Eclectic Narratives - Time Slipping Away [#206]

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Time kept on slipping, and slowly by slowly, I lost my way.

In this vast sea of possibilities, there appears so much to do.

Time is endless yet also finite. There is only so far you can drift into this boundless sea.

To wish you had infinite time, to experience everything, is considered a foolhardy choice.

Even with finite time, you can lose sight of yourself as everything blends together.

Imagine if you were eternal. How long would it take before it all descends into a blur?

What’s the point of an endless lifetime of experiences if you can’t remember any of them?

Time is finite, so make do with what you have.

Enjoy what is there, and accomplish what you can.

When the possibilities are truly endless, what matters most is which ones you make true.

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Make the most of what time you have.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy 

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Enigmatic Fantasies - A Hell of a Job [#205]

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            ‘You know,’ Mary thought, ‘when I applied to work as a desk jockey at H&E Hockey Sticks corporate office, this isn’t what I had in mind.’ It was a perfectly normal office by most metrics. The office was filled with chairs, computers, hundreds of identical desks, the shuffling of papers, and idle chatter. However, only the briefest of glances would confirm it was anything but ordinary.

           The view outside the window showed a vast, rocky, and cavernous landscape of eternal fire and brimstone. All the managers displayed prominent horns upon their heads. The higher their position, the bigger the horns. Most of the other employees had various combinations of unusual features. Tails, bat-like wings, hoofs, red skin, and sharp fangs were all common. The janitors were all small, grey creatures who floated by with tiny wings. And above all else, the coffee machine occasionally dispensed liquid magma. No one seemed to mind except for Mary.

           ‘Having to take an elevator down to 180th basement floor for my interview should have been my first clue,’ Mary realized as she typed away at a random document. Honestly, she was just trying to look busy. That way, her coworkers wouldn’t bother her.

           ‘I was hoping a new job would let me meet new friends. Maybe learn a useful office skill or two, but...’ Mary’s thoughts trailed off as she glanced to some of her nearby coworkers.

           Her immediate neighbor to her right was an insect-like creature with four arms who stood eight meters tall. He wasn’t much for conversation. To Mary’s left was a more human-looking woman, with wings, a barbed tail, and blazing yellow eyes. Said woman was part of a clique who had tried to bring Mary into their fold when she first joined. Mary quickly excused herself when she discovered what their idea of a “fun night” was.

           ‘I’d look for another job, but,’ Mary sighed. ‘I wish I had read the contract more thoroughly.’ People often joke about selling their souls to their job, but such jests were no longer humorous for Mary. ‘Maybe, if I spend the rest of eternity working on this spreadsheet, I’ll be fine,’ she told herself.

           “Ah, Mary, just the girl I wanted to see,” a voice stated, which sent a chill down Mary’s spine.

           “Yes, boss?” Mary turned around to see a giant, disembodied eyeball floating behind her. It wasn’t really an eyeball, more like a projection of a giant opened eye. Despite having no mouth, it’s voiced echoed throughout the room and right into Mary’s mind.

           “I have an extra special job for you,” the eye revealed.

           “Oh, lovely,” Mary failed to hide her fear. ‘I’m so going to die.’

           “Now don’t be like that,” the eye read her thoughts. “Even if you died, you’d come right back here, so there’s nothing to worry about. Now then, follow me if you please.”

           “Yes, boss,” Mary slunk out of her chair and follow the eye to a nearby elevator. The transport generously listed all the floors in the building. From the 1st floor all the way down to 666th basement. Mary walked inside the elevator, which was relatively normal. Aside from the red carpeting and blood coming out of the walls (hence the red carpeting).

           “Now this is an important task. As the only living human currently on our staff, you are the only one fit to perform it,” the boss explained as the elevator began its descent.

           “Wait, only living?” Mary exclaimed.

           “Oh, yes, Jeff fell into a lava pool last week,” the eye squinted. “He’s in the flaming skull division now.”

           “So, what part of being a living human is so important to this job?” Mary inquired, against her better judgment.

