So I never know what to do with my hair, cut it, grow it, style it (it's pretty fine and also real straight 💀). So I'm curious what advice people would have on what to do? Please ignore the funky eyelid, I'm getting that checked soon
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
​
Drenched in the low crimson light, staring at the black screen. The computer buzzing with computations. The clicking cyan text crawls across the screen.
LIFE SUPPORT.. 23%
EMERGENCY POWER.. 15%
.. SITUATION SEEMS TO BE CRITICAL..
AFTER FURTHER TROUBLESHOOTING.. EMERGENCY SYSTEM FUEL CELLS.. HAVE AN INTERNAL LEAK..
Staring at the screen, the cyan light melts my eyes. It's cold. Suddenly I feel my hand run up my face, and across my hair. The grease of my hair coated my hand.
"What.. what am I supposed to do with that information?"
The screen didn't budge, the crimson light continuing to nauseate the stomach. Suddenly a cyan click of a couple letters:
WHAT
"Stop, nevermind. What.. is there anything I can do to delay that?"
The cyan slowly pierces the crimson
YOU COULD.. OVERRIDE.. THE SHIPS SYSTEMS.. DEPRESSURIZE THE.. FUEL ROOM..
My inner brows dip, my heart runs a marathon.
IT WOULD COOL... THE ROOM... SLOWING DOWN.. THE DECAY..
I could hear my nose take in a deep breath, shaky, then pump out the air.
"Wouldn't that prevent me from ever having access to that room? Forever?"
The room chills, the spine cracking as I leaned forward, the vacuum rotting the room.
"Wait.."
Minutes pass, the dark room with one single red light turned into a morgue, pretending to be an emergency room. The dark cold corners humming in low power, the red sickened all it touched, while the darkness possessed all it didn't claim.
"Are you insinuating that I remove the oxygen from the room, turn off all essential systems for human existence, in a desperate attempt to preserve life?"
The words came out with cold, yet scared precision.
The cold dark screen again began to buzz and slowly it clicked:
YES..
The room sat silent, the tight walls ever so slightly crackling from the cold. The slight heat from my suit was the only thing I could feel.
"Why?"
BECAUSE.. IT WOULD MAKE.. THE FUEL LAST.. WHILE ALSO.. GIVING YOU MORE.. RESOURCES.. THROUGHOUT THE RIG..
Cyan letters clicking in my skull. Looking out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and distant lights. Recalling a distant memory..
..Staring out into the road, no street lights. The static of the radio, drilling into my skull..
The screen began to click
ARE YOU.. THERE?..
In my daze, my head shook.
"Yes, yeah I'm here, just something on my head."
YOUR ACCIDENT?..
The chair rolls back, and I get out of it. The crimson light switches off, cascading into darkness, with the blue staring through. My legs get under me, and with labor, push me up.
I look down the hall, the long dark hall. The crimson light soaking it periodically, with all the comfort of a crime scene. Each step forward echoes with a metal-on-metal thud, disturbing the silence.
The walls moved past me in a daze. I could see the walls encroaching towards me in the red. Each step bringing me closer to cutting me off. I look at the ships map, knowing every inch, hoping to see something I hadn't noticed before.
"Damn.."
Still I could see the main life support and engines behind the fuel. My skin crawling with the fear of a rat stuck in the organs of a dying monster.
Looking up into the next red light, I felt the memory soak through..
..The red and blue lights flashed in the distance, as my head rung..
I could feel the warm liquid running down my face..
Blinking I could see the door to the fuel room, I press the button on the cold panel. It slowly drags from the right to the left in the doorway. I walk in, after I put my helmet on my head. I could see the green glowing from the fuel container, the neons coating the fuel like radiation.
I could hear the silence being undermined by the buzz of the emergency fuel, dying from it's internal bleeding.
My steps thud towards the control panel for the room, my fingers clicking the keyboard. As I enter the override codes into their proper text boxes. The sound of each click echoing past the buzz. The text turns from cyan to crimson, urging me to stop.
My skin and self-preservation fighting my sanity, trying to prevent my penance.
"God.. Is this really the only way.."
The screen next to me clicks slowly
I'M SORRY.. WITHOUT THIS.. YOU ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT.. THIS AT LEAST.. GIVES YOU A.. DAY..
"Why are you following me.."
The cyan breaks the black screen, while the green covers my back
IM NOT.. I'M EVERYWHERE.. IN HERE..
With a scoff I cut it off.
"I know.. Just.. Just shut up."
OK..
I enter in the last bit of information, code, and instructions. I push the enter key, and a red countdown of 30 seconds clicks. I look at the back doors, knowing I'll lose all chances of fixing the engine. I trudge back.
The door closes behind me, and I can hear the door click. It sounded like a gunshot..
.. My head, pounding, sound was distant as the silhouettes of others approached from the red and blue haze..
My head began to ring, and my stomach growled like a desperate calf trying to feed. I labored towards the door that kept the food behind it. It opens with a press of a button. I opened the fridge as warmer air came out, and I grabbed a block of food.
I sat down at the small table and ate it, my mouth felt like a desert filled with all of the flavor of a brick. But my head and stomach finally felt some peace. But the red light of the room added its own level of mental distress. A constant reminder of my existence.
Eventually through the darkness and suffocating red, I make it back to front of the rig. I collapse into the chair, and look at the black screen, not seeing anything click into existence. I could see the emptiness of the universe around me, even though it looked brighter than the room I was chained to.
The lights were noticeably dimmer than just a couple of hours ago. My hands plunge into my messy hair and scratch my skull.
"Well the lights are getting dimmer, or am I going crazy."
The clicking immediately happened:
YES..
I chuckle.
"Yes to what?"
THE POWER.. IT IS.. GOING OUT SOON.. THE FUEL CELLS ARE DYING.. EVEN OUR PLAN... COULDN'T SAVE IT..
