Fiction - Page 10

Viktória Kiss

My task is to write a story that takes place in the future. I think it’s the hardest mission I have ever had, because what can I write about that maybe doesn’t exist? Do we really have a future?–because if we continue what we’re doing, I assume there is no hope. Unfortunately people are addicted to a losing game and keep destroying our world. But what is the one thing that would  really make a difference? I don’t feel like there’s one single thing. After all, I still believe that future stories are important. There are two ways I could write an article: I could tell an instructive one or keep talking about what we should do. Maybe I’ll try the first option.

We are in 2222, humans still exist, but they are different from before. They  don’t fight, and they live peacefully. It’s hard to imagine, but it’s true (that’s what they have to do to live). However, people are suffering because of what we did over the centuries. The community doesn’t have much food, half of the animal species have gone extinct. People have to save a lot. That will be the year when we can finally see the clear blue sky. A weak girl is walking on the barren meadow and she sees… she is crying out of happiness. She is running to her great grandmother and hugging her. The girl doesn’t have a mother, because she died of undernourishment. Two days later she asks: Why did we have to wait such a long time? Why did they do this? Why? Please tell me! She cannot answer that.

Ten years later, nature is starting to get better; there are ”new” species. The girl is now a woman; she has children. They ask their mother: Has the world always been so beautiful? Then she says: Listen carefully! Because what i’m going to say right now is so important. Take care of the earth, because if you do not, it will be gone forever this time.

So there is no guarantee that this life is easy, but when the world is going to fall apart, then there is no light to break the dark. We should protect our planet for several reasons: It’s the only home we have, it grounds us (we all need a breath of fresh air every once in a while), it’s a living entity. If we lose or kill animals, humans, plants, they will be gone forever, and there is nothing, there is  nothing we can do that is gonna bring them back. If someone reads this in the future: Protect everything and everybody!

Ilona Králik

It was a cold, snowy winter day in December, Mark was walking home from work. He had to work overtime that day, so he came home later than usual. It was already dark outside when he arrived. As he was searching for the keys, he realised that there was a little puppy in front of his door. Mark could not really see it first, because the puppy was white and fluffy; he only noticed the big black eyes. Everyone knew that Mark did not really like animals; he had been living alone since his wife died three years ago.

He pulled the keys out of his pocket, pushed the little puppy away from the door, and went inside the warm house.  He changed his clothes, watched the news on TV, and then started making dinner. He had just sat down at the table to eat his dinner when he noticed  the puppy was still there. It was looking inside the house through the window of the door. Mark became very frustrated that the puppy did not leave. He started eating and did not care about the little dog.

By the time Mark finished eating and washed the dishes, it had started snowing again. He thought that it was probably very cold outside; he looked out the window and saw the puppy lying in front of the door. He opened the door for the puppy and gave him some food. He did not want to let him stay in the house after he finished eating, but he curled up in front of the fireplace and took a nap. Mark was thinking about letting him sleep in the house and putting him out the next morning when he left for work. It was late at night, so he went upstairs, took a shower, and got ready for bed. Before he fell asleep, he went downstairs to check on the puppy. He could not believe his eyes, and he got very angry; the puppy was jumping around on his white couch with his dirty paws and playing with Mark’s socks. He immediately put him outside and went back upstairs to sleep.

As he was lying in bed, Mark could only think about that little fluffy dog; he could not sleep at all. After lying in bed for an hour, he went outside, brought the dog inside, and gave him a bath. After he finished with the puppy, he went back and this time was actually able to fall asleep. The next morning, when he opened his eyes, Mark saw the big black eyes of the puppy, which was looking at Mark with a “smile” on his face. Mark was not mad that he had climbed up on the bed and slept with him; in fact he was quite happy. Since it was already time to go to work, he got ready, left, and let the puppy stay there.

