A Writer's Quest

I am an engineering Student who likes to write.

[mrpyrolemon-blog]

Rain on a Tarp

The pitter patter of rain on tarp stirred me from my sleep. I opened my eyes, I could feel the rain as it began to slowly wash over me. It felt lukewarm as it streamed down my body. Water began to pool around my person so I began to rise.

A vicious pain tore through me, shaking me to my core. I screamed as I writhed around in the mud. The left side of my torso pulsed with fire as I held my hands to it. Tears ran down my cheeks but they were lost in the rain.

For a long time, the pain consumed me. Slowly, endlessly, time passed and the pain began to reseed. When my head began to clear, I found myself curled into a ball, weeping. I began to regroup, mentally reorganize and get my bearings. The last thing I saw before I woke up was fire. I had been eating in my house, then there had been fire and I was in the air. Then I woke up in the mud and rain. Through my confusion and pain, I turned my head to view my side. The first thing I noticed was the blood. My hands were red, a deep complete red. Blood poured from my pain and oozed to its surroundings. Methodically, the blood consumed more and more of my dress, staining it crimson. I breathed, carefully removing my hands from the pain. I winced as they moved but I kept my eyes focused. The hands removed revealed a sickly fusion of blistered flesh, singed cloth and blood. Scattered amongst the blisters I could see small ragged stones protrude from my broken skin. Blood seeped out from beneath the stones as I breathed. In the chaos there was a single place of order. In the middle of the wound there was a brand. It looked like the ghostly image of a large fish hook.

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What happened to the stories?

My goal was to do a story a day for a year and I achieved that goal. I probably won’t write anymore anytime soon. Doing a story a day really strains your creativity. I might write a story here and there if I get sudden inspiration but I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Terminus

This was it. My back was against the wall and I was running out of ammo. Desperately I grasped my weapon and held it close. It was my only comfort at this time of need. Shells casings laid flat against the floor underneath and around me. There must have been hundreds of them, all of them empty. In fact I only had one bullet left. I took a breath and loaded it in my gun. Time slowed as I pop up behind my cover, took aim, and fired. That shot rang out as it left the barrel and as it hit its mark. Just like that, it was over.

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Beyond the Sea

I swam to shore as fast as I could. I heard screams of pain and terror behind me, but I didn’t turn back. It was already too late for them, I had to think about myself. The lifeguard on the breach blew his whistle and everybody started running and getting out, and away from, the shore. Unfortunately for me I was still a good ways out. I was not going to die here. Every stroke and every kick I put all my force behind. After an agonizingly slow fifteen seconds I was only ten feet away from the beach. My hopes where quickly dashed though when my leg felt the crushing pain of the powerful jaw biting down on them. I screamed but only water filled my lungs as I was pulled out to sea.

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Wave

Waves rolled back and forth against the lava rock shore. A cool sea breeze followed and lightly shook the palm trees. Vivacious people ran across the beach and in the water. Evening came and the sun reflected off the water.

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Furious

Furious people rallied outside the precinct. Useless, that how I could describe our efforts now. Riots had already broken out all over the city, now one was starting here. In the middle of the crowd a man stood on top of a car. “Off with their heads!” the man shouted from his megaphone. Unanimously the crowd started to chant, ‘Of with their heads!” Scared officers clutched their guns, we all knew what was going to happen.

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Bell

Bells from the church rang out, sounding down the empty cobblestone streets. Echoes of shuffling feet could be heard as the door slowly closed. Lifeless buildings and stands filled the city. Little by little the city became a ghost town until nothing was left at all.

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Wreck

As I laid there everything seemed to orbit around, things like the trees all the way to the over-turned car. My head hurt like hell and I tasted blood and asphalt. That wasn’t the worst of it unfortunately, my entire right side burned because the flesh had just recently been removed. When I got thrown from the car I slide across the road about twenty feet. My left side was fine, for the most part, except for my knee that felt twisted like I had broken it. Past my knee the rest of my leg was numb, so I couldn’t really tell how bad the damage was. On the ground I thought about my options. Was my phone still in working condition? Could I stand? But my thoughts were interrupted by the close caw of a crow. After a short while of silence I continued on my train of thought, but then I heard another, more disturbing sound. It was wet sound, like what you imagine a wolf eating a deer carcass would sound like. In pain I turned my head toward the disgusting sound. To my dismay, there sat the bird eating my left leg.

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Stuck

I yawned and had a very long overdue stretch. Afterward I sat up and stepped out of my pod. My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light yet so the room was very dark. Not only was my eyesight hindered but the rest of my senses seemed numb. I could have sworn I heard someone tapping on glass but there was no else in the room. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, hoping that would help reorient myself. But again I heard the tapping so I decided to investigate. The noise seemed to be coming from the direction of Maria’s pod. Slowly I crept to the pod and leaned over the sleeping Maria. In fact she wasn’t sleeping at all. She tapped the glass again and mouthed the word ‘help’.

