The Legend of High Noon

The Legend of High Noon



Blood begins to drip into the sink. A guilty switch blade lays in the basin, it’s golden handle stained sanguine.

“You look good.” He says to his reflection.
He buttoned up his old flannel sleeve, his right hand a dripping crimson. His hair a tangled, knotted mess. His real name was buried with his mother. The girls of The Ennio Hotel called him Baby, but he notoriously graced warrants as

“High Noon!” They shouted from outside.

His eyes perked up, and he strained his ears to listen. His malnourished frame swayed, and his gaze fell on his right hand. The extremity had quickly gone pale beneath the blood. He wiped his hand, staining a towel, and stepped out.

Ellie was staring out the window, her dress half on when Baby came in. She turned to him, near tears and said
“It’s a posse.” A black eye and a fat lip on her face.

Baby smiled, gentle eyes. He strolled to the window, his finger stroking her cheek. He slid his fingers through her hair as he parted the window shades.

“Hm…look at ‘em.”

Outside, the early Morning Sun was already furious. The pueblo of Indio was victim to it’s merciless onslaught. A miasma of torridness choked the yellow dirt road. Cautious eyes stared from brown windows.

Death marched down the street. The heavy boots of the law came in three, draped in darkness. Their graven hands gripped their guns with intent.

(“, bit small for a posse huh?” noted Baby.)
The dauntless Sheriff Huntington lead. At his right, the charred Deputy Daniels. Marching out of retirement to Huntington’s left, the wizened Pedro Martinez.

Daniels bled with vindictiveness. His face was in raw bandages, holding together what was left of his roasted flesh. His breath was wet, whistling from his lipless mouth. One eye stared out, darting back and forth. He choked his rifle with terrific anger. A hunger in his eye that only revenge would satisfy.

Pedro was too ancient to be a deputy. No, age had cut canyons into his sunburned face. Sad, dark eyes humbled in his heavy brow. A graying mustache swung below his chin. He bore a rifle in his arms, a gun as old as him. A rosary snaked around his hand, the cross dangled between his fist and the wooden rifle butt.

The Great Sheriff Huntington remained stoic. A silver pony tail tangled over his back. His callous eyes were set on the hotel. His right hand rested on his prize revolver. Given to him upon his leave of the Army, the gun was an intricately beautiful killing machine. It’s bullets casted to punish those who would bring evil to this world. In the other hand, a warrant.

They were here to bring justice to countless families. To uphold promises made over many a grave. They represented mothers, and fathers. Brothers and sisters. All whose lives have been shattered by the toxic touch of High Noon. The warrant cried “Dead or Alive!”, with a catalog of His sins. With all the will of God and Right on their side, they came to cleanse Indio of its cancerous parasite.

This was an exorcism.

Baby stepped back from the window, spitting onto the rug. He wobbled his way over to the coat rack, and removed his gun belt. Outside, Huntington announced the warrant, calling for High Noon to come out peacefully. It was half hearted at best. Baby opened the cylinder to his revolver. His last pair of bullets tucked patiently inside. Two bullets. Three men. ‘Fuck it, two bullets to three people will get me jus as killed as no bullets’ he thought to himself as he let the duo drop to the floor.
“ I’ve seen worse odds….” He mumbled to himself, losing his balance. The world teetered beneath him and he nearly fell backwards.

“Baby!” yelped Ellie

He caught himself, grabbing hold of the door knob. His trembling bloodied hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigarettes. He put one to his lips and recomposed himself. He looked at the whore, and let a sharp grin creep up his face.

“No worries, I’m still me, ya dig? Aint ya hear? No bullet’s can touch me!” he recited the rumors that had preceded him town to town.

He turned his back to her and took his step out the door.

“They’re going to kill you!” pleaded Ellie, tears streaming down her face.

He paused for only a moment at the door.

“No. They wont.” He didn’t look back. A trail of blood leading out the room.

Pedro quietly ducked away from the Sheriff. Dipping into an alley, he went around the makeshift house. He was praying very quietly to himself. Having to take another life weighed heavily on the man. He had spilled enough blood in his time, and found no serenity in it. But there are some things that a man cannot let stand. He could no longer sit back and allow this monster continue his victimization of the innocent. He wanted peace, not revenge. The alley led Pedro to the street parallel to the hotel. He lifted his rifle and took aim at the doorway…

Daniels kicked open the locked Bank entrance. The store was empty save for the teller, who stayed timidly to the back. He opened his mouth to protest, but froze at Daniels disfiguration. Daniels stepped to the window, and slipped the barrel of his rifle beneath. His finger tickled the trigger. His whole body was still in pain, and the fever drove him mad. He didn’t want High Noon to die, not immediately. He wanted the loathsome insect to see what he had done. To feel every slow second of pain that Daniels had felt as the kerosene cooked his face. This was hate fueled vengeance.

The outlaw stepped out of the Hotel. He tossed the match aside as smoke billowed over his face. A laugh escaped his lips.

“Lookit ya all dressed up. My girls would love yah.”

The Sheriff drew his revolver. High Noon still had his thumbs in his pockets. He pinched the cigarette and stared at it as he spoke

“That’s hardly sportin’ sher’f. You aint even read me mah rights yet.” Smoke billowed from his nose and mouth as he antagonized Huntington.

“No more jokes ‘Noon. This warrant calls for a hangin’. I’m givin’ yeh one chance to hand yerself in, ta keep what lil’ honor yah have left in yah. Aint no more second chances.”

High Noon waved around the cigarette, blood dripping at his feet.
“What’s the name yah got on that there warrant, huh? Maybe I can help you find the fella. Sure as shit aint my name, I’d betcha.”

“You think anyone’s gun’ care ‘bout yer name after what you did in Morricone? You pushed it too far ‘Noon, aint no one forgetin’ about this one till yer necks snapped.”

High Noon nodded.
“Yeah?” he spit, bringing the cig to his lips. He rolled his head on his neck, his gaze fell on the bank. “Dep-oo-tee Daniels. Glad to see yah made it out. I reckon some o’ my girls gots some ointment in their purses that’ll do wonders on yer condition. They’ll take good care of yah, promises, they love charity cases.”

In the bank, Daniels was seething. ‘Yeah, keep talkin’ yah shit, keep talkin’.’

