Short fiction from a current project. Feature image from Pixabay
A bright red maple leaf spun around its stem on the sidewalk, disturbed by a pedestrian's right shoe. The flash of color caught his eye. He paused, glancing up and down the otherwise vacant sidewalk. Squinting in the autumn sun, Arthur continued on his way.
At home, Arthur watered the plants and checked his email. Then he noticed something odd. One of the bottles of juice he'd just purchased at the grocery store had a broken seal. Sighing heavily, Arthur returned to the store to exchange the bad bottle for a good one.
Exiting the grocery store, Arthur ran into Hanna, an old friend. Although Hanna had ghosted Arthur six months ago, she acted like nothing had changed. This wasn't unusual. Everybody ghosted Arthur.
"You know," said Arthur after the regular exchange of niceties. "I think I'm done playing this game. We were friends and then you suddenly stopped talking to me for no reason. So fuck this and fuck you."
Hanna was shocked. "Whatever, dick," she said, leaving.
Arthur, too, was shocked. He had broken a cultural rule. It was taboo to be direct and honest in Minneapolis. Ghosting was the norm. Superficial politeness was the norm. Drawing attention to the negative impacts of someone's behavior was frowned upon. But that's what Arthur had done and he had mixed feelings about it.
Returning home, Arthur found his roommate Tom in the kitchen. Tom laughed when he heard Arthur's story about Hanna.
"It's not that funny," said Arthur.
"If you ghost someone and they find you and tell you to fuck off, that's totally a haunting," laughed Tom. "You did a haunting."
"So I did," conceded Arthur. "The problem is that I didn't really mean to say it. It kinda just slipped out."
"Or maybe you're a Ghost Buster," said Tom. "It's inspiring. I hate all the little power games people play. More people should stand up for themselves, like you. Maybe I'll tell my boss to fuck off tomorrow. Or go to my cousin Ed's house demanding to know why he stopped texting back."
"I'm not paying your rent if you lose your job," said Arthur.
"Not even for a couple of months while I get back on my feet?" joked Tom.
"Ask your cousin Ed for the money," said Arthur.
"Fine, I'll keep quiet around my boss," said Tom.
Arthur went to his room and sat down in front of his computer. He unlocked his machine and worked for a few hours, refactoring code. Then he listened to music for half an hour and became restless.
Forty minutes later at a nearby bar, Arthur looked around for the drunkest person in the place. There was a man alone at a table, nodding off. Arthur joined him at the table. The man tried and failed to focus on Arthur.
"I'm Arthur," said Arthur. "Mind if I talk freely?"
"Buy me a drink?" asked the man.
Arthur slid his own untouched beer across the table. "Here you go," he said. "Truth is I got it for you. I don't even drink."
The man sipped his beer. "Thanks," he said.
"I lost most of my friends when I quit drinking," said Arthur. "Women stopped paying attention to me. The works. Now, it's like I don't have anything in common with anyone anymore. Like, what am I even doing here?"
A woman scooted in next to the drunk man. "Hey," she said. "I'm Zelda. Talk to me like we're friends. I told this creep at the bar that I was with you."
"Arthur," said Arthur. "You ever ghost people instead of just telling them you don't want to talk?"
"Sometimes," said Zelda. "Why?"
"I think ghosting is bullshit," said Arthur. "I think this town is full of fake fucking people who can't even be real about the little things. People who celebrate mediocrity and shun anyone capable of rising above it."
"And that's you?" asked Zelda skeptically, looking around the dingy bar. "Rising above it?"
"More like I'm a crab in a pot, trying to climb out before the temperature gets too hot," said Arthur. "And all the other crabs keep pulling me back down."
"I get that," said Zelda. "I came here for work three years ago and still haven't found anyone I really connect with."
"I've been here ten years and I'm still not used to it," said Arthur. "I've tried other places, but they all suck, too. Because of the people. Why do people suck so much?"
"I don't know about other places, but I've got a theory about here," said Zelda. "It's the winters. Winter used to mean reading books and doing clever hobbies. But the internet ruined all that. Now, people just spend all their time in social media echo chambers, losing their ability to think critically about anything."
"I see that," said Arthur. "But I think the problem is deeper. By definition, most people are average. Which is okay. Only, some people are exceptional. Once upon a time, there was a place for exceptional people in society. On the fringe, sure, but a place nonetheless. Now, all there is is average people pretending to be exceptional, avoiding any piece of information that might contradict their fundamentally inaccurate self-perception."
"If you want to get all deep about it, think about this," said Zelda. "Our entire society started falling apart after 9/11. The financial crisis accelerated this process. The pandemic super-charged it. And the whole time, a creeping dread has been building up in the back of people's minds. I think people will do anything to avoid this feeling. Including avoiding people who remind them of the true state of the world."
"Huh," said Arthur. "So you're saying that my friend might've ghosted me because I activated her existential dread?"
"Maybe," said Zelda. "But it's equally likely that she just decided you weren't a worthwhile human being. When I ghost people, that's usually why."
Read my novels:
- One Man Embassy is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Flying Saucer Shenanigans is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Rainbow Lullaby is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- The Ostermann Method is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Blue Dragon Mississippi is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
Check out the comic I wrote:
- Finney Vol 1 Immutable Journey is available as a free e-comic.