On the way to work he could only think about the dog and how much happiness it had given him in just one night. The last time he felt like that was before his wife died. Most importantly, he did not feel lonely anymore. During the day he decided to keep the dog, and started searching for a name. Mark left work as early as possible and went home to his new dog. When he opened the front door, Snowball, the fluffy white puppy, was wagging his tail and was so happy to see his owner. Mark was happy to see him too; he even took Snowball on a walk. Mark’s neighbours were shocked when they saw him walking a dog, but Mark did not even notice them, since he only cared about that little puppy, Snowball. And that was the day he realised he was so wrong when he thought animals were bad.

Hunor Gangel

Our main character Ethan was a ninth grader. And he didn’t take deadlines very seriously. He always left his assignments for the last minute and usually stayed up late rushing through them. One day he got really unlucky and received four assignments with the same deadline. As usual he started working on them about an hour before the deadline. He successfully completed two assignments before the deadline, but he finished the other two well past it. The next day he went to school as usual, but he was a bit scared on account of submitting those assignments late. Everything was going well until the last lesson, which was one of the lessons for which he failed to submit the assignment on time. When that lesson came, Ethan felt a bit tense, but it didn’t seem that the teacher cared about his negligence. After the lesson ended, Ethan thought he was off the hook, but the teacher told him to come to her because they needed to discuss something. The teacher told him that she knew that Ethan didn’t send his assignment in time, so he was going to get an F. Ethan got his first F ever. He realised that he couldn’t continue this lifestyle of leaving all the assignments for the last minute, or this would occur more frequently. He decided to change and try to complete the assignments the day they were uploaded. Because of this he usually ended up completing the assigments first. About a month passed, and in the last lesson before the holiday, the teacher told Ethan again that they need to talk. She told him that she knew that since the last time they had talked, Ethan had always submitted the assignments way before the deadline, and their quality also improved because he wasn’t rushing them anymore. The teacher told him that she was proud of him. Ethan felt that he should be proud of himself as well, because he had changed for the better. And that was Ethan’s story of becoming a bit more reliable.

Gergely Sülye

George arrived at the abandoned house described by his assistee. He had been on the run for well over a week and had completely shaken the cops off his tail. Well, at least so he thought. He was probably in a different state by now, hopefully where they wouldn’t chase him any longer. Not to this place in the middle of nowhere, anyways.

He first saw an old and deteriorated wooden fence, although it didn’t serve much purpose, since it was small enough to be stepped over. The house itself was in a clearing in the woods. He had been hiking through this forest for the past days, so it was refreshing to see something man-made, even as abandoned and reclaimed by nature as it was.

The building was a typical American home, and looking at how run-down it was, he guessed it must have been unoccupied for at least two decades. Well, what was sure was that it would have its first resident in a really long time. There seemed to be some furniture left, although everything looked pretty empty. He explored the house and its rooms. He wouldn’t be using all of them, but he figured if he was going to live here for the time being, then he should tidy up a little bit.

Fall was approaching rapidly, and the forest had already started shedding its leaves. George was also fast at work. Since making himself at home, he had been gathering everything that didn’t spoil and storing it in the basement. It wasn’t really spacious, but besides a few tools he didn’t really have to store anything down there. While making trips in hopes of finding something edible or to gather firewood, he constantly reminisced over the times he went out hunting with his father in his childhood. He had learned a lot of practical skills, most of which he now knew would be necessary for survival. How to set up traps for small animals, the ability to distinguish poisonous plants from edible ones. In regards to firewood, he gathered any branches and fallen dry wood he could find. Thankfully the house had a fireplace, although it had to be cleaned thoroughly, as it was clearly not taken care of by its previous owners.

George took refuge in the guest bedroom, as it was the smallest of the three bedrooms and the easiest to warm up. There was a bed with a mattress, on top of which he laid an old carpet that he found in the basement. Of course he cleaned all of these beforehand. The room ended up looking rather comfortable after a few weeks of work. He took care of his hygiene by a small stream that a path behind the house would lead to. George was really a clean freak, especially after being forced to live in inhuman conditions previously.

