THE HORRIBLE STORY

of a man named Cory who thought he could solve problems. On paper, he sure could, but reality is a different story. It turns out life isn't a formula, that the equations he composed couldn't compute four-dimensionals. So instead of ink on paper, Cory went out and bought metal parts for later. Once the number crunching was done, Cory's project had officially begun. It was going to be a machine. A machine that calculates contingencies; when and where a person should be in order to have the best luck their can be. Cory went straight to work and started on the flux capacitor. He added a screen to indicate locations and time and things to say and things to try. Weeks passed when Cory was done programming a machine that could change his luck. The BIOS began and the code ran, smoothly. The LEDs blinked and the flux capacitor purred as the virtual time machine was born. "Tell me what I should do tomorrow," said Cory, who was tired from building all day. The screen loaded as the program ignored a stack overflow error, and displayed the optimal choice: "stay inside". Cory shrugged and yawned as he left his basement. "I trust my work, so I will abide." He dreamed a terrible dream and when he awoke he began to cry. It was about a highschool sweetheart and how they had kissed under the night sky. The moment he awoke he called her, only to discover she had the same dream. They were to meet at 8:15. Cory forgot his invention, and ran downstairs. "Tell me what I should do tonight!" and the machine gave the same answer on a black monitor: "stay inside". Confused, Cory stared at the machine: "Is this really what I had believed?" Numbers can be manipulated as easily as words to work in a certain favor. Now that Cory thinks about it, the day before his feeling had been conservative. "A quick reprogram should do the trick," he said as he unscrewed the metal lid. A few hours later, Cory booted up the super computer. Once completed, Cory asked the same thing: "What should I do tonight?" and the computer replied: "Bring her here for a fun time." So after dinner, the couple returned and Cory showed her the machine, after convincing her basements aren't a scary thing. He held her hand as it booted up but Cory noticed it wasn't the normal startup. He held her hand tighter knowing something was amiss and hoped the machine wouldn't be a terrible mess. The screen went white and Cory was about to apologize when images started to appear. Images of them holding each other near. Images of an old couple with three kids, who looked a lot like they did. Images of people smiling as if they were in a dream. Images of this couple and their kin. And the girl couldn't help but cry when she realized it was her; when she realized the future had been shown behind a dark basement door.

A short story written by me sometime in college. It has a Dr. Seuss-y rhyming scheme to it, and it would be cool if it were ever illustrated. I definitely had that in mind while I was writing it.