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Short Stories




Surrender by Taylor Triste - [149 words]
Shadow's Adventure by Maritza Vargas Shadow(me) has to find Menchi, her pet dog that oddly looks like a cat, but gets caught up i... [518 words]
Where Does She Go From Here? by Desi Williams It's about my life thus far... in a way. [477 words]
Selection From I Displace The Air As I Walk by Marjorie Kanter "I displace the air as I walk" is a collection of short literary pi... [432 words]
When Robots Go Wrong by Alex Reuille This story is based off of the book I, Robot written by Issac Asimove, to learn more about... [654 words]
Unfortunate Side Effects by Liz Quinlan Some old English homework. It's lvl 7+, though!!! And I'm afraid its not particularly ... [552 words]
Twine-Stiry 3 Of The Insanities Of Hotel Romm 63 by Bryan King Man is has thoughts of killing himself. [750 words]
The Waiting Room Of Evil by Rich Honour A warning to all those who are forced to wait here. [584 words]
The Tunnel by D Shultz A man awakes in a small room to find himself inside something he never would have imagined. [1,760 words]
The Sun Has To Shine On Every Dogs Ass At Least Once by Jeremy Lucko A short tale of James Sheffield. Just a piece of this mans... [1,207 words]
The Phantom Hitchhiker by Liz Quinlan Well. It's about this dude, right... Oh who cares. Read it. Then you'll know. [485 words]
The Human Weezburger by Rachel E Smith When in the future humans are bred for meat, controversy stirs, and one girl in particular... [2,409 words]
The Conservatory by Alfredo Velazquez Rodriguez Velazquez Is a short story about a boy who dreams to play the pianoi but has many struggels to get there... [1,502 words]
The Clearing 2001 by Steven Gilbreath Nature has its own way of helping us ease painful memories we were certain would never fade. [1,106 words]
The Cat And The Shotgun-Story 1 Of The Insanities Of Hotel Room 63 by Bryan King A crazy man threatens to kill a woman. [246 words]
The Car An The Shotgun-Acontinuation Of The Cat And The Shotgun by Bryan King The woman is now the crazy man's hostag. [791 words]
The Building (Part One Of ?) by Bradley Grimes A man awakens in a white bed, surrounded by white walls. Clueless as to what lays ... [1,158 words]
The Building(Part 2 Of ?) by Bradley Grimes Phillip Morrison continues his travels through the seemingly endless building. [1,767 words]
Stupidallicallidumbocious by Pratik Patel This could be you. [889 words]
Reverend Matthew-Story 2 Of The Insanities Of Hotel Room 63 by Bryan King A buisness man teases Pator. [827 words]
Requis by La Carlotta A short fantasy story. Unfinished. Should be updated soon. [2,113 words]
Nights In The Asylum by James Nite The staff of the infamous Bellsing Mental Insititute begin questioning their sanity with t... [3,479 words]
My Last Addiction by Kimball A story about a young guy and his life's addiction. [1,265 words]
Methought I Heard A Voice Cry by Deborah S Wang Two soldiers struggle with the fact that one is greater than a million. [1,041 words]
Lucy by John A Durler Fred Franks went on an errand, returned seventeen years later. �I got the milk.� He said. �They drink bee... [1,300 words]
Karen's Revenge by Martin Abram Love has really gone wrong this time. [1,392 words]
It Happens; It Matters. by Steve Deutsch After a date with the girl of his dreams, a young boy thinks about the changes in life ... [2,004 words]
How September 11th Changed The Life Of The Freemans by Alex Reuille This story is about 9-11 and how one family felt the effect... [876 words]
Harmless Fouls by Travis M Shreve A short storie for college students. [1,391 words]
God, Help Me, I Don't Want To Die by Bryan King A demon shows a man his destiny. [3,373 words]
Friends Again by Eli Robbins This story is about a kid who doesn't fit in at his new school but he finally does after some hel... [2,365 words]
Firehouse 9-11 by Alexandra C Karones This stroy is about the Twin Tower attacks in 2001. It is about two firemen who are friends and ... [1,037 words]
Confessions Of A Perfect Prom Dress by La Carlotta Drabble. An English assignment. The prompt was "'Parting is such sweet so... [331 words]
Cold Heart by Aaron Aackerman A Mystery washes up on shore. [415 words]
Chapter 1 Inkheart Sequal by Justin A Anfuso This is the first chapter of a story written in the same style as "inkheart" was writ... [528 words]
Big Blind by Phil O'buster When you lose someone, what do you do? Do you move on? Or do you try to forget? And if you try to for... [1,098 words]
Becoming A Bludger by Ian Kidd Humor Personal. [1,500 words]
57 Minutes Until by Bryan King How the end came. [474 words]
Nights In The Asylum: The Bellsing Hauntings by Dylan Michael A story of the director of a Georgia mental institute, a patient, ... [3,478 words]
Bury Me Alone by Kayla Meadows A story of achieving redemption and recognizing loneliness. What started as a sentence of thought... [3,998 words]
Night Visitors by D Shultz Unwanted visitors arrive at a home during the night. [1,199 words]
