Year Book 2013 - page 24

Literacy
19
Heidi Kruger
12W
Mathias Everson
10KM
Brianna Burns
10EM
Excerpt from The Mind Exaggerates by Stjepan Pranjic, year 9
After what felt like only a few seconds of sleep, I awoke abruptly and startled myself with
the shake of my body. Everything was dead silent in the night outside my tent, not even
the crickets or the wind felt safe here. Breaking the silence and almost peaceful darkness,
I heared, ‘Oh no, I lost my shoe!’ I jumped out of my skeleton at the surprise of my sister’s
doll but then laughed at myself. I wanted to take the batteries out of Pixy so it didn’t scare
me again but as I turned to grab the doll, I discovered that it wasn’t there. It wasn’t next
to my sister so I looked under the covers. As I was searching I heard, again, ‘Oh no, I lost
my shoe!’ I then realised that the recording was coming from outside, which meant that
someone or something was pressing the button on my sister’s doll’s hand, on the outside of
the tent. THE INTERNET STOPS
The oppressive sound of silence makes itself known as the room breathes in with
expectation. The bar stops. The wheel spins. The room waits. The page refreshes, pixels
flicker, and nothing. “Server not found” stares the class in the face and they stare it back,
incomprehension evident. F5. F5. Nothing. The lesson continues with a bitter mix of
textbooks and disappointment.The students turn homeward as the sun begins to dip below the skyline, though most
do not notice its passing as their eyes are cast inwards and forwards. Front doors open,
complaints about the Wi-Fi at work follow, heavily overpowered by the smell of freshly
burnt food. The bedroom is the first destination, sustenance second. Laptops are plugged in,
monitors flicker on, internet is denied. F5. F5. Nothing. Dinner. Sleep.The next day it is the same, and the next, and the next. Bloodshed, collapse both
financial and political are expected but instead there is only the silence. It is soon followed
by the Noise. It begins to creep down alleys and through streets; a whisper that tells of a time
when things were similar and different in so many ways. Regression. Depression. People
stand like relics of an age that passed both too late and too quickly. They look across the
street and see themselves reflected in the eyes of their neighbours, and it clicks. A glance. A
wave. A smile. A friendship. Screens die, hope lives, life continues, memories fade and the
world turns regardless.
Short story by Kate Thomson, year 10