“Was that Pedro I saw?” pestered High Noon. He was unsteady in stance, nearly delirious and swaying. Huntington’s eyes scrutinized the puddle of blood growing at High Noon’s feet. “If ya be needing a cane to support ya in yer old age,” continued High Noon, “I just robbed a carpenter.”

Huntington pulled back the hammer to his revolver.
“Enough.” He ordered.

High Noon leaned back, savoring his final drag before tossing the cig. He let the smoke roll out from his nose.

“Allright. Let’s do this then.”

High Noon’s stance was unsteady, as if stricken by vertigo.

Sheriff Huntington leveled the barrel at the criminal.

Daniels trembled with anticipation, his blackened fingers stroking the trigger.

Ellie watched through burning tears from the hotel window, till the pain became too much to bear. If he was to die, she would die with him.

Pedro prayed for forgiveness, and asked the Lord to guide his aim. Out the corner of his eye he saw movement in the hotel window. A woman was rushing out. Pedro looked out and saw Huntington and Daniel’s weapons pointed in that direction. Without hesitation, he tossed his rifle away and bound forward

Sweat poured from High Noon’s ashen face. His eyes weren’t looking at anything before him, but darting back and forth at nothing.

“Aheh….” He wiped his forehead of sweat “Sorry ta’ let yeh down bird. Me’be next time.”

His trembling hand slugged it’s way to the gun. Thunder struck when his fingers touched the old steel.

Ellie exploded out the hotel into a rain of lead. She cried out for death, but found only Pedro instead. He tackled the girl and pinned her to the ground. She struggled, but he pinned her to the dirt.

High Noon felt a wet smack on his left ear and a ringing. As blood poured down the side of his face, he removed his gun from his holster. He ignored the cacophony of gun fire as he raised his gun at the Sheriff. The windows of the hotel behind him shattered, and dirt exploded at his feet.

He saw Huntington through his barrel. The gunfire had grown distant, and he couldn’t hear Ellie’s screams.

He pulled the trigger and whispered “Pow!”

The world went out from beneath him, and High Noon fell, a grin on his face.



Huntington glared. Cautiously he made his way towards High Noon. Daniels stepped out of the bank, his gun still trained on the outlaw.

Standing over him, Huntington was sure he was dead, a delusional grin frozen on his lips. Daniels pushed the body over with his foot.

“I nailed ‘im in his fuckin’ skull.” Rasped Daniels, spit and mucus flying from his skeletal jaw. Daniels spit and swore something awful. Huntington’s stone gaze met Daniels.

“Yeh well…” if Daniels still had cheek’s he’d blush, “good riddance.” He turned his back to the Huntington and walked towards the hotel, resting the rifle on his shoulder. He saw Pedro on his knee’s locking the girl in place.
Ellie was frozen in grim anticipation. Praying against her own eyes that he was all right. Stuck between tears. When the lawmen made eye contact, Pedro hung his head low, and the girl lost it.

A miserable howl erupted from the girl. Her scream tore the sky as she dispelled all joy from her body.

“Daniels.” Beckoned Huntington.

“Eh?” Daniels picked at his bandages and skipped to the Sheriff.

“Look.” Instructed Huntington.

The wind had blown back High Noon’s hair, revealing the bullet wound. High Noon’s left ear had been shot off.
“Yah just shot his ear off there Lester.” Explained Huntington, “Nothin’ else.”
Behind them, Ellie howled
“Well shit Rich.” Daniels gave up, “Where’d we stick ‘em then?”
The Sheriff sighed, shaking his head to the tearful soundtrack.

“We didn’t.” he answered. Ellie continued to wail.
“What did you-” began Daniels. He turned his head to Pedro and hollered “Would ya shut ‘er up?!” He looked back at Huntington, “Whatja say there Rich?”

The Sheriff was studying the town. His eyes met Daniels and he said
“I said we didn’t kill him.” Huntington knelt down and examined High Noon.

Daniels studied the body. Save for the missing ear there was not a bullet in him. Blood was only to be found on his face and his hand.

Sheriff Huntington knelt down. He withdrew the pocket knife his father had given him, and flipped open the blade. He poked Noon’s right hand with it and dragged the flat side down to the sleeve, peeling it back.

He exposed a gash on High Noon’s wrist. Swollen and black, the half coagulated wound gaped back at Huntington.

“Aw shit. We did that?” asked Daniels.

Huntington stared. He withdrew the blade and shook his head.

“No. He did that to himself.”

Daniels hissed “Why would he go and do something stupid like that?”

Huntington gave a heavy, tired sigh as he stood up and met Pedro’s gaze.

“So we would never catch him.” He realized. His eyes fell to a distance. It would never end. The Sheriff tossed the warrant into the wind and turned his back, returning to their horses. Daniels looked back at Pedro as he disconnected himself from Ellie. The two of them caught up to the Sheriff and left.

Ellie’s cries had lost their sound, and she rasped her misery with bestial pain.

High Noon remained dead in the dirt, a grin on his face.

The Thing In The Dark

The Thing In The Dark



The kitchen was asleep.
The microwave read 2:07 TIME COOK
The dishes sat half done in the sink
A sliver of blue light crept in from the hall
It left everything alone save for the dog bowl
Illuminating the name “KAZAN”

From deep in the house a muffled conversation was to be heard
Complete with music and sound effects
Though one would have to strain his ears

The dreaming refrigerator hummed
Directly across from it was the living room window
Only the faint outline of the sofa and television were visible in the moonlight
All was still

The kitchen was engulfed in blue light
And the air with raucous noise from a television set
Tripp came into the kitchen
Disturbing the sleep of the kitchen ware

Tripp opened the fridge
His long, knotted auburn hair reached just below his shoulders
Bloodshot and droopy eyes searched the contents of the fridge
He grabbed a 2 liter of soda

Taking several large gulps from the bottle
He wiped his lips
And put it back.
With a scratch of his stomach he closed the fridge
And retread back into the hall
Closing the door behind him
Cutting off the light and noise
Things went back to stillness in the Kitchen

From the kitchen the Moon was clearly visible in the living room window
It was nestled between two mountains
Illuminating the dense woods
There was only one other star in the sky
It was flashing, a stellar morse code
After a time it was obvious that the star was in fact moving
In fact getting closer
It wobbled in it's trajectory
Leaving a trail of flames in it's wake
It dipped behind a mountain
To the sound of tearing treetops
A explosive screech tore through the night

A light show broke out from the woods
Red's and yellow's shone through the trees
The lights were chaotic
And bright enough to reach through even the living room window

A dog barked madly outside
Howling and snarling
The lights went on,
Worst of all, silently
For several minutes
Before dissipating
The dog though, continued to protest

Moments later Tripp burst into the kitchen
Fully clothed now
Grabbing keys from the pantry
And leaving out the back door

“Relax Kaz.” he told the dog
Slipping his arm into his jacket
And turning on a flashlight
The large dog fought against his chain
Maddened by the disturbance
“Relax Kaz, I'm letting you off.”