           “I’d tell you, but I think it’s better to see for yourself,” the boss sighed (somehow). The elevator came to a stop on the 665th floor, aka the executive offices. Mary had never been down there before. While one usually might walk through the halls where their boss’s boss worked with reverence and care, Mary felt suffocated. In fact, she was actually suffocating. There wasn’t much air down there. “Oh, apologies. Lou, could you pump some more air down here?”

           “Oh, thank g...well, you know,” Mary coughed as the air returned. Now she finally had a chance to observe her surrounding, and it looked like an average executive office floor. The carpet was plush. There were portraits of executives along the walls and plenty of fancy decorations. The fact most of the decorations were made from human-looking bones certainly made it stand out, though.

           “Now, hurry along, we’re almost there,” the eye pushed Mary along until they came to a large double door. The nameplate on the door was in Latin, but the big “S” inscribed on the door gave Mary a reasonably good idea of whose office it was. “Enter,” the boss opened the door (telepathically obviously) and ushered Mary inside.

           Beyond the door was not a long red carpet that led to a big wooden desk with an equally large horned monster with six heads and six arms like Mary expected. In fact, it didn’t even look like an office that much, or at least not anymore. The room had a distinct air of a sudden and drastic redecoration. It looked a bit more modern, like something you’d see in a startup run by 20-somethings. Filled with contemporary art, pop culture posters, and stuffed animals. The best description would be a teenage girl’s room vomited all over an executive office.

           At the center of the chaos was what looked like a teenage girl, except for the curled horns, barbed tail, and aura of absolute menace and evil. She sat on a nearby couch with her legs in the air, chatting away on a cell phone. The girl was dressed like she was following fashion trends from the 1990s, all of them at once. She spoke in a random mixture of “teenage” lingo from across three decades.

           “Like totally, yeah...like totes LEET, YOLO and stuff,” the girl gabbed away on her cell.

           “Is that,” Mary pointed, mouth agape.

           “Exactly who you think it is, yes,” the eye affirmed.

           “Not their daughter?” Mary was in disbelief.

           “Nope,” the eye replied.

           “Ooh, my 2:00 is here, like Yeet you later,” the girl hung up her phone and bounced to her feet.

           “What did you need me for...um?” Mary struggled to find the right word to address her.

           “Like, call me S, not boss and certainly not Big S, makes me sound totes fat,” S replied.

           “What did you need me for, S?” Mary gulped.

           “Didn’t you tell her? Like, totes not coral, Eyebrow,” Spouted.

           “For the love of all the is evil,” the eye squinted. “Ahem, let me explain, Mary. S here discovered modern human culture for the first time in centuries, and now they’re enraptured with it. As our only living human on staff, you are the best fit to be her guide.”

           “I see,” Mary feigned understanding. “For reference, how long ago did this start?”

           “A week,” the eye rolled itself.        

           “Oh my go-!” Mary nearly blurted out.

           “Like don’t even say that nerd’s name down here,” S shushed her.

           “Okay,” Mary was too stunned to disagree.

           “Now, like, teach me all about this modern human stuff,” S jumped into Mary’s face. “I totes want to know all the LEET and YOLO stuff. I want to be Da Bomb, get all that tubular bling Kay, brah?”

           ‘The fuck?’ Mary swore internally.

           “My thoughts exactly,” the eye read Mary’s mind again. “Now go along, show S everything she wants to know.”

           “Totes rocking this boat,” S spouted off more random words, “first stop the mall, right? That’s where all the hippest hippies hang out, right? Come on.” S dragged Mary along, to wherever her whims would take them.

           “Finally,” the boss said as the two left the room. “Perhaps, ahem, hanging out with such a boring stick in the mud as Mary will finally get S to snap out of this phase.” While the eye remained behind, proud of its accomplishment, Mary and S began a long, crazy adventure at the mall. Full of twists, turns, betrayals, and drama, the two’s exploits would be known as some of the most incredible nonsense in history. Countries would fall, heroes would be born, they’d even save Christmas at one point. And, for your information, S did not grow out of this “phase,” it only got worse.

