#shortstoryaday

[ihcrct]

The Primal Emotion

Have you ever known real fear?

  There’s no screaming, there’s no crying, there’s just quiet.

Your legs and your arms can’t move right, you wanna scream but can’t make a sound.

The mind in all of its complex, mysterious majesty is useless, cerebellum deep in terror.

  Have you ever known it?

  Have you ever had the universe open to you?

Ever seen all the beautiful and disgusting unknowns in the universe reach out to drag you in?

Well I have.

  I’m too old for this, much to old.

  I’ve seen the birth and death of all people, some people considered great others people considered normal, none of them were me, and they all seemed the same because-

  Did I every get around to the other part of true fear?

Yes, yes my mind gets all muddled; sometimes I start talking and just trail off.

  You see after you freeze there comes a time that the ice in your brain starts to thaw. It’s just that nature works that way. Anyway it all melts, and all the melted junk that’s left you turn into fuel, fuel for your adrenaline, and then you run. You’ll never stop running.

  Or at least I never did. 

{ Just a little thing I wrote in Math Class. Viva Revolution! Chapter 3 should be up tomorrow, and shit is about to go down. }

[ihcrct]

8/11

Peter sighed and his breath fogged the air. The short man in front of him turned around on a dime in his spot in line. 

"Hey!" he shouted. " Quit breathing down my neck!" The man stood at about his chest and Peter had to crane down his neck to get a good look at the man's face. An action which he regretted almost immediately; the face that grimaced at him was round in all the wrong places. Instead of a pair of complacent round cheeks or a gentle button nose the man was graced with a bulbous forehead that sat above a set of almost comically pointed cheeks, and a pair of  puffy eyes that sat on either side of a sharp turned up nose that sat high in the air as if to say: " Yeah me?  I'm better than you." Peter just apologized quickly to make him turn back around. 

World of Irasia fans are not the most gregarious bunch of people, but they sure as shit understood the definition of fun. Think of the collecting mania of  Pokemon + the RPG elements of Final Fantasy + the open world sandbox qualities of Grand Theft Auto +  the deep and emotional story style of Bioshock; all rolled into one. What's not to love and obsess over. 

Now Peter knew that there was nothing not love about the game and as he paced around in the November cold for the game's forth addition midnight release there were two things one his mind. 

 How he would customize his character from his head to his undies. 

The trouble that his passion would cause him if he got caught. 

The line was moving surprisingly quickly it was filled with players young and old dressed in all kinds of attire that would be shocking to any normal person, but to any well adjust nerd would just be identified as good cosplay. Most of the fans had come as many male or female variations of the main NPC  Mizeri, a mentor and friend to their character(s), he was a cool tall blond silent type with ridiculously large sword. Peter decided to stick out a bit and didn't dress up for the occasion. In all honesty he was trying to appear as plain as possible in blue jeans, a black shirt, some red converse, and a grey hoodie. 

As the line inched forward Peter was beginning to see a small section of the game store's door, his mind began to wander with excitement of being that much closer to his beloved game. The happiness almost made him block out the sound of a commotion coming from right behind him, but as the noise grew more intense he snapped back into focus. 

" Hey you just can't cut the line." He heard the woman behind him shriek. The conversation went on with the cutter ( or cutters) ignoring her " You know," she continued, " It' s my God given right to hold my place in line." 

Peter felt handful of hot breath on his neck, his eyes squeezed shut, his fists clenched, and he breathed in deep to stay calm. 

" Mr Sorrel, can you please come with us?" a slow smooth voice stated plainly, but sternly into his ear. On top of that voice the woman's rant on her first amendment rights and society's views on women. Ignoring her, the smooth voice continued on. " Now look  here Mr. Sorrel, we don't want to have to do this by force." The woman kept screaming.