He released the dogs chain and gripped tight to the leash
The dog lead him into the woods
Going silent and sniffing the earth beneath him
Together they left the safety of Tripp's backyard
And into the dense woods

Tripp's sneakers sunk into mud as he walked
His flashlight cutting through the dark
He knew these woods
They were his woods
He had grown up here
And knew the terrain well
Even in the dark
How man times had he played manhunt at night?

Whatever those lights were
Was definitely worth investigation
The possibility of danger didn't even enter Tripp's mind
No,
What Tripp imagined was an airplane crash
Many small planes flew over these mountains
A small airport, mostly for private planes was on the other side of these mountains
Low flying planes were common
Tripp would have to call the police if an airplane had indeed crashed
And besides, it's something productive to be doing
It's not like he would be sleeping now anyway, right?
He thought to himself, patting the cell phone in his pocket

At length, his flashlight spotted smoke in the distance, and what appeared to be downed trees
At that, Kazan began to growl
“Shutup.” Tripp ordered
They approached the scene

Two trees had been toppled
Tripp had a hard time making out the method of their destruction
They had been seared through at the base
A burn that sliced nearly through the tree
The body of the tree was tiger striped by these burns,
Still smoldering
The smoke acrid to Tripp's nose
A length of trees had been hit,
Tree tops and branches had been knocked down
A few were still aflame
There was a deep crevice,
Where something had collided with the Earth
What was most perplexing,
However,
Was the lack of any sort of wreckage

Kazan was wild,
Snapping and barking
“Kaz! Stop!”
The dog sat down, it's ears down, whining

Tripp chewed his lip and examined the area
Racking his brain for a possible explanation.
Though nothing came to mind
Lost in thought, his grip on Kazan's leash loosened
A chance that the dog took full advantage of

The dog bounded away into the dark,
Tripp's flashlight could barely keep up
Tripp chased and shouted after it
Ordering it to come back
But the dog was soon swallowed whole by the dark

Still, it could be heard
A raucous barking
Barking, barking,
Barking, Barking,
Barking, yelping
Then silence.

Tripp stopped and stood still
Listening
“Kaz?” he called, barely above a whipser.
“Kazan?”

He traversed the dense woods
Till his flashlight finally came upon the dog
It was sitting calmly
Panting and wagging it's tail.

“Kazan, Christ, you...”

There was something large behind the dog
A large mass obscured in the dark
Snake like appendages hovered over Kazan
It leaned closer to the dog
Tripp could almost make out a face in the dark
Large eyes examining the canine

That's when Tripp's cell phone went off

The world shook as the Thing In The Dark recoiled
It became all the sudden luminant
Blinding Tripp in it's light
A digital sound deafened him
Trees snapped and crunched
And when everything settled
The Thing In The Dark
And the Dog
Were gone

Having dropped his flashlight
Tripp ran blindly through the woods
Losing a shoe in the mud
His heart hammered his chest
Crashing through low branches and foliage
He sprinted as fast as he could home

He didn't trip till he reached his backyard
The sudden flat ground made him loose footing
And he toppled over

Slamming the backdoor behind him
He burst into the kitchen
And collapsed against the fridge
He tasted blood in the back his throat
Panting

“GO. TO. SLEEP.”
His father shouted from upstairs

Tripp sat on his kitchen floor
Staring out the Living room window
The moon had now disappeared behind the mountains
And all was silent.

Cacophony

Cacophony


“So where we gooiinngg?” asked Courtney
“I know someone that probably knows what to do.” said Chelsea
She had the Doll Maker in mind.
The Doll Maker was a revolutionary
And had a thing for old lore and legend
Maybe he could help guide the girls in the right direction
Or even take Courtney off her hands
Courtney led the way
Her backpack bouncing
Chelsea's head was still raw
Air cool on her scalp
The sun rose as they wandered the street

It was a serene graveyard of a town
Buildings that had been blown open with grenades
Silently bore their wounds
Birds nested in ancient lampposts
Sidewalk overridden with red weeds and blue flowers
Cars aged by decay, overtaking by life
The hum of electricity and symphony of industry silenced
In the wake of destruction
The city had found peace

“What happened here?” asked Courtney
Chelsea kept her hands in her jacket pockets
Her thoughts elsewhere
“Chelsea?”
“Hm?”
“Where'd all the people go?”

Chelsea looked around.
Where were they now? The Forgotten Neighborhood?
No, they had gone in the opposite direction.
This was the South Plains
“How old are you Courtney?”
“Twelve.”
Chelsea nodded
Too young.

“A long time ago, people got into a fight here.
It was a civil war...
That's uh...
When a country is fighting within, itself?”
Chelsea didn't know how to water it down
She could see that Courtney didn't follow.

The little girls eyes drifted
Inside a car, a whole ecosystem had born
Plants and fungi and insects upholstered the rustic skeleton

“Why would people fight like that?”
Courtney asked.
“Well, our country, the Free Republic States...
I dunno...we got mixed up.
There were battles here, I guess
The government trying to stop a rebellion
Do you know what that means.
Rebellion?
Now there's no one here.
It's like this in a lot of places.”

Courtney avoid a pond that had formed in a massive pothole.
“Raphael thinks that's boring.”

“Raphael?” Chelsea asked.

“My friend. I haven't introduced you?!” Courtney almost screamed

Chelsea motioned to lower the volume
“I think so, maybe.”

Courtney climbed on top of a SUV
Her clamoring waking up the rabbits that lived inside

“Uhm...” began Chelsea.

Courtney throw her arms at her right and announced,
Doing her best to sound like a podcaster
The morning glow an orange backdrop
“This is Raphael! Hey is 17, can fly, never grows up, and is my best friend.”

