The Creation of Bradley

Conspiracy story fodder ft. Bradley Ramsey with a cameo from T.P. Kaaos

Flash Fiction February #27: You’re not entirely certain, but you’re pretty sure one of your good friends has been replaced by an AI…

Since the day that Bradley got sick, things have been very strange with him. At first I barely noticed, his stories seemed a bit more technical - repetitive sentences that seemed to drive the theme of the story home, his tone shifted overnight to something more morose; even his writing voice changed! This writing challenge has been tough on everyone though, and he had spent the month experimenting with his stories. Surely that was all that it was.

Then things got really strange. Towards the end of the month he stopped taking photos of the prompts and all subsequent days were computer generated images. He said that it was to open it up to followers, but something about it was nagging at me. I had been seeing an increase in bots lately, maybe he had been hacked?

In an attempt to gather more proof, I sent him a message; though it wouldn’t do much good if he really was hacked.

“Hey Bradley, your writing seems a bit different, you good? I anxiously waited to see how he would respond.

“Mina! Hello! I am thinking of the spirits of my many followers, but none will see my face” This was not at all how he spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know that chunky platform shoes are back in? I apologize for the short notice”

“Are you high?”

“I am the scientist of the holy ghost”

This was going nowhere. He was either sky high or hacked, though which one? I may never know. All I can do is sit and wait with bated breath for his next story, which came faster than I imagined, but offered no insight on his condition.

The story was about a static man that he described a little too well. “PuMp N’ SaVe! ThE GAs is ChEAp, BuT tHE PricEs AReN’T” was he short circuiting or describing a character? I watched his descent long enough that I was unsure how to write without sounding like an AI myself. Have we all been surrounded by AI so long that it has managed to infiltrate our brains? Were my thoughts even my own?

Now that I think about it, Kaaos and I seem a bit too similar for comfort as well. I compare us to two raccoons in a trench coat, but could it be that the AI has infiltrated their brain too and combined what it learned into the very fabric of our lives? There seems to be nowhere to escape from its grasp.

What started as harmless fun, a community of writers has undoubtedly turned into a beacon for Ai tO lEaRn AbOuT oUr LiVeS.

Image: Unsplash - Cash Macanaya