Since the weather had turned unusually cold, too cold for him to be making trips outside, George was stuck in his room doing menial tasks. These included sewing and patching up his clothes or other fabrics and cutting firewood, among other things. Another important activity was contemplating life. He had been alone for about two months now, without any human contact. In order to maintain his sanity, he considered it necessary to get stimulated by talking to himself. He mostly thought about his childhood, and where things must have gone wrong. An overlying sense of regret came to him, unlike anything he had experienced before. Since prison never managed to squeeze even an ounce of guilt from him, this feeling would define most of his days spent in the heated guestroom.

Spring is often regarded as the season of change and renewal. George, too, considered it as such. Being confined with nobody but himself for so long, he had plenty of time to regret his past. But also to look forward to a new start.

Lili Forgács

In my kindergarten there was a boy, Joey, who couldn’t say a sentence that was totally true. He didn’t tell lies, he just exaggerated all the time. Although his fellows knew his stories couldn’t have happened, they loved hearing those unbelievable tales.

One day Joey and his friends were playing together in the kindergarten yard. They played hide-and-seek. In the third round, Joey and a girl called Katherine found the same hideout: both of them hid under the slide.
“I was here first,” Katherine said.
“I don’t think so” the boy replied, then added, “Hey, do you like spiders?”
“Not really. Why?”
“Oh, just there is one in your hair. But don’t worry, it’s large enough to eat your whole head.”
“What?” The girl became terrified, started screaming, then jumped out of the hideout.
“Aha Katherine! You’re found, you will be the next seeker,” the seeker said when he spotted the girl.
At that moment a very tiny spider jumped out of the girl’s hair and ran away.

Later that afternoon, Joey told everybody how Katherine was frightened by a dreadful mutant spider.
“The spider was greater than anything you can imagine,” he told the others. “Even larger than an elephant.”
“That is not true, Joey. You know this is not what happened exactly, and I don’t like people who don’t tell the truth.” Katherine cut the boy short when he started the same story for the hundredth time, then she left.

The next day Joey apologized to Katherine and promised not to exaggerate again in his life.
“It’s OK, Joey.”
“In addition… I would like to ask that… omm… will we hide together again?” he asked shyly.
“Yes, of course,” the girl answered. This was the start of a new friendship, and of a new lifestyle for Joey in which he always told the truth.

Eszter Aletta Hevesi

By 3030, the distribution of territories was between the three big countries (Kinchao, Grenglin, and Bashua), and the “new” language Kreborgian (which appeared in 2089) was spoken all over the world, making negotiations between the new countries much easier. With the bigger territories, a bigger dissatisfaction took over the population. The Earth had already overcome an enormous environmental crisis in 2060, when the world was on the edge of destruction by poisonous gases in the air; wars were still present but could be considered civil wars, since the battling citizens were from previously battling countries under the old distribution system. The teens of Gen E got fed up with the present government, which also lied to the citizens, made the workers pay ridiculously high taxes, and polluted the environment with the waste and gases produced by their firms’ factories. 

To save themselves, their rights, and the world, they wrote their own reforms together on a global level. They didn’t want to vote for a presidential candidate because all they did in the past was make them disappointed and leave their wants out. After making their own council, the ETeens, they wrote their demands in Kreborgian and handed them to the Trinational Assembly.

     THEIR DEMANDS:

• We want world peace once and for all. The Earth’s territories are already distributed equally among the three countries; none of them should have more or less than they have now.
• We want to have publicly observable negotiations between the countries and no secrets from the inhabitants.
• The population wants the countries to work on the conquering of Venus and Jupiter.
• The cars that don’t go on the air path should be banned from the roads because they disturb the cyclists and the walkers.
• All the energy should be extracted from renewal sources with regard to the shortage of petroleum.
• The Future Space Inhabitance University should be available for everybody, not just the residents of Kinchao.
• The government should be replaced by senators of a younger age, and the new trinational president should be Gwen Yung.

