The Overseer

I recall that I already in fact did 'kill' The Overseer, but I also recall that The Overseer was not in fact killed.

“The Overseer”

By Ace St. Jean

The Room was cold, but I was not sure if it was cold or if there was simply an absence of heat. However, the possibility that it was both had found a place to stay�"in My Mind. And I sat at The Table with both thoughts in my head, while the Storm Cloud Of Uncertainty put down droplets of uncomfortable opposing thoughts, only telling me one thing; the other telling me something different. And something was forcing me to pick a just one, while the other waited and pushed against me. But once I was done picking apart that thought, I would be forced to pick apart the next one, before returning my attention to the first. This continued for a while, until it was replaced by another, different, thought.

 

     The Cereal was bland. It lacked taste, or the taste was simply nothing. Both were possible, and both invaded My Mind as I took a spoonful of soggy grain and put it in my mouth, for what else was I to do? This was my routine. This was what I did. And the invasion of those thoughts continued as I chewed the grain and felt the sogginess push itself against both sides of my mouth and provide a small piece of comfort.

     I finished the spoonful, and then took another, when The Overseer injected itself into my thoughts, which were now mixing the cold room with the tasteless cereal:

     “The Cereal is not lacking taste, nor is it that way�"nothing can be done.

     “The house, however, is not cold, or lacking in heat, you simply perceive it that way. I have a solution The Problem.”

     The Overseer was a small computer which sat on The Table. It spoke in a monotone male voice that echoed through The Room. It matched the voice that spoke my thoughts, like the ones that began to wonder what The Overseer’s solution may be.

     “The solution to The Problem is to increase The House’s ambient temperature and offset the perception making The Room feel warmer. It could be done within a few minutes. Would you like this?”

     I nodded in response to The Overseer and warm air began trickling into The Room. The Overseer’s words faded from its screen and were replaced by a readout of the temperature: “60 degrees now; 70 degrees in 15 minutes.”

     The Overseer’s solution allowed for the thoughts regarding the sogginess of The Cereal to return. It allowed for My Mind to continue its chatter.

     I put my hands around the now Empty Bowl Of Cereal. It was cold and it stood out from the new warmth pouring into The Room, and it startled me, causing My Body to jump and My Thoughts to dissipate for a brief moment.

     “Careful. The Bowl appears to be cold. In reality it is the same temperature as The Room, but it simply feels colder due to laws that affect physical objects and materials, including the ceramic bowl.”

     I looked over and saw the text fade from The Overseer. I turned around and brought The Bowl to The Sink. I felt The Rug touch My Bare Feet, as I walked over, and I began feeling My Body get warm, for the small bit of heat was entering The Room and wrapping itself around me. But this heat was soon removed by the cold sharp feeling that The Sink Water provided.

     “Careful. The Sink produces cold water�"at first. It later produces warm water. The warm water should arrive within five seconds.”

     I pulled my hands from The Sink and looked over at The Overseer. It took a few seconds but The Overseer spoke:

     “The Water should be warm now. It is safe to put Your Hand in.”

     I put my hand in The Sink, but something stopped me. It was a quick piercing sound. It came from the Far End of The Room down by The Couch. It took a few moments, but I realized it was The Phone. And I had never heard The Phone make noise of any kind before.

     My Mind told me that The Phone was ringing for a reason. My Mind also told me that The Phone’s ringing was of zero concern to me. I looked over at The Overseer, but it said nothing. I began walking towards the Ringing Phone, for I knew nothing else to do. I was careful with each step, like I always was. I felt a small vibration shake through My Bare Feet as I walked, and it wasn’t a secret that it was produced by The Phone.

     I felt cold plastic touch my hand, for I was putting My Hand on The Phone. It was met with anxiety and a bit of fear, but that wasn’t a surprise, for I had never touched The Phone. It never occurred to me that it even existed. But I still knew it was there.

     Knowing how it worked, I put The Phone up to my ear. I heard a static noise that was identical to the noise The Overseer made when it was not talking. And this noise was broken by a voice�"a male voice.

     “Your World is not yours. Your World is controlled by Them. They pull The Strings. They provide The Cereal. They increase The Heat when it’s required. And this will continue for a long time until-”

     The Voice ended abruptly. The Phone began emitting a small tone that I also recognized, but had never heard. And I turned to see The Overseer. And I felt The Thoughts come into my head. I felt My Mind become nothing but repetition begging to find the answer to what was just heard�"only The Thoughts were no longer thoughts. I began hearing scattered people talk, their voices were echoing in the room. These people had different tones. Some spoke fast, while others were slow. And I didn’t recognize a single one. They were all new. And then I began shouting:

     “Shut up! Give me the damn answer!”

     The voices went away and I was standing before The Overseer, and The Overseer began to speak:

     “Your World has, and always will, be the same. It will fail to change regardless of what you say.”

     The residual thoughts that trickled their way into My Head exploded. They became all that occupied My Mind. They began forcing their way in. They forced a feeling into me that I had never felt, but recognized to be something called pain. I was still standing and I had The Overseer in both my hands. And then I shouted in a voice and tone that matched what I heard on The Phone:

     “Tell me what My World is or I’ll destroy you!”

     The Overseer failed to respond. It was then shattered on The Floor. The Pieces scattered themselves everywhere and I looked down and saw a shard of its glass screen inside me. I felt The Pain again, and then I fell to The Floor.

 

I feel a weird thing now. It feels like something that has affected myself before, but I simply don’t know. Perhaps it’s something that I know nothing about. Perhaps it’s something that I should be concerned about. Or perhaps it’s something meaningless. But whatever it is I’m feeling, I don’t like it. It’s a combination of that pain I felt earlier, but there is something else. This forms the combination that I don’t like, for I don’t know it. It forms the combination of feelings that occupy My Mind as I stand up and see a world that I have never seen before.

     Something is different. I’m standing up and I’m wearing my white shirt and black shorts, which I was before, only my shirt is soaking in a thick liquid that drops to the strange ground.

     Looking down to the ground, I see what it is�"it’s the shards of The Overseer. I wish to know how they got there but no thoughts enter and none allow themselves to be present.

     I look over and I see something happening. I see a figure. A person. A man. He is standing near the patch of trees that loom over where I’m standing. I begin walking towards him and I feel even more pain with each step, so I look down and see the shards of The Overseer, and then I look up and see the figure, the man, again.

     In a few moments I am standing right beside him. I can’t help but stare, for the man is wearing nice clothes�"or at least ones that are superior to my own. His hair is combed perfectly, unlike the mess that is mine. And he walks away from me.

     The man is now a distance away from me, and there is another man. This man is wearing the same clothes as me, so it makes sense that his hair is also a mess. And he is clinging to a telephone that is placed on a table that is resting on the painful shards of The Overseer.

     The man is speaking into the phone, but the other man grabs him and throws him to the ground. The man who is now the ground turns to me, while the other man forces his arms down and sits on his legs blocking him from moving. The man then falls lifeless on The Overseer’s shards, and I hear a voice: ‘kill The Overseer’.

 

I recall that I already did in fact 'kill' The Overseer, but I also recall that The Overseer was not in fact killed. The computer, electronic appliance form was killed�"the human form still existed, and it just murdered a man. And so that’s precisely how I ended it. I drove a shard of The Overseer into The Overseer and I woke up in my bed…once again, only now something was different, but I couldn’t recognize what I was.