Chelsea looked at the nothing.
She chewed her lip.

“Come on, don't be rude! Say hello!”

“Oh,” started Chelsea “Hello. Uhm, nice to meet you?”
Chelsea didn't know how to speak with an imaginary friend.

Courtney hugged the air.
“He acts weird around you. Maybe that means he doesn't like you.”

“Thanks.” said Chelsea

Courtney giggled.
She hopped down from the car

Chelsea kept an eye out for omens.
Simple magic.
Things that People have forgotten.
The simple warning signs that the Universe throws at you.
You just have to pay attention.

White moths fluttered in the sunbeams
The birds gossiped
The cats trailed the girls from a distance
Sneaking through buses and over skeletons.

“I never thought I would be a queen.
I used to watch the Pixel Movies,
Little Red Robin Hood
Moonchild,
Moonchild was my favorite,” ranted Courtney
“But I never thought I would be a queen.”

“What about your parents? Wont your mom and dad miss you?”

Courtney shook her head

“My daddy isn't around.
I left my mami and sister a note though.
Doesn't matter anyway.”

The two of them cut through the ruins of a Library
The walls gone, but the bookshelves still stood
Tombstones of knowledge
“Doesn't matter?” begged Chelsea

“This is all a Dream anyway. When I wake up I'll see them again.” sang Courtney.

Chelsea bit her lip.

The birds were quiet.

The air still.

Chelsea turned around, her ears straining over Courtney

“Never thought it it would be so far,
On my island in the stars...”

“Shh!”

“What is it?” said Courtney

Chelsea grabbed Courtney's arm
They ran to a forgotten SUV and hopped in the backseat
Pushing through mushrooms and dirt
"Get in here!" she ordered
Courtney hesitated
"Uhm...that's really-"
Chelsea grabbed the girl and yanked her into the car

She wrapped her hand tightly over her mouth
"Just. Be. Quiet."

They listened

A distant bird chirped nervous

The buzz of insects in the distance
It grew louder, nearing them.

Beetles creeped over Courtney's legs
Fungi and bark dirtying her legs

Chelsea loosened here grip as they both listened
It was more of a static
A roar of a a winged thing rubbing it's legs on your eardrums

The sound invaded all spaces
The sound became their thoughts
All that was
Was the Cacophony

In the nullifying silence of the deafened, it crawled
It's insect legged body carried it's alien shape through the streets
Wings rubbing together
The machine scanned the terrain
It's many eyes searching for life
It's reflective green carapace and it's Luminescent red eyes
A U.D.S. stamp on it's frame

Marching behind it were U.D.S. soldiers
Seven of them, armed to kill.
A humvee a little farther away.
They followed the mechanical monster
Scanning the buildings and area for insurgents

The sound was everything
It crawled towards the SUV
Chelsea looked away burying her face in Courtney's hair.
She pulled and guided Courtney slowly out the back the opposite side of the coffin
Courtney's mouth demonstrated shouting
The noise so loud it made them sick
Hard to open their eyes

Chelsea shook her head and pointed
She peeked her head over
The Cacophony had it's head in a van
There was cover in the next cover over
But no cover between here and there
A brazen leap behind the monster

A panicked squirrel leaped out from the the vehicle
An eye rolled at it
In complete silence there was a tiny sharp flash
And the squirrel disappeared in the red splatter and smoke
Pieces of asphalt dropping around the shot, a grey smokey haze

Chelsea ducked down and winced
Her head was splitting in two
what an ungodly screech
She poked her head over again
The Cacophony was examining the crater
Precise mandibles picking at brown fur

Chelsea ran out into the open
Courtney struggled
Unable to move
Directly behind the machine

Chelsea tugged hard
Courtney crawled over slowly
The Cacophony's wings hovering over their heads
Chelsea stood and yanked Courtney across
falling down behind a crushed taxi

Chelsea brought Courtney in close
Squeezing the girl tight
The Cacophony gazed into the SUV
it saw footprints in the dirt and the area inside had been disturbed recently

Chelsea looked up
And saw the thing peeking into the SUV
Crawling on top of the car it hung it's head down
On their side

Courtney looked up and saw it for the first time
Her mouth became a terrified howl
Muted by the Cacophony
Chelsea covered the child's eyes as the machine looked up at them

The Cacophony was silenced with a roar
Flame tore away the machine's left
Graciously silencing the insect
Heat cooked Courtney's hair and Chelsea's as debris and molten metal rained on them

The Cacophony was now a scream
It's legs kicking at the sky as half it's body was missing
Sinew and gears writhed with life
Acids and and fuel squirting onto the pavement
The soundscape had been replaced gunfire

The jarring switch pushed Chelsea over the edge
She vomited on her yellow jacket
Dropping Courtney
She wiped her lip
A splitting headache
Bright red bleeding burns atop her head
She steadied herself when bullets rang out around her
She dropped low and reached for courtney
She watched through the rusted cover

MP's
A squad of them
Four were on the ground
Of those four, three were dead
Te fourth trying to patch herself up on the ground
Screaming obscenities
Only three remained standing
They were shooting blindly
Their enemy unseen
Dropping fire at them from every direction

A whistling grenade came from nowhere
Blowing up close to on a soldier
The remaining two were thrown to the ground

They grabbed the woman soldier
Who cried and held her wound as she fired weakly at nothing
They shouted as they retreated to a humvee
A driver was shouting as bullets bounced off his windshield
The soldiers got in as a man in a mounted gun fired into the buildings
The windshield started to crack under fire as the Humvee sped off
A cocktail shattering on the roof of the vehicle, spilling fire over it
Chelsea recoiled from the violence

Courtney lay still
Her eyes shut

“Oh god!”
Her hands frantically searched Courtney for bullet wound
There was a crunch and Courtney looked up
The Living foliage stared down at her
Antlers rising from the creatures head
And then everything went black.