I didn't say a word, I just stared at those words. My head felt like a fire burning me alive, as my mind drifted..
..The doctor walked into the room, and looked at me, my head was ringing and I could barely hear him:
"I'm sorry, but your son, he didn't make it. He didn't suffer though he.."
My head began screaming..
The red light dimmed and started to flicker, I could feel my hands rubbing my skull aggressively.
"Is the power going to go out, how long have I been sitting here?"
YES.. VERY SOON..
"How long do I have, how long have I been sitting?"
YOU HAVE.....
The screen went black, and the red light slowly started to fade.
After some time I got up, stumbling to look down the red and black hall. There wasn't a hall, just more darkness. My heart didn't race, mind had no need to think. I sat on the floor, where the hallway lay invisible in the darkness.
"Ok.."
I whisper
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake. My eyes shift out the window; the darkness looks like a mirror. The ancient nostalgia of empty resentment creeps in. The darkness doesn't stare back, but I feel it smile. I can't see the smile, though I feel the beaming grin. I finally assault the alarm bleeding sound at me.
My feet creep across the empty concrete I unthankfully call home. Eventually, my hands start the dark coffee. Some philosophy enters my being: are these walls my prison, or is it the skin-gilded bones? The creamer sloshes, mixing into my dark desire. Like a typical morning, the internal pondering melts away with the burn of the dark liquid.
Why I wake so early, I don't know. I have no reason to. I grab the center of my universe, my laptop. I hastily put in my password, 13 characters memorized to a T. Protected from the walls that creak. The browser blinds me to the dark contrast of the wallpaper. If someone were here, they surely would mock me for not using dark mode.
The lights flick on, feeling like the mind-numbing fluorescents of a subway bathroom. But where a subway bathroom is covered in grassroots art, mine is just a barren white with a film of brown. I urgently start to pee, my eyes strained by the hour of the bright screen.
My eyes catch the mirror. There in the grime-covered glass appears my disheveled reflection. He looks somber... almost uncanny. His eyes stare through me. Those eyes display a lack of humanity, like a void staring into itself. I see a functioning body, yet dead long ago. The only details that feel real are the greasy hair and the sloppy neckbeard.
I grab my chair and roll it back. Without looking, I plummet, feeling the cushion eat the impact of my reality. I check the time, seeing that 20 minutes have elapsed. A realization I choose not to acknowledge. Peering at the dark window, expecting to see sunlight peeking over the horizon, yet it doesn't.
Five to ten minutes later, staring at the only source of light, my screen, I protest the lack of sun. Marching to the window, I see just darkness. In that moment, everything fades. Darkness consumes my sensations. It is mocking me. "You bastard," I mutter.
After a moment, I realize it feels just like a mirror. It is like staring into his, damn, empty eyes. Even now, that abyss won't stare back. He isn't better than me; he couldn't be. After all, that's me in that mirror, in this window. It's me?
Suddenly, a jarring realization of reality hits me. My heart drops. I can see my hands in the faint light, but they look distant. My thoughts feel like speakers down a long hallway—neither close nor far. The feeling of something moments from devouring the synthetic flesh encasing this dark room. For too long of a moment, I feel real in a fake world. For a brief moment.
Staring into the screen, watching cat videos, what's left of my sanity claws my throat, yet I don't scream. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, the darkness begins to embody my environment. I dare not look at it. Time won't move anymore. Inside, I feel what's left scream. The void assures no comfort I can feel it licking every ounce of me. The light of the screen now sickened and black, the eyes of the abyss press against mine. A deep breath labors my lungs, as I stare back.
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake up.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
The fire is warm, and the bottle is cold. The stars sat above me, twinkling in the moonless night. The cool desert wind is trying to cut through me, while the heat of the fire battled it. Holding my bottle of jack, I take a swig.
“Its a damn cold night, you know”
To no one's surprise, the barren camp didn't respond. My legs ache from the long trek, my eyes are heavy like rocks in a sack. Leaning over to grab my jerky I see it approach straight from the darkness, like a predator.
My mouth couldn't move, like it was wired shut. He.. it was tall, maybe 8 feet. All I could make out was a long, slender, silhouette. It pulled out a chair from somewhere and put it right next to the fire, across from me.
“Why hello chase, sipping at the jack again?”
I could feel my face scrunching in confusion, watching its jaw move. Staring into its face, all I could see was just a bottom jaw, with a half set of ghostly lips. Everything above that point appeared to not even exist
“Chase, you know it's rude not to respond, your dad taught you that”
In confusion and frustration, my arms cross, feeling the wooden handle on my gun. The old revolver is attached under my arm pit, in its old holster.
“How do you know my name, someone put you up to this?”
My voice had a hint of frustration, the question lingered, leaving room for a speech. The eyes in my skull dart around, trying to make out what's in front me, just black silk, and grey sickly jaw. I could feel my nerves frayed, but I persisted
“Excuse me, but you shouldn't ignore a man when he says somethi…
Wait my dad teach me that”
The wood grip of the gun was squeezed with anger, and an increasing confusion
“Chase, don't be so tense. I understand the confusion of a fragile mind.”
Its head tilted like a confused dog, but with no trace of uncertainty. Still all I could see was that jaw, not even movement could reveal it.
“Fragile mind, are talkin down to me?”
“No, no, in fact I'm talking up to you”
“Up? But you're so tall, how does that make a lick of sense”
Its head shifted to the right, as if it was trying to think, or make me think it was thinking
“Look, before we continue talking, I want to know who you are, and why you're intruding my camp”
With a chuckle its head tilted forward, my jaw clenched and my blood vessels near bursting
“Oh me? I'm from here, and there. Just a lonely traveler. Looking for a conversation, chase. Surely you understand that. I know you feel the same, after a 5 day trek”
“5 days? Wow, it has been 5 days… are you following me?”
The panic reflected in the grip of my pistol, and the gritting of my teeth.
