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Sir Kemper

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Jan 21, 2010
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Snowalker said:
Sir Kemper said:
Well, i don't exactly have anything in the works, so here's something i just wrote now, mind you it's not very good:

My eye's are blurry, there's a buzzing in my ears, and something warm running down my skull. I see shadows and monsters crowded around me, there grabbing at me, pulling at my chest and yelling into my face. I try to move my arms to shove away, but my struggle is only rewarded with a sharp pain from my side. The monsters are now moveing me, dragging me out into a cold, wet road. I try to scream, to cry out for help. All i hear is a silent wimper comeing from my throat. I can feel the monsters grabbing me, shakeing me, begging me...


"Jason, stop it!"

"Oh shit...Where's the fucking ambulance?"

"Th-They said there might be delays, with the wea-"

"Get your fucking car then!"

"Jason, Wake up"



------------------------------------

Not very good huh? =/

Sorta a mix of something i read recently and something a rea a long time ago.
It just left me confused. Sorry.
Ah, Don't be sorry man, The above is again, something i wrote in a hurry, so it's not the best. Really, if i left you confused then it means i need to work on my wrighting some more =).
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
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There's already a dedicated thread for this, and like the Artist in thee thread, is regularly updated with new stories. Hence, no offence to the OP, but this thread is pretty redundant. Here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread

However, in the interests of not being a douche and of providing some sort of useful contribution, here's a story I wrote that my avatar is based on:

Red had always been told to stay out of the forest. She?d always stuck to that rule. Though her grandmother lived right in the middle, in a little old cottage surrounded by the trees, Red had never strayed off the beaten path. But she didn?t want to stick to rules forever. She was nineteen, she was a grown woman now. She didn?t need rules to keep her in check any more. So it was that she set off once more on her monthly visit to her grandmother. She was dressed in her normal gothic attire, with a red hood covering her long black hair, and carried the usual medicine and hamper, as always.

She knew it was wrong. She knew she shouldn?t do it. But Red didn?t care. For too long she?d lived by the rules of others. She wanted some fun and to see what was out there. So she left the path. Right there in the middle of the woods, she turned away from the track and entered the unknown.

It didn?t take long before she realised she was lost. There was nobody around to help, no signs to mark where she?d come from. Nothing but the same view of trees all around her. She sat down on a large tree stump and wondered what to do. She?d left her phone at home, she had no way of contacting anyone. There was nothing she could do.

?Excuse me, but I couldn?t help noticing you there alone. Are you lost?? The voice seemed to come from nowhere. Red looked around and noticed a beautiful girl, no older than Red herself, standing some distance away in the trees. The girl was the polar opposite of Red. Short, spiky blonde hair with a warm, open face. She wore dark heels with black leggings and a short 60?s style blue patterned dress. Very indie stereotype, Red thought. She walked across and sat down on the stump next to Red.
?Sorry if I startled you, you just seem like you might be lost.?
Despite having had the immortal lesson drummed in to her from an early age - don?t talk to strangers - Red felt oddly at ease. This girl didn?t seem like a bad sort, she looked around the same age as Red and seemed pretty friendly, if a little forward. ?Don?t worry about it,? she said. ?I, um, I was just on the path and I stepped off it for a moment. I?m sure I?ll be able to find my way back.?
?Are you certain? The woods are pretty big and the path?s not that easy to find. I can help if you want.?
Red was still a little unsure, though. She knew what her parents had always told her, and though she was now an adult she was still uneasy about placing her trust in a complete stranger. On the other hand, she was lost, and she didn?t know where the path was. Maybe this girl could help her.
?Okay, maybe I am lost. Do you know where to go from here??
The girl smiled, and stood up. She looked down at Red and said, ?It depends where you want to go.?
?What do you mean??
?Well, there are different paths, you see. The main path takes you to the town, or deeper into the woods. The other paths? well, who knows where they lead??
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Red felt that the last part of the sentence was a little sinister. Maybe it was just the words, or maybe it was the way the mystery girl had said it. But Red suddenly felt a chill in the air. She looked around nervously and gave a small shiver, something not lost on the newcomer.
?Something wrong??
?No, nothing.? Red wasn?t going to reveal her fears to a complete stranger. ?What?s your name, by the way??
?I should have mentioned that from the start, really, shouldn?t I? It?s Luna. You??
?I?m Scarlett, but all my friends just call me Red.?
?Red, huh? Nice name.? Luna smiled at this, then grabbed Red?s hand. ?How about we make a deal? You seem like a nice enough girl, Red. Where is it you want to go??
Red was suspicious, but she shrugged it off. ?I was heading to my grandmother?s house.?
?Oh, you mean the little cottage on the main path? I know where that is, I can get you there in about ten minutes, tops.?
?Really? What?s this deal then??
Luna smiled again, a secret smile that seemed to deny her friendly exterior. ?I can get you to where you want to go. But first, I want you to do something for me. Just one little thing.?
?And what?s that??
The smile became wider. ?A kiss. That?s all. Just a kiss.?
Red stood up and began to walk away. ?Forget it!? she called over her shoulder. ?Who the hell do you think you are? I can find my own bloody way, thank you very much.?
Luna watched her walk away. ?You?ll never find the path without my help! I?ll still be here when you decide to take me up on my little offer. Don?t worry, it won?t be as bad as it seems.?
Red stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that she wouldn?t be able to find her way back. She?d seen films like this, a bunch of students trapped in the woods, walking around in circles until they went mad with fear. She knew she had no choice. ?Do you seriously know where the path is??
?Of course. I wouldn?t say I did if I didn?t, now, would I??
?Well, I don?t know. I don?t know you. God, I don?t even know what the hell I?m doing here!? Red walked back to the stump and sat back down, with her head in her hands. ?Why did I have to leave the stupid bloody path, anyway? I should have just done what I was told to. But no, I had to leave the path, and now I?ve got some psycho lesbian blackmailing me for a stupid fucking kiss!?
Luna had been listening to Red?s rant in silence. Now she spoke up. ?It?s just one kiss, is that so hard? I promise you. I?ll take you to the path and I?ll leave you completely alone. Alright??
Red was in turmoil. She had to make a choice. After all, it was only a kiss. What harm could it do? ?God, I can?t believe I?m doing this. Alright. One kiss. That?s it.?
Luna smiled again, that same, strange smile that seemed to suggest a hint of darkness about her. ?Trust me. It?ll be enough.?

Luna leant forward and slipped her hands into Red?s open palms. She moved her head just a little closer to Red, her lips barely open and slightly pouting. Her mouth lightly brushed Red?s lower lip, just a touch. The kiss was tender, soft and gentle, nothing like Red had expected. She tried to pull away but found that she couldn?t. Luna?s kiss was like a drug that she couldn?t break free from, an addiction that slowly sucked her in until she lost herself in the feeling of euphoria. She was completely lost in the passion, an intense pleasure in the forbidden joys she was experiencing. Red had never thought she could feel like this before, least of all with another girl. It scared her, but at the same time, she was loving it. After what seemed like an age, yet still too soon, Luna pulled away and looked into Red?s eyes, smiling that smile again and holding her hands tightly. Red closed her eyes, wanting to relive the moment that had ended too quickly and feel the memory of that joy. Luna moved her lips close to Red?s ear and whispered, ?It doesn?t have to end. Not yet.?
Red smiled, matching Luna?s smile, and opened her eyes. ?What do you mean?? she whispered.
?There?s much more that I can show you. All you have to do is say the word. And I can teach you everything you want to know. I can make you feel so much more than this. All you need to do, is say yes.?
Red looked into Luna?s eyes and nodded, just once. ?Yes.? A whisper. Still holding Red?s hands, Luna drew them down to her breast, and slowly pulled the unresisting girl to the ground. Around them, the afternoon sun gradually began to fade.

Silence. When Red finally opened her eyes, she noticed an eerie silence, all around her. She looked around, but the dark was all-enveloping. Red remembered something, a fleeting memory from the day that seemed to fade as quickly as it had come to her. She tried to recall. She could remember a feeling, just a feeling of love and intense passion that had pervaded the entire afternoon. Her first and only love. She could remember fully now. She?d learned so much during the day, all other thoughts had been forgotten as she remembered the events of that perfect time. She?d never imagined in her wildest dreams (and they had been quite wild) that she would ever love another girl, nor that she would ever have that experience with a girl. Her first time. And it had been perfect.

