Short Stories

The Sleepless Girl

One day she told me that she cannot sleep at all. As time passes, I noticed her face paled more. I wanted to do something for her and remembered my childhood. When I couldn’t sleep, my mother stayed with me until I feel sleepy and fall into a deep sleep. I think I could save her if I stay with her all night.

It was a clear night. So beautiful full moon was above us. It was like a spotlight that light up the party hall. I could see the hall crowded with people who dressed up. I found a beautiful deep blue dress in her room and recommended her try it on. We went out of her room and joined the party held under the moonlight. My dressed-up sweetheart was so beautiful that fascinated many people there. I danced with her overnight.

The moon was nearly disappearing and people who danced in the hall went somewhere else. When the moon completely disappeared and the sun rose from the mountain from the distance, I noticed that my girlfriend wearing a beautiful night sky blue dress vanished, as many participants did. I returned to her room, but there was not her reply.
I realized that she went to her long sleep. The dirge was played inside my head.

Old Wise Man

He taught me everything: what was happening around me, what my friends talked about, and what I should say as if he narrated my life like telling a story. I didn’t know his real name, but he told me that I can call him ‘Narrator.’ He was alike old wise men who often appear in fictional stories.

He had lived inside my head when I was a child. It was natural for me to live with other people in my brain. Spending time with him made my childhood a great one. He didn’t teach me answers but gave me suggestions to survive my life.
One day I noticed that he was getting younger and younger. At first, his hair and beard were white and his face was lined with wrinkles; however, gradually his hair and beard became black and wrinkles were less noticeable. I cannot say when, but he disappeared from my head around the time I entered junior high.

My real grandfather is completely different from him. I do not know where he came from and where he went out.

The Beach

I invited her to have dinner on the beach. I asked my friend who knows a lot of romantic places for couples and he recommended me this beach. I knew she loved me because we have spent a very long time together. You don’t spend such a long time with the person you don’t love, right? So, definitely, she loved me and of course, I loved her.

When we arrived at the beach, she was impressed by this breathtakingly beautiful view. The comfortable sound of a sea filled our ears. The sun lighted us like he was blessing our future. The man welcomed us and served us glasses of wine and meals. It was so cozy that I thanked my friend who taught me this wonderful place.

Before coming to this beach, we walked around here. There were some shops, restaurants, and theatres. The small town around the beach was also comfortable enough.

I know she enjoyed today’s short trip to this bayside city. She smiled at me and said ‘How beautiful this place is!’ I was pleased to hear that and thought I was the only man who can make her happy.

***

My friend invited me to the short trip to the beach. He was really kind to me, and he sometimes told me that he knew everything I felt and thought. I didn't think he did it because he didn't notice my secret, but I kept smiling in front of him because he took me to many interesting places where his friend told him. He always said, ‘I found a place I want to visit with you,’ but I know he asked his friend who knew a lot about sightseeing places before inviting me.

It seemed that he believed that he was loved by me, but it wasn’t true. I didn’t love him at all. I wasn’t a woman who loves men. I love my girlfriend called May. I wanted to have a great time with May at special places, so accepting his offer and going there were the best way of searching and finding good places for me and May.

I had never told him a lie, it was just his misunderstanding; however, I sometimes felt sorry for him. So, I decided this short trip was the last one. He took me to many interesting places and this restaurant on the beach was the best place ever. When he talked to me, I imagined my girlfriend talked to me and said ‘I love this place, thanks for inviting me.’ When he smiled at me, I imagined May’s flower-like smile.

I dodged his plan and went back home where my girlfriend waited. She runs toward me and hugged me before I reached the entrance.
'My friend told me a good place for dinner. Would you like to go?' I asked.
'I'll go anywhere if you were with me,' she answered.

Blue and Gray

A man and a woman were having a tea break. Both of them had their own partners, so they were just friends, not lovers. A man called Gray had got married to a woman who had the same skin color and was from the same city. A woman called Blue was in the same situation. Gray didn’t care about who he would get married to. He married because his parents hoped to. In comparison, Blue couldn’t be satisfied with her marriage. Her family was a typical old-fashioned people, so they wanted her to be with a white man of respected lineage.

Blue and Gray had known each other since they were teenagers, and she knew that it wouldn’t be allowed, but wanted to go steady with him. Her wish wasn’t made possible, but now she could spend time with him in the café as good friends. ‘It’s enough, I’m satisfied’, she had kept telling herself.

