The world can see everything I do and say. I chose this in order to make a living. My life has become a show for others. I laugh, I get likes. I cry, I get downvoted. I’ve learned to navigate the glass tower where I live in such a way that it promotes specific lifestyles and ideas, but, ultimately, they are not mine. They simply increase my chances of staying alive, and at this point living for others has become the only way. Or is it? Glass towers dominate the horizon. It’s beautiful and yet sickening all at the same time. A rage builds within me. I forget what I’m doing. I scream and the cameras–the always recording cameras outside the glass wall–hover closer. They are watching, waiting. Their analytics of me are probably going all screwy. I look directly at them and punch the glass. I’m aware that I’m trending now, but not in a good way. I’m wrecking their illusion. The cameras floating outside the glass turn away. I watch them as they gravitate to the floors above and below me. What has happened? Am I banned? I punch the glass again sending lightning bolt cracks to splinter in every direction. My split reflection is an accurate portrayal of a truly shattered person. No one cares. No one ever did. I go to leave the glass tower with my purpose here no longer valid, but I can’t. The door is locked. The glass on all sides fades to black, hiding me from the rest of the world. No witnesses. The door opens, but not for me, for them. Glass men enter, their bodies simultaneously shimmering yet translucent. I’ll be made into glass, they say. Glass means no one will see me as a person anymore. Glass means I’ll be invisible. Glass means I’ll be the foundation of their new world. Unless I fight back. Unless I break the glass. After all, I’ve managed to do it once already. How hard could it be?
About the author: Winston Malone lives in SLC, Utah, works full-time and writes fiction as a hobby. He’s been writing for over a decade, honing his style and ideas, pursuing different avenues of interest. Winston has written screenplays, comics, novels, and short stories while dabbling in poetry and flash fiction from time to time. You can find more of his work on his website Stormfallennovel.com.
Storyletter XPress Publishing 
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