was normal, if the girl was normal too.


For Eyn, the tears came with blurring sights, heavy breaths and a grave fall.


***


Eyn is fifteen years old now, and she has perfectly disintegrated herself into a coward.


She glances at the little kids playing outside through her window and sighs. Whoever they were, the kids always remind her of her foolishness.


Eyn turns around, but stays in her room.


She glances at the control box on her desk and shakes her head.


Her mother either has trusted her too much these days,


Or was too much absorbed in grieving.


But it doesn’t matter now, as Eyn has already given up, she has accepted her fate.


Eyn knows the reason now, she knows how useless she is, and she knows more about the little device controlling her nerves, keeping her underground, shielding her from the horrors of the surface. 


For a person who can never be sad or angry, Eyn is not even a bit cheery.


She never wanted to be a person who couldn’t understand others, she never wanted to be a person who couldn’t fuss about the tiny troubles of teenage, she never wanted to stand there like that when her mother walked in, shaking, saying that her father and Min had died.


Min..., Min was eight, but The Bunker was not fixed inside her neck, because Min could laugh and cry all day and still stay sane and conscious.


But Min is gone.


Eyn clasps her head in her hands, trying to stop what her mind was doing now. The Bunker can’t stop thoughts about self-destruction, The Bunker can’t stop anything stronger than itself.


But The Bunker can stop Eyn from taking a few steps and pressing that rubbery black button again, because she was way weaker than it now.


***


Eyn will turn the little control box over and over in her hands.


Some sixteen year olds, especially Eyn, will have a weird quirk of not caring about the worst consequences, like the fact that she could kill herself, in an awfully painful way, if she presses the wrong button.


Maybe it will be the fact that she will want to get rid of The Bunker so badly, the fact that she won’t be able to stay in the same way she had grown up anymore...


Or it will be because of The Bunker itself, none of the bad possibilities will enter Eyn’s mind.


The only thing Eyn will see will be the golden, Bunker-free life she would get if she could overpower The Bunker, if she could emerge from the shell she had build for herself, every other shell would have been eroded away, her mother would be dead by then.


And she will know that it was, it is and it will be all her fault. All her fault.


She was, is, and will be, always, responsible for staying underground, for withering away leaf by leaf, petal by petal, because while protecting her from the storms, The Bunker was also blocking her from the sunlight.


Eyn’s hands will shake, when her finger rests on the rubbery black button.


One press and....,

The Bunker will still be in her but she will no longer be in the bunker.


Eyn will walk towards her window before shutting down The Bunker, she will see no children outside, clumsily homeschooled till then, what would Eyn know about exams?


Then she will press the button, with more force than necessary. A shrill BEEP will come from the box, a shiver will run down from Eyn’s neck, she will flinch and inhale heavily.


The green light will disappear from the control box.


Eyn will cry, cry for the second time in her life, she will sob and then she will smile, she will stand straight and smile...


It would not be normal for a girl to smile because she could cry,


It would not be normal, if the girl was normal.

March 13, 2021 03:27

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52 comments

Danny -
03:45 Mar 17, 2021

Gosh, eep, for some weird reason, idk maybe im just really weird, but lol, tears, this was a very sad story, ack, so emotional... ACK, DONT COME FOR MEEEEEEEEEE, BUT EEP, lol, i- just, it's soooo, i can't explain it lol ok so um, to start- ohh so, uhm, it's so cool that despite there's literally only a sentence for each paragraph, it demonstrated the whole atmosphere you were going for so well. It was solemn, and ack, i dunnu, i just like it and i dont know why, lol maybe it's the mysterious-y aura that she had or something~ and, as confu...

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05:09 Mar 17, 2021

Wow, Thank you so much! yep one sentence per para, my english teacher used to scold me XD oh, thank you =)! like, i never thought that my story could get this much compliments! 0_0 I am a fan of plot twists too, but there is no point in denying a story the ending it wants =) oh mg!, seriously, thank you so much, seriously! gobsmacked today!

