Teacher's Pet

Copyright 2020, John Manimas Medeiros

 

 

Suddenly I was surrounded by an odd plastic forest of grayish-brown trees.  The trees looked like large leafless shrubs with white oval bumps spaced along their branches.

 

A robotic hand pinched one of the white oval bumps and peeled it off the tree, and the owner of the blue hand, a blue robot, ate the white oval.  I noticed a broad background of rusty orange.  I heard a strange sound coming from the robots --  there were several now --  a cross between a chirp and a screech.

 

They were watching me.  I was picked up and brought to a bowl of water.  I started talking.  "Hey, where am I?  Who are you?  What are you?  Why am I here?"

 

I remembered I was driving home from a party in Albany.  I felt like I was in a large room that could have been anywhere.  Possibly not Schenectady.  Possibly not New York.  Possibly not Earth.

 

A robot approached me and chirped.  Then patted my head.  Then she left.  Don't know why that robot felt like a "she."

 

Three of the robotic creatures stood close to one another and chattered and clicked.  A fourth came close to me and kicked me.  My senses grew stronger, more clear.  The creatures who seemed to be my captors were blue-green, shaped like humans but thin, as though they were starving.  I noticed a mechanical hum that sounded like it came from all directions.  A generalized feeling of fear held me.  I felt like my body was coated with a film of clear varnish.  I asked myself if I was dreaming.  My brain and the male creature who had kicked me said, "No."  I felt pressure in my bowels and lost control.  Pulled down my pants and shit on the floor. 

 

Then I woke up here.  But it wasn't a dream.  It was real.  I am certain.  At the end, the she robot picked me up and held me outward like a bag of garbage.  Then she put me down.  I looked up at her.  She said, "We don't want you."

 

Then I woke up here.  What happened?  Have I been hypnotized?  Was this a party trick?             -end-

 

Back to: (Very Short) Stories or (Time Works) or (Quick Directory) or (Welcome) page