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.
Sound Bite Fiction 
Wonderfully unstated and chilling, too bad about nostalgia.
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Thank you, Patience.
I guess nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
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Aww. Sad but I assume necessary? That’s a matter of opinion I’m sure.
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I think that’s my question, Oneta.
Is war ever necessary?
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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!
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Very true, James, there are generations growing up in a virtual universe, causing sociopathy to flourish.
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It’s hard to keep friends that way.
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Good point, sir!
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Chilling story. For a moment, I thought he might have real feelings.
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But easily suppressed, evidently
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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.
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I agree, Gabriele, ‘collateral damage’ is one of the most vile expressions imaginable, a classic example of Orwell’s NewSpeak.
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Chilling. You brought to light a complicated issue masterfully, C.E.
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Thank you, Brenda, we just have to keep chipping away at these atrocities, don’t we?
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Oh wow, I did not see that end coming! Harsh. Well written, but harsh.
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Nor did the guys in the woods, Anne.
The truth is often harsh, no?
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So sad 😦
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As war invariably is, Bernadette.
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Powerful images cloaked in innocent memories! Cheers!
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Thank you,Susan, much appreciated
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Yikes. Well, nostalgia and old friends is all very well but war is war…
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And only following orders…
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That’s a very concise argument against bearing arms. Ever. Well done.
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Thank you, Penny, that was my intention
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it looks like he has lost it including his humanity. for what or for whom?
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For peace, for religion, for oil, or to win an election, the reasons don’t matter to the dead
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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.
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Yes, Dora, we just keep creating newer and better ways of killing each other.
Makes our mums so proud…
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Nostalgia is overrated. After all, yours is a friendship to die for.
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It sure ain’t what it used to be.
Killer joke, Russell!
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What a stark portrayal of how a person is desensitised by war and learns to override human emotions. At what price? .Great story.
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Thanks, Jenne, we know it is happening.
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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.
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I think ‘best’ is a debatable term here, hmm?
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Armchair warfare. The very definition of ‘fire and forget’.
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Indeed, Iain, and they call it Progress
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Great voice! Stolid, well, almost!
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Cheers, Neel!
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Please, not Noddy. I just hope Big Ears isn’t there too.
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Unless Ms Blyton is with him, in which case he’s expendable!
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I guess obedience to orders would depend on what horrors were lurking there now.
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Obedience is drilled in, Liz, to the point of mindlessness
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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.
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He is a soldier, just following orders, as he feels he must, regardless of feelings.
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Unquestioning obedience has created a lot of misery down through history.
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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.
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I heard you the first time!
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errr… sorry, I don’t know how that happened! Some things really aren’t worth saying twice. Even once is questionable. 😉
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Laughing.
Rest assured, Jen, it is always a pleasure to hear from you.
And your comments are greatly valued, Scout’s honour!
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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.
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And yet so few do, Jen, which is exactly my point
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Hmm he needs therapy. Great use of voice, very detached. Wonder how he got that way?
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Training, Tannille, trained to kill and not to care.
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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.
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I am sorry, yet pleased, that my words touched you so deeply, Bear.
Thank you.
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He sounds very cool and determined. I hope his composure is still with him when he goes to bed at night.
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And yet there are people who do these things, Sandra, destroying cities, schools and hospitals, often in the name of Peace.
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Rockets returned to sender. 🙂😉
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A good trick, Michael!
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Dear CE,
Orders are orders. I’m not sure I’d want to follow them.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I wonder how many even question their orders in their own minds, m’lady, when they are trained to blind obedience
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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…
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The sad truth about war, Anita, soldiers follow orders
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Still playing at soldiers. I wonder how many would comply and how many would desert
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If history tells us anything, Neil, it is that most comply.
Sad but true.
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Cette histoire commence comme un joli souvenir pour finir dans un carnage tu m’as encore eu !
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Rire.
Alors, Corine, je suis content!
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