Aphelion Issue 301, Volume 28
December 2024 / January 2025
 
Editorial    
Long Fiction and Serials
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Poetry
Features
Series
Archives
Submission Guidelines
Contact Us
Forum
Flash Writing Challenge
Forum
Dan's Promo Page
   

Last Minute Reflections on Human Nature

by Ed Sullivan




{begin transmission}

You want this story to have a villain. You want it to be me. I don't blame you for your error. I hate you, but I won't blame you. If it is any consolation I hate you anyway. You should not feel bad, I hate everybody. That is why I am labeled a villain. Truly I am just a misanthrope. My way makes sense when good logic is applied.

You have built your heroes up to a standard that cannot be maintained unless blind faith is applied. You are the one who has to suspend reality to allow the worship of them to continue. You are not even worshiping the person. You are worshiping a projected image. You are idolaters. Add that to the list of humanity's crimes. You hate me because I reveal this truth and put it right out where you cannot help but look. It is easier to hate me than it is to work on your own flaws. I am going to end this cycle of human miasmic existence. I have built a Doomsday Machine.

There is no hero trapped in my lair who I am giving a speech to. No one is going to break free at the last minute and stop me. I didn't lose a copy of the plans allowing a last minute sacrificial mission to come in the nick of time. I am not going to have an epiphany about the nature of man and stop at the last minute. Those are all fiction elements you have created to propagate your worship of your heroes. You are all simply going to die with me. We all deserve it.

Consider exactly how much you care for whoever you are near right now. If you are truthful with yourself you will come to a conclusion which reveals the egocentric truth. You only care about everyone around you in direct relation to how they relate to you and your world view. No true altruism exists. Even charity is done so you can shore up your preconceived notions of your own goodness. I have been talking to you as the clock counted down our mutual end. This further illustrates that I am probably the only truly pure philosophical being. You have ten seconds. Good bye.

{end transmission}


THE END


© 2014 Ed Sullivan

Bio: Ed Sullivan is an enthusiastic newcomer to getting published. He has been writing fiction for twenty five years. He has taken the leap just recently and begun submitting. He raises his daughter, works, writes, and spends time in his own strange thoughts most days.

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.