Wildfire…
The room nominated as “the office” is kept dark. I peek through the open side window and my night goggle vision reveal that most of the chairs are already filled. I place the microphone near the window and withdraw to a nearby bush.
“Don, nice work on the separations. The days of limited supply is now behind us, yes?”
“Mike, you know, I hate limits, so yes, no worries about future supplies. I have even approved a screening process to weed out the rotten ones!”
As their shared laughter fade the sound of a tambourine can be heard.
“Sarah, what’s the hold-up with the dessert?”
“There’s no hold-up, just making sure they have been shaved as you requested… (bloody man, there’s always something with you and hair…)”
“this is going to be a over soon enough”, I tell myself as I wrap the blanket around my shoulders and close my eyes for a nap I hope will last all night.
There’s a loud crack to my left and I open my dazed eyes slowly. Four pairs of black boots greet my turning head.
“What are you doing here? This is Private property and you have no business here. Please stand and explain yourself woman!”
I slowly stand up, trying hard to compose myself, this was not part of the plan.
“I’m… uhm… researching…” I say facing the black clad bunch, of which at least one appears to be male judging by the tone of their voice.
“Researching what? and How?”, the woman on the left asks as she steps towards me. Her clothes not giving her gender away.
“… it’s classified…”, I try
Four automatic sidearms slowly rise to point in the directions of my uncovered head.
“… it’s for Tumblr…”, I try again
“Yes? Tumblr is known to The Service… go on…”
“I read on Tumblr about… Mad Orgies taking place here regularly and I wanted to find out if it was any truth behind the stories”, I blurt out ending with a sigh of relief.
“And did you? Find any proof I mean?”, the woman asks.
“Well… listen to this and make up your own minds”, I say as I bring out my portable mp3 recorder, pressing play.
“The consequences of this can be massive. How do you want this handled Boss? Wildfire…”, the woman asks the man seemingly in charge.
They all look at each other, slowly nodding, then pull their triggers.
Prose Drafts
I am the troubled waters, make no mistake
“Upon completion of you journey you will be faced with a decision”, the grand master proclaimed, “ and your choice will either set you free or … not…”
“But how will I know which one will set me free?” I asked with a slight hesitation. This was not what I expected when I signed up for an evening class in Mandarin.
“The four elements will be your friend or foe during these trials and ..” the grand master continued before I once again raised my voice, “ trials you say… exactly who is on trial here? I came here to learn Mandarin…”
“THE TRIALS WILL COMMENCE IN FIVE MINUTES. YOU WILL FACE EARTH, WATER, AIR AND FIRE OR A COMBINATION THEREOF”, he announced in his louder than necessary high pitch voice, his face now a radiating reddish tomato.
“I’d like to be excused, this not what I signed up for”, I tried, knowing full well what the answer would be.
“Not a chance, we have waited a long time for you to arrive” he answered.
“But I just signed up, I came in from the street just 10 minutes ago!” I said with a growing feeling of discomfort.
“Nevermind, it is done, the trial commences” , he struck the bell three times and disappeared, leaving me alone in the room with four closed doors.
Each of the doors carried a plaque, the top half consisted of a symbol and a four letter word. The bottom half was empty as far as I could tell, although there was a slight vibration emanating from the dent in the lower left hand corner of the plaques.
“Now what?” I thought having no plan on what to do next. It was obvious that this was some kind of test, I was being tested. But for what, and why me?
I opened the first door and stepped through. I must have been transported somewhere else as when I looked back I could not see a door, there were fields in all directions., as far as the eye could see.
When I looked down I noticed that I was standing on a path, or at least someone had walked enough times in the same direction to make a difference that was noticeable. I decided to follow the path.
About 2o minutes into my walk I came upon a river, and in the distance I saw a bridge crossing over to the other side. I proceeded towards it. There was a sign post warning anyone crossing the bridge that there were no second chances once the bridge had been entered. ^second chance for what?“ I thought to myself as I eyed the bridge and the Hut on the other side of the river.
As I put my right foot down on the bridge a humming began, followed shortly after by mechanical swirling sound like nothing I had heard before. The sounds stopped as continued up along the bridge. As I reached the top of the bridge I stopped for a rest and viewing the scenery. The river below was semi hidden under a veil of fog which seemed to drift between the two shores. There was a red lever located nearby, the warning sign read “make no mistake”.
“To pull or not to pull, that is the question…” I said out loud as I pulled the red lever. At first nothing happened, or so it seemed. But gradually the bridge appeared to be sinking closer to the river. The sinking stopped as the bridge levelled with the river. Then a voice appeared out of nowhere, “I am the troubled waters, make no mistake”, the thundering voice proclaimed.
