The Broken Script - By Zane van der Linde

Written By: Zane van der Linde

Category: Short Story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

Zane van der Linde presents "The Broken Script," a short story submission to the prestigious Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. This enigmatic narrative draws readers into a realm where reality bends, portals open, and echoes of lost voices reverberate through an unsettling void. In a world that teeters on the edge of the surreal, the protagonist's journey is both haunting and thought-provoking, inviting exploration into the unknown.

About the Work

"The Broken Script" weaves a tapestry of suspense and intrigue, exploring themes of isolation and the search for understanding in a world that defies logic. The narrative is rich with imagery, from shadowy figures to cryptic codes, creating a vivid picture of a universe that exists just beyond our grasp. The story's mood is one of tension and mystery, capturing the reader's imagination as it delves into the depths of an alternate reality.

The Broken Script

Original Submission by Zane van der Linde

The Broken Script

It would find itself in the dark, cold and empty space. A place that seems so empty and feels so uneasy. A place not known for silence, but echoes. Echoes of voices fill the room as the walls start to close in. With no way to tell where they are coming from and the uncertainty of what lurks inside. They screech in high pitch sound waves and what looks like broken pixels creeping inside. Deep inside an endless void, hidden inside the structures of buildings.

Portals open with every glance I take, trying to lure me inside. These portals are like gateways to other dimensions.

Tension builds with every second of staring, staring into nothing, no sound, light or even movement.

Houses along the streets are empty and dark liquid almost like molten tar are dripping from damaged trees.

A clock tower never displaying any time but 3:33 am with a never-ending tick masked by the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Streets are empty and every mailbox has a certain code scratched into the red paint as if each block has a different purpose in this strange world.

I've been exploring this dark dimension ever since I discovered it and for a long time it seemed unpopulated and like whatever created it just abandoned it. But no matter how far I go every portal leads me back to the beginning, like an endless video game. Exploring this place I had found video tapes of people recording themselves exploring this dimension and they all seemingly vanished on the same exact date and time, as if this place had a restriction to how far you can travel or how long you have before you too would vanish.

Room after room, hall after hall, street after street. I have found nothing but shadow figures standing underneath streetlights at random times. But that was no ordinary mistake, I found a pattern to where they would be every night but can't quite figure out the meaning of it.

Everywhere I go I see the same church-like structure, with no foundation and no ceiling I thought nothing much of it. I mapped out every place I've been to and according to my data I've explored a place the size of Los Angeles.

I gathered the courage to try and communicate with these figures but every time I got close, they would vanish into thin air and re-appear again after I got a few meters away.

This place kind of reminded me of the real world.

How empty it feels and how everything just seems misplaced.

I alone could not come any closer to understanding this place as whatever it is that lurks inside can manipulate its surroundings.

I had no idea if it was even safe for me to tell anyone about it, so I kept it my little dark secret.

I felt so free and drawn to this place since I found it.

It felt like I had been away for a long time and had just come home.

But I would always get this eerie feeling in the back of my neck that something was watching me.

One night I found something very creepy inside the only mailbox that was painted white and it seemed like this place was occupied after all.

I found a letter with the names of people who tried to escape from this place but never made it out.

Maybe I was never supposed to find this place nor anyone else.

How do people just vanish without a trace?

So, I did some research on just about everything.

I found out that in the early 25th century the military had made a weapon that would send people to the void of this world.

The city was built on the foundation of an old military lab underneath, still transmitting signals to this place 'till this day.

It's the night of October 10th, 2743, nearly 250 years ago since this place existed.

Yet, I might be the only person alive today to know about it.

Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe the military is somehow still using this place or maybe it's filled with evil.

I've been exploring this lost world for about three months now and even got fired from my job as I'm never there and always spending my time in this strange place.

It gets creepier as the nights go by, but I haven't actually come face to face with any danger, yet.

Every house and every street is just a copy of each other, a never-ending neighbourhood or so I thought.

I guess I finally found a new area, having mapped the portals I know exactly where to go.

I discovered a laboratory with a server room beneath it.

The lab had all sorts of connections to this place, as if the military had actually done research on whatever this place was.

The server room just makes no sense; there is no way you need that many servers to run a research lab that isn't even built around technology.

While I was trying to figure out what this world was, losing my mind in the process, for the first time this place got quiet, really quiet.

As if it knew something was coming.

No echoes, no voices, just complete silence.

I decided to leave the lab as I thought I might be in danger but right before I could open the door, it somehow got jammed and the walls started melting into a black sludge.

Within minutes the whole lab was gone and all that was left was this sludge eating away on the floor below me.

I panicked and ran into the server room and shut the door above me.

Seconds later the sludge swallowed the door and the whole server room around me started to reveal this dark and empty void.

No matter where I went it was all just one endless server room that started releasing its code from the computer sitting in the middle of the room.

Green letters and numbers started running across the screen, displaying some sort of code this place was made from.

Maybe it contained all the answers I was looking for so I found a way to connect my smart watch to the computer and tried to decrypt the data, but I had no luck.

After a while I thought I was going insane as I couldn't leave this place.

Every portal had disappeared along with the walls and even the floor.

The server room was filled with water covering only my feet and I could swear I had footsteps around me.

The voices came back and quietly the room filled with echoes in every direction.

To make matters worse I felt as if there is some form of energy in here with me draining my emotions and thoughts.

Soon I felt nothing but chills, not fear nor discomfort, just pure chills running down my spine as my muscles started to tighten.

It had felt like my body was turning into concrete with every passing second.

Then, suddenly everything stopped at once and I saw the creepiest figure I have ever seen in my life.

A stickman figure with an off-centre head had pixels covering its entire body.

Short legs and long arms revealing its eerie body as it got closer to me.

I can't move a muscle but my eyes and I watches as it got closer and it had no face.

As it's broken hands and long fingers started wrapping around my neck a countdown of twenty seconds went off on my watch, as if this place had a self-destruct or a reset counter.

As I watched that timer count down to zero and feeling it's cold hand around me, I closed my eyes knowing it was my time.

A few seconds passed and I could feel its code sinking into my soul, choking me half to death before the whole server room suddenly disappeared along with this force holding me tight.

I fell to the ground, and it felt like my whole spirit has just been lifted.

I suddenly appear in a room with white walls and code written all over.

The whole room felt like a server of its own, each bit of code holding the life of the people in the real world.

I figured I had seen enough for a while and just wanted to leave but there was no way out.

I could only sit there on my knees and read the code in front of me.

Then I remembered I was still connected to the server computer from before and started looking for a way to shut it off.

Without understanding the code, I managed to access another portal, and it revealed itself in the wall behind me.

Literally peeling off the paint and turning the concrete into dust as it appeared.

Without hesitation I peeled off the left-over paint and entered what looks like yet another dimension.

A dimension revealing every possible reality for humankind, but little did I know once I entered, I could never return.

Once again, the figure got a hold of me, and I saw the same mailbox from before that had the names of the previous victims written on the paper.

This time, in real time, as it choked me one last time.

My name was writing itself on the letter and the world around me at once vanished into the void...

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a renowned platform celebrating literary talent from around the globe. The competition invites writers to share their unique voices and narratives, fostering a vibrant community of creative expression. Participants showcase their work across diverse categories, contributing to a rich tapestry of storytelling that captivates and inspires.

We extend our gratitude to Zane van der Linde for sharing "The Broken Script" with us as part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. This compelling short story reminds us of the power of imagination and the endless possibilities of creative writing. Thank you, Zane, for taking us on this extraordinary journey.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.