“No, no, chase, you're not that interesting. I'm very busy. I'm just stopping by for a little bit”
“So why me, what do I gotta do with anything? How do you know my name?”
It looked up, staring at the stars, while I tried my best to make out what I was even looking at. Between the tired eyes, the liquor, the distortion of the flames, or god himself, no details could be revealed.
I was mesmerized trying to see it, that world could have passed, and life could of left me behind in rot, the silence finally broke
“Chase, because you're here. I know everything about you. Your tragedies. Your isolation. Your attempts at success. You mean nothing to the events that were. The events that will be”
The words covered the air in a thin layer of confusion, twisting the air. Thoughts flooded my head. Like an animal trapped in a cage, while in surgery, I was trapped and exposed. While it stared through me, into my soul.
As the fire dimmed the air stood still, my eyes locked in the fire, realizing the encroaching darkness. Darting back up my eyes look into where I believe its eyes to be
“Tell me, besides my name, what else do you actually know about me? And are you a mortal man like me?”
Reaching its arm forward revealing a hand. It was both pale, like a sickly old man, yet it looked like a shadow. There were no fine details, and it plugged into the top of the fire. Its figures weaved into the flame, twirling it in its fingers
“You're the youngest of 6. Your father died in a mine when you were 10. Your mother abandoned you when you were 14. Your oldest sister was like your real mom. She's dead, killed by her husband. Which you in turn killed. Which brings you here”
My eyes were engulfed in the flames before me, as if I could see each word it spoke as if recreated in the fire. My hand loosened around the wood. Even though it couldn't see my hand gripping the gun, it smiled, even if I couldn't see it, I knew it.
“That's smart chase. That gun would prove futile. It's not like you have long to live anyways. But you don't need me to tell you that.”
With my hands now down, one grasps a piece of jerky and shoves it in my mouth. The other grabs the jack and washes it down.
“If this conversation doesn't matter, why keep me in so much darkness. Can you even tell me where you're from”
My mind grasping for any answer, Without any hesitation it responds
“Chase, your weak mind couldn't handle the weight of its own insanity. To tell you would interrupt the last moments of your blinking existence. You were born nothing. I'm content in leaving you that way. After all, you have skeletons”
2 tears rolled down each side of my face, they moved at the rate of my asymmetry. I felt the world beneath me pulling me down, yet the night air felt safe.
“So, you know what I done?”
“I know everything, anyone in your life has done”
“So why did you say my pops died in a mining accident?”
“Because, that's what the world thinks happened”
“But you know I cut the rope, and killed him and 4 other men?”
“Yes, I know the murder you are chase”
“He deserved it, that rotten old man, hitting me, mother, my siblings”
“And your mother hated you for looking just like him. She hated how you talk and act like him to”
I stand up and pull out my gun, and point it at them, leaning forward, my blood boiling and tears running down my face.
“You bastard, shut up, don't you dare compare me to that rotting corpse of a man”
My voice rose into screaming, and the air swirled around me like a gale. My body fueled with all the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs, but it looked up, and I sat down.
“chase, put the gun away you fool. You know I didn't compare you to anyone. Your mom saw that. Not me.”
Tears poured out of my eyes, my forehead was perpendicular to the ground. Sobbing like an infant desperate for its mother's bosom.
Eventually my throat went dry and the tears wouldn't come out. What was left was snot, salt, and water covering my grimy face. I looked up to see it, and it was gone. Just like that, I was again alone. Left to wallow in the life paved for me, by me.
Honestly, the movie felt so emotionally flat, that I just couldn't care about what was happening. Was it gorey? Sure, was it gross? Absolutely. But were the themes well written? No. I hated essentially every character, and the plot was too simple for the themes in the movie. The pace was also awful, it felt both too long, and too short. No one in the theater even cared if there were end credit scenes. I personally loved rise, and burn just felt like a massive fall off
​
Drenched in the low crimson light, staring at the black screen. The computer buzzing with computations. The clicking cyan text crawls across the screen.
LIFE SUPPORT.. 23%
EMERGENCY POWER.. 15%
.. SITUATION SEEMS TO BE CRITICAL..
AFTER FURTHER TROUBLESHOOTING.. EMERGENCY SYSTEM FUEL CELLS.. HAVE AN INTERNAL LEAK..
Staring at the screen, the cyan light melts my eyes. It's cold. Suddenly I feel my hand run up my face, and across my hair. The grease of my hair coated my hand.
"What.. what am I supposed to do with that information?"
The screen didn't budge, the crimson light continuing to nauseate the stomach. Suddenly a cyan click of a couple letters:
WHAT
"Stop, nevermind. What.. is there anything I can do to delay that?"
The cyan slowly pierces the crimson
YOU COULD.. OVERRIDE.. THE SHIPS SYSTEMS.. DEPRESSURIZE THE.. FUEL ROOM..
My inner brows dip, my heart runs a marathon.
IT WOULD COOL... THE ROOM... SLOWING DOWN.. THE DECAY..
I could hear my nose take in a deep breath, shaky, then pump out the air.
"Wouldn't that prevent me from ever having access to that room? Forever?"
The room chills, the spine cracking as I leaned forward, the vacuum rotting the room.
"Wait.."
Minutes pass, the dark room with one single red light turned into a morgue, pretending to be an emergency room. The dark cold corners humming in low power, the red sickened all it touched, while the darkness possessed all it didn't claim.
"Are you insinuating that I remove the oxygen from the room, turn off all essential systems for human existence, in a desperate attempt to preserve life?"
The words came out with cold, yet scared precision.
The cold dark screen again began to buzz and slowly it clicked:
YES..
The room sat silent, the tight walls ever so slightly crackling from the cold. The slight heat from my suit was the only thing I could feel.
"Why?"
BECAUSE.. IT WOULD MAKE.. THE FUEL LAST.. WHILE ALSO.. GIVING YOU MORE.. RESOURCES.. THROUGHOUT THE RIG..