As Red slowly recalled the memories from earlier, she began to realise something else, something important. Her grandmother! She had visited her grandmother in the forest cottage every month, on the same day, at the same time, for years. Ever since she was a little girl. It was night now, the forest was pitch black and the only light around was from a torch that Red?s mother had always made her carry. It was a precaution if she ever got lost and couldn?t get home before dark. Red checked the batteries and turned it on. It worked, thank God. She looked around and found she was alone, back on the path. Luna had kept her word then. The strange blonde girl had gone, vanished completely, but not before taking Red back to the path. Just as she?d said she would. Looking at the route ahead of her, she noticed a light through the trees. It had to be her grandmother?s cottage. Red set off at a run towards the light, knowing that her family would be worrying. She wasn?t far away from the cottage itself. Soon, she would be there.

Red reached the cottage in just a couple of minutes. But when she knocked on the door, there was no answer. Strange, she thought. And there was something else too. Red?s grandmother never left lights on in the house. She would always turn them off when leaving a room, to save on electricity bills. So why were so many lights turned on? Red started to worry. She took out the spare key from it?s hiding place in the flowerpot near the gate, and unlocked the front door. She wasn?t prepared for the sight that met her as she entered the building.

Blood was spattered on the walls. The floor was completely covered in gore, with puddles of blood everywhere. As Red walked around, she saw the same sight in the other rooms. Even upstairs, the sight was the same. The bathroom, the bedroom, even in the main kitchen. Visible on the furniture, draped over tables and chairs, were pieces of flesh, organs and lumps of meat. Red couldn?t take it any more. She stumbled outside to get some fresh air, but barely made it. As she ran out of the back door in the kitchen, she tripped on a lumpy mass that had been left strewn across the ground. She looked closer. It was her grandmother, the corpse ripped apart and the organs removed with a sharp knife. Lumps of flesh had been gouged out of the body?s arms and blood covered the remains so that they were just barely recognisable as Red?s grandmother. It was too much for Red. She ran to the well behind the house and vomited into the bucket that stood on top of the well cover. She kept vomiting until there was nothing left, until she was bringing up the acid in her stomach. Her throat hurt and she had nowhere to go but home. She didn?t have her phone, she couldn?t call for help. The cable for the landline inside the house had been cut. There was no way of contacting anybody. Red was completely alone.

She ran through the woods. She didn?t care about staying on the path anymore. She?d dropped her torch back at the house, but by now her eyes had adapted to the dark. She still couldn?t see much, but she could see just enough for her to avoid any major obstacles. Nevertheless, by the time she saw a light through the trees, like a campfire, Red was already bruised and scratched all over. She decided to head for the light. There had to be someone there who could help, someone with a phone perhaps, or who knew a way out of the forest. She moved into a clearing with an open fire in the middle. Red had no idea of the shock that she was about to receive.

Luna was there. Sitting alone by the fire, with her back to Red, she hadn?t noticed the bruised and bloody girl walking slowly towards her from behind. Red didn?t know what to say, what to do. The passion from hours before was all but forgotten, replaced by an insatiable curiosity and suspicion regarding Luna?s presence here. As Red moved closer to her she could see crimson spots on the bright blue dress the girl was wearing. She moved around, to stand between Luna and the fire.
?Why are you still here??
If Luna was alarmed by Red?s presence, she hid it well. ?So, you found me. Well done. Perhaps we can play again. I?m sure you enjoyed the - games - we played today, right??
?Where did you go when you left me?? Red wasn?t interested in idle chatter. She wanted answers. And she wanted them now.
?Cutting right to the chase. You weren?t so abrupt this afternoon. I enjoyed it more then. You?re no fun now.? Luna stifled a yawn and turned her back to Red and the fire, staring into the darkness.
?There?s blood on your dress, Luna. I want to know. Where did you go??
Luna waited for a few seconds, then turned back to look at Red, straight in the eyes. ?Did you enjoy the little gift I left you??
Red felt like tearing Luna?s arms from their sockets. She felt like ripping Luna limb from limb and spitting in her face, she wanted to destroy the girl who had made her feel love for the first time, for what the ***** had done. ?Who are you? Why did you kill my grandmother? What was she to you? Just give me a straight fucking answer! Tell me now, or I swear I?ll murder you right here, you fucking whore!? As she screamed at Luna, Red grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her to her feet, shaking her with every word. All the while, Luna just stared blankly ahead, as if nothing Red did to her could possibly matter.
?It?s no use now, Red. What?s done is done. I know you took the knife. I know you want to use it. Go ahead. It doesn?t matter now.?
Red had gone back to the house after she?d been sick. It had taken every ounce of strength to force herself to go back in there, but she had. She?d taken a long kitchen knife for protection, since she had no idea what was waiting for her in the darkness. It was tucked into her belt, over the skirt. The strength it had taken to go back into that slaughterhouse was nothing compared to the restraint she now had to focus on to stop her from stabbing Luna to death.
?I?m not like you. I?m nothing like you!?
?Say what you like, Red. I know you. You?re like me. You always will be. And I know you want to rip me apart and throw the bits into the fire, so just do it. It won?t make things better. But it?s a start.? Luna spoke calmly, as though what she had done had no effect on her whatsoever. It was a testament to her strength of character that she could look Red in the eye and still say those words. She knew she was facing death. And she didn?t care.

It didn?t take long for Red to finish the job. She couldn?t hold back the rage any longer. By the end of it, Luna was nothing but a pile of limbs and organs piled up next to the fire. Just like Red?s grandmother. Red threw the bits into the fire, then curled up and wept.

When the search party came across the cottage they only had to take a single glimpse through the open front door to see the carnage that had taken place. Soon the police were undertaking a massive manhunt, searching for the missing girl and the brutal murderer. When rescuers came across the clearing with the fire still burning brightly in the early hours of the morning, they found a young woman in goth dress covered in blood, laughing hysterically in front of the flames. Beside her was a head, just a head with short, spiky blonde hair. The police arrived on the scene almost instantly. As the girl was led towards the waiting police car, nobody noticed a girl in a bright blue vintage dress, black leggings, and high heels, smiling and staring into the flames.

I've lost count of how many times I've posted that on this site. I really need to hurry up and finish Hansel and Gretel before the end of the week...
 

Snowalker

New member
Nov 8, 2008
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lacktheknack said:
WARNING: LOOOOOOONG.

Only took me three hours to write. Kudos if you can figure out the inspirational game here.

<spoiler=Purgatory>Liam sits there on a bench, in the middle of nowhere.

And when I say nowhere, that's exactly what I mean. There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

But he knows that it couldn't be forever. He has memories, lovely memories. Memories of a family. His mother, father, two sisters, a baby brother. He can barely remember their names. The brother was named Jared. The elder sister was Amy. He can't remember the others. He can't even remember his brother being older than a baby. Why? Liam himself is twenty eight, his sister is, no, was twenty nine. He doesn't know how he remembers that, but he does. He often struggles to visualize his brother. It is always the same, an eight month old, or younger, with rolls of baby fat and an impetuous little smile that charmed through the coldest demeanor. Where is he now? Where is his family now?

Where is anyone?

The bench is a deep black, obsidian structure. It was incredibly well sculpted, with glimmering surfaces that one can swear they see shapes, faces specifically, until you try to focus on them, and they vanish. Its appearance and style is that of Gothic intricacies, impossibly complex in so many minute ways, to achieve such a basic effect. One odd feature of the bench is the seat itself. It has incredibly sharp edges, miniature cliffs within the seat such that if you sat on it, it could cut your backside easily. Liam sits on the bench gingerly, trying not to apply too much pressure to any of the sharp edges. He surveys both sides of the bench, trying to clear his head of the omnipresent muddle.

The bench isn't symmetrical, he notices. One side has a rough carving on it, which the other side doesn't. It stands out clearly and glaringly against the intricate carvings. He leans over carefully to examine it. It's a word, no, a name.

JASMINE

Every muscle clenches within him, and the sharp edge tears through his trousers, drawing blood. Liam launches upright onto his feet with a shriek. The back of his jeans are completely torn, half the fabric is missing. Through it, you can see many scars on his buttocks and thighs, almost parallel to each other. He moans in pain and stands there for an hour, wishing he hadn't seen the name. He stands there, thoughts empty, until the bleeding stops. He gingerly sits down, all thoughts of what just happened erased. Except for the name. Jasmine.

Unlike the names of his family, the name Jasmine rings through loud and true. She was his girlfriend - no, they were engaged to be married - no, they WERE married. They had personified perfect compatibility and love. She was a strangely silent girl, he had a bit of an issue with silence and talked a lot. She would always listen and respond, he knew that she could hear him, care about him. She suffered arrhythmia, and was always weak. He loved being depended on for a reason he couldn't explain, and he always felt... well, complete when he carried her. She loved him dearly and told him so often, he loved her back with a love that he felt sure could, and must have, far overflowed anything she felt.