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Danny -
05:14 Mar 17, 2021

No problem! :)) oop, lol bending the rules~ but this turned out sooo good, hehehe lol english teacher be darned~ ack, this story deserves all the compliments in the world! like aflkdksjaklfjksdf, tears, it's so beautiful, ack, and you'll find everybodyyyyyyy who's read this to agree with me, it's amazing! ohhh yassss, plot twists are nice, buut i like to give my eyes a balanced diet, between stuff~ no problem! :)) =) signature smiley face lol xd will you be making a new story for this week's prompts? :))

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05:17 Mar 17, 2021

yes, like, i am thinking about a flash fiction (ya know, i love flash fic, tho it's actually 'against' the rules XD) and one short story! Wha abou ya?

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Danny -
05:18 Mar 17, 2021

flash fiction? i dont think i've heard of it before :b ohhh, for which prompts do you think? :) hmm, i dont think so lol, idk anymore xd

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05:24 Mar 17, 2021

like, its something, anything below 1000 words, small but famous eg. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” - Ernest Hemingway, not that small or famous eg- the one i wrote 'into the mist' seriously?, like one month!, write at least a flash fic, i know you can do it! (that sounds like a cliche movie dialogue XD)

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18:22 Mar 17, 2021

ytedbsihuytfvbsj THAT FIRST LINE WTFFFFFF Oh yes. This was really cool. I loved ittttttt as usual for ur stories. Lol ur actually becoming one of my favorite writers here :)

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Sia S
05:50 Mar 15, 2021

PART TWO OUT!

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06:47 Mar 15, 2021

YAY! balloons, streamers, crackers! (ok, brain, you better mean the crackers which i can eat, not the one which blow up)

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Sia S
06:49 Mar 15, 2021

XPPPP ohmilord that is the most relatable thing I've heard in a while

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06:59 Mar 15, 2021

Arh, yes the world going CRAZY! XD have you got any siblings?

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Sia S
07:16 Mar 15, 2021

XDD Unfortunately, yes. A sister 😈😈😈👹👹👹😈😈😈

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07:24 Mar 15, 2021

sister?, younger or older? and i can't figure out the emojis, this 'device' just stopped loading them !

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Amany Sayed
17:28 Mar 13, 2021

Hi! So, this was cool. I'm confused but in a good way. Love how the end tied it all together. Probably because she was restricted to happy thoughts, until when she tripped over that stupid stone right now, She fell hard, and all the kids turned towards her. So you did a lot of that, and by that I mean you ended a line with a comma- just watch out for those. Also, I wouldn't title the start 'epigraph' you can just go straight into it, and the reader recognizes a difference when you italicize it. I love the subtle sci-fi feel to this and ...

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14:46 Mar 14, 2021

HI! =D Thanks a ton for the compliments! =) Oh, those commas must have been irritating! =( Tho, I fixed some up! =) hm..., I love your suggestion!, i fixed the title! =D Thank you! Eli?, isn't it horror or something?, was it good?, 've heard about it, but 'am not a movie person so...., haven't watched it yet! XD yep, I will, and you Should keep writing too! =) Happy today!

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Amany Sayed
16:30 Mar 14, 2021

You're welcome! It is horror, but it's not too scary. It has a really cool plot and is well made. It's one of the only horror movies I've ever watched lol. :D

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Daniel R. Hayes
15:44 Mar 13, 2021

Hi my friend, sorry I'm late reading this, I always have time to read your stories. I liked this story, and I can definitely see an improvement in your writing. I know it's not easy to take an idea and convert it into words. Believe or not I struggle with this sometimes too. You wanted some critique, I'm by no means am an expert but I did see one line that messed the flow of reading for me. It was: Eyn hoped out of the door and glanced back - I think "hoped" you meant to write hopped. You wrote hoped which means hope. As usual your char...

