Member-only story
Beatrice’s Birthday and the Outside World
Short fiction from a dystopian future
This story is a draft of a piece I intend to submit to a Vocal Media challenge this week. I would love for any of my Medium followers to read it and tell me what you think in the comments. The first sentence is dictated by the challenge rules, the rest says that it just has to be less than 5000 words.
Without further ado…
The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.
Beatrice cannot wait to look out that window again. She visits her father on the top level exactly once a year, and tomorrow is her day.
She wakes up before her alarm, thinking of nothing else but tomorrow’s trip. Bea’s mind is racing. Will her father notice that she has grown? Will he like her hair? Will he have any presents for her? Will he let her pilot the drones and walkers he uses in his research? Will the sky be blue?
Beatrice’s father is a scientist whose task is to study surface conditions. He and his team occupy the top level of the vast underground system of compounds where Bea lives. Beatrice and her mother are assigned to the algae farms in Sector Five, which are far away from her father by way of tram tubes.