It disturbs Liam that he can remember her so vividly when everyone else is faded. He can't imagine why.

In the distance, he can see a silhouette of someone walking towards him. He can't imagine who it would be. They walk with a limping gait, and even from here, he can see that they are in distress. He sits and stares.

He thinks of Jasmine as it approaches. The walk through the forest valley with her perched upon his back. She was laughing, asking him to run, to go faster. She never had moved so fast outside of a motorized vehicle. She could barely walk, let alone run. He felt so happy that day. She had, too. He was sure of it. She had waved a camera around as he ran, snapping photos. The expression on her face was so perfect, he was sure he'd never forget it.

The figure, still far off, has fallen. It struggles, and somehow stands up. It continues to limp - no, stagger - towards him. He continues to stare, and remember.

He remembers the day they had rushed to the hospital when she had a heart attack. She had recovered fully, and tenderly, timidly smiled at him from the hospital bed, where he had spent hours alternately crying and worrying. He had felt so many of his concerns just melt away. It was amazing the power a smile had on people.

He remembered the day she had arranged a surprise party for his twenty-fifth birthday. So many friends had been there when he got home from work, there was - there was - who was there? He saw many figures, about half masculine, half feminine, and all wearing incredibly similar clothes. All the men moved in sync, as did all the women. But in his mind, all of their faces were missing... it was a grotesque, surreal effect, and he felt a bit nauseous as he remembered it. Jasmine's face wasn't like that, she sat in the chair in the middle of the floor, smiling.

The figure is in front of him, suddenly - and Liam is stunned. It's Jasmine! She stands there, lips quivering, legs shaking! Her lips part, a musical voice floats past him.

"Liam..."

Liam runs toward her, hoping to scoop her up into his arms, to wipe away all the simultaneous emptiness and muddle that he feels. He longs to carry her. To tell her that everything is okay, to have her wrap her arms around his neck. His arms extend to her, and hers toward him. Like a mirror.

And then, out of nowhere, two cars have a head-on collision with Jasmine in between. It's a sight so surreal, so unexpected that Liam drops his arms and stops running. He can only stare in confusion and mounting horror.

Jasmine's eyes widen, and she dies. The cars caught her at the waist, so she flops over ungracefully forward between the small gap between the accordion car fronts.

Liam stares. Neither car's airbag has deployed, nor have their windshields been more than cracked, so he can see the drivers clearly. In one car, the driver is a woman in a red sweater, but her face is entirely blank. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any distinguishing feature. It is difficult to tell, though, for her head won't stay still. If he attempts to focus on any one part of it, the head simply jerks out of the way. In his peripheral vision, he can see that it shakes in such a way and speed as to blur any features it may have, anyway.

As bizarre as the one visage is, the other catches his attention, and is that much more horrible. He blinks and tried to adjust his vision, hoping to reveal that the driver is simply hidden behind a piece of sheared, shiny metal. But there isn't any mistaking it, it isn't a reflection, it is himself! He screams a hopeless scream. The figure in the car does the same. Tears come spilling down his cheeks, tears spill down his doppelganger's as well. The grim scene leaps to his memory, he had been driving, and Jasmine had turned and said something - he had turned his head - he had stopped looking at the road - and he can't remember what had happened. So that was it. He is dead. He is in hell. It is his fate to experience this tragedy, probably over and over, and feel this twisting guilt for eternity. His inattentiveness had killed Jasmine, and the devil wants him to know it.

He turns to run. In only a few steps, he runs straight into the bench. It cuts deeply into his calves. He partly bounces, partly jumps back, and falls over. His breath was heavy. He doesn't believe what he has just witnessed. It can't be true. It very well might not be - the cars and corpse have vanished. But the memory won't go away. He begins to cry heavily, throwing his anger and shame to the nothingness around him. He cries for - for - he doesn't know how long. Probably days. Probably years.

He cries until he can't remember why he is crying.

He lies there for hours afterward, trying to remember who he is, where he is, or anything. His mind is in a muddle. He notices that the ground is quite hot beneath him, and he feels uncomfortable. He carefully stands up, noticing that his backside and calves hurt. He glances around, and there, a few feet away from him, is a bench. It is made of obsidian, and has intricate carvings all over it. He gingerly touches it. He notices that parts of it are very sharp, but cool. It must be better than the ground to sit on. He lowers himself onto it carefully. He sits there for days, not feeling anything.

Gradually, he begins to survey his surroundings.

There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

***********************

Amy enters the hospital room. She talks to the doctor, inquiring anxiously about her brother's status. Her mother and father had already lost one child, and at such a young age! Was her brother doomed to the same fate? The news is happy, although he is still in a coma, even after two days, he is responding to medication. It's just a matter of time. He has a 98% chance of full recovery. Amy breathes a sigh of relief. She stands there, reminiscing of her best friend, her brother. She looks up, and asks about Jasmine. She's in a coma as well, but as long as the medicines don't wreck her poor heart, which was unlikely, she has an excellent chance of recovering as well. Possible as high as 95%. Amy crosses into the other room, and stares tenderly at the woman in the hospital bed. She is also in a coma, and looks incredibly weak and spent. Amy caresses her hair, utters a simple prayer over both of them, and leaves to bring the wonderful news to her parents.

***********************

Jasmine leans against a wall. She is sitting on a white chair, so clean and pure that she can barely see it against the pure white wall, the pure white floor, the pure white nothingness stretching for miles off in each direction. Her mind is muddled, and can barely hold coherent thoughts. In front of her is a beautiful, black obsidian wall with hundreds of intricate Gothic carvings engraved into it. She has been staring at it for - for - decades, it seems. She stares at it more, admiring the amazing architecture in front of her. Suddenly, she sees a piece of ugliness.

It's carved like the rest of it, but a word has been carved over what was behind it. She squints to see the word better.

LIAM

A horrible chill resonates through her body...
Thats sounds about like hell to me. Nice, a lot better than anything I could write.
 

Pimppeter2

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Dec 31, 2008
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Here, I found something I can post for now

Il était une fois, il y avait duex poulets que vivaient dans le Provence. Ils ont aimé des bois, la montagne, les arbres, et les cigales trop. Mais, Ils ont souhaité aller a la cite, ils croyaient qu?il etait meiux. Le poulet qui nommé Marc voulait être un prof, et le poulet s?appelle Jean a souhaité un pompier. Un jour, Paul et Marc ont travaillé et sauvé becoupe de l?argent pour la voyage. Ils ont demandé autres animals pour les tâches pour recueillir des fonds. Assez tôt, ils avaient assez l?argent pour aller à la cite.Ils ont fait leurs bagages, et quitte la forêt pour trouver du travail dans le Paris. A Paris, ils ont trouvé beaucoup de choses à faire pour passer une journey. Ils ont regardé des pièces de theater, écouté les orchestras, et joué des sports. Ils avaient besoin d?argent pour payer our leurs activités. Ils ont décidé de travailler dans un restaurant, Mais le chef a décidé faire des rôtis pour ses clients. Il les a pris à le fond, et il a prepare un casserole pour de les faire cuire dans. Il a mis beaucoup de choses dans le rôtis. Oignons, carottes, poivrons, sel, poivre. Heureusement pour les poulets, un chat noir les vit, et dit: ?La clé est dans sa poche?. Tandis que le chef ajouter des épices, le chat et les poulets a volé la clé du chef. Rapidement, la gauche la cuisine et retourné au le Provence. Quand les autres animaux demandé à propos du voyage, les poulets ne voulait pas parler. Le lion, le roi de la forêt, ne pouvait pas les faire parler. Une chose est certaine, Marc et Jean n'ont jamais quitté la forêt de nouveau
 

Snowalker

New member
Nov 8, 2008
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Trivun said:
There's already a dedicated thread for this, and like the Artist in thee thread, is regularly updated with new stories. Hence, no offence to the OP, but this thread is pretty redundant. Here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread
No offense, but I hadn't seen anyone post in that in ages, so I just thought it would be nice to refresh it. I said that in the OP, but who reads that, right?
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
WARNING: LOOOOOOONG.

Only took me three hours to write. Kudos if you can figure out the inspirational game here.

<spoiler=Purgatory>Liam sits there on a bench, in the middle of nowhere.