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You never know what you might have to do at your job, so always read the fine print.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy

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Strange Sci-fi Tales - Careful Danger [#204]

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            “Careful,” Dr. Maxis warned his assistant, “need I remind you how dangerous that is?” The two men stood close together in their shared lab space. Buried deep in the building’s 3rd basement, they were practically alone down there. If something were to go wrong, no one would be coming to assist anytime soon. It didn’t help that it was the middle of the night at the end of a long workday. The aging light fixtures that hung above them flickered every so often, threatening to bathe them both in darkness.

           “You worry too much, Dr. Maxis,” the assistant, Richards, assured. “I will handle this as if it were my own child.” The younger man gripped the pair of tongs in his hand for dear life. Held within them was a sealed test tube containing a strange, purple liquid. Despite Richards’s claims, his hands trembled, ever so slightly, as he moved the tube across the table.

           “You’re trying my patience with your hollow words, Richards,” Dr. Maxis seethed. The older man glared at his assistant, judging their every move. He maintained his stare until Richards gently set the tube into its new home, a small rack, at the center of the table.

           “See, nothing to-,” Richards began, before the lights cut off for a brief moment. They returned quickly enough, but now they flickered much more consistently. Neither man was an electrician, but even they could tell their time in the light was limited.

           “Damn faulty wiring,” Maxis growled. “I’ve been warning those idiots in management this would happen.”

           “It’s just the lights, I’ll pull out a flashlight, and we can finish this,” Richards brushed it off.

           “No, you fool, listen,” Maxis hushed the other man. Richards pricked up his ears but heard nothing. The room was dead quiet.

           “I don’t hear anything,” the assistant stated.

           “Exactly, the A/C, the coolers, everything shut off,” the older man pointed out.

           “Oh, no,” Richards’s heart dropped. “Does this need to be refrigerated?”

           “Of course it does. Have you not learned anything?” Maxis snapped. “If this is left out to expire, two weeks of hard work and $10,000 go down the drain. Now hurry, let’s take this upstairs and find a working refrigerator.”

           “Sure thing, Dr. Maxis,” the younger man gulped as he picked up the test tube with the tongs again. After grabbing a flashlight, the two men exited their lab into an equally poorly lit hallway. Thankfully, the lights did not flicker. Instead, half of them had burned out. Most importantly, the ones surrounding the stairs. “I don’t like this,” Richards admitted.

           “I don’t care, move,” Maxis forced his assistant along into the darkness. Some points were so absent of light the two men could barely see their own nose. “Blasted darkness, what’s with your flashlight?”

           “Is there a problem, Dr. Maxis?” Richards asked, still holding onto the tube for dear life.

           “Have you replaced the batteries recently?” Maxis inquired.

           “I thought I did yesterday,” the assistant claimed.

           “Of course you did,” the older man groaned. “Move, we’re on borrowed time.” The two men rushed through the hallway until they finally reached the stairs. They hoped that they’d get some light trickling down from above. But, to their horror, the entire stairwell was pitched black, all the way to the top. Thankfully, they only needed to scale three floors to reach the lobby, which would have some natural moonlight from the windows.

           “Dr. Maxis, are you sure about this? I can barely see,” Richards tried to hide his panic behind a question.

           “Just move and follow in my footsteps,” Maxis took the first step.

           “If you say so,” Richards followed.

           “Slow down, you’re shaking the tube too much!” Dr. Maxis yelled at his assistant.

           “Okay, okay,” Richards drastically slowed his pace.

           “What are you doing? Speed up, or we’ll never make it in time,” the older man continued his tirade.

           “How fast do you want me to go?” The younger man blurted out.

           “Is this so hard?” Maxis grew more hysterical. The two men had barely made it past the second basement.

           “Dr. Maxis, please, I’m holding our jobs, and maybe even lives right here,” Richards exclaimed. “I don’t need any more stress. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

           “I’ll tell you what,” Dr. Maxis spun around. “Why don’t you stop being such an incompetent screw up who needs his handheld through every experiment. If I had it my way, you’d never-!” The scientist never got a chance to finish his sentence. In his fury, he misplaced a step and tripped backward. He tried to right himself, but the older man overcorrected and tumbled forwards.

