Would it be better if you weren’t born in the first place? she asks. Yes, absolutely! This is a nightmare. I live in a country whose giant monster is a dog-headed bat that lives in a black sea that is actually blood. The neighboring country has a giant black crow that spews green bile acid and in that other half of the world there’s a giant plasma breathing lizard. And I don’t know if you noticed, mom, but we live mostly underground out of fear of those giant creatures. I’d love to see the sun sometimes, you know? I ask as I take my leave. My watch rings and I answer it. Where are you going? asks Tomiris. Out. I am tired of this, I respond. Cinane, please don’t. You know what happened last time. You need to find some other way to vent your frustrations than running head first into danger, says Tomiris. And what exactly should I do? I did the survival thing, I did self-defense, I even wanted to try the military and they wouldn’t let me join. And I can’t leave this place, since my life has been predetermined ever since they knew my gender. And if I get out of line, I’ll just get punished, which you know it’s bullshit, I keep ranting. Have you tried knitting? she asks while laughing. You know I can’t stay in one place for too long, I tell her. Please Cinane, don’t make us more problems, she says. I’m not making you any problems, I lash back as the call stops abruptly. The earth begins to shake, a screeching roar is heard thundering the earth and skies.

The alarm starts blasting throughout the city. Beware of the giant Please evacuate the surface area and retreat underground! The alarm system blasts and repeats itself as the ground shakes with each step the giant takes. It shouldn’t be so inland, I tell myself as I look at people calmly coming down from the above areas talking and going about their day like nothing is happening. I can’t believe that these assholes got so used to live underground for thousands of years that they treat this so lightly, I tell myself as I start going the opposite direction of the crowd. Where are you going? someone stops to ask me. I forgot something a level up, I respond. It’s dangerous, he says as he turns and leaves like it’s none of his business anymore. What a weirdo, I tell myself as I go up the stairs. Something must be wrong for it to be here, says a man dressed weirdly. Maybe it feels threatened by the neighboring kaiju, says a man dressed in a nice suit. Why would it be? asks the weirdly dressed man. I don’t know, I’m not a scientist, you are. You tell me what is it doing here, says the man in the suit. I don’t know yet. We have yet to interpret its cries. And unlike a certain empire we’re friends with, we have not started yet experimenting trying to have biometric tech on it, says the scientist. And why not? asks the man in the suit. I am not going to say anything, because I do value my job here, says the scientist. Fine, do as you please, but figure this out, says the man in the suit as he leaves.

What’s going on here? I ask myself in a whisper. I start running trying to get past the scientist. Wait! Where are you going? he asks in a panicked tone. Up! I respond as I run past him. No, you’re not, he says as he catches me by the hand. Shouldn’t someone as handsome as you be doing something else then catching ladies in distress trying to escape their hellish lives? I ask in a sarcastic tone. No, I don’t wish to be an accomplice to a suicide, if you don’t mind, he responds. I do mind, I tell him as I try to yank my hand out of his grip. Where do you want to go? he asks. Out. I want to see it. I want to see the proper outside world. I don’t want the life they chose for me, I tell the scientist. And you think dying out there is a better alternative? he asks. Yes, but I won’t be dying. I did train to survive, I do know self-defense and one of my idols is Belane, the woman that roamed the four continents alone. So, I’ll think I’ll be fine, I tell the scientist. His face turns sour after hearing what I had to say. Listen. You do not know what is out there. We have discovered but 5% of what this planet has to offer. There are things out there might out of stuff of nightmares. Why do you think in two hundred thousand years no man left the tunnels and caves we live in? We’ve been sending drones to gather stuff for us, they brought back unimaginable things. I have no idea what’s out there and I work for a living studying the out there. You’ll suffer a faith worse than death, he says. Then that’s why I’m going, I tell him as I take his arm off mine. At least let me come with you, he says. I smile as I let go off his hand. Sure thing, I say with a smile as the ceiling of the cave crumbles near us and the dog headed bat screeches shaking the earth beneath us.

And if you liked the short story, want to read more of it. Then you can comment, like and share it, that way it can be read by more people and it can become the story of 2023. And want to support the blog and keep the short stories free, you can always donate at: https://www.paypal.me/RaulFO