Cyan letters clicking in my skull. Looking out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and distant lights. Recalling a distant memory..
..Staring out into the road, no street lights. The static of the radio, drilling into my skull..
The screen began to click
ARE YOU.. THERE?..
In my daze, my head shook.
"Yes, yeah I'm here, just something on my head."
YOUR ACCIDENT?..
The chair rolls back, and I get out of it. The crimson light switches off, cascading into darkness, with the blue staring through. My legs get under me, and with labor, push me up.
I look down the hall, the long dark hall. The crimson light soaking it periodically, with all the comfort of a crime scene. Each step forward echoes with a metal-on-metal thud, disturbing the silence.
The walls moved past me in a daze. I could see the walls encroaching towards me in the red. Each step bringing me closer to cutting me off. I look at the ships map, knowing every inch, hoping to see something I hadn't noticed before.
"Damn.."
Still I could see the main life support and engines behind the fuel. My skin crawling with the fear of a rat stuck in the organs of a dying monster.
Looking up into the next red light, I felt the memory soak through..
..The red and blue lights flashed in the distance, as my head rung..
I could feel the warm liquid running down my face..
Blinking I could see the door to the fuel room, I press the button on the cold panel. It slowly drags from the right to the left in the doorway. I walk in, after I put my helmet on my head. I could see the green glowing from the fuel container, the neons coating the fuel like radiation.
I could hear the silence being undermined by the buzz of the emergency fuel, dying from it's internal bleeding.
My steps thud towards the control panel for the room, my fingers clicking the keyboard. As I enter the override codes into their proper text boxes. The sound of each click echoing past the buzz. The text turns from cyan to crimson, urging me to stop.
My skin and self-preservation fighting my sanity, trying to prevent my penance.
"God.. Is this really the only way.."
The screen next to me clicks slowly
I'M SORRY.. WITHOUT THIS.. YOU ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT.. THIS AT LEAST.. GIVES YOU A.. DAY..
"Why are you following me.."
The cyan breaks the black screen, while the green covers my back
IM NOT.. I'M EVERYWHERE.. IN HERE..
With a scoff I cut it off.
"I know.. Just.. Just shut up."
OK..
I enter in the last bit of information, code, and instructions. I push the enter key, and a red countdown of 30 seconds clicks. I look at the back doors, knowing I'll lose all chances of fixing the engine. I trudge back.
The door closes behind me, and I can hear the door click. It sounded like a gunshot..
.. My head, pounding, sound was distant as the silhouettes of others approached from the red and blue haze..
My head began to ring, and my stomach growled like a desperate calf trying to feed. I labored towards the door that kept the food behind it. It opens with a press of a button. I opened the fridge as warmer air came out, and I grabbed a block of food.
I sat down at the small table and ate it, my mouth felt like a desert filled with all of the flavor of a brick. But my head and stomach finally felt some peace. But the red light of the room added its own level of mental distress. A constant reminder of my existence.
Eventually through the darkness and suffocating red, I make it back to front of the rig. I collapse into the chair, and look at the black screen, not seeing anything click into existence. I could see the emptiness of the universe around me, even though it looked brighter than the room I was chained to.
The lights were noticeably dimmer than just a couple of hours ago. My hands plunge into my messy hair and scratch my skull.
"Well the lights are getting dimmer, or am I going crazy."
The clicking immediately happened:
YES..
I chuckle.
"Yes to what?"
THE POWER.. IT IS.. GOING OUT SOON.. THE FUEL CELLS ARE DYING.. EVEN OUR PLAN... COULDN'T SAVE IT..
I didn't say a word, I just stared at those words. My head felt like a fire burning me alive, as my mind drifted..
..The doctor walked into the room, and looked at me, my head was ringing and I could barely hear him:
"I'm sorry, but your son, he didn't make it. He didn't suffer though he.."
My head began screaming..
The red light dimmed and started to flicker, I could feel my hands rubbing my skull aggressively.
"Is the power going to go out, how long have I been sitting here?"
YES.. VERY SOON..
"How long do I have, how long have I been sitting?"
YOU HAVE.....
The screen went black, and the red light slowly started to fade.
After some time I got up, stumbling to look down the red and black hall. There wasn't a hall, just more darkness. My heart didn't race, mind had no need to think. I sat on the floor, where the hallway lay invisible in the darkness.
"Ok.."
I whisper
[Story] It's also only my second story, so would love to hear what you think. Its also horror btw
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mBIoZtwiy73c6o9ZZku0Wm\_oLQcqhF7xPtQot9ACCY/edit?usp=drivesdk
​
Drenched in the low crimson light, staring at the black screen. The computer buzzing with computations. The clicking cyan text crawls across the screen.
LIFE SUPPORT.. 23%
EMERGENCY POWER.. 15%
.. SITUATION SEEMS TO BE CRITICAL..
AFTER FURTHER TROUBLESHOOTING.. EMERGENCY SYSTEM FUEL CELLS.. HAVE AN INTERNAL LEAK..
Staring at the screen, the cyan light melts my eyes. It's cold. Suddenly I feel my hand run up my face, and across my hair. The grease of my hair coated my hand.
"What.. what am I supposed to do with that information?"
The screen didn't budge, the crimson light continuing to nauseate the stomach. Suddenly a cyan click of a couple letters:
WHAT
"Stop, nevermind. What.. is there anything I can do to delay that?"
The cyan slowly pierces the crimson
YOU COULD.. OVERRIDE.. THE SHIPS SYSTEMS.. DEPRESSURIZE THE.. FUEL ROOM..
My inner brows dip, my heart runs a marathon.
IT WOULD COOL... THE ROOM... SLOWING DOWN.. THE DECAY..
I could hear my nose take in a deep breath, shaky, then pump out the air.
"Wouldn't that prevent me from ever having access to that room? Forever?"
