Alex Watches Television (Short Story)

Alex walks into his apartment and sits on his bed. He looks at his television. He gets up and presses the power button. The television comes on. Alex sits down.

There is a title card in Russian on the television. Alex can not read it. It fades out. A black and white image of a soldier with a Soviet uniform comes on. The soldier reaches out. The camera pans back to reveal he is taking a baby from a woman. The woman cries and tries to hold on to the baby. The soldier pulls it out of the woman's hands. The soldier holds the baby upside down by its leg. The baby loudly cries. The soldier takes out a pistol and shoots the baby through the head. The baby goes silent and the woman screams. The soldier throws the baby on the ground. The woman cries and screams. The soldier shoots the woman through the head.. The woman falls over on the baby's body. The soldier walks away. The camera stays on the bodies of the woman and the baby.

Alex gets up and changes the channel. He sits down. The picture shows a young boy crying in a white void. He looks up at the camera. He crawls toward the camera. He puts his face against what seems like a pane of glass. It is like the boy is pressing against the screen from the other side. The boy sobs. He hits his fist on the glass.

Alex gets up and changes the channel. The picture shows surveillance footage. The footage shows a woman in a white gown dancing in an empty room. A composition by JS Bach is playing. Alex sits down and watches the woman dance. The music changes to a composition by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The woman continues to dance. The music stops. The woman sits down on the floor. The music starts again. It is a composition by Ludwig van Beethoven. The woman gets up and continues to dance.

Alex gets up and changes the channel. The picture shows static. Alex changes the channel. The picture shows static. Alex changes the channel. The picture shows a man sitting in a chair reading a newspaper in a boiler room. The newspaper is in Chinese. The man looks up from his newspaper. He gets up and walks towards the camera. He reaches behind the camera. The picture becomes static.

Alex changes the channel. The picture shows the film Taxi Driver. The film is dubbed in a language Alex does not recognize. Alex changes the channel. The picture shows the dead woman and baby again. Both have decomposed. Alex stares at the screen. He reaches behind the television. He pulls up the cable cord. It is not plugged in. Alex stares at the cord. He looks back at the screen.

I think I need a new TV, Alex thinks. He throws down the cable cord and turns off the television.