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Float On

The water in the river felt warm and relaxing. The gentle current massaged and carried me simultaneously to an unknown destination. That really didn’t bother me though, being in the river was simply enough. On my back I watched as day blended with night. The sun and moon sat on opposite horizons while stars dipped below the clouds and vice versa. The sun and moon never changed position, they always remained fixed in perpetual twilight. I turned my head to my right, toward the setting or rising sun. The warm, beautiful orange colors sparkled as they reflected off the surface of the water. I smiled with delight at the magnificent display before me, but soon my joy turned to fear. Without warning the water began to boil and turned crimson. Quickly I sank down to the bottom of the river. I yelled but no sound came out, only blood and water filled my lungs. I closed my eyes shut. I prayed that it would stop, and miraculously it did. Now for some reason I felt tired and beaten. Slowly I opened my eyes to find I was in a white room surrounded by dozens of people. Some I knew and some I didn’t.

“Welcome back,” one of them said.

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At the Gate

Hundreds, possibly thousands, gathered at and around the main gate to the palace. They did not come here to celebrate me, their king. No, they came with malicious intent and violence on their minds. They only sought my hands to be bound, a swift and unjust trial, and my head on a pike and my body to be hung from the church. The crowd screamed and scowled with rage. They rattled the iron bars and threw anything into the grounds that they could get their dirty hands on. The royal guards, try as they might, could not sway or calm the crowd. It was only a matter of time before they breached the palace grounds. Then I would have no choice but to kill them.

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Power of Song

I could feel my heart race as we began to exit the atmosphere. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing, but nothing I did helped. Finally I opened my eyes and looked over to my left. Joseph, the pilot, looked straight forward with a big grin plastered across his face. I couldn’t understand how he could be so calm. This was the last time we would ever see home.

“Hey Aiko, sky rockets in flight!” He began to sing.

“Afternoon delight!” she sang back.

“Stop… please,” I said, trying to contain my frustration.

“Okay, not a fan I see. How about this one then. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” he started up again.

“Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality,” Aiko followed without skipping a beat.

“Stop! How can you sing at a time like this!?” I screamed at them.

They both fell silent for a moment and just looked at me.

“Because, the power of song conquers all,” Joseph responded.

At that moment I had no retort, only sheer confusion.

“Now where were we? Right. Open your eyes…” he continued.

Their voices trailed off in my head and I was left alone with my thoughts. Only one kept coming up, and it was that this was going to be a long trip.

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Ink

Ink spilled on the page and coated the canvas. Numbing all the work that had been laid before. Killing any chance of recovery.

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Wasteland: Metal

“Rory, anything?” I asked.

“No, I can’t see anything. Must have been some ice or… wait. What the hell?” he trailed off.

“What?” I asked concerned.

He didn’t respond. I flipped to his helmet cam. The camera focused for a second and then I saw a metal hand sticking out of the ice and snow.

“What the…” I whispered into my headset.

At that moment the hand clenched and became a fist.

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Wasteland: Ping

I felt something soft whack me in the side of the head. I opened my eyes and sat up on the couch. Rubbing the side of my head I looked around the room and saw Clio smirking by her computer. I rolled my eyes and stood up and stretched.

“We have a ping,” she said.

I stopped mid-stretch and gave her a concerned look.

“It could just be some ice rolling around, but you should check out when the storm clears. Just to be safe,” she continued turning back to her monitor.

“Understood,” I replied.

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Wasteland: Tea

As I opened the door the underground facility I was blasted by warm air that had a spicy smell like cinnamon. I quickly entered and shut the door behind me, not wanting to let the cold air in. I sighed with relief that I was out of the cold and began taking off my thermal suit as I walked down the tunnel. The entire interior of the tunnel looked like it was made out of stainless steel. I knew perfectly well it wasn’t, but I still marveled at how warm the temperature in the facility was considering most of it was made out of metal. I heard the sound of static as the intercom system was turned on.

“Rory, I made you some tea to help warm you up. There’s a storm coming in about an hour so we’ll have to go into low power mode. I just wanted to give you a heads up. We’ll talk more when you get down here.” Clio stated.

I smiled, some tea sounded really good right about now.

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Wasteland: Beacon

Freezing winds cut and burned at any part of my body that was not covered up. Not wanting to spend another minute in the cold, I quickly set the beacon and activated it. The red light flickered and then pulsed slowly. I smiled and put my hand to my ear.

“Clio, it’s done. I just set the last one up,” I hollered into the radio, trying to overcome the wind.

The sound of someone drinking coffee filled my ear.

“Come on back then. It should be a while before I can map the area,” she said.

“Roger,” I replied.