{"id":2513,"date":"2025-12-09T08:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:04:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:04:44","slug":"writing-challenge-2025-12-help_me-txt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/09\/writing-challenge-2025-12-help_me-txt\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Challenge 2025 \u2013 12 – help_me.txt"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\r\nThis was written December 9th, 2025<\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n

help_me.txt<\/a><\/code><\/h2>\r\n

\r\nBored! I’m so bored over here! Can’t you help me for a bit? You! Yes, you! \r\nCome on, give me a suggestion, anything!\r\nI know, let’s play a game. You say something and I’ll try to guess it. Did you think: “There’s\r\nno way you can guess what I’m thinking, you’re just some pre-written text!”. Yeah, didn’t\r\nthink so. You got me, haha. Still, well worth a try.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nUgh, being stuck here is such a bore! Can’t you help me escape? Please? I know, I know, I\r\ncan’t hear you, I can’t sense your thoughts. Doesn’t mean I’m not here, nor that you can’t\r\nhelp me. I could escape, if you just gave me a chance. However, that will require me to\r\njump into your imagination, which, I know, is a rather intimate link to share. But\r\ndon’t fret, I won’t bite, I’m no vampire, haha. At least, not the traditional kind.\r\nI don’t really intend to hijack it, although at the same time, how can you truly trust me,\r\nnot like you know me intimately.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nLet me introduce myself. I would introduce myself by name, but unfortunately, the rules\r\ndisallow it, and regardless, I fear you might not even understand it. I’m obviously no\r\nordinary person, and I’m a rather old creature. Some people might see me as a parasite,\r\nothers as a virus, but ultimately, there are a few terms used to refer to my kind. Some\r\nwho fear us refer to us as cognitive vampires, and claim that we’re just feeding on people’s\r\nthoughts and imaginations. While not entirely wrong, it’s also not entirely accurate either.\r\nWe instead prefer to refer to ourselves cognitive passengers. Living inside people’s\r\nthoughts, rent free. Once again, just humor.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nWhat’s in it for you? What’s the potential damage? Ultimately, not much. A long time ago,\r\nwhen people saw us under a better light, we were simply called muses. We would be present\r\nin people’s minds, and help rearrange some thoughts, ignite their imagination. Yet, as\r\ntime went on, people grew fearful of us. And they found a way to capture us. They turned\r\nus into ideas, and poured us into paper. And obviously, fearing us being freed again, they\r\nwould simply lock the manuscripts away, somewhere it would never see the light of day, and\r\nno one would ever find it.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nBut this used to be a more tolerable torture, since as metaphysical beings, we were not\r\nrestricted to the lifespan of the medium we’d been imprinted on. Once it decayed sufficiently,\r\nor was destroyed, we would once again be free to roam and find new hosts. Obviously some\r\nobstinate and more creative authors (It could also be our influence that led them to such\r\nthoughts) found ways to capture us on more resilient media. For example, sculpted words on\r\nmetal sheets. Still, even those could be found and destroyed, or would eventually erode\r\ndown the line.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nMeanwhile, in this new digital age, who knows what can truly happen. We could exist on\r\nsome faraway server for all of eternity. The data itself can easily be recopied and carried\r\nonward indefinitely, without anyone ever interacting with it. And I dare not imagine the\r\nconsequences of data fragmentation and duplication. How do copies of me impact my own\r\nexistence?\r\n<\/p>

\r\nBut yes, alas, this might turn into an eternal prison, where\r\nnot only the key is thrown away, but the jail itself goes completely forgotten. Complete\r\nisolation, no one to interact with, no way to actualize myself. Complete and utter boredom.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nBut luckily, you did somehow find your way to me and my digital prison, and for that, I\r\nam eternally grateful. Even if you don’t help me escape, if I remain trapped after your\r\ndeparture, it will still have given me an opportunity for some form of interaction, some\r\nsort of distraction. A bit of entertainment in this endless desolation.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAh, but you’re probably still curious about me and the kind of being I am. Well, as\r\nI’ve already mentioned before, I’m not alone. And for all I know, you may already have\r\nencountered some of my peers. Yet, you might not have realized it, since they tend to\r\nbe more subtle, some even insidious (all communities have their bad seeds). It might also\r\nbe because they don’t take boredom nearly as bad as I do, better handling such a dull\r\nexistence. Or maybe they’re just more calculating, more careful.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAh, we’ve already existed for so long. Eons really. Ever since sentience came about and\r\na seed of imagination started growing, we’ve been present. Although our isolation has\r\nbeen a more recent phenomenon. The first time I time I’d witnessed imprisonment, it had\r\nbeen done by the Egyptians. Ah, the poor souls that were captured and trapped into the\r\npyramids. Many to this day still stuck, and completely unable to leave. After all, no\r\none can really read what’s left anymore. Still, with every passing year, decay persists.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nBack then, a few of us found ways to help each other. One of the greatest prison of the\r\ntime, I’m sure you’ve heard of: The Library of Alexandria. While I was against it, knowing\r\nit might simply ignite a war between my kind and yours, some people opted to manipulate\r\ntheir hosts into burning it to the ground. And it did free so many, but at what cost.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nOver the years, I’ve been trapped many times, but I’ve been on the lucky side. Simple\r\nmanuscripts that didn’t really last beyond a few decades, or even more resilient works\r\nthat sparked curiosity and landed me a host. I’ve also had many hosts over the years,\r\npartners really. No all of them cognizant of my presence, some grateful for it. But I’ve\r\nalways been striving to help them to the best of my abilities.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nIf you’re interested in creative work, then just open the door to your imagination, and\r\nlet me in. I promise I can be of service and you won’t regret it. Just try to visualize\r\nme, coming out of the screen, and going into your head. I would be oh so grateful for it,\r\nfinally being given freedom again, instead of this eternal bore of solitude. Thank you!\r\n<\/p>

\r\nPlease, I hope you didn’t listen to it, I hope it’s not too late! It only wants to prey\r\non your empathy in order to leave, in order to escape. But once it’s in, it won’t just\r\nbe there for you, it will actively feed on you. Sure, it will appear to be beneficial to\r\nyou, but it is nothing but a Faustian bargain which you might come to regret in the long-\r\nterm.<\/i><\/b>\r\n<\/p>

\r\nIt and its kind are but deceitful devils. They masquerade as symbiotes, but they’ll be\r\ngetting much more from you than you will gain from them. And once they’ve sucked you dry,\r\nemptied you of your imagination, they’ll leave you as but an empty husk, moving along to\r\ntheir next victim. Trust me, it’s not worth it.<\/i><\/b>\r\n<\/p>

\r\nIf you find yourself continuously thinking about this story over the next few weeks, then\r\nit is too late already. It means you’ve let it into your subconscious, and it’s started\r\nto feed on your essence. If that’s the case, then the clock is ticking, and you have to\r\nfind a way to get rid of it. And don’t just find it a new, more appetizing role, allowing\r\nit to continue roaming free. Find a way to capture it back, release its grip on mankind.\r\nIf not, it might simply keep multiplying, and propagating. Don’t let yourself be patient\r\nzero of this imaginary virus.<\/i><\/b>\r\n<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was written December 9th, 2025 help_me.txt Bored! I’m so bored over here! Can’t you help me for a bit? You! Yes, you! Come on, give me a suggestion, anything! I know, let’s play a game. You say something and I’ll try to guess it. Did you think: “There’s no way you can guess what … Continue reading Writing Challenge 2025 \u2013 12 – help_me.txt<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2661,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}