“Hello there Mr Waters ” I said with as cheerful a voice I could manage under the circumstances, “what’s this make no mistake all about?”
“Who goes there?”
“I am Nevyn, a Mandarin student on trial”
“On trial for what?”
“I don’t know”
“You don’t know?”
“No”
“That seems to be you first mistake…”
“Well he never said why…”
“Who?”
“the teacher, calling himself grand master”
“Never heard of him”
“Well, I don’t…” I said before it interrupted me
“THAT IS YOUR SECOND MISTAKE!!”
“Uhm can you explain the mistake statement you made earlier, ‘make no mistake’, sounds a bit ominous now as apparently I’ve done two already”
“Yes you should be worried”
“Explain, please”
“Do you have the password?”
“Open sesame?”
“Wrong password”
“How many attempts do I get?”
“Three, two to go”
“Uhm, roses are red. Violets are blue?”
“Nope, last chance”
“Jaysome!!”
“Correct, I can now tell you that if you make a mistake you will be terminated”
“Terminated?”
“Yes I will devour your guts after slow cooking your… you”
“Oh, that was unexpected…”
“Well what do expect from a prompt like that?”
Prompted by a @poetryriot prompt
GOOD DEEDS (PART 1)
“Will it hurt, much?”, he asked the nurse as she was preparing the equipment.
The equipment in question was two feet long tube of reddish-black colour with significant signs of wear. Along its side was a grove, a silver line which seemed rather out of place. It looked more like something out of a 1950s science-fiction movie than a tool fit for the 21st century he though but said nothing.
“It depends”, she coughed, “It depends on how much a fight they put up. The first time is always the worst.”
“How come?”, there was a slight tremble in his voice this time.
“Did you read the small-print before signing up for this?” she continued while putting of the latex gloves.
He didn’t answer.
“Every procedure removes some of their will to live, the next round should go smoother”
The thought made him sick, he felt like throwing up then and there. There had been nothing in the brochure about this being part of the experience.
He could only vaguely recall the events leading up to him signing up for the program. He had been on his way home from a night out when he was approached by a couple. They had invited him into their stall and offered him something to drink. From then on his memories were blur. The next morning he had woken up with the usual hang-over, and found the poorly folded brochure and a receipt for £120 in his trouser pocket.
“You will help improve the future of humanity”. The statement had stuck with him ever since and he had at the time been fully convinced that he would be “doing good”.
“Doing good…” he repeated the thought out loud.
“Sorry, is there a problem?”
“Yes Dear, but no need for you to know. Not yet anyway.”, he thought to himself. “Nothing, I am just feeling a bit weary” he replied.
“That is expected, it is kicking in.”
“What is kicking in? What have you done??”
“I will be right back”, the nurse put down the equipment and left the room. The door locked automatically behind her.
Left to his own devices, he tried to gather his thoughts.
Did they drug me? They must have drugged me. They laced the drink I got earlier. Laced it with what? And why? Shouldn’t I have a say in the mat…
By the time the nurse returned he was deep asleep.
Home Baking For Fun and Fiction, Season 5, Episode 4 (NSFM)
Note: This episode was never broadcasted
Hello Children and welcome to another episode of Home Baking for Fun and Fiction, today sponsored by “Zipher – World Health ‘R’ Us”.
Let me first remind you that it is always good to have a parent to help you in the kitchen as those grinders, whisks and meat cleavers can be a handful if you don’t have the strength.
Today I am going to show you how to make a Winter Cake to cheer you up before the festive season starts.
Before you start preparing make sure you have all the Ingredients available, it not ask your parents to unlock the special cupboard, they will know which one you mean and keep insisting if they pretend to not knowing.
The ingredients and amount you will need to prepare the Winter cake are:
- Four cups of flower – preferably of columbian quality
- 440g of ground Priadel – preferably the slow release variant
- 3g of whole Quetipine – preferably coated
- 1.2g of ground Sertraline
- 9g of ground Lamotragine
- 360mg of whole Fluoxetine
- 36mg of ground Diazepam
- One teaspoon of baking powder
- Two bottles of Vodka (or Gin if you are fond of juniper berries)
Ready? Let’s Cook!
First set the oven at 400F.
Mix the ground ingredients: flower, Priadel, Sertraline, Lamotragine, Diazepam and baking powder in a large bowl.