And when I say nowhere, that's exactly what I mean. There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

But he knows that it couldn't be forever. He has memories, lovely memories. Memories of a family. His mother, father, two sisters, a baby brother. He can barely remember their names. The brother was named Jared. The elder sister was Amy. He can't remember the others. He can't even remember his brother being older than a baby. Why? Liam himself is twenty eight, his sister is, no, was twenty nine. He doesn't know how he remembers that, but he does. He often struggles to visualize his brother. It is always the same, an eight month old, or younger, with rolls of baby fat and an impetuous little smile that charmed through the coldest demeanor. Where is he now? Where is his family now?

Where is anyone?

The bench is a deep black, obsidian structure. It was incredibly well sculpted, with glimmering surfaces that one can swear they see shapes, faces specifically, until you try to focus on them, and they vanish. Its appearance and style is that of Gothic intricacies, impossibly complex in so many minute ways, to achieve such a basic effect. One odd feature of the bench is the seat itself. It has incredibly sharp edges, miniature cliffs within the seat such that if you sat on it, it could cut your backside easily. Liam sits on the bench gingerly, trying not to apply too much pressure to any of the sharp edges. He surveys both sides of the bench, trying to clear his head of the omnipresent muddle.

The bench isn't symmetrical, he notices. One side has a rough carving on it, which the other side doesn't. It stands out clearly and glaringly against the intricate carvings. He leans over carefully to examine it. It's a word, no, a name.

JASMINE

Every muscle clenches within him, and the sharp edge tears through his trousers, drawing blood. Liam launches upright onto his feet with a shriek. The back of his jeans are completely torn, half the fabric is missing. Through it, you can see many scars on his buttocks and thighs, almost parallel to each other. He moans in pain and stands there for an hour, wishing he hadn't seen the name. He stands there, thoughts empty, until the bleeding stops. He gingerly sits down, all thoughts of what just happened erased. Except for the name. Jasmine.

Unlike the names of his family, the name Jasmine rings through loud and true. She was his girlfriend - no, they were engaged to be married - no, they WERE married. They had personified perfect compatibility and love. She was a strangely silent girl, he had a bit of an issue with silence and talked a lot. She would always listen and respond, he knew that she could hear him, care about him. She suffered arrhythmia, and was always weak. He loved being depended on for a reason he couldn't explain, and he always felt... well, complete when he carried her. She loved him dearly and told him so often, he loved her back with a love that he felt sure could, and must have, far overflowed anything she felt.

It disturbs Liam that he can remember her so vividly when everyone else is faded. He can't imagine why.

In the distance, he can see a silhouette of someone walking towards him. He can't imagine who it would be. They walk with a limping gait, and even from here, he can see that they are in distress. He sits and stares.

He thinks of Jasmine as it approaches. The walk through the forest valley with her perched upon his back. She was laughing, asking him to run, to go faster. She never had moved so fast outside of a motorized vehicle. She could barely walk, let alone run. He felt so happy that day. She had, too. He was sure of it. She had waved a camera around as he ran, snapping photos. The expression on her face was so perfect, he was sure he'd never forget it.

The figure, still far off, has fallen. It struggles, and somehow stands up. It continues to limp - no, stagger - towards him. He continues to stare, and remember.

He remembers the day they had rushed to the hospital when she had a heart attack. She had recovered fully, and tenderly, timidly smiled at him from the hospital bed, where he had spent hours alternately crying and worrying. He had felt so many of his concerns just melt away. It was amazing the power a smile had on people.

He remembered the day she had arranged a surprise party for his twenty-fifth birthday. So many friends had been there when he got home from work, there was - there was - who was there? He saw many figures, about half masculine, half feminine, and all wearing incredibly similar clothes. All the men moved in sync, as did all the women. But in his mind, all of their faces were missing... it was a grotesque, surreal effect, and he felt a bit nauseous as he remembered it. Jasmine's face wasn't like that, she sat in the chair in the middle of the floor, smiling.

The figure is in front of him, suddenly - and Liam is stunned. It's Jasmine! She stands there, lips quivering, legs shaking! Her lips part, a musical voice floats past him.

"Liam..."

Liam runs toward her, hoping to scoop her up into his arms, to wipe away all the simultaneous emptiness and muddle that he feels. He longs to carry her. To tell her that everything is okay, to have her wrap her arms around his neck. His arms extend to her, and hers toward him. Like a mirror.

And then, out of nowhere, two cars have a head-on collision with Jasmine in between. It's a sight so surreal, so unexpected that Liam drops his arms and stops running. He can only stare in confusion and mounting horror.

Jasmine's eyes widen, and she dies. The cars caught her at the waist, so she flops over ungracefully forward between the small gap between the accordion car fronts.

Liam stares. Neither car's airbag has deployed, nor have their windshields been more than cracked, so he can see the drivers clearly. In one car, the driver is a woman in a red sweater, but her face is entirely blank. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any distinguishing feature. It is difficult to tell, though, for her head won't stay still. If he attempts to focus on any one part of it, the head simply jerks out of the way. In his peripheral vision, he can see that it shakes in such a way and speed as to blur any features it may have, anyway.

As bizarre as the one visage is, the other catches his attention, and is that much more horrible. He blinks and tried to adjust his vision, hoping to reveal that the driver is simply hidden behind a piece of sheared, shiny metal. But there isn't any mistaking it, it isn't a reflection, it is himself! He screams a hopeless scream. The figure in the car does the same. Tears come spilling down his cheeks, tears spill down his doppelganger's as well. The grim scene leaps to his memory, he had been driving, and Jasmine had turned and said something - he had turned his head - he had stopped looking at the road - and he can't remember what had happened. So that was it. He is dead. He is in hell. It is his fate to experience this tragedy, probably over and over, and feel this twisting guilt for eternity. His inattentiveness had killed Jasmine, and the devil wants him to know it.

He turns to run. In only a few steps, he runs straight into the bench. It cuts deeply into his calves. He partly bounces, partly jumps back, and falls over. His breath was heavy. He doesn't believe what he has just witnessed. It can't be true. It very well might not be - the cars and corpse have vanished. But the memory won't go away. He begins to cry heavily, throwing his anger and shame to the nothingness around him. He cries for - for - he doesn't know how long. Probably days. Probably years.

He cries until he can't remember why he is crying.

He lies there for hours afterward, trying to remember who he is, where he is, or anything. His mind is in a muddle. He notices that the ground is quite hot beneath him, and he feels uncomfortable. He carefully stands up, noticing that his backside and calves hurt. He glances around, and there, a few feet away from him, is a bench. It is made of obsidian, and has intricate carvings all over it. He gingerly touches it. He notices that parts of it are very sharp, but cool. It must be better than the ground to sit on. He lowers himself onto it carefully. He sits there for days, not feeling anything.

Gradually, he begins to survey his surroundings.

There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

***********************

Amy enters the hospital room. She talks to the doctor, inquiring anxiously about her brother's status. Her mother and father had already lost one child, and at such a young age! Was her brother doomed to the same fate? The news is happy, although he is still in a coma, even after two days, he is responding to medication. It's just a matter of time. He has a 98% chance of full recovery. Amy breathes a sigh of relief. She stands there, reminiscing of her best friend, her brother. She looks up, and asks about Jasmine. She's in a coma as well, but as long as the medicines don't wreck her poor heart, which was unlikely, she has an excellent chance of recovering as well. Possible as high as 95%. Amy crosses into the other room, and stares tenderly at the woman in the hospital bed. She is also in a coma, and looks incredibly weak and spent. Amy caresses her hair, utters a simple prayer over both of them, and leaves to bring the wonderful news to her parents.

***********************

Jasmine leans against a wall. She is sitting on a white chair, so clean and pure that she can barely see it against the pure white wall, the pure white floor, the pure white nothingness stretching for miles off in each direction. Her mind is muddled, and can barely hold coherent thoughts. In front of her is a beautiful, black obsidian wall with hundreds of intricate Gothic carvings engraved into it. She has been staring at it for - for - decades, it seems. She stares at it more, admiring the amazing architecture in front of her. Suddenly, she sees a piece of ugliness.

It's carved like the rest of it, but a word has been carved over what was behind it. She squints to see the word better.