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14:34 Mar 14, 2021

Hello, and your are NOT late! =) thank you so much! for the compliment! oh!, thank you for making me notice that! =) I corrected it! Thank you, =) your character names fit the stories perfectly too! YES!, practice does make a man perfect, =), but it is getting hard to find time to write these days :( it's getting hard to wade through 'stress and work' XD collided with any challenges recently?

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Daniel R. Hayes
17:10 Mar 14, 2021

Hi, how are you? I do have some challenges. I don't have any trouble coming up with ideas for stories, but I sometimes have a hard time getting them down. I've been working on it, and that's why I write so much. I like to think writing is like a muscle you have to exercise or you will loose it.

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08:03 Mar 13, 2021

Please dear reader, I need feedback! Please say how stupid my punctuation is or how messed up my tenses are, please say it, because whoever you are, you must have some critique for this story! Hope that you have a terrific day, Happy Today! =)

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Amel Parvez
19:28 Mar 18, 2021

okay...so......DAMN! it was so amazing like kinda uniqur and awesome. tho, am not good at giving feedbacks. still. loved it.

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04:19 Mar 18, 2021

em, you meant true or tru? XD

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15:33 Mar 14, 2021

khfkjgfjgkfj whattttttt this was so gooooooooooooooood definitely my fav story you've written It was so beautifully written and sometimes the lines just aaaahhhh- they flowed and I love itttttttt few thingssssss: "The Bunker has been turned off, for the first time since the earliest memory Eyn had. Eyn had lived an overly protected life till now, she was not locked up in a bunker, but The Bunker was rooted in her." Right here you seemed to switch tenses. So you went from past tense before to present tense saying, "the bunker has been ...

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15:55 Mar 14, 2021

oh! thank you, thanks a ton for the shower of compliments (help, i am drowning! XD) Arh, that must have been irksome! =( Tense makes me tense!, on my way to fixing that! =) arh!, my typos are killing me!, apocalypse! XD Thank you! =) I almost didn't submit this because I thought that it was TOO vague XD =D Cant wait to read more from you either!! Happy today! =)

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15:57 Mar 14, 2021

<3 XD lol, ok! XDDD no, definitely not to vague!(at least for me:D) It kinda added a mysterious feel to it:) you too!:D

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TJ Squared
15:04 Mar 14, 2021

heyyy, how are you doing?

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15:09 Mar 14, 2021

you just interrupted me while i was commenting on your series! XD you back? how do you write so fast anyway? XD Secret sorcery? XD

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TJ Squared
15:21 Mar 14, 2021

XDDD I am kinda back...I guess... I just do, mostly because it's like, I have a really good idea and I NEED TO WRITE IT DOWN! If I wanted to, I could literally write the whole series in a day (or two), but I am spacing them out for suspenseful reasons :) As far as I know, there is no secret sorcery involved in my writing XD How have you been doing?

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15:29 Mar 14, 2021

XD Coming back step by step? =) oh! you could? 0_0 oh, suspense............................... ah!, that's the reason, you may not know, that's why it's called 'secret' sorcery XD hm, I have sneezing at everything lately, i may break a guinness record, well i might break something if i go sneezing like this! XD

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TJ Squared
15:31 Mar 14, 2021

oof, I hope your sneezing gets better. I'm curious, why don't you write a bio?

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15:43 Mar 14, 2021

TY! "cause I fear I will end up writing too much and that it will become irritating

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Writer Maniac
02:47 Mar 18, 2021

Woah! This was quite something! This world you have created is so interesting and well-thought-out, I would read a whole series about it. Besides that, the take on the fact that just pressing a button is all that it takes to free herself from the bunker is quite an intriguing concept. The one-sentence paragraphs were effective in conveying a ton of emotion. I enjoyed it a lot, I'll look out for your works in the future :)

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05:03 Mar 18, 2021

=) Thank you so much for the great feedback! =D I'll look out for your works too, =) Happy today!

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