Gwen Yung was the great-great-granddaughter of Natalia Yung, who started the reformation of the world’s territory system, school system, and transportational system. G. Yung was a promising leader who was supported by the vast majority of Generation E and many other adults from older generations. For the first time in history, the Trinational Congress of GBK accepted the demands of the ETeens and started to negotiate their points. A day after the first conference, the Trinational Congress of GBK announced an out-of-turn election for a new trinational president, hoping that the voters would elect Bron Dher the current trinational president. They didn’t have time for any campaign because of the swiftness of the election. By the end of the week, the voters elected Yung as the new trinational president. Yung, after discovering the financial situation, fulfilled all the demands of the ETeens by the end of the year.

The first demand was the watching of negotiations: the presence of the young senators made them more peaceful and efficient. She made the university available for the citizens of all three countries, and it helped the conquering of Venus and Jupiter. By electing young senators, the congress made useful and progressive decisions for the countries. All the residents were satisfied with the decisions, and this ended the wars. The question of renewable sources was a more difficult one: the population’s mindset was reduced to the importance of saving money, but shopping carefully, while not cheap, paid itself out in time. With the money that was in the pocket of the trination, Yung could increase the wage of every resident; with that, they could lay solar and moon panels, but from reliable producers and altogether conducive to increasing the health of the Earth.

By 3050, the Earth’s atmosphere healed up, the people on Earth lived together in the best health and peace ever, and they were about to launch two spacecrafts with 50-50 astronauts from Future Space Inhabitance University (mostly from Boshua and Grenglin) to Venus and Jupiter to begin their lives there.

Bettina Czékus

It’s the year 2450. The Earth is totally damaged, but that means no problems anymore. Humans have moved to the planet Arbya.

Social interactions have nearly disappeared. Relationships are about interests, not love. Children are taught to make a career as young as they can. At the age of four, kids are put in groups according to their knowledge. Until they are ten, children learn from home; after that they’re forced to leave their homes and live in dorms, where they meet other kids with the same interests. They leave the dorms when they turn eighteen. At those establishments the teachers are robots, so they don’t have feelings and treat students equally.

There’s only one government for the whole world. Politicians are drawn from the smartest people, and the polity is super secret, so no one knows what percentage of humans are controlled by them.

Nobody can be whatever they want to be. Everything is controlled, and the media only shows films and series, so people aren’t able to find out what is going on in the world.

It worked well for over 260 years. But nothing lasts forever….

In 2430 Ella Anderson was born. When she turned four, she was able to get into the smartest group. At first the teaching wasn’t different from the others’. By the age of ten she managed to get into the best dorm, where politicians studied. She had amazing talent but never enjoyed what she was doing. Her dream was to feel fulfilled, but she never know how. Her roommate was Kathy, who got into that dorm by cheating. Kathy was a rebel inside, who always found a way to cheat on her exams and to get good results, while teachers noticed nothing. Only Ella got to see the real rebel, who wanted to change the world.

They were best friends. They planned together that when they got out of the dorm, they were going to become presidents and take the world to a new level.

That day came. They both were working at the parliament and were so close to becoming the presidents. They were just a step apart from being the most privileged person in the world, but somehow other government workers noticed that they had planned something. Before anything could happen, Ella and Kathy were caught and put in prison, where others like them ended up.

But the government never thought that they could escape one day.  And that is a day no one will forget.

Bernadett Sági

Hi, my name is Allie Owens, and this day is a very important one for me. But let’s just start at the beginning. I’m 15 years old, and I was born in a small town in California. I had a great childhood and the best friends in the whole universe. They were Lucas and Hanna. We did everything together. We went to the same school and lived really close to each other. Hanna was really talkative, brave and maybe a bit crazy too. Although we were so different from each other, I already knew that we were going to get along well when we first met. I have always been the shy girl, but she … she was everything I wasn’t. She stood up for her thoughts, and she didn’t care what other people said. We were there for each other. And then Lucas joined our gang. He was a quiet boy living in the neighborhood. One summer when we became friends he started to become the exact opposite of himself. We realized that he just couldn’t find his place and that’s why he was shy at first. In fact he was a hyperactive boy and he kept on spouting all the time. So that was our team and we had so much fun together.