LIAM

A horrible chill resonates through her body...
Thats sounds about like hell to me. Nice, a lot better than anything I could write.
Thanks. You gave yourself a hint, I give you an internet cookie if you can guess the game that inspired it.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,305
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Pimppeter2 said:
Here, I found something I can post for now

Il était une fois, il y avait duex poulets que vivaient dans le Provence. Ils ont aimé des bois, la montagne, les arbres, et les cigales trop. Mais, Ils ont souhaité aller a la cite, ils croyaient qu?il etait meiux. Le poulet qui nommé Marc voulait être un prof, et le poulet s?appelle Jean a souhaité un pompier. Un jour, Paul et Marc ont travaillé et sauvé becoupe de l?argent pour la voyage. Ils ont demandé autres animals pour les tâches pour recueillir des fonds. Assez tôt, ils avaient assez l?argent pour aller à la cite.Ils ont fait leurs bagages, et quitte la forêt pour trouver du travail dans le Paris. A Paris, ils ont trouvé beaucoup de choses à faire pour passer une journey. Ils ont regardé des pièces de theater, écouté les orchestras, et joué des sports. Ils avaient besoin d?argent pour payer our leurs activités. Ils ont décidé de travailler dans un restaurant, Mais le chef a décidé faire des rôtis pour ses clients. Il les a pris à le fond, et il a prepare un casserole pour de les faire cuire dans. Il a mis beaucoup de choses dans le rôtis. Oignons, carottes, poivrons, sel, poivre. Heureusement pour les poulets, un chat noir les vit, et dit: ?La clé est dans sa poche?. Tandis que le chef ajouter des épices, le chat et les poulets a volé la clé du chef. Rapidement, la gauche la cuisine et retourné au le Provence. Quand les autres animaux demandé à propos du voyage, les poulets ne voulait pas parler. Le lion, le roi de la forêt, ne pouvait pas les faire parler. Une chose est certaine, Marc et Jean n'ont jamais quitté la forêt de nouveau
off to BabelFish I go...

It &#40225; it once, there was duex chickens which lived in Provence. They have aim &#38948; are wood, the mountain, the trees, and the cicadas too. But, They have wish &#38945; ller with quotes, they believed qu' it was meiux. The chicken which name &#38925; arc wanted &#44338; E a teacher, and the chicken s' call Jean has wish &#38965; N fireman. One day, Paul and Marc have travaill &#38949; T sauv &#38946; scoop of l' money for the voyage. They have demand &#38945; utres animals for the t&#10472;es to collect funds. Enough T &#19756; they had enough l' money to go &#2092; has quotes. They made their luggage, and leaves for &#44320; to find work in Paris. In Paris, they have trouv &#38946; eaucoup things &#2086; surface to pass a journey. They have glance &#38948; are pi &#35045; S of theater, &#39151; C &#38956; be orchestrated, and jou &#38948; be sports. They needed d' money to pay our their activit &#40174; They has D &#39145; D &#38948; E to work in a restaurant, But the chief has D &#39145; D &#38950; surface of the R &#19753; S for his customers. He took them &#2092; E melts, and he has prepares a pan for making them cook in. He put many things in the R &#19753; S. Onions, carrots, sweet peppers, salt, pepper. Fortunately for chickens, a black cat saw them, and known as: " Cl &#38949; St in its poche". While the chief to add &#39977; these, the cat and chickens has flight &#38956; has Cl &#38948; U chief. Quickly, left kitchen and retourn &#38945; U Provence. When the other animals demand &#38944; matter of the voyage, the chickens did not want to speak. The lion, the king of for &#44332; could not make them speak. A thing is certain, Marc and Jean n' never have quitt &#38956; has for &#44320; the again one

Nope, still gibberish.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
0
0
Snowalker said:
Trivun said:
There's already a dedicated thread for this, and like the Artist in thee thread, is regularly updated with new stories. Hence, no offence to the OP, but this thread is pretty redundant. Here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread
No offense, but I hadn't seen anyone post in that in ages, so I just thought it would be nice to refresh it. I said that in the OP, but who reads that, right?
No problem. However, checking the thread again, there were plenty of posts on Sunday, and I myself posted in it earlier tonight. So it is in fact still in constant use. 10 pages long now though, so really you need to skip right to the very end to see :)
 

stinkypitz

New member
Jan 7, 2008
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Heres something I'm writing on the spot for the hell of it:

Sleeping is such a strange thing, yet it is regarded as an everyday chore by most, a necessary gear in the clockwork of life. There is so much more there, there is nothing that can't be discovered by delving into the unconscious mind. So that is exactly what I intended to do.

It took such a long time, an unspeakable amount of hours that blended and fused into each other as I did the same calculations over again in my mind for days on end. In the search for enlightenment my brain began to rot, as did my eyes, and most of all my bones. After all this toil, my work finally came to fruition on one glorious evening, when the pale orange moon lit the tranquil night. I had done it, I had devised a way to manipulate ones dreams to ones own will. Sure, you have the "lucid dreamers" who can imagine things while sleeping to a certain extent, but it is all still so diffuse, so dim. I created a way to go on a journey into ones own psyche to see what really lies there, to see what their mind was really made of.

This is not the sort of thing you can test on lab rats or monkeys, this was special. It was also very volatile and experimental, not many were willing to subject themselves to such a strange and unheard of experiment, and those who were simply wanted compensation, not knowledge and insight. So I did what any self-respecting man of science would have done, and had a dose of my own concoction (under heavy surveillance, of course).

The first thing that happened was an alarming sense of deja-vu. I saw the same tinted orange moon again, only this time it seemed to bob and sway on the horizon, playing a cosmic game of jump-rope with my head. I saw numbers, in fact, all I saw was numbers for a long time. Looking back, I suspect that was because of all the prior research I did in bio-chemistry to make this substance, and my introspect was starting with my most recent memories. So far, so sane. I did feel a sense of despair, because try as I might, I did not really control what was happening, I was just a passenger on a roller-coaster. Little did I know that I was only making the slow ascent before the plunge.

The blackness came like a swarm of locusts, surrounding and devouring me under its ravenous embrace. For a long time it is all that I was, a shadow devouring itself from the inside out. I am not one for the occult, but I felt an overwhelming sensation that a malevolent force was intruding upon my exhibition.

After a long period of what I can only look back on as "The Terror", there came a crack in the now stone solid darkness. Emerging from this chasm were green bubbles, fizzing and popping. They brought to me a feeling of pestilence and condemnation, as if a bright white light should be shining from this crevice, but it was instead impeded by this repulsive and sickly barrier. As my black thoughts subsided, my natural curiosity took hold. I came to the realization that my mind functioned as if conscious, I could think for myself and control what went on inside what seemed to be my thoughts. How could my scientific curiosity emerge if I were merely the nomadic specter I usually am whilst dreaming? Fascinated, I drew closer to the now virulent and sickening chasm. As I looked down through it, I saw that this barrier was the gateway to all that existed to me. I saw, through a sage filter, my memories and trials, my loves and hates. Seeing no other way, I dove through to the other side.

(way longer than I expected, I wont continue for now, if I do theres no telling how long I could ramble on for, though that is not how I intend it to end.)
 

Snowalker

New member
Nov 8, 2008
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lacktheknack said:
Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
WARNING: LOOOOOOONG.

Only took me three hours to write. Kudos if you can figure out the inspirational game here.

<spoiler=Purgatory>Liam sits there on a bench, in the middle of nowhere.

And when I say nowhere, that's exactly what I mean. There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

But he knows that it couldn't be forever. He has memories, lovely memories. Memories of a family. His mother, father, two sisters, a baby brother. He can barely remember their names. The brother was named Jared. The elder sister was Amy. He can't remember the others. He can't even remember his brother being older than a baby. Why? Liam himself is twenty eight, his sister is, no, was twenty nine. He doesn't know how he remembers that, but he does. He often struggles to visualize his brother. It is always the same, an eight month old, or younger, with rolls of baby fat and an impetuous little smile that charmed through the coldest demeanor. Where is he now? Where is his family now?

Where is anyone?

The bench is a deep black, obsidian structure. It was incredibly well sculpted, with glimmering surfaces that one can swear they see shapes, faces specifically, until you try to focus on them, and they vanish. Its appearance and style is that of Gothic intricacies, impossibly complex in so many minute ways, to achieve such a basic effect. One odd feature of the bench is the seat itself. It has incredibly sharp edges, miniature cliffs within the seat such that if you sat on it, it could cut your backside easily. Liam sits on the bench gingerly, trying not to apply too much pressure to any of the sharp edges. He surveys both sides of the bench, trying to clear his head of the omnipresent muddle.

The bench isn't symmetrical, he notices. One side has a rough carving on it, which the other side doesn't. It stands out clearly and glaringly against the intricate carvings. He leans over carefully to examine it. It's a word, no, a name.

JASMINE

Every muscle clenches within him, and the sharp edge tears through his trousers, drawing blood. Liam launches upright onto his feet with a shriek. The back of his jeans are completely torn, half the fabric is missing. Through it, you can see many scars on his buttocks and thighs, almost parallel to each other. He moans in pain and stands there for an hour, wishing he hadn't seen the name. He stands there, thoughts empty, until the bleeding stops. He gingerly sits down, all thoughts of what just happened erased. Except for the name. Jasmine.

