UnTempered

masterpeices are not made overnight

[forgingstories]

Short Changed

“Ummm… I think this order might be wrong?”

She doesn’t say it with confidence. She doesn’t work here.

She’s no expert.

But she’s an expert at dealing with situations like this.

The cashier takes a closer look at the receipt, squinting to read the miniscule print. Pretty soon, the assistant manager is in on it too. She waits patiently. This is routine.

“We’re very sorry for the confusion.” The assistant manager says, “We overcharged you. We’ll refund you and give you a voucher for a free drink.”

“Thanks.” She adds it to the wad of ‘free vouchers’ in her wallet.

[forgingstories]

Countdown

Eight hundred and eleven million, four hundred and fifty-four thousand, seven hundred and thirty-two minutes.

He watches the hands on the analogue clock shiver as they move.

The lecture drones on.

He shifts in his desk. His fingers are poised over the keyboard to take notes.

His left pinky hits an accidental ‘a.’

Thirty-one minutes.

Could he do anything to prevent it?

He’d run the numbers long ago. It’s far away. But just one degree in environmental science wasn’t going to suffice.

Eight hundred and eleven million, four hundred and fifty-four thousand, seven hundred and thirty minutes.

Until the end.

[forgingstories]

Paper Planes

“She’s not going to hear you from here.”

“Why not?”

“Look, she’s got her headphones in and everything.”

“I’ll get her attention.”

“How?”

She’s walking fast. They ran a quick calculation in their head, muttering aloud to themselves:

“Twenty-two seconds.”

“What?”

They ignored the question. Crossing over to where their backpack sat on the roof, they rummaged through it and found a mostly uncrumpled piece of paper. Their pen scratched over the surface – a simple note – Hi!

Folds, fast and precise. Five seconds and counting. Aim and release.

The paper airplane dove and coasted right in front of her face.

[forgingstories]

The Averages

There’s probably a lot of people out there like me who wish that superpowers really existed. But what if they do? Just not on the scale that we see in fiction. What if these superpowers were just every day abilities that don’t stand out? On this premise, I’m writing a series of 100 word stories about people with average lives and average powers: The Averages.

[forgingstories]

Prologue

UnTempered will be a dumping ground for my lackluster creative endeavors. I am not a writer or an artist. I’m just here to forge stories into the gaping void of the internet.