Chapter Seven — and the devil died screaming
Ultra-High Book One: A cyberpunk / dystopian fantasy
I don’t know how things had changed. One minute I was contemplating how much I hated them and was wondering what the fuck I was doing with my life and the very next I was playing cards, drinking whiskey and listening to music, laughing at their jokes (and trust me Satan had the dirtiest jokes of all) like I didn’t have a care in the world. And right at that moment, I didn’t.
Had they slipped something into my drink? I started to feel a little uneasy in the back of my mind, but I was laughing and joking and almost crying with the devil. I was having fun, and I hadn’t had this much fun for a long time.
I felt happy and content in my newfound relationship with them and it had me worried too my back teeth.
“Hey, Satan,” I said, not sure where I was going or why I was eliciting conversation after we had fallen into quiet.
“Yeah, Walter” they looked happy for the attention like a once scorned puppy now being offered treats by their master, was I their master now? Is that what killing them meant? Maybe I should get the trust of that puppy and then slap it square in the face. Was the evil rubbing off?
“When did the earth all really turn to shit for you? When did it get so bad that you turned to god to save you on the day, you know, I killed you?”
“The earth is in a bad way Walter that is for sure, definitely irreparable whilst you humans still walked upon it, but then that is how your Ultra-High was sold to you, what few of you there are left that remember and are aware of the before, but if by the earth you mean the human society that is a harder question!”
“I am sure but try it, anyway, try and pinpoint a moment.”
“Well hold on” they raised their hand to stop me “pinpointing one moment will be virtually impossible” they paused before continuing “After all for me time is not linear as it is for you. A moment for me could be a century, a decade, a day, and that day could be in what you call the future or past. I don’t just recall the past, as you would see it, I recall the future, the beginning, and the end of time. The past will return to me one day that is for sure.”
I considered this for a second “well ok, let’s come back to that, the way you see time, later. But for now, consider that you were human and that you saw time as I do. Then how would you answer?”
“Well, the 20th Century was pretty bad wasn’t it, but it was your early 21st Century that was by far the worst and the tipping point for me” they looked angry “after all you had learned in the preceding 2000 years since the death of our Lord. After all the death, murder, wars, world wars, and pollution. After all the liberation of thought, gender, race, and sexuality. After all the progress you had made through the growing pains of the human race. After all the lessons, good and bad, you had been shown to that point, you still let it happen. You still let the 21st Century happen. Yeah, it started off OK for most for the first 10 to 15 years. But after that, it all turned to shit.”
“So, 2016 onwards?” I said after a short pause.
“Yeah, I suppose if you were to label it with a date, or a year that would be it. Give or take around 10 years.”
“Yep, around 2015 to 16 is about the time I had earmarked as the start of the downfall of humankind as well. Explains a lot” I said and returned to the silence.
—
This is a live cyberpunk / dystopian fantasy book writing project. Copyright is protected. It is a first rough draft so I would love to hear any feedback from readers. When the book is launched all that are signed up for this to my mailing list on the website below you will be sent a free Kindle copy of the book as a thank you for subscribing.
This project is part of the writing projects from my site sleeplessdystopian.com
—
Image created by NightCafe Ai