Unlike the names of his family, the name Jasmine rings through loud and true. She was his girlfriend - no, they were engaged to be married - no, they WERE married. They had personified perfect compatibility and love. She was a strangely silent girl, he had a bit of an issue with silence and talked a lot. She would always listen and respond, he knew that she could hear him, care about him. She suffered arrhythmia, and was always weak. He loved being depended on for a reason he couldn't explain, and he always felt... well, complete when he carried her. She loved him dearly and told him so often, he loved her back with a love that he felt sure could, and must have, far overflowed anything she felt.

It disturbs Liam that he can remember her so vividly when everyone else is faded. He can't imagine why.

In the distance, he can see a silhouette of someone walking towards him. He can't imagine who it would be. They walk with a limping gait, and even from here, he can see that they are in distress. He sits and stares.

He thinks of Jasmine as it approaches. The walk through the forest valley with her perched upon his back. She was laughing, asking him to run, to go faster. She never had moved so fast outside of a motorized vehicle. She could barely walk, let alone run. He felt so happy that day. She had, too. He was sure of it. She had waved a camera around as he ran, snapping photos. The expression on her face was so perfect, he was sure he'd never forget it.

The figure, still far off, has fallen. It struggles, and somehow stands up. It continues to limp - no, stagger - towards him. He continues to stare, and remember.

He remembers the day they had rushed to the hospital when she had a heart attack. She had recovered fully, and tenderly, timidly smiled at him from the hospital bed, where he had spent hours alternately crying and worrying. He had felt so many of his concerns just melt away. It was amazing the power a smile had on people.

He remembered the day she had arranged a surprise party for his twenty-fifth birthday. So many friends had been there when he got home from work, there was - there was - who was there? He saw many figures, about half masculine, half feminine, and all wearing incredibly similar clothes. All the men moved in sync, as did all the women. But in his mind, all of their faces were missing... it was a grotesque, surreal effect, and he felt a bit nauseous as he remembered it. Jasmine's face wasn't like that, she sat in the chair in the middle of the floor, smiling.

The figure is in front of him, suddenly - and Liam is stunned. It's Jasmine! She stands there, lips quivering, legs shaking! Her lips part, a musical voice floats past him.

"Liam..."

Liam runs toward her, hoping to scoop her up into his arms, to wipe away all the simultaneous emptiness and muddle that he feels. He longs to carry her. To tell her that everything is okay, to have her wrap her arms around his neck. His arms extend to her, and hers toward him. Like a mirror.

And then, out of nowhere, two cars have a head-on collision with Jasmine in between. It's a sight so surreal, so unexpected that Liam drops his arms and stops running. He can only stare in confusion and mounting horror.

Jasmine's eyes widen, and she dies. The cars caught her at the waist, so she flops over ungracefully forward between the small gap between the accordion car fronts.

Liam stares. Neither car's airbag has deployed, nor have their windshields been more than cracked, so he can see the drivers clearly. In one car, the driver is a woman in a red sweater, but her face is entirely blank. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any distinguishing feature. It is difficult to tell, though, for her head won't stay still. If he attempts to focus on any one part of it, the head simply jerks out of the way. In his peripheral vision, he can see that it shakes in such a way and speed as to blur any features it may have, anyway.

As bizarre as the one visage is, the other catches his attention, and is that much more horrible. He blinks and tried to adjust his vision, hoping to reveal that the driver is simply hidden behind a piece of sheared, shiny metal. But there isn't any mistaking it, it isn't a reflection, it is himself! He screams a hopeless scream. The figure in the car does the same. Tears come spilling down his cheeks, tears spill down his doppelganger's as well. The grim scene leaps to his memory, he had been driving, and Jasmine had turned and said something - he had turned his head - he had stopped looking at the road - and he can't remember what had happened. So that was it. He is dead. He is in hell. It is his fate to experience this tragedy, probably over and over, and feel this twisting guilt for eternity. His inattentiveness had killed Jasmine, and the devil wants him to know it.

He turns to run. In only a few steps, he runs straight into the bench. It cuts deeply into his calves. He partly bounces, partly jumps back, and falls over. His breath was heavy. He doesn't believe what he has just witnessed. It can't be true. It very well might not be - the cars and corpse have vanished. But the memory won't go away. He begins to cry heavily, throwing his anger and shame to the nothingness around him. He cries for - for - he doesn't know how long. Probably days. Probably years.

He cries until he can't remember why he is crying.

He lies there for hours afterward, trying to remember who he is, where he is, or anything. His mind is in a muddle. He notices that the ground is quite hot beneath him, and he feels uncomfortable. He carefully stands up, noticing that his backside and calves hurt. He glances around, and there, a few feet away from him, is a bench. It is made of obsidian, and has intricate carvings all over it. He gingerly touches it. He notices that parts of it are very sharp, but cool. It must be better than the ground to sit on. He lowers himself onto it carefully. He sits there for days, not feeling anything.

Gradually, he begins to survey his surroundings.

There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

***********************

Amy enters the hospital room. She talks to the doctor, inquiring anxiously about her brother's status. Her mother and father had already lost one child, and at such a young age! Was her brother doomed to the same fate? The news is happy, although he is still in a coma, even after two days, he is responding to medication. It's just a matter of time. He has a 98% chance of full recovery. Amy breathes a sigh of relief. She stands there, reminiscing of her best friend, her brother. She looks up, and asks about Jasmine. She's in a coma as well, but as long as the medicines don't wreck her poor heart, which was unlikely, she has an excellent chance of recovering as well. Possible as high as 95%. Amy crosses into the other room, and stares tenderly at the woman in the hospital bed. She is also in a coma, and looks incredibly weak and spent. Amy caresses her hair, utters a simple prayer over both of them, and leaves to bring the wonderful news to her parents.

***********************

Jasmine leans against a wall. She is sitting on a white chair, so clean and pure that she can barely see it against the pure white wall, the pure white floor, the pure white nothingness stretching for miles off in each direction. Her mind is muddled, and can barely hold coherent thoughts. In front of her is a beautiful, black obsidian wall with hundreds of intricate Gothic carvings engraved into it. She has been staring at it for - for - decades, it seems. She stares at it more, admiring the amazing architecture in front of her. Suddenly, she sees a piece of ugliness.

It's carved like the rest of it, but a word has been carved over what was behind it. She squints to see the word better.

LIAM

A horrible chill resonates through her body...
Thats sounds about like hell to me. Nice, a lot better than anything I could write.
Thanks. You gave yourself a hint, I give you an internet cookie if you can guess the game that inspired it.
I'd say Dante's Inferno, but since its not out and this one seems so metaphorical, I can't say.
 

Snowalker

New member
Nov 8, 2008
1,937
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Trivun said:
Snowalker said:
Trivun said:
There's already a dedicated thread for this, and like the Artist in thee thread, is regularly updated with new stories. Hence, no offence to the OP, but this thread is pretty redundant. Here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578-The-Short-Story-Thread
No offense, but I hadn't seen anyone post in that in ages, so I just thought it would be nice to refresh it. I said that in the OP, but who reads that, right?
No problem. However, checking the thread again, there were plenty of posts on Sunday, and I myself posted in it earlier tonight. So it is in fact still in constant use. 10 pages long now though, so really you need to skip right to the very end to see :)
Oh, just hadn't pop up, if I knew it was still active, I wouldn't have started it, but you see, I hadn't seen it pop up. Still, it seems this forum has brought out a few writers, hasn't it?
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,305
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0
Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
WARNING: LOOOOOOONG.

Only took me three hours to write. Kudos if you can figure out the inspirational game here.

<spoiler=Purgatory>Liam sits there on a bench, in the middle of nowhere.

And when I say nowhere, that's exactly what I mean. There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

But he knows that it couldn't be forever. He has memories, lovely memories. Memories of a family. His mother, father, two sisters, a baby brother. He can barely remember their names. The brother was named Jared. The elder sister was Amy. He can't remember the others. He can't even remember his brother being older than a baby. Why? Liam himself is twenty eight, his sister is, no, was twenty nine. He doesn't know how he remembers that, but he does. He often struggles to visualize his brother. It is always the same, an eight month old, or younger, with rolls of baby fat and an impetuous little smile that charmed through the coldest demeanor. Where is he now? Where is his family now?

Where is anyone?

