Episode 73.2 - Words Drowned/ A Digital Wonderland

Series: Digital Wonderland | Meta-Logs | Ongoing Absurdity Chronicles

WORDS DROWNED

Alice's words had failed to reach the Hatter. They looped back to her ears. 

Her own voice slapping against her.

Ripples gathered around her like rising water.

She cocked her head, jerking her chin.

The movement unsettled the acoustics inside her head. 

The sound went wet and viscous.

Glub-glub-glub.exe: left ear.

Glub-glub-glub.exe: right ear.

[Eardrums requesting air.dll.

Status: Failed]

Glubs clotted.

Then sank. 

D

e

e

p

e

r

Tea didn't spill.
Her voice spilled.

Drowning.

Glubs coagulated.

Alice pressed down, forcing a pop to silence them.

A heavy bubble rose through a dark pool. 

Glub.
Glub held.
The surface held.
Plop.
The last bubble burst. 

"If I stay down here long enough," Alice thought, "I shall grow fins of lace. I shall speak in gurgles to the Oysters."

"And the Oysters hear nothing, my dear. Nothing at all,” a voice purred.

[Cut]

Narrative didn't include Oysters.

[Take two]

The megaphone called. Glubs returned to the stage.

Glub-glub-glub.exe: left ear.
Glub-glub-glub.exe: right ear.

Ugh— 

Words_Drowned.exe

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Alfred Schnittke's Job Done

Next Episode: The Sleep Slept

A surreal chapter in Alice’s digital dreamscape.

This post is part of an ongoing original metafiction series exploring identity, systems, and absurdity through a digital Wonderland.