Add ½ cup of Vodka (or Gin) and stir until the mix is smooth. If you find it doesn’t set you can add a little more flower.
Pour the mix into a baking tray
Add the Quetipine and Fluoxetine on top but make sure you press them down slightly. If they are not fully covered they will get burnt and the cake will have a bitter taste.
Check that the oven has reached 400F and insert the tray into the oven.
Leave the cake in the oven for around 30 minutes. If the cake is slightly damp you can leave it in for another five minutes. Let the cake rest and cool down before serving.
The cake is best served in small bowls with spoons.
Cut the cake into suitable pieces and splash two cups of Vodka (or Gin) on the cake before serving. Pour the rest of the Vodka (or Gin!) into tumblers.
After all that hard work you can now relax and enjoy the Winter Cake, Vodka and each-others company.
But don’t forget the washing up!
I hope to see you all next week when I will be showing you how to make a showman.
letter to someone
Hello there,
Hope you are well today.
I don’t normally do this, this being writing a response to something which was not a question or otherwise sent in my general direction. I will make an exception today as I try to embrace change and this being a first represent that type of change I would like to embrace. So bare with me if you are still reading… and if so, thank you!, and keep going 🙂
I read the piece you wrote the other day and it affected my mode somewhat, which is why I decided to put down my thoughts on a crumbling piece of papyrus. Although after some frantic search for papyrus in the attic and later a serious consideration for the trees of the world I decided to go virtual and post it on Tumbler instead. I hope you don’t mind, I will name you anonymous for now.
As of your expression of the increasing hate for yourself I can fully relate, well not hate of you (as of that I have none) but the hate of the self (me, myself and I in this case). The effort we make to try and keep everyone happy for every second of the day, the questioning if we deserve to be happy when we cannot make others happy, the idea that we will have to give something up to be happy, I can relate to it all, completely.
So my advice to you is… none. Sorry I did not write this letter to give you advice, I wrote it to make you aware that people (not a single person) would be happier if you somehow disappeared and disconnected from the world in whichever way, physical or spiritual. I shall not continue down a fluffy path here but end by saying that your creative side is a gift you have been given and one that results in words and other gifts that the world (and the self!) is enjoying immensely. I wish to continue to enjoy the fruits of your labour so for my sake and the sake of the balance of the world I hope you keep on creating.
Remember that there is nothing wrong with only painting with back and white on some days, there are an infinite number of shades of grey there to make a world.
Bye for now 🙂
AT THE CROSSROADS
Your slender body partially covered with silk stands there waiting, blocking the moon’s reflection in the lake.
You turn your head and say
“the trees are silent tonight”
I nod, trying hard not to show.
“You are silent tonight”
I nod, trying hard not to show.
“You knew it had to come to this, eventually”
I nod, trying hard not to show.
“Will you wait for me?”
I nod, trying hard not to show.
“Bye.”
I turn and walk away.
The chill in my bones makes me wrap my coat tighter around me before I take the final leap of faith. As I spiral downwards I realise that man wasn’t designed to fly. Maybe better at swimming I thought as the stream rushed closer.
They found a woman’s frozen remains chained to a jetty by a lake several weeks later. They suspected that the male found in the gorge nearby was connected to her death.
He still waits at the crossroad between that which has passed and that which will come. Waits for her to come and give him another chance. Another chance to find their love and the everlasting light.
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH (NSFW)
A considerable task lay ahead as, apart from the furry appearance, the mound revealed little of significance to him. He had undertaken prep work in other essential areas as per the job description, so from where he was standing the task was almost completed.
As he approached the mound and started to part the fur he immediately realised that there must be a river nearby. He could not hear running water but from the moisture and spongelike appearance he was certain. He didn’t mind, he has seen far worse.
As he dug further into the fur he realised that there was more to the mound than the work sheet had stated. It was as if the mound was made up of three parts, two halves which made up the bulk of the area and at the top was an outcrop, a tubelike object which made him curious.
He focused his attention on the tube and started excavating. He had not worked for long when the mound suddenly started shaking. It was a pulsating movement that made him a bit uneasy so he paused the digging. The movement slowly stopped.
As he continued the excavation work on the tube the pulsating resumed but at a steadier paste than the first time. He felt confident enough to carry on with the task as it was surely not long now.
Suddenly the mound shook and water started pouring out between the two halves of the mound. It lasted for a mere ten seconds but when it stopped the shaking had also stopped. He was sure that his task was completed.
“Thank you Darling, you found the fountain of youth, now take that hardhat off and let me taste that salty sauce if yours”