The room chills, the spine cracking as I leaned forward, the vacuum rotting the room.
"Wait.."
Minutes pass, the dark room with one single red light turned into a morgue, pretending to be an emergency room. The dark cold corners humming in low power, the red sickened all it touched, while the darkness possessed all it didn't claim.
"Are you insinuating that I remove the oxygen from the room, turn off all essential systems for human existence, in a desperate attempt to preserve life?"
The words came out with cold, yet scared precision.
The cold dark screen again began to buzz and slowly it clicked:
YES..
The room sat silent, the tight walls ever so slightly crackling from the cold. The slight heat from my suit was the only thing I could feel.
"Why?"
BECAUSE.. IT WOULD MAKE.. THE FUEL LAST.. WHILE ALSO.. GIVING YOU MORE.. RESOURCES.. THROUGHOUT THE RIG..
Cyan letters clicking in my skull. Looking out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and distant lights. Recalling a distant memory..
..Staring out into the road, no street lights. The static of the radio, drilling into my skull..
The screen began to click
ARE YOU.. THERE?..
In my daze, my head shook.
"Yes, yeah I'm here, just something on my head."
YOUR ACCIDENT?..
The chair rolls back, and I get out of it. The crimson light switches off, cascading into darkness, with the blue staring through. My legs get under me, and with labor, push me up.
I look down the hall, the long dark hall. The crimson light soaking it periodically, with all the comfort of a crime scene. Each step forward echoes with a metal-on-metal thud, disturbing the silence.
The walls moved past me in a daze. I could see the walls encroaching towards me in the red. Each step bringing me closer to cutting me off. I look at the ships map, knowing every inch, hoping to see something I hadn't noticed before.
"Damn.."
Still I could see the main life support and engines behind the fuel. My skin crawling with the fear of a rat stuck in the organs of a dying monster.
Looking up into the next red light, I felt the memory soak through..
..The red and blue lights flashed in the distance, as my head rung..
I could feel the warm liquid running down my face..
Blinking I could see the door to the fuel room, I press the button on the cold panel. It slowly drags from the right to the left in the doorway. I walk in, after I put my helmet on my head. I could see the green glowing from the fuel container, the neons coating the fuel like radiation.
I could hear the silence being undermined by the buzz of the emergency fuel, dying from it's internal bleeding.
My steps thud towards the control panel for the room, my fingers clicking the keyboard. As I enter the override codes into their proper text boxes. The sound of each click echoing past the buzz. The text turns from cyan to crimson, urging me to stop.
My skin and self-preservation fighting my sanity, trying to prevent my penance.
"God.. Is this really the only way.."
The screen next to me clicks slowly
I'M SORRY.. WITHOUT THIS.. YOU ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT.. THIS AT LEAST.. GIVES YOU A.. DAY..
"Why are you following me.."
The cyan breaks the black screen, while the green covers my back
IM NOT.. I'M EVERYWHERE.. IN HERE..
With a scoff I cut it off.
"I know.. Just.. Just shut up."
OK..
I enter in the last bit of information, code, and instructions. I push the enter key, and a red countdown of 30 seconds clicks. I look at the back doors, knowing I'll lose all chances of fixing the engine. I trudge back.
The door closes behind me, and I can hear the door click. It sounded like a gunshot..
.. My head, pounding, sound was distant as the silhouettes of others approached from the red and blue haze..
My head began to ring, and my stomach growled like a desperate calf trying to feed. I labored towards the door that kept the food behind it. It opens with a press of a button. I opened the fridge as warmer air came out, and I grabbed a block of food.
I sat down at the small table and ate it, my mouth felt like a desert filled with all of the flavor of a brick. But my head and stomach finally felt some peace. But the red light of the room added its own level of mental distress. A constant reminder of my existence.
Eventually through the darkness and suffocating red, I make it back to front of the rig. I collapse into the chair, and look at the black screen, not seeing anything click into existence. I could see the emptiness of the universe around me, even though it looked brighter than the room I was chained to.
The lights were noticeably dimmer than just a couple of hours ago. My hands plunge into my messy hair and scratch my skull.
"Well the lights are getting dimmer, or am I going crazy."
The clicking immediately happened:
YES..
I chuckle.
"Yes to what?"
THE POWER.. IT IS.. GOING OUT SOON.. THE FUEL CELLS ARE DYING.. EVEN OUR PLAN... COULDN'T SAVE IT..
I didn't say a word, I just stared at those words. My head felt like a fire burning me alive, as my mind drifted..
..The doctor walked into the room, and looked at me, my head was ringing and I could barely hear him:
"I'm sorry, but your son, he didn't make it. He didn't suffer though he.."
My head began screaming..
The red light dimmed and started to flicker, I could feel my hands rubbing my skull aggressively.
"Is the power going to go out, how long have I been sitting here?"
YES.. VERY SOON..
"How long do I have, how long have I been sitting?"
YOU HAVE.....
The screen went black, and the red light slowly started to fade.
After some time I got up, stumbling to look down the red and black hall. There wasn't a hall, just more darkness. My heart didn't race, mind had no need to think. I sat on the floor, where the hallway lay invisible in the darkness.
"Ok.."
I whisper
[discussion] I'd like to know
​
Drenched in the low crimson light, staring at the black screen. The computer buzzing with computations. The clicking cyan text crawls across the screen.
LIFE SUPPORT... 23%
EMERGENCY POWER... 15%
....... SITUATION SEEMS TO BE CRITICAL.....
AFTER FURTHER TROUBLESHOOTING.... EMERGENCY SYSTEM FUEL CELLS... HAVE AN INTERNAL LEAK...
Staring at the screen, the cyan light melts my eyes. It's cold. Suddenly I feel my hand run up my face, and across my hair. The grease of my hair coated my hand.
"What... what am I supposed to do with that information?"