The bench is a deep black, obsidian structure. It was incredibly well sculpted, with glimmering surfaces that one can swear they see shapes, faces specifically, until you try to focus on them, and they vanish. Its appearance and style is that of Gothic intricacies, impossibly complex in so many minute ways, to achieve such a basic effect. One odd feature of the bench is the seat itself. It has incredibly sharp edges, miniature cliffs within the seat such that if you sat on it, it could cut your backside easily. Liam sits on the bench gingerly, trying not to apply too much pressure to any of the sharp edges. He surveys both sides of the bench, trying to clear his head of the omnipresent muddle.

The bench isn't symmetrical, he notices. One side has a rough carving on it, which the other side doesn't. It stands out clearly and glaringly against the intricate carvings. He leans over carefully to examine it. It's a word, no, a name.

JASMINE

Every muscle clenches within him, and the sharp edge tears through his trousers, drawing blood. Liam launches upright onto his feet with a shriek. The back of his jeans are completely torn, half the fabric is missing. Through it, you can see many scars on his buttocks and thighs, almost parallel to each other. He moans in pain and stands there for an hour, wishing he hadn't seen the name. He stands there, thoughts empty, until the bleeding stops. He gingerly sits down, all thoughts of what just happened erased. Except for the name. Jasmine.

Unlike the names of his family, the name Jasmine rings through loud and true. She was his girlfriend - no, they were engaged to be married - no, they WERE married. They had personified perfect compatibility and love. She was a strangely silent girl, he had a bit of an issue with silence and talked a lot. She would always listen and respond, he knew that she could hear him, care about him. She suffered arrhythmia, and was always weak. He loved being depended on for a reason he couldn't explain, and he always felt... well, complete when he carried her. She loved him dearly and told him so often, he loved her back with a love that he felt sure could, and must have, far overflowed anything she felt.

It disturbs Liam that he can remember her so vividly when everyone else is faded. He can't imagine why.

In the distance, he can see a silhouette of someone walking towards him. He can't imagine who it would be. They walk with a limping gait, and even from here, he can see that they are in distress. He sits and stares.

He thinks of Jasmine as it approaches. The walk through the forest valley with her perched upon his back. She was laughing, asking him to run, to go faster. She never had moved so fast outside of a motorized vehicle. She could barely walk, let alone run. He felt so happy that day. She had, too. He was sure of it. She had waved a camera around as he ran, snapping photos. The expression on her face was so perfect, he was sure he'd never forget it.

The figure, still far off, has fallen. It struggles, and somehow stands up. It continues to limp - no, stagger - towards him. He continues to stare, and remember.

He remembers the day they had rushed to the hospital when she had a heart attack. She had recovered fully, and tenderly, timidly smiled at him from the hospital bed, where he had spent hours alternately crying and worrying. He had felt so many of his concerns just melt away. It was amazing the power a smile had on people.

He remembered the day she had arranged a surprise party for his twenty-fifth birthday. So many friends had been there when he got home from work, there was - there was - who was there? He saw many figures, about half masculine, half feminine, and all wearing incredibly similar clothes. All the men moved in sync, as did all the women. But in his mind, all of their faces were missing... it was a grotesque, surreal effect, and he felt a bit nauseous as he remembered it. Jasmine's face wasn't like that, she sat in the chair in the middle of the floor, smiling.

The figure is in front of him, suddenly - and Liam is stunned. It's Jasmine! She stands there, lips quivering, legs shaking! Her lips part, a musical voice floats past him.

"Liam..."

Liam runs toward her, hoping to scoop her up into his arms, to wipe away all the simultaneous emptiness and muddle that he feels. He longs to carry her. To tell her that everything is okay, to have her wrap her arms around his neck. His arms extend to her, and hers toward him. Like a mirror.

And then, out of nowhere, two cars have a head-on collision with Jasmine in between. It's a sight so surreal, so unexpected that Liam drops his arms and stops running. He can only stare in confusion and mounting horror.

Jasmine's eyes widen, and she dies. The cars caught her at the waist, so she flops over ungracefully forward between the small gap between the accordion car fronts.

Liam stares. Neither car's airbag has deployed, nor have their windshields been more than cracked, so he can see the drivers clearly. In one car, the driver is a woman in a red sweater, but her face is entirely blank. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any distinguishing feature. It is difficult to tell, though, for her head won't stay still. If he attempts to focus on any one part of it, the head simply jerks out of the way. In his peripheral vision, he can see that it shakes in such a way and speed as to blur any features it may have, anyway.

As bizarre as the one visage is, the other catches his attention, and is that much more horrible. He blinks and tried to adjust his vision, hoping to reveal that the driver is simply hidden behind a piece of sheared, shiny metal. But there isn't any mistaking it, it isn't a reflection, it is himself! He screams a hopeless scream. The figure in the car does the same. Tears come spilling down his cheeks, tears spill down his doppelganger's as well. The grim scene leaps to his memory, he had been driving, and Jasmine had turned and said something - he had turned his head - he had stopped looking at the road - and he can't remember what had happened. So that was it. He is dead. He is in hell. It is his fate to experience this tragedy, probably over and over, and feel this twisting guilt for eternity. His inattentiveness had killed Jasmine, and the devil wants him to know it.

He turns to run. In only a few steps, he runs straight into the bench. It cuts deeply into his calves. He partly bounces, partly jumps back, and falls over. His breath was heavy. He doesn't believe what he has just witnessed. It can't be true. It very well might not be - the cars and corpse have vanished. But the memory won't go away. He begins to cry heavily, throwing his anger and shame to the nothingness around him. He cries for - for - he doesn't know how long. Probably days. Probably years.

He cries until he can't remember why he is crying.

He lies there for hours afterward, trying to remember who he is, where he is, or anything. His mind is in a muddle. He notices that the ground is quite hot beneath him, and he feels uncomfortable. He carefully stands up, noticing that his backside and calves hurt. He glances around, and there, a few feet away from him, is a bench. It is made of obsidian, and has intricate carvings all over it. He gingerly touches it. He notices that parts of it are very sharp, but cool. It must be better than the ground to sit on. He lowers himself onto it carefully. He sits there for days, not feeling anything.

Gradually, he begins to survey his surroundings.

There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

***********************

Amy enters the hospital room. She talks to the doctor, inquiring anxiously about her brother's status. Her mother and father had already lost one child, and at such a young age! Was her brother doomed to the same fate? The news is happy, although he is still in a coma, even after two days, he is responding to medication. It's just a matter of time. He has a 98% chance of full recovery. Amy breathes a sigh of relief. She stands there, reminiscing of her best friend, her brother. She looks up, and asks about Jasmine. She's in a coma as well, but as long as the medicines don't wreck her poor heart, which was unlikely, she has an excellent chance of recovering as well. Possible as high as 95%. Amy crosses into the other room, and stares tenderly at the woman in the hospital bed. She is also in a coma, and looks incredibly weak and spent. Amy caresses her hair, utters a simple prayer over both of them, and leaves to bring the wonderful news to her parents.

***********************

Jasmine leans against a wall. She is sitting on a white chair, so clean and pure that she can barely see it against the pure white wall, the pure white floor, the pure white nothingness stretching for miles off in each direction. Her mind is muddled, and can barely hold coherent thoughts. In front of her is a beautiful, black obsidian wall with hundreds of intricate Gothic carvings engraved into it. She has been staring at it for - for - decades, it seems. She stares at it more, admiring the amazing architecture in front of her. Suddenly, she sees a piece of ugliness.

It's carved like the rest of it, but a word has been carved over what was behind it. She squints to see the word better.

LIAM

A horrible chill resonates through her body...
Thats sounds about like hell to me. Nice, a lot better than anything I could write.
Thanks. You gave yourself a hint, I give you an internet cookie if you can guess the game that inspired it.
I'd say Dante's Inferno, but since its not out and this one seems so metaphorical, I can't say.
Sorry, it's Silent Hill 2.

No cookie for you. :(
 

Snowalker

New member
Nov 8, 2008
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lacktheknack said:
Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
Snowalker said:
lacktheknack said:
WARNING: LOOOOOOONG.

Only took me three hours to write. Kudos if you can figure out the inspirational game here.

<spoiler=Purgatory>Liam sits there on a bench, in the middle of nowhere.

And when I say nowhere, that's exactly what I mean. There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

But he knows that it couldn't be forever. He has memories, lovely memories. Memories of a family. His mother, father, two sisters, a baby brother. He can barely remember their names. The brother was named Jared. The elder sister was Amy. He can't remember the others. He can't even remember his brother being older than a baby. Why? Liam himself is twenty eight, his sister is, no, was twenty nine. He doesn't know how he remembers that, but he does. He often struggles to visualize his brother. It is always the same, an eight month old, or younger, with rolls of baby fat and an impetuous little smile that charmed through the coldest demeanor. Where is he now? Where is his family now?

