Friday Fictioneers is hosted by the wonderful Rochelle, the undisputed master of what I call Sound Bite Fiction.
She sets the weekly challenge, the standard, and the prompt photo.
The idea, as always, is to write a story of around 100 words based on the picture below, which this week is supplied by Liz Young.
Click here to hear the author read his words:
The Woods
I gaze at the live images on my screen.
I am surprised at the pang of nostalgia.
I thought I had long ago forgotten such feelings.
But I haven’t been in these woods since I was a boy, a decade ago.
And I still recognise certain spots where we once played at soldiers.
The zoom feature even allows me to identify some old friends.
I see Chester, Andy and Noddy, all working together.
I shake my head, smile sadly.
Then the voice in my headset speaks.
I sigh.
I adjust my controls and press the button.
The rockets cause carnage.
Wonderfully unstated and chilling, too bad about nostalgia.
Thank you, Patience.
I guess nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
Aww. Sad but I assume necessary? That’s a matter of opinion I’m sure.
I think that’s my question, Oneta.
Is war ever necessary?
He once played as soldiers and now he is a Drone jockey. You capture his cold detached emotions despite his nostalgia, but then again he has achieved his boyhood ambition albeit from behind the safety of a his control screen.
This makes me consider if the younger generation, so absorbed in cyber space that they are detected from the reality of their surroundings!
Very true, James, there are generations growing up in a virtual universe, causing sociopathy to flourish.
It’s hard to keep friends that way.
Good point, sir!
Chilling story. For a moment, I thought he might have real feelings.
But easily suppressed, evidently
What is he whining about, his soldier-playing friends are just collateral damage, aren’t they? Cold technical terms for cold technical killing without even getting close to danger oneself. Excellent story, very well crafted.
I agree, Gabriele, ‘collateral damage’ is one of the most vile expressions imaginable, a classic example of Orwell’s NewSpeak.
Chilling. You brought to light a complicated issue masterfully, C.E.
Thank you, Brenda, we just have to keep chipping away at these atrocities, don’t we?
Oh wow, I did not see that end coming! Harsh. Well written, but harsh.
Nor did the guys in the woods, Anne.
The truth is often harsh, no?
So sad 🙁
As war invariably is, Bernadette.
Powerful images cloaked in innocent memories! Cheers!
Thank you,Susan, much appreciated
Yikes. Well, nostalgia and old friends is all very well but war is war…
And only following orders…
That’s a very concise argument against bearing arms. Ever. Well done.
Thank you, Penny, that was my intention
it looks like he has lost it including his humanity. for what or for whom?
For peace, for religion, for oil, or to win an election, the reasons don’t matter to the dead
When you can kill from afar with a button, friendship, much less humanity, counts for nothing, One of the many evils of modern drone warfare.
Yes, Dora, we just keep creating newer and better ways of killing each other.
Makes our mums so proud…
Nostalgia is overrated. After all, yours is a friendship to die for.
It sure ain’t what it used to be.
Killer joke, Russell!
What a stark portrayal of how a person is desensitised by war and learns to override human emotions. At what price? .Great story.
Thanks, Jenne, we know it is happening.
Orson Scott Card wrote about drone pilots in, “Enders War.” He recruited them before they had time to develop human bonds. It works best that way.
I think ‘best’ is a debatable term here, hmm?
Armchair warfare. The very definition of ‘fire and forget’.
Indeed, Iain, and they call it Progress
Great voice! Stolid, well, almost!
Cheers, Neel!
Please, not Noddy. I just hope Big Ears isn’t there too.
Unless Ms Blyton is with him, in which case he’s expendable!
I guess obedience to orders would depend on what horrors were lurking there now.
Obedience is drilled in, Liz, to the point of mindlessness
It doesn’t seem to me that this Person? Robot? AI thing? has any choices, but must do as programmed. He has a surprising pang of nostalgia that passes quickly. Automated. Just doing his job.
He is a soldier, just following orders, as he feels he must, regardless of feelings.
Unquestioning obedience has created a lot of misery down through history.
I’m a rule-follower, but I think I’d baulk at those orders. Your protagonist seems to have found a way to detach himself though. I wonder how permanently.
I heard you the first time!
errr… sorry, I don’t know how that happened! Some things really aren’t worth saying twice. Even once is questionable. 😉
Laughing.
Rest assured, Jen, it is always a pleasure to hear from you.
And your comments are greatly valued, Scout’s honour!
I’m a rule-follower, but I think I’d baulk at those orders. Your protagonist seems to have found a way to detach himself though. I wonder how permanently.
And yet so few do, Jen, which is exactly my point
Hmm he needs therapy. Great use of voice, very detached. Wonder how he got that way?
Training, Tannille, trained to kill and not to care.
What a piece with unfathomable depth. I half expected it to be a story where he’s seeing the ghosts of his brother’s in arms, killed in combat, and he the only survivor. Almost brought tears to my eyes.
I am sorry, yet pleased, that my words touched you so deeply, Bear.
Thank you.
He sounds very cool and determined. I hope his composure is still with him when he goes to bed at night.
And yet there are people who do these things, Sandra, destroying cities, schools and hospitals, often in the name of Peace.
Rockets returned to sender. 🙂😉
A good trick, Michael!
Dear CE,
Orders are orders. I’m not sure I’d want to follow them.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I wonder how many even question their orders in their own minds, m’lady, when they are trained to blind obedience
Oh! So sad that he has to operate those rockets- those WMD- that will blow up his friends & lovely woods…
Though the feelings & nostalgia is alive, he is a prey to instructions…
The sad truth about war, Anita, soldiers follow orders
Still playing at soldiers. I wonder how many would comply and how many would desert
If history tells us anything, Neil, it is that most comply.
Sad but true.
Cette histoire commence comme un joli souvenir pour finir dans un carnage tu m’as encore eu !
Rire.
Alors, Corine, je suis content!