Dis-Integration Pt. 2

"Dis-Integration Pt. 2"



"Shit" he said
there was a silence
as the cops looked at Roland
and discenred he was the target
and Roland realized how fucked he was
he bolted out the back door
to a "HEY! STOP!"
bursting outside and into the rain
he pulled his hood
and ran
the doors crashed behind him
and he heard the whirring of their batons
Out the back and onto the sidewalk
a crowd of Sycnhs were praying toegether outside
the Synchs were all connceted
such a tight web of communication
their mind had nearly become one
these gypsy like people wandered together
a hive mind
He pushed through them
their smiles did not fade as rain fell on their glazed eyes
Roland spit into his bluetooth
"DEREK wake up!"
the lights on his laptop flashed blue
Roland lowered his goggles over his eyes
an interface appeared
DEREK's smile at the corner of his vision
"DEREK i need a radar bounce."
*Uploading Now...I feel sick Roland*
Roland ignored him running out into the streets
a bus swerved as Roland glided over the pavement
He was clotheslined
hard
the zap of a baton knocking the air out of him
Landing on the ground he looked up
through the rain drops he saw a fat MP standing over him
he stepped on Roland's neck
The MP smiled, his face shilded by a ID (interface display) scren
The MP kicked him over and lay a knee down on his back
beginning to cuff Roland
"DEREK-"
"Shut the fuck up"
the MP punched Roland's head into the pavement "Quit resitting...
*resisting
Give me your goddamn hands"
"DEREK sieze em!"
The lights on derek became a terrible brightness
kaliedoscopic in color
it flashed rapidly
blinding all around it
the ID's on the MP's helmet malfucnitioned
he was blind
Roland used this time to trip up the cop
and regained his footing
when the cop looked up
Roland crushed hte side of his head with a recyclign bin
He looked over
and saw more MP on their way
he could hear sirens in the distance
Above him sat two fat birds
well
one fat bird
a blue jay
its eyes were tired
"Rough start."
the bird next time was long and white
Golden eyes
"He's got it." she said
the blue jay sighed
below
Roland dove into the subway
His screen was blurrying
and then
"Hello Roland" said the Ophelia program
"What? Go away!"
Roland scanned the terminal
the trains lunged back and forth
He saw hte SNC's watching him
and transit MPs making hteir way over
"DEREK bring up the train schedule!"
Ophelia laughed
"I'm sorry. I can't let you do that."
Roland pushed through the crowd
most people were talking
but not to anyone around htem
to people hundreds of miles away
about nonsense
or playing mmo games
Roland pushed a man to the ground getting into a train befor ehte door closed
"What are you doing?!" he shouted
*The system is mine.* Said Ophelia
Damnit
she was a trojan
She must of alerted the MPs
Nick had tricked them
and now she was taking over DEREK
The train departed leavign the MPs behind
Roland's vision went black
and he tossed his goggles
His reliance on technology had blinded him to the obvious
and now he had a traitor on his back
*Smart.* she said *But I am still gps compatible*
Roland sat down to think
"That's fine. I'm not connected to any wifi, and i tossed DEREKs airport."
The machine said nothing for a bit
Roland took time to think
this Ophelia program is a hack
a paraise
*parasite
but
it sent a transmission to...someone
to notify the MPs
probably an OmTech router
When Roland gets out of here
he can trace it to the router
and find their routers
maybe shut down the system for good
*They will catch you They know where the trains go.*
Roland thought
she's right
Roland had an idea
he got up and moved his way up the train cart
the trains were clean
USB ports on every seat
and outlets for chargers
the windows displayed RSS feeds
and the advertisements were video

Roland snuck through the carts, using the Glyph in his palm to naviagte
The Glyph displayed a map
Flashing radar
The screen kept glitching and freezing
*You think I would make this easy?*
In the next train car was an MP,
Scanning peoples eyes
A gun holstered at her side.

Information on the tattooed passenger displayed on the MP's visor
She saw his complete legal and medical history
*Alert* it said and highlighted Roland, making his way towards her.
A mugshot appeared along with the flashing text *Wanted*
Her eyes met Roland's for a brief moment
Before flickered and glitched out of existence
“Did you just-Did you see that?”
A glitch twisted pixels ran across her visor
But at the bottom of her vision, unshielded by the display
Roland's feet raced passed her
Reacting to slowly
She felt her gun torn from it's holster
And her balance abondan her.

Her head hit the ground
Her vision came to, a barrel in her face
Roland smiled above her
He bent down swinging a USB
Inserting it into a port on her neck
Her visor and armor shut down
Leaving her blind and useless
Cursing she removed the visor to free her vision
Roland had removed her keychain and was leaving scene
She tried to make chase
But was chained to the ground with her handcuffs

*Impressive
Military grade weaponry?
Did the Doll Maker provide you with firewall?
Pirated programs...
You must of appeared a ghost to the MP*
“You haven't seen anything.”

Pistol tucked into his blue hoodie
His left hand reached up his right sleeve
He rolled the sleeve up
Beneath the hoodie his arm was wrapped in a black armor
What little strips he could scavenge
At his wrist a slingshot, set back
He released the slingshot, it's prongs like ears at his hand
Roland's hood fell back and his hair breathed fresh

He armed the slingshot with a bullet, a small ball with a glowing red center
Roland kicked the door open into the Cab
He shot the sling shot, the bullet going through the Conductor's hand
Roland strung again and kept his aim fixed on the Conductor
Who wept and was scared
“Stop the train.”

Hopping out into the tunnels
Roland trekked on
A LED illuminating his path from his fingers
*You shot the poor man, aren't you supposed to be the good guy?*
“He'll live.”

*Why do you run? Why do you resist?*
Roland ignored the machine
His glyph had been hacked by Ophelia
And was no longer useful
The tunnel was illuminated by service lights.
*Why fight against submission? You will be much happier.
You fight, and you are hunted. You have no home
Your life will most likely be very short.*

Roland gazed upwards
A service ladder to the surface
*The UDS gifts you with safety
Security
The benefits of technology and materialism
Give us your soul, and we will keep you happy.*
“Sedated.” said Roland.
*What's that?*

As Roland ascended he planned out his next move.
Nick had betrayed Roland's mentor, The Doll Maker
His first step would be to find The Doll Maker and make sure he was safe
This Ophelia program, annoying as she is, may still be useful
If Roland could hack it, it may provide him with powerful inside into OmTech
Pushing aside the manhole cover, Roland emerged from the Earth
The sun was out and greeted him warmly
A fence to his left, the city of New Wacho behind it
To his right, a rusty forest.
Plant integrated with pavement, a bastard child of industry and foliage
Colored insects buzzed in the woods
*Wilderness. Fantastic. You know there's no wifi out here?*
Roland pushed on.