(Still Not Deteremined) by Wheaton - [1,423 words]
(Not Determined Yet) by Wheaton - [928 words]
Virtual Reality
Unfinished Business (2) by Richard Kelly This is a bizarre tale of a man who returns to his hometown after 20 years to confess t... [4,458 words]
Touched by Fiona Penmaiden The struggle of a twin to accept her sister's madness. [2,560 words]
Together Alone by Art Becaud A little dark but Hell, what's it all about? [780 words]
Through The Mind Of A Retard by Rachel Lynn Marshall Randoll Edward Miller isn't just any average middle school boy. He's a middle scho... [2,269 words]
Through The Eyes Of The Littlest Stowaway by Susan Friedman This story is about a nine year old girl who stows away on the titani... [1,138 words]
The War Of Dreughs by Hobie - [3,630 words]
The Nightstalker - Part Two by David Brian The Offender - [425 words]
The Nightstalker - Part Three by David Brian The Offender - [465 words]
The Nightstalker - Part One by David Brian The Offender An evil entity escapes hell and wreaks havoc on an unsuspecting world. [273 words]
The Lovely Peasant by G David Schwartz A short story. [773 words]
The Last Sunset by Alice W-M It's the story of a girl driven crazy by taunting and heartbreak. [679 words]
The Last Day by Erika Sutton Amber, a senior American student in Columbia is excited about her last day of school, however it t... [3,003 words]
The King's Best Soldier by Susan Brassfield Cogan Beric races for home, haunted by a Dakhanni demon. [1,270 words]
Sorry, Right Number Part Two by David Brian The Offender - [347 words]
Sorry, Right Number Part One by David Brian The Offender An alcoholic lives to regret his past. [341 words]
Some Things Need To Be There by Steven L Howard You need some things to be there in order for it to be home. [1,611 words]
Sincerely Seventeen by Charice L Boyd A seventeen year old girl who finds love in the wrong places. She had everything going for... [4,112 words]
Rest In Pity-Eternal Friendship by Fithalene Noor Sometimes, animal's friendship is much more valuable. this story gives you the ... [478 words]
Rain Storm by Kaitlin D Fest A girl named Rain is snobby and really smart, her enemy, kyle, is also smart and in every one of her... [3,178 words]
On A Train Headed West by R Campbell A short story. [3,746 words]
Old Man And The Nagging Wife by Baylee Marie A story of an old couple that doesn't get along due to different feelings. This s... [1,612 words]
Nichol's Nightmare by Lynn Jacob Nichol, an older teenager, is faced with Bipolar Disorder. The story describes her, and her... [2,085 words]
Mystic Mirror by Chandra Ghosh Jain "Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type o... [4,425 words]
Mystery Meat Part Two by David Brian The Offender - [237 words]
Mystery Meat Part One by David Brian The Offender No plausible explanation possible. [230 words]
Mistress Mistrust by Ryan Kerr This is a story about a boy who finds out about love and how it an ruin your life. [770 words]
Loop by Gs Blackshaw A man's alternate lives collide and he must decide with whom his happiness lies. [882 words]
Life And Death by Andrea Nicole Newell This story is about a young man who discovers he has a tumor. The underlying conflict is that h... [2,317 words]
Last Caress by Kimball A story about a guy and his lost love. I wrote this in about an hour. needs refinement. looking ... [1,119 words]
Karma Yogi by Neeshant Srivastava It�s about an old man, a farmer and his work. It is a story of life dedication to his profession and... [2,667 words]
High School-Behind The Scenes by Meagan R Minor Jessica Freeman is a student at Lewis A. Morgley High School. She has to deal wit... [2,263 words]
Happy Valentine's Day by Derek Toney A story about a guy who's alone and out of luck on Valentine's Day. [2,178 words]
Goals Achieved by Vanessa Caldwell A teenage girl who strives after her passion while obsticles get in her way. In the end she succ... [2,458 words]
Divine Pigeon by Neeshant Srivastava It�s about a young boy wading through sands of time and his simple triumph in a belief that often... [516 words]
Curiosity by Thrishana Pothupitiya A short story from the island of Sri Lanka. [843 words]
Clutch Touchdown by Nicholas J Pangborn This is a sports story which shows never to give up. [749 words]
Boundless by Leah Russell A girl becomes bored with her everyday job. She overcomes her deepest fears and gains a good friend.... [3,773 words]
Blind Date Gone Wrong by Laura Fleeger Elle and Thomas go on a blind date and Thomas, isnt the most popular guy. [3,491 words]
Be Strong by Jill Johnson The story of a girl, Eliza, who was born into slavery in the Southern United States. She and her fam... [2,290 words]
A Letter To The Boy That I Loved. by The Lost Girl Something that I wrote while I was trying to get over a guy. [848 words]
A Job Well Done by Kimball This is about a guy who has a unique way of getting people to reach nirvana. this is just tell... [2,488 words]
A Final Conversation With Myself by Vijay Mohan Raghavan A failed love and a guys self realisation. [719 words]