The screen didn't budge, the crimson light continuing to nauseate the stomach. Suddenly a cyan click of a couple letters:
WHAT
"Stop, nevermind. What... is there anything I can do to delay that?"
The cyan slowly pierces the crimson:
YOU COULD... OVERRIDE... THE SHIPS SYSTEMS... DEPRESSURIZE THE... FUEL ROOM...
My inner brows dip, my heart runs a marathon.
IT WOULD COOL.... THE ROOM... SLOWING DOWN... THE DECAY...
I could hear my nose take in a deep breath, shaky, then pump out the air.
"Wouldn't that prevent me from ever having access to that room? Forever?"
The room chills, the spine cracking as I leaned forward, the vacuum rotting the room.
"Wait...."
Minutes pass, the dark room with one single red light turned into a morgue, pretending to be an emergency room. The dark cold corners humming in low power, the red sickened all it touched, while the darkness possessed all it didn't claim.
"Are you insinuating that I remove the oxygen from the room, turn off all essential systems for human existence, in a desperate attempt to preserve life?"
The words came out with cold, yet scared precision.
The cold dark screen again began to buzz and slowly it clicked:
YES...
The room sat silent, the tight walls ever so slightly crackling from the cold. The slight heat from my suit was the only thing I could feel.
"Why?"
BECAUSE... IT WOULD MAKE... THE FUEL LAST... WHILE ALSO... GIVING YOU MORE... RESOURCES... THROUGHOUT THE RIG...
Cyan letters clicking in my skull. Looking out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and distant lights. Recalling a distant memory...
... Staring out into the road, no street lights. The static of the radio, drilling into my skull...
The screen began to click:
ARE YOU... THERE?...
In my daze, my head shook.
"Yes, yeah I'm here, just something on my head."
YOUR ACCIDENT?...
The chair rolls back, and I get out of it. The crimson light switches off, cascading into darkness, with the blue staring through. My legs get under me, and with labor, push me up.
I look down the hall, the long dark hall. The crimson light soaking it periodically, with all the comfort of a crime scene. Each step forward echoes with a metal-on-metal thud, disturbing the silence.
The walls moved past me in a daze. I could see the walls encroaching towards me in the red. Each step bringing me closer to cutting me off. I look at the ships map, knowing every inch, hoping to see something I hadn't noticed before.
"Damn..."
Still I could see the main life support and engines behind the fuel. My skin crawling with the fear of a rat stuck in the organs of a dying monster.
Looking up into the next red light, I felt the memory soak through...
... The red and blue lights flashed in the distance, as my head rung...
I could feel the warm liquid running down my face...
Blinking I could see the door to the fuel room, I press the button on the cold panel. It slowly drags from the right to the left in the doorway. I walk in, after I put my helmet on my head. I could see the green glowing from the fuel container, the neons coating the fuel like radiation.
I could hear the silence being undermined by the buzz of the emergency fuel, dying from it's internal bleeding.
My steps thud towards the control panel for the room, my fingers clicking the keyboard. As I enter the override codes into their proper text boxes. The sound of each click echoing past the buzz. The text turns from cyan to crimson, urging me to stop.
My skin and self-preservation fighting my sanity, trying to prevent my penance.
"God... Is this really the only way..."
The screen next to me clicks slowly:
I'M SORRY... WITHOUT THIS... YOU ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT... THIS AT LEAST... GIVES YOU A... DAY...
"Why are you following me..."
The cyan breaks the black screen, while the green covers my back:
IM NOT... I'M EVERYWHERE... IN HERE...
With a scoff I cut it off.
"I know... Just... Just shut up."
OK...
I enter in the last bit of information, code, and instructions. I push the enter key, and a red countdown of 30 seconds clicks. I look at the back doors, knowing I'll lose all chances of fixing the engine. I trudge back.
The door closes behind me, and I can hear the door click. It sounded like a gunshot...
... My head, pounding, sound was distant as the silhouettes of others approached from the red and blue haze...
My head began to ring, and my stomach growled like a desperate calf trying to feed. I labored towards the door that kept the food behind it. It opens with a press of a button. I opened the fridge as warmer air came out, and I grabbed a block of food.
I sat down at the small table and ate it, my mouth felt like a desert filled with all of the flavor of a brick. But my head and stomach finally felt some peace. But the red light of the room added its own level of mental distress. A constant reminder of my existence.
Eventually through the darkness and suffocating red, I make it back to front of the rig. I collapse into the chair, and look at the black screen, not seeing anything click into existence. I could see the emptiness of the universe around me, even though it looked brighter than the room I was chained to.
The lights were noticeably dimmer than just a couple of hours ago. My hands plunge into my messy hair and scratch my skull.
"Well the lights are getting dimmer, or am I going crazy."
The clicking immediately happened:
YES...
I chuckle.
"Yes to what?"
THE POWER... IT IS... GOING OUT SOON... THE FUEL CELLS ARE DYING... EVEN OUR PLAN... COULDN'T SAVE IT...
I didn't say a word, I just stared at those words. My head felt like a fire burning me alive, as my mind drifted...
...The doctor walked into the room, and looked at me, my head was ringing and I could barely hear him:
"I'm sorry, but your son, he didn't make it. He didn't suffer though he..."
My head began screaming...
The red light dimmed and started to flicker, I could feel my hands rubbing my skull aggressively.
"Is the power going to go out, how long have I been sitting here?"
YES... VERY SOON...
"How long do I have, how long have I been sitting?"
YOU HAVE............
The screen went black, and the red light slowly started to fade.
After some time I got up, stumbling to look down the red and black hall. There wasn't a hall, just more darkness. My heart didn't race, mind had no need to think. I sat on the floor, where the hallway lay invisible in the darkness.
"Ok..."
I whisper.
​
Drenched in the low crimson light, staring at the black screen. The computer buzzing with computations. The clicking cyan text crawls across the screen.
LIFE SUPPORT... 23%
EMERGENCY POWER... 15%
....... SITUATION SEEMS TO BE CRITICAL.....
