Short Story Snippet | Part XXXI: Under Observation
They decided who I was
before I even arrived.
Nothing I did was new—
just… reinterpreted.
Even silence had meaning.
Even sleep had commentary.I almost admired the consistency.
“You’re watching me,” I thought,
not as a question—
but as a conclusion.
I carried on anyway.
Some people observe.
Others live.
Part XXXII: Personal Matter
“I have an appointment,” I said.
“A personal matter.”
That was the whole sentence.
Enough to inform—
not to invite interpretation.
But somewhere,
it became something else.
Questions. Assumptions.
A story I hadn’t told.
I didn’t add to it.
Some things end
exactly where they’re said.
Part XXXIII: Palate Cleaser
I made breakfast.
Nothing elaborate—
just enough.Music filled the room,
soft but certain.Whatever existed outside of it
stayed outside.
Not ignored—
just… not included.
And that was enough
to move forward.
Part XXXiv: neutral GRound
They wanted to decide what we were
before we were anything at all.Friends—too quickly.
Enemies—just as fast.
I stayed where I was.
Not distant.
Not closed.Just… neutral.
Because connection
isn’t something you assign.
It’s something that forms—
or it doesn’t.
Part XXXV: no Cut
The moment passed
without announcement.No signal.
No direction.Just… a shift.
Somewhere, someone waited
for a cue—a “cut,”
a confirmation
that the scene was over.But they weren’t the one
the story was following.
So it moved on
without them.
Part XXXVI: System Error
The system paused.
Thought for a moment.
Then decided—
it must be me.
I checked.
Everything on my end
was working just fine.I didn’t argue.
Some errors
correct themselves
when you don’t claim them.
Part XXXVII: Desire
They wanted something
before it was there.And slowly,
everything they saw
began to point toward it.
Not because it did—
but because they needed it to.
I didn’t step into it.
Some things
make more sense
when you don’t try to live inside them.
Part XXXVIII: Checked
I checked my email.
Like I always do.
Nothing more.
Nothing urgent.Just routine.
Somewhere, it became
a sign of something else—
impatience, waiting, need.
I closed the tab.
It was never that deep.
part XXXIX: Blocked
The words came through distorted—
loud, unclear,
not meant for me.My mind tried to fill in the blanks.
I didn’t let it.
“Third-party cookies blocked,”
I thought, almost smiling.
No tracking.
No assumptions.Just sound—
passing through.