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TITLE (EDIT)
Virtual Reality
DESCRIPTION
Based on a true story.
[1,154 words]
AUTHOR
Susan Friedman
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
-
[May 2005]
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
[email protected]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (1)
Through The Eyes Of The Littlest Stowaway (Short Stories) This story is about a nine year old girl who stows away on the titanic. [1,138 words] [Adventure]
Virtual Reality
Susan Friedman


Virtual Reality

An Original Story by Susan
Loosely Based on True Events

�No, No,� he cried, as they placed the handcuffs around his wrists, �I didn�t do it. Don�t you understand? This isn�t real, this is all a game. No, please.�

He woke with a start. It was the same dream every night, he thought as he looked around the room. The same dark, empty room that he had been sleeping in ever since he moved in here.

And he could never understand why he was here in the first place, but this is what he had to settle for since he was laid off almost three months ago. They claimed that it was due to downsizing, but he had known better than that.

This had hit Alexander Porter right in the gut. It was so unexpected and it just came right out of left field. Why had they done this to him? Of all the people they had to let go, why him? He was the most self- respected man in the company, the one that everyone had gone to for help. He had bailed their butt out so many times that he needed several hands to do it.

He was their shining star in the company, or so he had been told. Alexander worked with a designing team to create computer games. One and only one had been a hit, the one he figured out on his own, and the one they stole from him and claimed it was theirs. The game was aptly named �Virtual Reality� because there was so much variety. Oh sure it was a violent game, but it was a big hit. They had to tone it down some, parents had been complaining.

Alexander had the only original game with everything still intact. The raping, the looting, the killing; maybe it was bad for you, but he made his escape every night when he got home from a hard day at work. With his wife screaming at him every night, he needed somewhere to go; somewhere to escape to and this was it.

Never mind that he was slightly eccentric and had his little idiosyncrasies. That shouldn�t bother anyone. So he liked to carry his �lucky sock� in his pockets. So sometimes he kept it in front of him, especially at the workplace. It had always brought him luck, more than once. So he liked everything neat and clean and in order. So he didn�t let anyone of his colleagues near him. They couldn�t fire him for that. This was his personality. They could get used to it, and even if they couldn�t? So what?

Alex�s life went on like this for eight months. Same thing, boring and mundane, everything status quo. He delved deeper into his game, sometimes pretending that the woman he killed and raped was his wife. He started going to bed later and later every morning.

Until the day Sherry Nikols walked into his life.

Sherry was the new receptionist. She was tiny, five feet to be exact, short brown hair and glasses. She had a great body and she was all leg. She was friendly and intelligent and more importantly, she was funny. She could spar with him word for word, joke for joke.

And she was the only woman who would talk to him in the entire company.

Alex had gotten extremely close to her, sometimes spending most of his day at her desk rather than his own. She was great to talk to and fun to be around. She was close to his age; he was thirty-five, she was twenty-seven. He was now beginning to wish that he had met her first instead of his wife.

The only problem with that one was that she was married as well.

So when he came home now, he would substitute her as the woman he raped, well, he didn�t consider it a rape as much as it was making love to her.

Then he was laid off and it was just when he was beginning to enjoy it. His joy came from seeing Sherry every morning. She was the light of his life, everything he looked forward to.

And he was never going to see her again.

Later that afternoon, he called her on the phone at his former company to speak with her. He wanted his personal files off the computer and she was the only one who knew where they were. He asked her to meet him in a parking lot and she would give them to him, only she really didn�t know where they were or what he was talking about.

She hadn�t given him a thing.

So he began to call her. His wife worked during the day and he had been alone. He missed her something fierce. The job thing was going nowhere and he was curious to find out about the company, plus it would give him an excuse to see her.

So he called. She had accepted his invitation to lunch the first time, but it had gone wrong. Nothing had happened the way he wanted it. After that, he tried to call again, but she refused his calls and wouldn�t see him again.

Alex was a mess by now. He was heavily into his game and had quit looking for a job. His wife wanted him out and was threatening divorce if he didn�t do something and soon. He was convinced the only way out was Sherry Nikols.

And that�s how he ended up here, in this hole in the wall.

He looked around again and then he heard something out in the hallway.

He looked up to find two of the floor nurses smiling at him.

�Mr. Porter,� one of them said, �it�s time for your medication now. Then you have your appointment today with Dr. Green.�

Alexander�s eyes widened. There were always two nurses, just in case something went wrong. How could anything go wrong, this was just a dream, just a game. None of this was real. He shook his head and tried to tell them that, but they wouldn�t let him. The nurses were holding him down now as he struggled inside the straightjacket. Finally, they got his hospital gown up and stuck the needle in his behind.

But before Alex drifted off, he heard the two of them talking to one another.

�He should be out by now,� the nurse said, looking through the bars of his padded cell. �So instead of prison, this is where they are keeping him? Is this how they treat all their murderers?�

�No just him. He is a special case, Doreen. He�s completely gone off the deep end. We�ve kept him away from the other patients. He doesn�t know the difference between his computer world and his reality. �

Doreen shook her head and looked at the other nurse. �It�s really a shame, isn�t it?�

The other nurse nodded and then the two walked away, but by this time, Alexander Porter was asleep.

 

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2004 Susan Friedman
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
May 2005
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
1799
 

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