           “Dr. Maxis?” Richards shouted as they jumped out of the way on instinct. Then remembering his boss was about to fall down a flight of stairs, his brain told him to reach out and catch him. Alas, in that brief instant, he forgot the dangerous substance still held in his hand. Maxis collided with his arms, and Richards let the other man fall, taking the test tube with him.

           Dr. Maxis rolled down the stairs and crashed down onto a landing, the glass in the tube breaking on impact. A horrific sizzling sound and a smell akin to burning flesh filled the area. Richards stood parlayed for a moment, unable to see what occurred in the darkness.

           “Dr. Maxis?” Richards called out and received nothing but eerie silence. “I need to...Shit, that stuff is toxic. I need to leave, call for help,” the younger man scrambled up the stairs in search of a phone.

           “Fool, why did he leave?” Maxis coughed. He could feel blood all over his chest and hands. His entire front burned in enormous pain, both from the liquid and the glass shards lodged in his belly. The older man tried to stand up, but he realized his legs were numb. His brittle, aged bones could not withstand the impact. “It was toxic to the touch, the touch that fool, why would he...?” The scientist stated before he was hit by a moment of realization. “I didn’t tell him...” The older man’s voice trailed off as he felt the darkness consume him further.

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Details are important, they help prevent miscommunication.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy 

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Enigmatic Fantasies - A Brush With Death, Part 2

Part 1: [link]

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           Preparations for the poker tournament, and more importantly, Mr. Verrick’s arrival, continued on as usual. Or at least, they would have if it wasn’t for that mysterious little girl. Despite Big Tony’s best efforts, the child continued to elude him and his men. Half the time, they could barely keep track of her, to the point most of his men hadn’t even seen her. Rumors started to swirl that Tony had finally cracked. Those who claimed to see the girl just humoring him to stay on his good side. Anyone caught repeating those rumors quickly found themselves out of a job.

           Thankfully, sightings of the girl began to slow as the preparations completed. Big Tony hoped she got bored and left, although he stepped up security just in case. The large man was left with so many questions concerning this strange girl. Who was she? Why was she here? How did she even get into his casino? How had she managed to stick around for so long? It was one thing if she was some bored or adventurous kid who found some way into the building, like through a forgotten back door or a vent. But, the fact she seemed to have lingered in the building for days made no sense.

           ‘The hell is she eating? Is she sleeping here too?’ Tony wondered as he sat back in his office. ‘Doesn’t she have parents to run back to? Of course, she does. Where else would she get that fancy dress from? Then why aren’t they looking for her? I haven’t seen any missing child reports. Even if it’s some rich idiots trying to keep her disappearance on the down low, how the hell could the kid of a couple of rich morons be so fucking elusive?’

           “Sir?” Simmons knocked at the door.

           “What is it, Simmons?” Tony was snapped out of his deep thoughts.

           “Mr. Verrick is here,” Simmons peaked into the room.

           “He’s what? Since when?” Tony jumped out of his chair.

           “Since right now, sir,” Simmons replied.

           “Shit, he wasn’t supposed to be here for another hour,” Tony panicked. “Crap, is my hair good? Do I need a quick shave? Is my suit spotless? Damn it, there’s no time.” The large man scrambled past his assistant and down into the casino. At the front entrance, surrounded by several scary men, who made Tony look like a towel boy, by comparison, stood Mr. Verrick.

           “Ah, there you, Tony. You’re eight seconds late,” the old man chuckled. Mr. Verrick stood a head shorter than Tony, with a bald head and long grey beard. He walked on a fancy, jeweled topped cane and dressed in the finest designer suit. The older man’s whole outfit likely cost more than Tony’s car.

           “Apologies, Mr. Verrick,” Tony bowed. “You’re, here earlier than I expected.”

           “Ha, just like to keep you on your toes,” Verrick cackled. “I’ll be in my usual VIP room until the tournament starts,” the rich man declared as he walked off with his posse of guards. Tony remained firmly in place, maintaining his bow until Verrick was out of sight.