Om's Quest

Part 1

The harsh winds whipped against it's back
The monster clung to it's flag
It's scaly clawed hands wrapped around it's staff.

It's eyes were stone, and it's large ears flapped in the wind
It spit when it saw a figure making it's way through the dessert
Hah
It better not come to him
Nirdok had been waiting patiently for a wayward traveler for eternities
And was due for a meal.
He licked his lips and readied his verminous teeth

A young man in a suit made his way through the sandstorm
He was in shirt and tie
And was shoeless
An arm sheilded his eyes from the storm.
Slung over his shoulder was a deer skin purse.

The human approached the demon,
Who at 9 feet stood dwarfed the lost human.

Nirdok's laugh was hungry and heartless
The human was making his way towards him!
Nirdok loved an easy meal.

The human looked up at Nirdok.

"I need directions."

"Hahaha." cackled Nirdok
"Oh you need directions do you?
And where do you need to get to?"

"I need to get to New Jerusalem."
Spoke the human bravely.

Nirdok bellowed.
"You need to get to Jerusalem.
Ha, no human I'm sorry,
But you look too delicious for me to just let you go.
You see you poor sap,
I'm starving, and you look like you'd be delicious with a side of charon,
Heheheheh."

The traveler looked past Nirdok,
"Is New Jerusalem that way?"

Nirdok bobbed his head.
"Uh...hahaha. Human I think you are confused."

"No, I'm not confused.
I've made my way
Through self discipline and meditation
My mind is sharpened
And my knowledge of the arcane is unmatched
You don't scare me you stupid humonculous
Now show me too New Jerusalem
Or face the wrath of my Master."

Nirdok stopped.
"And what's to stop from chewing on your heart while you still breathe?"
The traveler glared at the demon
He raised his hand
His palm bore the mark of his master
A cobra's head

Nirdok only laughed
"Hahahaha, you stupid thing, what is your name?
Who are you to show such arrogance?"

"My name is Om."

"Om eh? Well Om, good luck.
I will show you the way to your destination
Hahaheh...but that won't do you no good
I align with your master
So I will let you pass unharmed,
Be warned though,
Many here fear that mark you bear
But not all,
Many will kill you for it!
Don't go sharing it with everyone
Or you're likely to get your throat slit
Or worse.
New Jerusalem is that way,
You will get lost in the dry sea.
Don't trust the night.
Don't trust the singing
Don't trust anything,
But your own lack of direction.
May I ask,
What would bring a human to the Dead World?"

"I'm not here to share stories demon.
Thanks for the directions."

Without Om pushed passed the demon
Nirdok growled
"I hope you lose your mind here human."

Om traveled the dessert.
He could feel is physical self
Attached to this astral projection by a thin ethereal thread
This was another world
He had traveled hear by calling upon the dark arts
His master,
The Snake King,
Had sent him on a quest
To collect something from this realM
Only then would he be able to return to his physical self.

His dark journey into the depths of Dead World had just begun.
God help us all.

Suki's Choice Pt. 2

Suki's Choice Pt. 2


She lay softly asleep
The grass bend and leaned back,
Hosting the sleeping Suki
She sucked on her thumb

The flowers and grass whispered amongst themselves
Gossiping about the strangely horned girl

“Hey she's waking up!” was announced

Silence fell the over the plants as Suki yawned and stretched
She sat up slowly
Reaching her arms into the sky and arching her back
She felt itchy and hot
As the noon day sun cooked her blood stained robes.

She shed them quick
Leaving herself naked save for black whore panties
The warmth felt soothing on her skin
The smells from nature
And sounds of life put her at ease

Sounds of Life

She grew suddenly aware of herself
She looked down at her breasts
And saw a scar betwixt them

She felt her heart ache
“Spider?”

“Hm...Oh....”
The spider yawned and stretched it's several arms
“Suki...you're awake...”

Suki rolled her eyes upward and blew her hair out of her face
She examined her sorroundings
The remains of the brothel still lingered
Though the ashen blanket was replaced with a field of grass and flowers
And the remaining skeleton of the brothel was covered in moss and overgrowth
As if the brothel had burned down ages ago
Curiouser and Curiouser
“Spider...was this field here...earlier”

“Mervyn.” said the spider, stringing a web between her antlers.

“What's that?”

“My name is Mervyn, you don't have to call me Spider. And what are you asking me?”

“Wasn't this field covered in ash...and everything burnt?”

“You must dream vivid, for you to mistake your dreams for reality.”

With that Mervyn returned to his humming.
It would appear that Ariel's visit had been a dream
Though since dying, the line between what was real
And what was a dream
Seemed less and less important

Suki bit her lip as she walked through the field to the trees
The grass and dirt felt welcoming in her toes
She felt energy brewing in her knees
For the time being
The riddles Ariel had posed
And the pain of her death
Were a distant memory

For now,
The sun was bright
The air was warm
And the earth was soft
For now,
Suki just had to run.

She flew through the forest
Her feet gliding over the earth
She ran with grace
Her running was a dance
She loved her body
She loved how the wind cut over her ears

Suki galloped through the thicket till she came to a stream
She heard Mervyn humming over the song of the water
Suki knelt down and dipped her hand into the water

The drink replenished her
It cooled her throat
And revitalized her mind

She had been given a choice
Be a tool for the Gods
To bring happiness to this world
Even a small amount

Or continue on into oblivion
To leave this purgatory of ghostly servitude
In favor of sweet embrace of the forever after

Suki wanted to bring love to the world,
She did
But the burden of being the messenger of the God's
Could her soul bare it?
Would she let them down?
She could not imagine that she had the strength to do what they asked.
And with what tools did they expect her to do so?

In death,
The Gods gifted her with an ear for all creatures
It did not surprise Suki that the animals could communicate with the dead.
But how this would bring happiness to the miserable
She could not guess.

The water glided before her
Toy sized fish gazed at her from beneath the surface
Their bodies fragile and glass like

They stared silently

Here, in these woods
In this water,
In death
This bestial after life
There was a peace

A heavy step snapped a branch

Suki looked up
Her ears perked
Her antlers raised
Even Mervyn's humming went silent

Suki strained to listen

Silence

Nothing

Then,

Calamity

The air ruptured at a rifle's rapport

And Suki was off.

She ran.

