In English, we learned that every story incorporated a protagonist, a conflict, a climax, and a solution in the conflict. We applied this knowledge to our project, creating a flash fiction. In other words we had to write a story that was less than 1000 words. This feat was very difficult because it was very hard to condense a descriptive story into so little words. From this project I learned how to cut down my writing to just the bare minimum. In my flash fiction story, The Zoo, I hint the dangers of violent video games through two brothers, George and Bernie.
The zoo was packed with people. Young energetic kids ran around, while being chased by their exhausted parents. While all this commotion was going on, two older brothers started to throw popcorn at the crocodile that looked almost like a floating log.
Plop Plop Plop
“Ahh! Humans are so annoying. Someone needs to teach them some manners!” thought the Crocodile. “I have so many pieces of popcorn floating in my pool that I can’t even see! Those punks are lucky that I’m trapped by this fence.”
Plop Plop Plop
“George! Bernie! Leave the poor crocodile alone!” shouted George and Bernie’s mom.
George and Bernie grudgingly stepped back away from the metal fence while snickering at the crocodile.
“Crocodiles suck anyways. Let’s go play some video games,” George suggested.
“Pow! Pow! Hahahahah! You’re dead!” teased Bernie as he waved an imaginary gun with his fingers.
“Just wait till I kill you in BuzzKill 2!” grumbled George.
When George and Bernie arrived at home, they sprinted to their game room. George and Bernie spent the majority of their days holed up in that tiny room hypnotized by the large screen and thumbs calloused by the plastic guns they held. In the year 2100, video games had become so advanced that even an expert had trouble telling the difference between reality and the game. BuzzKill 2 tapped into the inner savagery in children by portraying an identical version of the player in the game. Players earned points by killing other users.
Bang Bang
On screen, Bernie fell to the ground with one dark sploch of blood that started from his forehead as it slowly wormed its way down his shocked face.
“Killed you!” George laughed.
“So what? I’ll get my revenge,” sneered Bernie.
The next month, George and Bernie visited the zoo yet again. The two boys casually sauntered over to the crocodile’s cage. The two boys peppered the croc with the usual.
“Just fantastic! More popcorn to add to my collection,”groaned as he slowly sunk to the bottom of the shallow pond.
The boys were out of breath with laughter when Bernie managed to weeze out, “I dare you to…”
“To do what?” asked George.
“To climb over the fence and grab a handful of soggy popcorn,” grinned Bernie.
“Fine, but then I get to dare you to do something afterwards!” George sputtered.
George stormed over to the fence and clambered over it.
“Ha,” he yelled as he scooped a cup full of popcorn and threw it in Bernie’s direction.
The commotion had awakened the beast under the water. The croc rose up from the murky water and opened his gigantic jaws.
Snap
“Hahahahahaha!” Laughed Bernie as his brother’s body started to sink into the depths of the popcorn filled swamp.
“Hmm…he tasted like that pigeon I had last week.” The mused crocodile.
Bernie’s laughter floated in the air throughout the night.
The zoo was packed with people. Young energetic kids ran around, while being chased by their exhausted parents. While all this commotion was going on, two older brothers started to throw popcorn at the crocodile that looked almost like a floating log.
Plop Plop Plop
“Ahh! Humans are so annoying. Someone needs to teach them some manners!” thought the Crocodile. “I have so many pieces of popcorn floating in my pool that I can’t even see! Those punks are lucky that I’m trapped by this fence.”
Plop Plop Plop
“George! Bernie! Leave the poor crocodile alone!” shouted George and Bernie’s mom.
George and Bernie grudgingly stepped back away from the metal fence while snickering at the crocodile.
“Crocodiles suck anyways. Let’s go play some video games,” George suggested.
“Pow! Pow! Hahahahah! You’re dead!” teased Bernie as he waved an imaginary gun with his fingers.
“Just wait till I kill you in BuzzKill 2!” grumbled George.
When George and Bernie arrived at home, they sprinted to their game room. George and Bernie spent the majority of their days holed up in that tiny room hypnotized by the large screen and thumbs calloused by the plastic guns they held. In the year 2100, video games had become so advanced that even an expert had trouble telling the difference between reality and the game. BuzzKill 2 tapped into the inner savagery in children by portraying an identical version of the player in the game. Players earned points by killing other users.
Bang Bang
On screen, Bernie fell to the ground with one dark sploch of blood that started from his forehead as it slowly wormed its way down his shocked face.
“Killed you!” George laughed.
“So what? I’ll get my revenge,” sneered Bernie.
The next month, George and Bernie visited the zoo yet again. The two boys casually sauntered over to the crocodile’s cage. The two boys peppered the croc with the usual.
“Just fantastic! More popcorn to add to my collection,”groaned as he slowly sunk to the bottom of the shallow pond.
The boys were out of breath with laughter when Bernie managed to weeze out, “I dare you to…”
“To do what?” asked George.
“Fine, but then I get to dare you to do something afterwards!” George sputtered.
George stormed over to the fence and clambered over it.
“Ha,” he yelled as he scooped a cup full of popcorn and threw it in Bernie’s direction.
The commotion had awakened the beast under the water. The croc rose up from the murky water and opened his gigantic jaws.
Snap
“Hahahahahaha!” Laughed Bernie as his brother’s body started to sink into the depths of the popcorn filled swamp.
“Hmm…he tasted like that pigeon I had last week.” The mused crocodile.
Bernie’s laughter floated in the air throughout the night.