After few minutes, Mrs. Gray and Mr. Blue came to the café. They found their partners, and Gray and Blue also noticed that the time was up. Gray drank his tea up and said calmly, ‘The same time, same place, on next Tuesday.’ Blue nodded, and he went out with his wife. Then Mr. Blue plumped down next to her were Gray, the person who Blue really loved, sat just before that.
‘What did he say to you?’ he asks.
‘Nothing special. He just said goodbye.’ She answers. ‘Let’s go. I found a new shop near here.’ She stood up arm in arm with her husband.

On a Park Bench

‘Ok Luna, let’s get start it.’

A man screamed and a woman and a man stood at the entrance of the park. When they entered and walked up to the bench, they seemed to be in love, but when they reached the bench and sat on it, fall silent. The tension built up and nobody could not say anything. Even breathing was feared.

That uncomfortable silence was broken by the man called Sirius wearing a hat. He grabbed the arm of the woman called Luna who was sitting next to him and whispered something. At first, she ignored it and everybody could easily guess her feeling by her tightly crossed legs. Sirius spoke many times and tried to make Luna turned toward him, but she ignored him. It seemed like she didn’t notice he was here. Even though Sirius’s voice became louder and louder, and finally he screamed her name, she didn’t notice. Sirius stood up and walked away.

Tears spilled from her eyes and she murmured something. It might be his name. Sirius, walking toward the entrance of the park, reached there and faded away.

A man said ‘Cut!’ and Luna breathed deeply with smiling. There were many people around them and guards tried not to come close to these two people. I was in the crowd of people around them. A man, the director shook hands with Luna and the shooting clue gave her a bouquet. They took pictures and went out of the park. Nobody cared about Sirius who was certainly existed there.

Strangers

I often felt that I and others were living in separate worlds. I might have been born on a different planet or world and somebody—it might be adults—sent me to this world, where I was surviving. Some people said ‘you are strange’ with laughing. I knew that this was just a joke, but I could not help but think about myself.

One day I met a man whose name was Aries. He entered my classroom, glanced at the children, walked up to me, grabbed my right arm, and walked out there. I could not understand what was happening. I had never seen him before. I could brush his hands, but I didn’t. My feeling was half feared but half relieved. I didn’t know his face—actually, his face was covered with blue clothes—, but something relieved me.

We walked and walked and finally reached somewhere else. He looked down at me and went out without saying anything. It was not so a beautiful place, to tell the truth, it was dirty. There were excreta, garbage, and sweepers were sleeping on the side of the road. Everything was turning putrid. I was puzzled by the mixed smell but tried to walk around the street. I wanted to find an element that made me relieved. But I couldn’t. I could not find anything like that.

When I was sitting on the road, Aries came to me and took my arm again. He walked faster than the last time, and I came back to my classroom. It seemed that nobody noticed that I went out and came back here. The bell rang, and classmates started chatting. Nothing much changed, but I might be somewhat changed.

The Bullet

She was always in her room. Nobody allowed her to go out. She had a friend, but nobody did not know her name, so it is better to call her ‘the confined-girl.’ The confined girl and her friend spent time together chatting, watching outside from the window, and telling stories. The confined girl liked listening to her friend’s stories because she knew many things which she had never seen. One day her friend told her the story about the sea. She did not know what the sea was, so she asked her what it was like. Her friend described it as choosing words. Most people know what the sea was even if it was a child, so it was hard to explain it, but she did. The confined girl’s words that telling her that she understood and could imagine that made her pleased. Then she started telling me the time she spent on the beach. She told her experience on the beach carefully to tell the confined girl to understand. The heat of sands felt from the sole of her foot, the sound of tides, and the view of the sunset. The confined girl was so attracted by the story that made her go and see it.

‘I wish I could go there.’ Said the confined girl.
Her friend decided to take her to the beach no matter what. She was everything for her.
Several days later, her friend came into the confined girl’s room and said ‘Let’s go.’

The confined girls looked surprised because nobody had ever allowed her to go out. Her friend hurried her to prepare for going out, took her arm, and started running. The sea was no distance at all from her room. They run along the side of the mountain and soon reached there. Her friend was so glad to see the confined girl enjoying the beach and the sea because the confined girl was her everything.