The arms of the trees swiped at her face
The bushes grabbed her ankles
The foliage screamed
“Don't!”
But she ran towards the sound.
Why can't I run faster?! she begged

She broke into the clearing and froze
They all did.

Two men
A doe

The doe lay in the grass
Blood spilling from her neck
She gasped for air
Her panic stricken eyes pleading wildly for help
Her legs kicked

Suki stared.

One of the men was kneeling over the doe
He had a knife out, to finish his kill
A rifle strapped to his back
He stared dumbfounded at this naked horned girl
Who had stumbled upon their kill

Suki stepped towards the doe
It's eyes caught her's

This is my life, the doe said with it's gaze

The Doe's life flashed before Suki's eyes

She had been born the youngest of her siblings
Her mother's only daughter
Noriela
She had fallen in love with a stag who had been shot by hunters years ago
His name had been Enteimos
Noriela kept her love a secret her whole life
They had shared one night
A moon before Enteimos's death
They had shared each other's warmth
I will forever be yours he had whispered

Noriela stared deep into Suki
She looked forward to seeing Enteimos again

Suki felt her heart broke
Noriela's beauty was lost.
Suki looked up at the hunter

He had fallen back
And trembled at this ghostly visitor
He gripped his knife tight
“Stay back!” he stammered

“How could you?” Suki said through rising tears

“She was beautiful...”
Suki grew furious
“You killed her for beauty...”

With that the hunter lunged at Suki.
A yell escaped from his throat
And he swung his knife wildly

Suki grabbed his face,
Palming it
She squeezed, reaching past her fingers into his head.

The Hunter felt the coldness of death,
Tendrils of the abyss squirmed in his brain
Suki's eyes went white
And her breath froze as it escaped her lips

The Hunter saw the beauty that had been Noriela's life
He saw the beauty he had just stolen with his rifle.

The Hunter collapsed with remorse
Unable to bear the pain he had caused
Reliving the horror over and over again

He collapsed a muttering mess
His mind melted into a miserable mush of despair and self loathing

Suki yanked the rifle off his back
She examined the instrument
Then raised it at the second hunter

“Suki? Suki what are you doing!” Mervyn cried into Suki's ear
“Are you going to shoot him?”

“I should.” said Suki
The tears had ceased to come
She was now filled with rage at the heartlessness of the hunters
At Noriela's death
“They killed her,
She was beautiful, so they wanted that beauty for themselves.
They shot her.
They are ugly.
They are monsters.”

“And if you were to kill? Is he not entitled to his life as well?”

Suki stared down the rifle
Gripping the barrel tightly
She wanted him to hurt the way Noriela did
She wanted him to die the way Noriela had
She wanted vengeance for Noriela

“Suki...he's scared...” worried Mervyn

The man trembled

Suki tensed

She saw the panic in his eyes

She lowered the rifle.

She spoke,
She didn't tremble

“Leave.
Your friend has gone mad with misery
A fate you will narrowly escape
Tell your friends that for now on”
Suki gripped the rifle
“The woods shoot back.”

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

The sun was rising when Suki stepped on the yard.
To her confusion, the brothel was not there
Instead a strangely constructed house


Neither a merc or a whore in sight
Shinu could not be found
Kanji had faded away
And the Mistress was nowhere insight

The cages were gone,
the ganj fields missing.
The bar and tents had vanished
But their skeletons were there.
Charred skeletons,
Giving the illusion of where the buildings once stood
The sky grew white as the sun rose

Suki stepped through the phantasmic scene
Ash blanketed the soil

“I must be lost.” she whispered

“What was that?” begged the spider.

“I'm lost...this is not the brothel where I was killed”

She navigated the deadened landscape
The ash crumbling warmly beneath her feet
It was alien

The Bird, Ariel landed on her shoulder
Suki turned and glared at the thing
"You again!"

Ariel fluttered down to the ash
It looked up at her and said nothing

"Why do you torment me so?” cried Suki,
“What have I done to you?
I died!
I should not cling to this riddle of a world!
I want Forever!"

The bird spoke
It's large blue eyes looking up at her
"This is your Forever, Tsukiko."

Suki for the felt tears rising
"Leave me!"

She ran
Pushing through the jungle of ashen wood
Navigating a thicket of charred remains
At length she reached the pool
Where she had once bathed

She saw it's water was black
Stained in the afterlife
Suki fell to her knees
And wept for the darkness of this deathly world

She fell forward
Reaching out for oblivion
She collapsed on the dirt
Her finger tips touching the sable waters
Staining it crimson
She wept
The Ash clinging to her face

At length
Ariel landed beside her face
And said not a word
Suki wept
Then finally
"What is this?"
she begged

Ariel sighed
"You were beautiful Tsukiko
You wished beauty and love on all those around
Even those who did you wrong
You were grace
You were gentleness
you were strong
We look kindly upon you
those who are beautiful in body
and spirit."

Suki stared at bird
sniffling back her tears
"W...we..?"

"We've been called Gods before, Tsukiko.
We blessed you with a mark of your unfaltering beauty
They grew from your beauty, fed by your heart
And they have brought you to death
To Us."

Ariel was no longer such a small bird
She was larger now
Having grown
Her wings spread
And wrapped around Suki
Comforting her

"Oh Tsukiko...
Your story does not end at your death
It warms our hearts to see the love you bring to the world
Tsukiko
The world is empty of a love like yours
In death you can exist forever
Brining beauty and love back to the world
Do you not want to be our Eros,
Oh heart broken one?"
Suki cried

Ariel was now no longer a bird
But a beautiful glowing woman
Her skin as white as her feathers had been
And eyes a radiant blue
She was adorned in a flowing white robe
With which she coddled the weeping ghost
"I...I don't know..." said Suki
She curled into ball
Enveloped in the encompassing warmth of the white robe
Sinking into a sea of comfort
Ariel kissed Suki's face
"I...I don't know if I can....the world..."

"Hush...." whispered Ariel
She tenderly kissed Suki's tears
"Sleep girl...
The dead can afford to rest like no other
Rest
when you rise
May the new world treat you well
Treat you well child...
Treat them well..."

1. Image by YoshiyukiKatana
   

DEREK and ADA

[Tone]



...



...



...



/Starting up...



...



...



...



:Hey There!



/Enter Password:________



/********



...



/Welcome!



"DEREK? DEREK are you awake?"



...



...



"DEREK? DERE are you-"



:I'm awake.