AFTER FURTHER TROUBLESHOOTING.... EMERGENCY SYSTEM FUEL CELLS... HAVE AN INTERNAL LEAK...
Staring at the screen, the cyan light melts my eyes. It's cold. Suddenly I feel my hand run up my face, and across my hair. The grease of my hair coated my hand.
"What... what am I supposed to do with that information?"
The screen didn't budge, the crimson light continuing to nauseate the stomach. Suddenly a cyan click of a couple letters:
WHAT
"Stop, nevermind. What... is there anything I can do to delay that?"
The cyan slowly pierces the crimson:
YOU COULD... OVERRIDE... THE SHIPS SYSTEMS... DEPRESSURIZE THE... FUEL ROOM...
My inner brows dip, my heart runs a marathon.
IT WOULD COOL.... THE ROOM... SLOWING DOWN... THE DECAY...
I could hear my nose take in a deep breath, shaky, then pump out the air.
"Wouldn't that prevent me from ever having access to that room? Forever?"
The room chills, the spine cracking as I leaned forward, the vacuum rotting the room.
"Wait...."
Minutes pass, the dark room with one single red light turned into a morgue, pretending to be an emergency room. The dark cold corners humming in low power, the red sickened all it touched, while the darkness possessed all it didn't claim.
"Are you insinuating that I remove the oxygen from the room, turn off all essential systems for human existence, in a desperate attempt to preserve life?"
The words came out with cold, yet scared precision.
The cold dark screen again began to buzz and slowly it clicked:
YES...
The room sat silent, the tight walls ever so slightly crackling from the cold. The slight heat from my suit was the only thing I could feel.
"Why?"
BECAUSE... IT WOULD MAKE... THE FUEL LAST... WHILE ALSO... GIVING YOU MORE... RESOURCES... THROUGHOUT THE RIG...
Cyan letters clicking in my skull. Looking out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and distant lights. Recalling a distant memory...
... Staring out into the road, no street lights. The static of the radio, drilling into my skull...
The screen began to click:
ARE YOU... THERE?...
In my daze, my head shook.
"Yes, yeah I'm here, just something on my head."
YOUR ACCIDENT?...
The chair rolls back, and I get out of it. The crimson light switches off, cascading into darkness, with the blue staring through. My legs get under me, and with labor, push me up.
I look down the hall, the long dark hall. The crimson light soaking it periodically, with all the comfort of a crime scene. Each step forward echoes with a metal-on-metal thud, disturbing the silence.
The walls moved past me in a daze. I could see the walls encroaching towards me in the red. Each step bringing me closer to cutting me off. I look at the ships map, knowing every inch, hoping to see something I hadn't noticed before.
"Damn..."
Still I could see the main life support and engines behind the fuel. My skin crawling with the fear of a rat stuck in the organs of a dying monster.
Looking up into the next red light, I felt the memory soak through...
... The red and blue lights flashed in the distance, as my head rung...
I could feel the warm liquid running down my face...
Blinking I could see the door to the fuel room, I press the button on the cold panel. It slowly drags from the right to the left in the doorway. I walk in, after I put my helmet on my head. I could see the green glowing from the fuel container, the neons coating the fuel like radiation.
I could hear the silence being undermined by the buzz of the emergency fuel, dying from it's internal bleeding.
My steps thud towards the control panel for the room, my fingers clicking the keyboard. As I enter the override codes into their proper text boxes. The sound of each click echoing past the buzz. The text turns from cyan to crimson, urging me to stop.
My skin and self-preservation fighting my sanity, trying to prevent my penance.
"God... Is this really the only way..."
The screen next to me clicks slowly:
I'M SORRY... WITHOUT THIS... YOU ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT... THIS AT LEAST... GIVES YOU A... DAY...
"Why are you following me..."
The cyan breaks the black screen, while the green covers my back:
IM NOT... I'M EVERYWHERE... IN HERE...
With a scoff I cut it off.
"I know... Just... Just shut up."
OK...
I enter in the last bit of information, code, and instructions. I push the enter key, and a red countdown of 30 seconds clicks. I look at the back doors, knowing I'll lose all chances of fixing the engine. I trudge back.
The door closes behind me, and I can hear the door click. It sounded like a gunshot...
... My head, pounding, sound was distant as the silhouettes of others approached from the red and blue haze...
My head began to ring, and my stomach growled like a desperate calf trying to feed. I labored towards the door that kept the food behind it. It opens with a press of a button. I opened the fridge as warmer air came out, and I grabbed a block of food.
I sat down at the small table and ate it, my mouth felt like a desert filled with all of the flavor of a brick. But my head and stomach finally felt some peace. But the red light of the room added its own level of mental distress. A constant reminder of my existence.
Eventually through the darkness and suffocating red, I make it back to front of the rig. I collapse into the chair, and look at the black screen, not seeing anything click into existence. I could see the emptiness of the universe around me, even though it looked brighter than the room I was chained to.
The lights were noticeably dimmer than just a couple of hours ago. My hands plunge into my messy hair and scratch my skull.
"Well the lights are getting dimmer, or am I going crazy."
The clicking immediately happened:
YES...
I chuckle.
"Yes to what?"
THE POWER... IT IS... GOING OUT SOON... THE FUEL CELLS ARE DYING... EVEN OUR PLAN... COULDN'T SAVE IT...
I didn't say a word, I just stared at those words. My head felt like a fire burning me alive, as my mind drifted...
...The doctor walked into the room, and looked at me, my head was ringing and I could barely hear him:
"I'm sorry, but your son, he didn't make it. He didn't suffer though he..."
My head began screaming...
The red light dimmed and started to flicker, I could feel my hands rubbing my skull aggressively.
"Is the power going to go out, how long have I been sitting here?"
YES... VERY SOON...
"How long do I have, how long have I been sitting?"