" You dumb, sexist motherfuckers!" Peter looked back for a quick second to see the woman grabbing at the suits and said,

" Well I guess you're just gonna have to." Then he booked it at breakneck speed right past the line of excited nerds and into the store. Shoving past the short man standing at the counter her slammed down six ten dollar bills. He was not going to stick his neck out for thing. The baffled teenage worker behind the counter kept quickly babbling the same coporate spiel about how he couldn't force his way to the front, with a copy of the gave in hand. Peter to a peek at the store door, the suits were standing there right there with the crazy line lady in tow ( and by in tow I mean she was working on gaining her assault charges); throwing all codes of conduct out the window he snatched the game right out of the cashier's hand and stumbling towards the rows upon rows of video games dove for the first window he could find to escape.

The pain he felt all over tried to slow his body down but the adrenaline rush that the sight of the suits gave him rocketed through his heart and out through his legs making him sprint through the night. When he stopped to think about the pain he felt in his legs they would not stop. When he thought about going to prison he could not stop. And, when he passed a Wendy's and heard his tummy rumble he stopped. There was nothing in the darkness behind him, the coast seemed clear. 

[ihcrct]

8/9 Universe X

You know, like, it always blew my mind, Universe X I mean. Seriously though, think of how lucky it was that a simple merchant ship happened to be at the right place at the right time to slip through a rift in space-time. Oh, and I always fascinated how they were waiting for us on the other side. I mean i know they said they'd foreseen our coming which, it just, blows my mind. They're not so different from us you know, I mean sure they've got a few extra arms the occasional extra eye, and their hair is usually multi-colored but besides that what's the difference. They seem human on the inside, inviting us into their world with open arms.  

To all the news folks they kept telling that their world was in perfect abundance except for a food shorting that they kept on saying over and over and over again would be ending shortly. Anyway my friend went over there to visit a couple o' months ago just to visit, and he messaged all of us blokes back home after a couple of days telling us that he'd decided to stay forever; raving to us about the lush green groves of delicious exotic fruits that no man man had dared to dream of. He wrote a whole three pages on the red sandy beaches covered with fauna of extreme cuteness: Small furry lion-like creatures with huge ears like elephants, giant fish with curving fins that stretched out ten feet towards the sky; at night the citizens of Universe X would ride them into them high into the cool air, but what really convinced me was when he wrote about the cities all covered with about the cities all covered with riches familiar and some that were entirely new to him. Gold, silver, emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires, and  gems from their home planets that possessed strange colors from spectrums unseen.  

Sorry, Sorry, I'm sorry. I mean, I guess the reason I can't stop talking about it because I feel like were so close. Everyday the amount of miles we are from the portal ticks down and I can feel the distance getting shorter in my bones,  I can feel the weight of my body shift closer and closer to the paradox. 

Don't get me wrong the trip has been really nice, I'm just impatient. Though, I have to say that these guys really have a stick up their ass about safety though. Ever night we're individually doused with these oddly scented powders that smell like a weird mixture of ash and baby-powder; they say it's a cautionary health measure, and I'm I don't really mind, but I dunno. Sometimes it's like, it's like I watching them watching us. Me, I'll be smiling at them just trying to make a friend, but them? Sometimes they're not just smiling back, sometimes there's something else in their eyes. A look, like when you're at one of those restaurants where you can watch the chef work and you can't help but stare at it mouth wide open already savoring the taste. 

But again it's just a little thing,I really don't mind, it's  not really a complaint. Honestly my real complaint is that every night the room's been getting warmer. Not too warm though, just warm enough for you to feel the smallest beads of sweat to form on your crown and drive you fucking crazy. The crew says it's just a normal temporal disturbance, I think i'll trust them. We'll be there in a few days. 

[ihcrct]

8/8 Seven Minutes in Heaven

The closet grew warmer and warmer until she felt his lips press against hers'. 

"Umph!" she angrily mumbled, and immediately pulled away. From the slight light that came through a crack in the door she could see his sad eyes staring at her full of hopeless love. She cut in before he could speak. " Look, I'm flattered, but honestly I'm not into you." she tried not to sound severe, but as he crept farther back into the darkness she could tell he was hurt. 

" S-Sorry I just thought that, well Alan told me that-" She cut in again.

