Student Life | Issue 40

PART ONE
‘The Floating World’
BY HANNAH KING
SHORTLISTED ENTRY IN STUDENT LIFE’S SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2019.
I read this book once that talked
about something they call the
floating world. The floating world
was an expression to explain the
phenomena that occurred at night,
when mostly wealthy men would visit
the pleasure quarters and experience
all sorts of hedonistic catharsis, and
then when the morning came the
sensation disappeared. Whilst I have
never been to a pleasure district,
that’s not something a skinny girl
born on a wet, grey London day in
April 95’ normally does, something
about this phenomenon rang true.
Have you ever had a conversation
with someone once the sun has
gone down that you just wouldn’t be
able to have in the daylight? Yeah…
like that. That’s the floating world.
For us three, the floating world
looks like a room. The apartment
belongs to David and Paul; they’d
shared it since they were students.
David had done his degree in political
history and is working for an MP now;
it sounds really cool if you don’t go
into the details, but the reality is that
he isn’t changing the world yet- and
this really frustrates him. He types
up minutes from meetings mostly.
Paul on the other hand, dropped
out of his degree and went to work
as a receptionist at the hospital. He
spends most of his time researching
ways to become successful without a
degree, but I think he’s quite content
at the hospital really. Me, I stayed on
after my degree to do more learning.
I have so many ideas of what I want
to do, and I just can’t choose one.
So, I’m going to keep cramming
my head full of books and writing
papers that might be world changing
one day. But that’s not important…
I was talking about the room.
The walls are this gross faded
beige colour, and the boys have
stuck photos from over the years
all over them in this really uneven
way that bugs the hell out of me.
One day I swear I am going to
rearrange them, binning the bad
25 • 25 MARCH • ISSUE 2019 40 • STUDENT LIFE