Just after the two girls reach there, somebody rushed toward them. The bullet went through her friend’s chest.

The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number

Eight years have passed since that big earthquake hit my country. The government said we do not have to worry about natural disasters because the technology would prevent us. Our country’s technology level was so high that we did not prepare for evacuation. We, young people, laughed at elders who told us that we would be in danger when natural disasters hit even if the technology developed.

I had a brother who was sixteen at that time. He tried to help my family and finally passed away because of the earthquake, this is the story that many neighbors believe. Now, I’m going to tell you the true one.

***

I was eight years old boy at that time and my brother was twelve. Every day he walked with me to the way school. I’m sure that many people who know us thought that he was a great brother who took care of his younger brother instead of his parents who were so busy. Parents worked so hard that the time I spend with my brother was longer than that with my parents.

The day the earthquake hit our country, we were in our house. My parents rushed to see us. Light, water, and gas were out, so people cannot go to stores to get some food. Most people depended on online shopping for their daily foods and other materials, so gradually they were forced to face the lack of food and water.

My parents were Benthamites. “We should kill him to survive,” my mother said. It was ten days after the earthquake. My mother agreed and I didn’t have a choice because I was a little boy. The dinner that night was so deluxe.

We survived and today is my sixteenth birthday. Now I am nearly an adult, have power and choice. I took a gun which my friend rent me and pulled the trigger. Two people fall. Their eyes looked surprised. I heard the same sound one after another. Eight years ago, the same killing has happened in many houses and now the same thing happened in many houses. People don’t change over time, I realized, but smiles break out on our faces.

The Chain of a Father and His Son

My father had always said that winning the first prize was the most important thing in our lives. He forced me to take lessons on violin, piano, trumpet and he also wanted me to win the sports competition, so he forced me to join sports clubs such as tennis, track and field, the alpine ski, and swimming. Every day I should go somewhere to practice those damn things after school. He wanted me to get the highest score, so I should study hard every day in the evening. Doing what he said and achieving the goal that he set was my role. It was like a role-playing game. I was an avatar of my father and my father was a game player who controlled me. There was my mother, but she didn’t have the power to defy him. I know she thought that she didn’t think what her husband did to his son was good for him, but what she could do was that just looking without saying anything.

In 2007, it seemed that he realized that his son was not so talented children compare to others. He paid much more money to the coaches and teachers, but I could not achieve the goals. He got angry and slap me on the face almost every day. I was ten at that time.

My father started controlling me more strictly than in the past. I should fulfill the tasks that I get given. It felt like I was brought into the world of the damn game and forced to fight with ugly monsters or something. Of course, the player was my father. In 2020, I finished being his avatar. I went to the university that he wanted me to go to, I took the job interview of the company that he recommended. Actually, he recommended two companies to and one of them was his company. I chose another one to be free from his control.

Now I have a son who is 10 years old. I let him take several lessons and go to a private preparatory school. I want him to win the final of the competitions and get the highest score in his school.

Coming out from the Secret Room

I’ve lived in Sarah’s room since I came to this country. Since we were 4 years old, we've been friends, but my parents decided to move because of their job. This is why we had been separated for more than ten years. Just before met her, to enter high school, I came back to my hometown from the place where I had spent most of my childhood. I chose the school that Sarah was going to enter. Fortunately, she and I were in the same class and restarted being friends. To tell the truth, we’ve been kept in touch even after my family moved (our parents helped me to send an email and letters), but we could not meet so often, about once a year or something. After we graduated high school and universities, I started living and working in my second hometown A few years later, the number of work done in my first hometown increased, so I had to go back here. Since then, I sometimes go to my second hometown for work, but most of the time I stay here. I have two hometowns, and I know that both are good, but sometimes I miss my second one, where I lived for longer than the first hometown. In this country, Sarah was my only emotional mainstay. This is one of the reasons why I stay in her room for a long time.

Every day we wake up together, have breakfast together. And we go to work separately because our relationship is a secret. My work is to perform, talk, and act in front of many people or, on TV, movie, and other social media, and I know that there are many reporters of weekly magazines around our apartment. I love my job. I love my works. But I am tired of this daily life. I am exhausted from keeping our secret. This is why I decided to come out from my secret to take our freedom back.