Of What Was Left Behind (ONC 2024)

Author's Note

Hi, it's me, the author. I would like to take some time to thank those who have read this little quirky story. I hope it's been at least somewhat enjoyable despite it being, well, less exciting.

This story came about when I had word dumped my recent experiences of grief. Losing someone has been really hard, and even now, I still have moments where I would just have to stop what I'm doing and cry. This is me as a person who has now processed most of their experiences.

Before I wasn't like that.

Before I was crying every night. I couldn't eat as much as I used to and, to be honest, things felt unreal for the longest of times. 

Then I tried writing as a way to vent and to process, and then a part of this story was born.

I say a part because I already was fascinated by stories which took place in a post-human setting. I guess I've always wondered what would happen after we disappear? What would remain and what would disappear?

The answer is, eventually, everything. (There are actual YouTube videos about this hypothetical scenario. It was actually very interesting.)

This fascination, along with my recent experiences got me thinking. What would happen if a rudimentary AI was left abandoned? Would they end up developing? What would happen if they developed, only to fall apart due to time and the elements?

So I tried to write these thoughts down, initially focusing on the aspect of grief but the story changed and evolved. The story is about grief and its non-linear process. It's why I wrote memories in a somewhat-but-not-quite chronological order. The story is also about an AI coming to terms with its world, with its own grief. It is also about the long-lasting effects of the past, and how it can influence the present throughout many generations.

That was what the family of birds represented - especially the silver-eyed bird who paralleled Kiki so much.

But it was also a story of how the past, no matter how far reaching and how personal, will be left behind. The old will eventually give way to the new and that was what the cat family represented.

The old word was one plagued by an undefined apocalypse, one that ended humanity. It was also a familiar world, one with some sort of rule to it.

There is no such rule in this new world. The only one rule is to survive and sometimes, that is hard. Even those of the new world will succumb to it. 

That was why the kitten died.

But perhaps, the old giving way to the new, perhaps the passage of time was necessary. You see how, eventually, the camera realised that its owner's wish is for the birds and itself to be free. It also understood that its owner, despite its wishes still wanted to be remembered because...don't we all? 

So the wishes were fulfilled. The woman would be remembered as long as the camera continued to function and the camera itself as well as the birds eventually became free.

Even if they had to help each other.

So those were my main ideas and I have to confess, it isn't my best story and it definitely isn't my best writing but it has been, in my opinion, a necessary piece, at least for me. I felt that as the novella reached the end.

Because that, in a way, signified the end of grief and that's not how grief works. So I hesitated on finishing. Finishing the last two thousandish words were honestly the hardest thing I've ever written. I had to find a way to finish the story but still show that grief doesn't end. It changes with the circumstances and with time but it doesn't end.

And that was why I added the perspective of the birds after the camera stopped functioning, after it died.

Because letting go of the past is a painful thing and I tried to imply that though I don't know how I went. However, at the same time, letting go meant more opportunities and its a bit of an unresolved, bitter sweet ending.

So with this, I end this story once and for all. One day I will probably come back to polish this piece but I have other things to write and other projects to complete. 

See you around,

Arland.