           “Ah shit, I got to keep him happy for an hour longer than I thought,” Tony sweated. “Oh well, this shouldn’t be too...bad...Shit,” Tony cursed. He noticed a familiar little girl in a black and yellow dress skipping through the casino, heading right for Mr. Verrick. “Not this time,” Tony scrambled after her.

           “Ooh, who’s that old guy?” The little girl said aloud as she followed after Mr. Verrick, only to be stopped by Big Tony blocking her path. “Hi, mister,” she chirped.

           “Alright you little brat, you’re not causing any problems today,” Tony declared. “Mr. Verrick is a very important man, and I can’t have you ruining things with him around.”

           “Okay,” the little girl smiled.

           “You’re being surprisingly cordial today,” Tony commented.

           “What’s that mean?” The little girl asked as she tilted her head.

           “It’s not important,” Tony grabbed her arm. “Now, I’m taking you into the back, we’re calling your parents, and you’re going to leave, understand?”

           “Help, I’m being kidnapped!” The girl screamed.

           “What?” Tony froze, realizing what this looked like.

           “Just kidding?” The mystery girl stuck her tongue out as she revealed her arm was now free. “Bye, mister,” she skipped away.

           “When did she?” Tony was dumbfounded. “That brat,” he chased after her again.

~--~

           Tony quickly lost sight of the girl in the casino and was forced to give up the chase. He would have put his men back on the hunt for her, but a string of incidents took up his attention. While they were doing the final set up for the poker tournament, one of his men almost got crushed by one of those giant TV cameras they had rented to film the event. Thankfully, both the employee and, more importantly in Tony’s eyes, the camera, were unharmed. When asked, the man swore he saw something run past him. He turned to find it and got tangled up in some cables.

           That was only the beginning. One of the players they invited to the tournament was almost in a car wreck in the parking lot. The player swore he saw someone run across the street, and he swerved to avoid them. Then one of his employees suffered a poisoning, the circumstances of which left Tony conflicted. The large man reluctantly decided to present a bottle from his alcohol stash, one of the few the little girl hadn’t destroyed, as a gift for Mr. Verrick. The employee decided to sneak a bit of the beverage for himself before handing it off to Mr. Verrick and immediately suffered.

           Tony didn’t know if someone had tried to poison him or if there was something wrong with the bottle. But, better, he found out this way instead of with Mr. Verrick. Tony decided to let the employee off on this one, as long as he stayed quiet. Although considering said employee was currently on their way to the hospital, that might not even become an issue.

           As Big Tony sat in a booth overlooking the poker tournament, his nerves frayed. The event started smoothly enough, and Mr. Verrick had a nice front row seat, directly across from the table. The camera was set up to Verrick’s left, getting a nice view of the game as it proceeded. Everything was perfect, and that’s exactly when disaster liked to strike.

           “Stanley Black has...” The announcer for the tournament droned. Tony silently wished he had picked a more energetic man for the job.

           “Sir, there’s something you should-,” Simmons tried to tell Tony something.

           “Not now, Simmons,” Tony hushed his assistant. “I got to watch this thing like a hawk, can’t have anything go wrong.”

           “But sir, the light-,” the lanky man tried to continue.

           “Boston Rocky has...” The announcer’s voice echoed over the two men’s conversation.

           “Not now,” Tony growled, silencing the smaller man.

           “Yes, sir,” Simmons slinked away.

           “I haven’t seen the girl in a while, maybe she finally-,” Tony’s words died in his throat. He saw her again, he’d recognize that ridiculous hat anywhere. The little girl was skipping towards the cameraman, but she was approaching from his right side, which could only mean one thing. “Shit,” Tony swore as he stood up from his chair.

           The worst-case scenario was now, the girl had skipped right in front of the gambling table, in plain view of Mr. Verrick. Tony panicked; in mere moments, she’d jump right into the unaware cameraman. She’d would knock over him and the expensive equipment and ruin the tournament all in one fell swoop.

