Voice Week 2012: Friday

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I survived the wedding! Now still catching up on linking, commenting, replying, etc., but also still hanging with relatives and friends from out of town, so I may not completely catch up until tomorrow.

I forgot, since last year, how fun this project is!

Here’s my piece to end the week!

"Today my voice is ______."

Hurricanes deleted. Tsunamis deleted. Rained-out picnics deleted. All forms of natural precipitation deleted worldwide for 6 months and counting. Post millennia, they hacked even weather. They proved there was no God.

That they were alone.

Her browser displayed Lawn East. Yellow sun. Blue sky. Always blue. She denied tears—facial secretions required quarantine. 

A smudge on screen. “Screen, sanitize,” she said. Wiper passed over 3 times.

1 smudge now 2.

 2 smudges 5.

Not smudges on screen; drops on lens.

Not scheduled. Not possible.

Sky shook. She shook. Large drops fell inside and out.

What type of story does this feel like to you? When does it take place? Tell me in the comments!

Check out the Voice Week homepage for links to everyone’s voices.

About Stephanie Orges

Stephanie is an award-winning copywriter, aspiring novelist, and barely passable ukulele player. Here, she offers writing prompts, tips, and moderate-to-deep philosophical discussions. You can also find her on and Pinterest.
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21 Comments

  1. wow, advanced future indeed. I love the fact they cannot cry or risk quarantine. Definitely sets the tone

  2. This one’s definitely from the future.. Very different take!

  3. Very creepy feel. Obviously futuristic. It seems complete as it is, too, as if it isn’t part of a larger story, or at least that it doesn’t need to be.

    Congratulations on your survival!

  4. Pingback: Voice Week 2012: Friday « BeKindRewrite « Voice Week HQ

  5. Oh this is brilliant!

  6. Oooh, what a strange and sinister future you’ve painted here! Excellent way to wrap up Voice Week — another successful year, methinks!

  7. Futuristic. Funny that the other stories touch on God, but this future one denies His existence. Even better when she realizes she can’t every really control things

    • Yes! I was attempting to illustrate different ways God might use the weather to teach us things. At first, as a judgment; in the next three, “ruining” something trivial (and thus hopefully providing perspective on what is truly important); and in the last, proving His existence (or at least proving that, just as we cannot control the weather, we cannot prove He does not exist).

  8. Great end to the week.
    That rain, which has played an important part all week, is now possibly something more sinister. Obviously in this world of the future where there is no rain & no God what is this stuff suddenly falling from the sky.
    A great opener for a longer piece.
    Thanks for organising a great week.

    • Actually, I was going for the opposite – whereas in the first four pieces the rain could be seen as something negative (as a punishment, or ruining a picnic) here the woman’s tears are tears of joy – that if, after all, we CAN’T control the weather, perhaps there is a God, after all, and we are not alone.

  9. A sterile world where there is no fun, no surprise, no excitement, no … what is this stuff? Rain?
    My first Voice Week – really great imaginations at work. Thanks for putting together a great challenge, Steph! Thanks for all the comments from the other VWs. I’m back home and will catchup with all the Day 5s as soon as I can.

  10. My favorite of all your pieces! WOW!
    Very futuristic indeed. The way these seamlessly flowed across the centuries is mindboggling, from a religiously-dependent society to one that has abandoned the notion of God. Chilling, calculated and ultimately sad.
    There are so many things to love about this.
    =)

  11. … oh, and I meant to say that I really enjoyed the week. Thanks for organising it, Steph. And thanks to everyone for your comments, and taking the time to read.

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