Want for Void by Kyle Song (New Haven)

Utter stillness started numbing his senses. The lush forest, luxuriantly filled with massive wisteria trees, emanated a rather foreign air. He could not hear any birds chirping nor feel the wind caressing the bushes and branches. It was as though the nature surrounding him was so imposing that it chased away the sound. Amid the absolute silence, the vibrant purple color of the trees blurred his vision.

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He thought hours passed but the sun refused to set. He could not sense impending doom, yet his heart throbbed as if the sheer stillness of the forest choked it. He walked aimlessly hoping to alleviate his pulsating heart. “Stop this, Stop! Please!” Jeremy tried shouting but to no avail. He could no longer hear his own voice. Jeremy looked down at his hands as they were trembling furiously. He shut his eyes and shrieked in agony.
Click Click Click
The unnatural sound resonated throughout the forest. Jeremy frantically flipped open the blinking pocket watch attached to his left sleeve. 230 bpm. He failed the test. Jeremy was left speechless as he fell to his knees near the riverside. Staring at his reflection, which replicated even the faint birthmark below his left eyebrow, Jeremy denied how this virtual environment was
now indistinguishable from reality. Engrossed by his accurately pixelated reflection, Jeremy was reminded of life before the test. He recalled the time when he didn’t have to worry about priorities, when he constantly tapped the glossy screen of an iphone, passively exploring the endless chain of images and short videos. He remembered when he couldn’t possibly imagine how the government, partnering with the Sim-Devs1, would enforce a policy to purge media-hypnotized teenagers through this perpetual monotony.
He felt a sudden stir in the air, disturbing his reminiscing. Jeremy turned around in an instant. It was a boy with a stature similar his own. Panting with sweat, the boy desperately tried to communicate, but his voice was muted within the silence of the forest. Jeremy noticed an empty darkness in his eyes. Dread filled his body after realizing the explanation for the boy’s suppressed state.
A few days before Jeremy took the Purge test, a boy named Andrew hit the headlines of the New York Times. As a subject of the Purge policy, he could not return after failing to endure the pure boredom aggravated by his severe screen addiction. He was forced to live on life-support.
A chill ran down his spine as he was disturbed by Andrew’s fate and its ironic twist: to forever wander the artificial plains of the test. The same test which was used to purge the digital epidemic. Jeremy felt a sudden jolt in his stomach. It was as though Andrew was telling him to escape. Perhaps even begging him. Jeremy could only walk past him. Walking away from Andrew, Jeremy merely looked beyond the beautiful but impeccably coded river in dreary stillness.
1 Sim-Devs: The corporations which developed the simulations used for the Purge Test


Kyle Song is a current sophomore at Hopkins High School in New Haven, CT.