YOU HAVE............
The screen went black, and the red light slowly started to fade.
After some time I got up, stumbling to look down the red and black hall. There wasn't a hall, just more darkness. My heart didn't race, mind had no need to think. I sat on the floor, where the hallway lay invisible in the darkness.
"Ok..."
I whisper
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake. My eyes shift out the window; the darkness looks like a mirror. The ancient nostalgia of empty resentment creeps in. The darkness doesn't stare back, but I feel it smile. I can't see the smile, though I feel the beaming grin. I finally assault the alarm bleeding sound at me.
My feet creep across the empty concrete I unthankfully call home. Eventually, my hands start the dark coffee. Some philosophy enters my being: are these walls my prison, or is it the skin-gilded bones? The creamer sloshes, mixing into my dark desire. Like a typical morning, the internal pondering melts away with the burn of the dark liquid.
Why I wake so early, I don't know. I have no reason to. I grab the center of my universe, my laptop. I hastily put in my password, 13 characters memorized to a T. Protected from the walls that creak. The browser blinds me to the dark contrast of the wallpaper. If someone were here, they surely would mock me for not using dark mode.
The lights flick on, feeling like the mind-numbing fluorescents of a subway bathroom. But where a subway bathroom is covered in grassroots art, mine is just a barren white with a film of brown. I urgently start to pee, my eyes strained by the hour of the bright screen.
My eyes catch the mirror. There in the grime-covered glass appears my disheveled reflection. He looks somber... almost uncanny. His eyes stare through me. Those eyes display a lack of humanity, like a void staring into itself. I see a functioning body, yet dead long ago. The only details that feel real are the greasy hair and the sloppy neckbeard.
I grab my chair and roll it back. Without looking, I plummet, feeling the cushion eat the impact of my reality. I check the time, seeing that 20 minutes have elapsed. A realization I choose not to acknowledge. Peering at the dark window, expecting to see sunlight peeking over the horizon, yet it doesn't.
Five to ten minutes later, staring at the only source of light, my screen, I protest the lack of sun. Marching to the window, I see just darkness. In that moment, everything fades. Darkness consumes my sensations. It is mocking me. "You bastard," I mutter.
After a moment, I realize it feels just like a mirror. It is like staring into his, damn, empty eyes. Even now, that abyss won't stare back. He isn't better than me; he couldn't be. After all, that's me in that mirror, in this window. It's me?
Suddenly, a jarring realization of reality hits me. My heart drops. I can see my hands in the faint light, but they look distant. My thoughts feel like speakers down a long hallway—neither close nor far. The feeling of something moments from devouring the synthetic flesh encasing this dark room. For too long of a moment, I feel real in a fake world. For a brief moment.
Staring into the screen, watching cat videos, what's left of my sanity claws my throat, yet I don't scream. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, the darkness begins to embody my environment. I dare not look at it. Time won't move anymore. Inside, I feel what's left scream. The void assures no comfort I can feel it licking every ounce of me. The light of the screen now sickened and black, the eyes of the abyss press against mine. A deep breath labors my lungs, as I stare back.
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake up.
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake. My eyes shift out the window; the darkness looks like a mirror. The ancient nostalgia of empty resentment creeps in. The darkness doesn't stare back, but I feel it smile. I can't see the smile, though I feel the beaming grin. I finally assault the alarm bleeding sound at me.
My feet creep across the empty concrete I unthankfully call home. Eventually, my hands start the dark coffee. Some philosophy enters my being: are these walls my prison, or is it the skin-gilded bones? The creamer sloshes, mixing into my dark desire. Like a typical morning, the internal pondering melts away with the burn of the dark liquid.
Why I wake so early, I don't know. I have no reason to. I grab the center of my universe, my laptop. I hastily put in my password, 13 characters memorized to a T. Protected from the walls that creak. The browser blinds me to the dark contrast of the wallpaper. If someone were here, they surely would mock me for not using dark mode.
The lights flick on, feeling like the mind-numbing fluorescents of a subway bathroom. But where a subway bathroom is covered in grassroots art, mine is just a barren white with a film of brown. I urgently start to pee, my eyes strained by the hour of the bright screen.
My eyes catch the mirror. There in the grime-covered glass appears my disheveled reflection. He looks somber... almost uncanny. His eyes stare through me. Those eyes display a lack of humanity, like a void staring into itself. I see a functioning body, yet dead long ago. The only details that feel real are the greasy hair and the sloppy neckbeard.
I grab my chair and roll it back. Without looking, I plummet, feeling the cushion eat the impact of my reality. I check the time, seeing that 20 minutes have elapsed. A realization I choose not to acknowledge. Peering at the dark window, expecting to see sunlight peeking over the horizon, yet it doesn't.
Five to ten minutes later, staring at the only source of light, my screen, I protest the lack of sun. Marching to the window, I see just darkness. In that moment, everything fades. Darkness consumes my sensations. It is mocking me. "You bastard," I mutter.
After a moment, I realize it feels just like a mirror. It is like staring into his, damn, empty eyes. Even now, that abyss won't stare back. He isn't better than me; he couldn't be. After all, that's me in that mirror, in this window. It's me?
Suddenly, a jarring realization of reality hits me. My heart drops. I can see my hands in the faint light, but they look distant. My thoughts feel like speakers down a long hallway—neither close nor far. The feeling of something moments from devouring the synthetic flesh encasing this dark room. For too long of a moment, I feel real in a fake world. For a brief moment.
Staring into the screen, watching cat videos, what's left of my sanity claws my throat, yet I don't scream. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, the darkness begins to embody my environment. I dare not look at it. Time won't move anymore. Inside, I feel what's left scream. The void assures no comfort I can feel it licking every ounce of me. The light of the screen now sickened and black, the eyes of the abyss press against mine. A deep breath labors my lungs, as I stare back.
My alarm goes off, screaming at me. Again, I wake up.