Where is anyone?

The bench is a deep black, obsidian structure. It was incredibly well sculpted, with glimmering surfaces that one can swear they see shapes, faces specifically, until you try to focus on them, and they vanish. Its appearance and style is that of Gothic intricacies, impossibly complex in so many minute ways, to achieve such a basic effect. One odd feature of the bench is the seat itself. It has incredibly sharp edges, miniature cliffs within the seat such that if you sat on it, it could cut your backside easily. Liam sits on the bench gingerly, trying not to apply too much pressure to any of the sharp edges. He surveys both sides of the bench, trying to clear his head of the omnipresent muddle.

The bench isn't symmetrical, he notices. One side has a rough carving on it, which the other side doesn't. It stands out clearly and glaringly against the intricate carvings. He leans over carefully to examine it. It's a word, no, a name.

JASMINE

Every muscle clenches within him, and the sharp edge tears through his trousers, drawing blood. Liam launches upright onto his feet with a shriek. The back of his jeans are completely torn, half the fabric is missing. Through it, you can see many scars on his buttocks and thighs, almost parallel to each other. He moans in pain and stands there for an hour, wishing he hadn't seen the name. He stands there, thoughts empty, until the bleeding stops. He gingerly sits down, all thoughts of what just happened erased. Except for the name. Jasmine.

Unlike the names of his family, the name Jasmine rings through loud and true. She was his girlfriend - no, they were engaged to be married - no, they WERE married. They had personified perfect compatibility and love. She was a strangely silent girl, he had a bit of an issue with silence and talked a lot. She would always listen and respond, he knew that she could hear him, care about him. She suffered arrhythmia, and was always weak. He loved being depended on for a reason he couldn't explain, and he always felt... well, complete when he carried her. She loved him dearly and told him so often, he loved her back with a love that he felt sure could, and must have, far overflowed anything she felt.

It disturbs Liam that he can remember her so vividly when everyone else is faded. He can't imagine why.

In the distance, he can see a silhouette of someone walking towards him. He can't imagine who it would be. They walk with a limping gait, and even from here, he can see that they are in distress. He sits and stares.

He thinks of Jasmine as it approaches. The walk through the forest valley with her perched upon his back. She was laughing, asking him to run, to go faster. She never had moved so fast outside of a motorized vehicle. She could barely walk, let alone run. He felt so happy that day. She had, too. He was sure of it. She had waved a camera around as he ran, snapping photos. The expression on her face was so perfect, he was sure he'd never forget it.

The figure, still far off, has fallen. It struggles, and somehow stands up. It continues to limp - no, stagger - towards him. He continues to stare, and remember.

He remembers the day they had rushed to the hospital when she had a heart attack. She had recovered fully, and tenderly, timidly smiled at him from the hospital bed, where he had spent hours alternately crying and worrying. He had felt so many of his concerns just melt away. It was amazing the power a smile had on people.

He remembered the day she had arranged a surprise party for his twenty-fifth birthday. So many friends had been there when he got home from work, there was - there was - who was there? He saw many figures, about half masculine, half feminine, and all wearing incredibly similar clothes. All the men moved in sync, as did all the women. But in his mind, all of their faces were missing... it was a grotesque, surreal effect, and he felt a bit nauseous as he remembered it. Jasmine's face wasn't like that, she sat in the chair in the middle of the floor, smiling.

The figure is in front of him, suddenly - and Liam is stunned. It's Jasmine! She stands there, lips quivering, legs shaking! Her lips part, a musical voice floats past him.

"Liam..."

Liam runs toward her, hoping to scoop her up into his arms, to wipe away all the simultaneous emptiness and muddle that he feels. He longs to carry her. To tell her that everything is okay, to have her wrap her arms around his neck. His arms extend to her, and hers toward him. Like a mirror.

And then, out of nowhere, two cars have a head-on collision with Jasmine in between. It's a sight so surreal, so unexpected that Liam drops his arms and stops running. He can only stare in confusion and mounting horror.

Jasmine's eyes widen, and she dies. The cars caught her at the waist, so she flops over ungracefully forward between the small gap between the accordion car fronts.

Liam stares. Neither car's airbag has deployed, nor have their windshields been more than cracked, so he can see the drivers clearly. In one car, the driver is a woman in a red sweater, but her face is entirely blank. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any distinguishing feature. It is difficult to tell, though, for her head won't stay still. If he attempts to focus on any one part of it, the head simply jerks out of the way. In his peripheral vision, he can see that it shakes in such a way and speed as to blur any features it may have, anyway.

As bizarre as the one visage is, the other catches his attention, and is that much more horrible. He blinks and tried to adjust his vision, hoping to reveal that the driver is simply hidden behind a piece of sheared, shiny metal. But there isn't any mistaking it, it isn't a reflection, it is himself! He screams a hopeless scream. The figure in the car does the same. Tears come spilling down his cheeks, tears spill down his doppelganger's as well. The grim scene leaps to his memory, he had been driving, and Jasmine had turned and said something - he had turned his head - he had stopped looking at the road - and he can't remember what had happened. So that was it. He is dead. He is in hell. It is his fate to experience this tragedy, probably over and over, and feel this twisting guilt for eternity. His inattentiveness had killed Jasmine, and the devil wants him to know it.

He turns to run. In only a few steps, he runs straight into the bench. It cuts deeply into his calves. He partly bounces, partly jumps back, and falls over. His breath was heavy. He doesn't believe what he has just witnessed. It can't be true. It very well might not be - the cars and corpse have vanished. But the memory won't go away. He begins to cry heavily, throwing his anger and shame to the nothingness around him. He cries for - for - he doesn't know how long. Probably days. Probably years.

He cries until he can't remember why he is crying.

He lies there for hours afterward, trying to remember who he is, where he is, or anything. His mind is in a muddle. He notices that the ground is quite hot beneath him, and he feels uncomfortable. He carefully stands up, noticing that his backside and calves hurt. He glances around, and there, a few feet away from him, is a bench. It is made of obsidian, and has intricate carvings all over it. He gingerly touches it. He notices that parts of it are very sharp, but cool. It must be better than the ground to sit on. He lowers himself onto it carefully. He sits there for days, not feeling anything.

Gradually, he begins to survey his surroundings.

There's a great white expanse surrounding him, continuing on as far as the eye can see. He stares off into the distance, lost to himself. There's nothing to see, but he seems to be looking for it anyway. If you were to ask him where he was, he'd honestly tell you that he didn't know. There are no people around to ask him, but he wishes there was. Someone to tell him what had happened. To talk to. To pour out his fears and frustrations. If you asked him how long he'd been there, he'd again say he didn't know. Probably forever.

***********************

Amy enters the hospital room. She talks to the doctor, inquiring anxiously about her brother's status. Her mother and father had already lost one child, and at such a young age! Was her brother doomed to the same fate? The news is happy, although he is still in a coma, even after two days, he is responding to medication. It's just a matter of time. He has a 98% chance of full recovery. Amy breathes a sigh of relief. She stands there, reminiscing of her best friend, her brother. She looks up, and asks about Jasmine. She's in a coma as well, but as long as the medicines don't wreck her poor heart, which was unlikely, she has an excellent chance of recovering as well. Possible as high as 95%. Amy crosses into the other room, and stares tenderly at the woman in the hospital bed. She is also in a coma, and looks incredibly weak and spent. Amy caresses her hair, utters a simple prayer over both of them, and leaves to bring the wonderful news to her parents.

***********************

Jasmine leans against a wall. She is sitting on a white chair, so clean and pure that she can barely see it against the pure white wall, the pure white floor, the pure white nothingness stretching for miles off in each direction. Her mind is muddled, and can barely hold coherent thoughts. In front of her is a beautiful, black obsidian wall with hundreds of intricate Gothic carvings engraved into it. She has been staring at it for - for - decades, it seems. She stares at it more, admiring the amazing architecture in front of her. Suddenly, she sees a piece of ugliness.

It's carved like the rest of it, but a word has been carved over what was behind it. She squints to see the word better.

LIAM

A horrible chill resonates through her body...
Thats sounds about like hell to me. Nice, a lot better than anything I could write.
Thanks. You gave yourself a hint, I give you an internet cookie if you can guess the game that inspired it.
I'd say Dante's Inferno, but since its not out and this one seems so metaphorical, I can't say.
Sorry, it's Silent Hill 2.

No cookie for you. :(
See, never played it. I want to, just haven't got around to it.