The Little Match Girl (Cyberpunk Fairy Tales) by George Saoulidis

Author:George Saoulidis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cyberpunk, fairy tale, hans christian andersen, dystopian, augmented reality, cold, snow, girl, starve, retelling, science fiction, athens
Publisher: Mythography Studios
Published: 2019-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL couldn't bear the cold any more. She went between two condominiums, where the wind was blocked and she could feel her nose. There was a pipe there that brought heat to the upper floor, the wall was marginally warmer, just a few degrees. She put her back to it, trying to touch as much as she could. She had only sold one match, and she had used one up. She didn't dare go home. Heck, it was as cold as this place. No heating. The windows broken, taped up with black gaffer tape. And there certainly was no family dinner there.

The little girl brought out another match. She bit her lip. One more wouldn't hurt. She could lie to her dad that the street urchins had broken them, or taken them out of spite. That was plausible. In fact, they had seen them and didn't even bother to steal them from her, obsolete technology that it was.

It was all they had. Her dad still had the intellectual properties on that, but couldn't do much else with them. And what was there to do, really? A New-Year's Experience, single use. Yes, it was nice. Yes, it was calming. People liked it. But you lit it up against your skin, you experienced it once, and it was gone. The DRM wiped it clean, one use only, piracy-proof.

The little girl broke off another match and touched it against her skin. Her cheap implants lit up, showed her the same thing.

Her old house, the Christmas tree, the twinkling lights, the sweets. But, most importantly, her mom hugging her.

That's all she needed.

Her mom's smile. And her warmth.

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