Stepping Stones - Multigenre Mashup SmackDown Contest

The Sight - Round 3.1 Submission

A/N: Hi! I FINALLY managed to get this done! This is my submission for Round 3, Part 1 of the Multigenre Mashup SmackDown contest! Our task for this part was to write a dystopian and horror short story incorporating two images and one song (all of which will be included and/or at the bottom of this page). This was an interesting experience - while I love and am quite familiar with dystopian fiction, I've never really liked or read the horror genre. I hope it turned out well! Please enjoy!

Word count: 1999

* * * * *

They say being Sightless drives you insane.

Every kid learns about it, within a year of being administered the serum and given Sight. They say it's a slow decline. It doesn't happen immediately - your eyes and brain adapt to living without Sight at first. But slowly, over the course of months, or even years, your vision becomes weaker, easier to manipulate. Your thoughts become more scrambled, getting closer and closer to the kinds of thoughts you would have with the Sight.

Because while the brain adapts, it never overcomes. It never forgets the feeling of the Sight - in fact, it craves it. It starts pushing the Sightless person back to that feeling, but without the serum running through the person's veins, it can never achieve the exact same feeling. And so, the brain drives itself insane, trying to get back to the feeling of the Sight until the Sightless person succumbs to it.

I'll hand it to them, the Federation's scientists really knew what they were doing when they cooked up that monster.

Of course, all the teachings about Sightlessness could just be propaganda, like so much of everything else in this damned Federation. But, somehow, I doubt that they're lying about this one.

Especially considering the fact that those symptoms - weakening vision, scrambled mind - feel quite familiar.

Crouching on the moist forest floor, I squint at the plant in my hand, bringing the leafy green closer to my eyes in an effort to identify it. The world behind the plant spins, a constant, mildly annoying flurry of motion. On the edges of my vision, any still plants flicker in and out of existence.

The plant in my hand isn't edible. I sigh, standing up as I toss it to the side. Naki would really be more suited to this job than I currently am, but foraging has almost always been my job. Asking her to do it now would make her ask why, and there are some things I don't want Naki to know yet.

My daughter has grown up into a beautiful young woman, both inside and out. Some days, the decisions I've made haunt me, but, seeing how Naki has blossomed, oblivious to the true horrors of the Federation and the Sight, I know I will never regret running.

No matter what it has cost. What it will cost.

Or will you?

I flinch at the dark whisper in my head. It's the effects of being Sightless, I know that, but it never fails to send shivers down my spine.

No, I won't. Naki gets to live a life without the Sight. She'll remember her childhood. She will never feel what it's like to be Sightless, not if I have anything to say about it, and that is everything.

Children are injected with the serum to introduce the Sight when they are twelve, to avoid the neurological damage that comes from being given Sight too early. It comes at a cost, though; any memories from before age twelve are completely wiped out. I broke the Sight's hold and fled when Naki was eleven, and I shudder to think of what might have happened if I had stayed.

A flash of white catches my eye, and I whip around. There, in the grass behind me, sits a small white bunny.

Strangely, the little creature doesn't run away. Instead, it tilts its head, watching me carefully, seemingly unwilling to move from its spot.