          “No, no, no,” Tony chanted as he bolted down from his booth with little care for Simmons’ cries of confusion. He had seconds to grab the little brat and slip offstage before anyone can notice. It wouldn’t be easy, but there was little room for her to escape this time.

           “California Tim has...” the announcer continued his commentary over the game.

           ‘Good he hasn’t noticed the brat just yet,’ Tony felt a hint of relief as he turned the corner and found himself only a few feet behind the little girl. He planned it out in his head. He’d sprint, swipe up the girl, give the cameraman a pat on the back ‘for doing a good job’, and be out the other end before anyone knew what was up. ‘It’s now or never,’ Tony steeled himself.

           It all happened in one swift motion, Tony ran out in front of the gambling table. A few of the players looked up in surprise as his form emerged but said nothing. Tony then lunged out towards the girl, and for once, she did not dodge out of the way. Instead, she spun 180 degrees on her heel and flashed him a sly smile, and said something he couldn’t hear. What Tony didn’t know was that directly above him was a loose lighting fixture. The same one Simmons tried to warn him about earlier. As though guided by the hands of fate, the fixture broke from its hinges and fell straight down. Yet, Tony still didn’t notice. Instead, he was focused on his capture of the girl. His hand reached out, closer and closer, until it was mere inches from her face, then his hand passed right through her.

           Tony’s blood ran cold as his brain tried to comprehend what just happened. A sensation traveled up his arm. It was an unmistakable chill that any flesh and blood creature could recognize. However, Tony had little time to process this realization as the light crashed down on his head and sent him into a world of darkness.

~--~

           “Wake up, mister,” a familiar voice called out to Tony, “Come on, sleepyhead.”

           “Oh my aching,” Tony mumbled as he pulled himself up, “What happened?”

           “You died silly,” the familiar voice answered.

           “What!” Tony’s eyes snapped open, only to be greeted by a pair of familiar dull green orbs. “You!” Tony stood up and immediately realized something was amiss. The sights and sounds of the casino and the gambling tournament were gone, replaced by something else entirely. A flowing river, an oppressive fog, and an eerie ambiance surrounded him now. “What is this place?”

           “Well you died, so it should be easy to guess, right?” the girl answered.

           “Ha, this is only a dream,” Tony tried to assure himself. While his head was a bit foggy, the feel of water and the sounds in his ears felt a little too real to be a dream. “So, if I really am dead, where am I going?” Big Tony humored her for a moment.

           “Oh, Mister,” the girl giggled, “I’m sure you can figure that out real easily.” The girl smiled, but it wasn’t the usual childish smile she’d flashed him dozens of times in the past week. The grin was far too wide for that. In fact, it was far too wide for any human to do. Tony felt a chill to his very core. He expected his heart to be pounding in his chest and his blood to run cold, but they didn’t. But of course, they didn’t, he was dead.

           “Please no, it can’t end like this!” Tony pleaded.

           “That’s what they all say,” the girl laughed as the fog parted behind her and made way for geysers of fire and brimstone. “If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Verrick will be joining you in a week or so.”

           “No, no!” Tony tried to turn and run, but he quickly realized he had no legs to stand with, no arms to scramble away with.

           “Come on, mister. You can’t fight what’s already happened,” she grabbed Tony and dragged him kicking and screaming past the geysers of flame. Big Tony’s screams echoed into nothingness as he disappeared into the abyss.

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One of the most frightening aspects of death is how sudden it can be. Even then, there might be signs to warn of the impending disaster, but they aren't always obvious.

In case my pseudo-wisdom didn't make it obvious enough, the little girl was in fact the grim reaper, or rather a grim reaper. The idea is that death is a complex thing that has different meanings to different people, thus you can't put all of it on the shoulders of a single skeleton with a scythe.

In this case, the little girl represented sudden and surprise death. She's the accident waiting to happen, the squirrel that causes you to swerve into a lamppost, the loose brick that fall and beams you in the head because you stopped to pick up a penny. I actually had a lot of fun writing her.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy 

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Support me on Patreon: [link]