A Short Story I Wrote in February 2015

Google Ads

Michael was lying on his bed, staring at his brightly-lit laptop in his otherwise pitch-black room. The time was 11:16 PM. He had just clicked on some weird Bjork music video on Youtube without real desire. Suddenly, an ad that popped up at the bottom of the screen: “Schizophrenia: Don’t get left in the dark.” Paired with the words sat a man in a dark room with a single sallow lamp illuminating his face. Just near the top were discernible the words “A Google ad.” He rushed to press the ‘x’.

Immediately, he felt sick to the stomach. How did they know? How could they possibly know? He thought back to whether he had typed anything into google that might suggest the existence of schizophrenic tendencies in him. But there was nothing that could have done it. He probably had a very unusual google history but nothing that would indicate schizophrenia. So what was going on? Was the word unreal then? Were the CIA actually after him? Was that stuff true?

Of course not, he told himself. Of course not, of course not, you fucker. But he continued to feel sick in the stomach.

Can’t you see the obvious irony? You’re experiencing paranoid, disturbed thoughts from the appearance of an ad about schizophrenia! It was the appearance of the ad that actually triggered it! You can’t do what they what they want, now, can you? Funny. Except I shouldn’t have said they. Who are they? Maybe there is a they? No. There isn’t. But I’m not schizophrenic; I shouldn’t worry. They just detected an irregularity in my google searches but it doesn’t matter. Nobody is monitoring me. It doesn’t matter. Some things can’t be explained. It doesn’t matter.

The video continued, and, despite himself, so did the thoughts. How could this video be real? It’s so weird and unnatural. Maybe Bjork isn’t a human. No. Don’t. No no.