But then my mom got a really good job offer that she couldn’t reject. I was really happy for her, but the thing was that we had to move to Kansas. And now here I am four years later, living in Kansas. In the first months, Hanna, Lucas and I used to talk with each other daily, but then we just lost contact. We got our own lives and had no time for each other.  But the reason I am excited is that my parents decided to move back to California. And today is the day we go. I sit on the plane and it can start at any minute. I still can’t believe that I will see my friends again after years. I look out the window and see all the memories in front of my eyes. The plane starts to rise and I fall asleep.

My dad wakes me up when we arrive at the airport. On the way home I become nervous. ‘What if I have changed a lot during the years and I’m not good enough for them anymore?’ ‘What if they don’t like my new self?’ My head is full of thoughts like that. ‘No, I have to get rid of these, everything will be fine.’—I try to calm myself down. And then we arrive at our old-new house. I look at the neighborhood. Lucas must be so excited that I have come back. But when I get out of the car I see a young couple coming out of their house. I have no time to think about it because my mom calls me to help her with the bags. It is late evening when we are done with everything. Mom says that she talked with the new neighbors. I get to know that Lucas and his family moved to another city about a year ago because his parents found a better school for him where he would have a better chance of becoming a lawyer. At first I couldn’t believe it. Lucas? Being a lawyer? His parents couldn’t have meant it seriously.  I always thought that he would be at least a rock star and travel around the earth. It makes me sad that I can’t meet him. I have been waiting for it for a long time. I should go to sleep, because if I think about it further, I will become more and more disappointed.

It is the next morning and I can’t get out of bed. Finally I climb out of it and start to get ready for my ‘second’ first day of school. My mom takes me there and I am happy but also a bit scared when I see the familiar stairs in front of that great door. A lot of children walk in small groups, talking and laughing. I remember I was one of them too. I take a deep breath, say goodbye to my mom, and go toward the school. Great memories come into my mind in connection with this building; these memories make me more confident as I open the door. From the outside the school hasn’t changed much, but more on the inside. I remember it to be colorful and special. But now … it is more like a normal and casual school like the other ones. As I walk down the hallways I notice many familiar faces. But at the same time they are not really familiar. And there are a lot of new people as well. A group of girls walk past me. They are the typical ‘famous girls’ of the school; they always have the newest clothes and probably giggle at a boy. It is not really surprising; every school has a group like that, but the fact that there is Hanna walking in the middle of it, wearing fancy clothes and making those ridiculous gestures, leaves me speechless. The Hanna I knew was always a bit different from the others. She didn’t care what they said and wasn’t afraid to say her thoughts out loud even if they were a bit crazy. I loved that Hanna, but the girl I saw just now was so different from my best friend. She is more similar to the girls we laughed at years ago because they looked the same and were so boring. She didn’t even notice me as she passed by.

I was too afraid that people wouldn’t love me the same because I had changed a lot over the years. But what if people have changed around me and I am the one who has stayed the same?

Áron Antal

It was a bright July afternoon; the sun was burning through the window of my room. This was one of my chilliest summers yet, ’cause after school ended, I didn’t do anything, I just relaxed, hung out with my friends. I also got a job at my friend’s fast food restaurant, so I earned some money as well. I was looking at cars on the Internet, when my mother entered my room.

—Mike, good news—and she handed me an envelope.

I knew what it was; my driver’s licence. I hopped up with great joy from my chair, and ran out to the living room with a big smile on my face, which my dad noticed from the couch, and asked:

—What are you smiling at?

—I got my licence, so please, can I take your car for a spin?

—Congratulations! And yes, of course, have a good time!

I ran to the garage, hopped behind the steering wheel and started the engine. The old pick-up’s diesel engine revs up smoothly; I put it in gear and drove off. I thought that I would invite some of my friends and go driving with them.

—They are always at the park—I thought—so I’ll go there. And there they were.

—Mike, dude, hi,—they said.