  " Really Alan? Well Alan lied." She folded her arms and tried to avoid looking at his shining eyes, hoping that he wouldn't speak. When he did it cut into her like a knife boring into her chest leaving her with an open wound. 

" You know ever since we were kids I've been in love with you. I mean you're always so kind to me and you never judged me because of-" Again, she cut into his spiel. 

" It's not you okay. really it's just that i'm not into-" He cut back, as he spoke his voice got softer and softer and yet more forceful like a roar. 

" What people you think are beneath you, people you pity, people you think can't get a chance, huh?" He stopped breathing heavily, with the light she could see the start of tears in his eyes.

" Um no actually, I-I was about to say men." 

They sat quietly in the darkness for what seemed like forever until she heard him breakdown into a fit of giggles and after much debate between her heart and her head she joined in. 

[ihcrct]

8/6 A Book at Sea

Day 25: The sun with no mercy and no inhibitions roasted the bare flesh off his back as he lay exhausted on the raft. The light if determination that had shined so brightly in his brown eyes had begun to dim as the heat and loneliness crept onto his weakened mind. After the rough winds and waves quit their raging he's spend hours in a maze of fitful sleep; often waking up in the mid day sun, his hands grabbing at the air in a a hopeless search for a hopeless search for a companion. Afterwards, he'd rise with his head bent lower than it'd been the day before, and he's start his routine. 1. Check Supplies 2. Row 3. Try not to Cry 4. Eat 5. Cry 6. Back to rowing Once his arms gave in to his exhaustion he'd sit cross-legged upon the raft with his only comfort. A small, thin book of macabre short stories. Content that used to fuel his worse nightmares now have him the push he needed to go on. The elaborate descriptions of morose and gaunt people forced him to remember the everyday realities of home. Sometimes he'd replace the grim characters with members of his friends and family, trying to recall every aspect of their features through fiction. On one if the quieter days he was casually flipping through his book, his arms were burning from their exhaustion when suddenly he could hear a distinct bubbling, a kind of rumbling beside the raft. Like lightening it struck without warning, the creature jostled the side of his raft. He loomed over the side of the raft to see a thin, grey fin rise up from out of the deep. "Ah!" he screamed. Was a shark? A dolphin? The creature didn't give him time to think. Against it shook the raft sending his book flying from his fingers , he lunged for it, but the thin tome had sunk into the endless sea. And, before he could dive for it the creature jostled the raft again sending him flying onto his back. Quickly, he pulled him self back onto his feet ,grabbed one of the oars, and raised it above his head. With no mercy and no inhibitions he slammed it down onto the fin over and over and over and over again until he saw it quickly swim away in pain. Breathing heavily he lowered the oar onto the boat and collapses trying to remember all the people he'd replaced in the books.

[ihcrct]

8/5 The Professor's Prize

The air was stale in the dim, wooden room. As Simon peered through the labyrinths of cobwebs that covered every available space he could only see a small, red, blinking light at the other end of the attic.

This must be where the professor’s research must be held, he thought. Ignoring the elaborate arachnid architecture he boldly made his way towards the light. As he grew near he could hear in brief bursts a high pitched sound that was most inhumane. It’s wail sent Simon’s body into a fit of shivers and he began to have second thoughts about collecting the professor’s prized gem. As the noise wore on however the metallic scream started to entrance him, the fear that had nested in his heart dissipated, and his curiosity grew unquenched.

The light was bright, almost blinding to his eye when he finally reached it. Beside the red light stood a black, metal panel set upon the rotting wooden wall. Simon put his hand upon it searching for a lock or a knob, but the cold metal was unyielding to his hand. A smooth surface had never caused anyone so much frustration. He stomped his foot in protest. Crack! The floor underneath him wobbled and fell throwing Simon head first into the dark underbelly of the mansion.

It was a few minutes or maybe a few hours before he awoke. His tongue out and his extremities splayed across the floor, nothing picture perfect. Slowly, he got up from the hard cement his eyes going wide as he regained his normal, conscious state. Before him stood the professor’s prize and immediately he wished he’d never attempted to find it.