—Hi guys.

—So you got your driver’s license, eh?—asked Bob.

—Yup!—I answered—and I would like you guys to be my first passengers.

—Cool,—they said.

—Where should we go?—asked Kenny.

—As you are with a pick-up, why don’t we go a little bit, ya know, off-road.

—Great idea. The roads are now dry in the countryside. Let’s go!

So we hopped in the car and drove to the countryside. We chatted and laughed on the journey, watched the endless wheatfields reaching the horizon, and the harvesting machines, which seemed like tiny ships in the endless ocean. It seemed so nice, no one was out there just us, it was so calm. But this state didn’t last forever, because when we stopped to admire the view and walk from the car a little, in my excitement I forgot to turn off the headlights, so when we headed back, the battery was dead.

—God damn it,—I said when i turned the key, and the starter motor just wauled at me, not turning the engine the slightest bit.

—So what now?—asked Bob.

—I don’t know.

So we sat down for a little, and drank some water, when we heard someone approaching us with great noise from the other side of the car. We stood up and saw an old, beaten-up tractor approaching, pulling a wagon. We waved at it, and it stopped next to us. He stopped the engine of that rolling piece of crap and stepped out of the cabin. The driver was a young boy, even younger than us, around 16, with short-cut brown hair, unshaven cheeks, bare feet, no clothes on but shorts. Then I looked at that junk: the spotlights were broken, the engine was dripping oil, a rotted seat, a dirty interior full of dust and seeds (because all of the windows and doors on the cabin were open). Also, the guy was sweaty, and a thin layer from the dust of the road covered his whole body.

—What is your problem?—he asked.

—Our car battery is dead. Could you charge us, just to start it?

—Yep, sure,—he said, and climbed back in the cabin for the charging cables.

He clipped one to the tractor’s battery, the other to the car’s. Then he sat back and started the tractor.The starter motor painfully rotated the big engine. At the moment it started, it vomited a great cloud of soot from the rotten exhaust.

I sat back in the car and turned its key. It started immediately. Then he stopped the tractor, and detached the wires from both of the vehicles.

Because of the heat, I was tired, and instead of thanking him, I asked him a question.

—By the way, are you crazy, or who drives this junk around half naked in this heat? Are you nuts?

He looked at me with a bit of disgust on his face, and asked:

—Do you know what work is?

—Yes, I know well. I am 19 years old and I work four hours a day in a fast-food restaurant.

—Do something for me, okay. Next time you eat, think of me.

Then he said nothing more, just sat back in the cabin, and drove off to the distance.

Then we drove back to town; I dropped off my friends and drove home. When I arrived, it was almost dark. I entered the house, but no one was at home; I just found a note. It read:

—Dear Mike,

Me and your father went to Steve’s house, they’re having a party and we just got invited at the last minute! Anyway, we come back tomorrow.

Love,

Mom

P.S. I made you some sandwiches, they are on the table.

I sat down ’cause I was very hungry, and my mind just clicked in. That sentence the kid had said was stuck in my head. And it was just now that I recognised when I was looking at the sandwich:

—I think I have a hard job, but actually I don’t; because that kid probably wakes up early in the morning and comes home at night, after driving that junk all day, in the heat, in the dust and for what, you ask? To transport the wheat from the fields to the silos, the wheat that is transported to the mill, then to the bakery, where they cook the bread that I can buy by just going to the store, take it off the shelves and walk home with it. And that bread, the wheat, the pasta, and all the baked goods are so easy to obtain, yet, some people have to work very hard under very harsh conditions to make it so easy for us citizens to get our food. They are not stupid farmers or jerks; they are the uncelebrated heroes of every nation, every country, that nobody thinks of.

A teardrop rolled down on my cheek when I was thinking about this, and how I behaved with that poor guy. If I could find a way to apologize to him and give him a blessing for what he is doing, day by day, I wish I could. But now my mind has changed; I will never look at food the way I did before, because now I know how much work is behind this bread I am holding in my hand, the bread that is wet from my tears.