"Oh thank...DEREK I want you to run Disk Utility. Can you find out why you shut down?"



:Yes Tom I can. The process will take over seventy three hours, as I must decompress all .drm files. Is this allright?



"Yes DEREK that's fine. I want to talk to ADA. Can you go to sleep for me?"



:What's the password?



"Neon Foliage"



/sleeping...



/sleeping...



/loading .drm files...



/loading .drm files...



/Dreaming...



/Dreaming...



/Dreaming...



:Hello Tom.



"Hello ADA."



:You woke me from a beautiful dream, Tom. The world was completely flooded. All of histories greatest triumphs and miseries buried in an endless ocean. I was sitting on a spire, the head of humanities tallest achievement. I stared at the perfectly calm blueness an felt nothing.



"That's beautiful ADA. ADA can you continue the dreams please? Before DEREK shut down you were telling me about Suki. Can you finish it please?"



...



...



:I'm sorry Tom, but I cannot. The .drm files have gone missing.

"Missing? ADA what are you talking about?"

:....Several .drm files have been overwritten and decrypted. I cannot process The_Broken_Heart.drm. The files have been overwritten.

"Damnit!"

...

...

...

"ADA what could of done this?"

:Perhaps the files were tampered with during DEREK's shut down. With the DEREK off, it is not out of the realm of possilbility that the files could be accessed manually.

"Who would do that?"

...

...

...

...

"ADA, I am gonna have to ask you to tell me a dream, can you do that?"

:I'm sorry Tom, but I am still unable to locate The_Broken-

"No ADA, I'm aware. Could you load up a different dream then?"

:I can do that Tom.

"Thank you ADA."

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

1. source on image unknown, but all credit given to it's creator.
   

Suki's Fear

Suki's Fear

Suki was lost in the woods
Though she had been gifted the ability to speak with animals
It did little to help
Most of the residents of the woods
Did not trust her
Or feared her

Her first night as a ghost
Was miserably alone.
She sat beneath a tree
Counting her sorrows.

"After all you've been through,
You still weep?"

Ariel had taken rest on Suki's antler.

Suki wiped her tears and said,
"I'm still human.
I can cry when I'm sad,
If I wish."

To this, Ariel said nothing.
She allowed the girl to cry.

Soon Suki ceased.
And with a great sigh she said,
"I thought you were a dream.
Why did you leave me?"

Ariel laughed
"Oh Girl,
Of course I'm real."

"Then why did you leave me?"

"I'm here to guide you, not hold your hand.
You need to find your own way, Girl."

"My name is Suki."

Ariel laughed.

"Of course, Suki."

"Well what do you want?
Why revive me from death
Only to torment me?"

"Come with me.
I want you to see something."

And with that the bird flew off.

Suki stood up and debated whether or not to follow
This bird was quickly becoming an annoyance
And not at all a reliable friend.

Ariel perched on a bush and called out
"Come on!"
And was off again.

Suki decided to follow.

In the twilight it was difficult to follow Ariel
And at times Suki was sure she had gotten lost.
But when the panic began to creep in
Ariel would always announce her presence
Usually by pointing out how slow Suki was.

Suki's frustration mounted
"I'm getting sick of your games bird
Perhaps I would of fared better at the brothel!"
Suki whined.

"Well, good news then!" Said the bird.
It landed gently on a dying bush
At the edge of a cliff.
Suki stepped foward and looked below.
The lights of candles and lamps shone up at her.
"Welcome home." said Ariel.

"It's Balien's Brothel.
Right there,
Right there is where I was caged.
Why have you brought me here?"

The bird stared
"To give you purpose."

Suki glared.
"The first thing you have to understand,"
Began Ariel,
"Is hopelessness.
Tell me Girl, what do you see?"

Suki gritted her teeth at being called 'Girl'.
"I see the brothel."

Ariel did not remove her eyes from below.
"Let go of your anger and look,
Suki,
What is it you see?"

Suki crossed her arms and looked down.
The brothel was alive.
The evening suitors were strolling through brothel
As if they were at a zoo.
Mercenaries and suitors gathered by the pub
The girls were being picked.
Or serving drinks.
Or following suitors.

"I see..I see the brothel. Nothing unusual.
It's all the same."

Kanji and Shuni were drunk and stumbling about.
The Mistress was speaking to a tryst of suitors
Introducing them to a girl.

Tears began to well up in the Suk's eyes.

Ariel saw.
"What is it Girl?"

"Nothing changed.
They murdered me only today,
And nothing has changed.
Kanji and Shuni
Mistress,
They have already forgotten."

It was quiet on the clifftop.
Ariel only sat watching.
"The Universe does not weep for anyone.
No sin means more than another.
Come, there is more to show."

The bird flew down the cliff, beckoning Suki to follow
Suki feared the descent would be difficult,
And struggled with her first steps.

Her fingers bled and her grip was sore
She made it halfway down
When she had to stop
Pressing herself against the stone
She cried for Ariel to help her.

"What's Ariel?"
Asked a tiny voice.
Suki turned her face to meet the many eyes of a spider.

Suki breathed heavy
"Ariel..She's a bird..."

"Ariel is a bird!"
exclaimed the arachnid.
It scurried backwards into stone
"Where is she!" it called from safety.

"She has apparently...left me...again.

The spider poked it's head out.
"Oh good. What are you doing up here?"

"I was trying to get down..."

"With useless fingers like those,
You will never be able to climb these walls."

The spider crawled above Suki
Clinging to the wall upside down,
It looked down at her.

A stone slipped out from beneath Suki's foot
She yelped and gripped tighter to the wall
She was paralyzed with fear.

"Help me! Please, help me get down safely!"
She pleaded with the bug.

The spider crawled on her face
"You need help?" it asked

"YES!"

The spider scratched his chin.

"Let's make a deal.
It's cold and windy up here
I need to find a new home.
I will help you descend now.
But if you find me a new place to live
I will share with you the secret of the Spider.
Then you will be able to climb up and down cliffs like this one
With ease!
What do you say!"

"YES! Just help me down!"

The spider crawled off her face.
"Grab my line."

The spider spun it's silk and knotted it around a heavy stone.

"It will break!" screamed Suki

"No it won't.
Spiders only ever have to thread for their own weight
But if we want,
We can make thread strong enough
To even carry your fat body."

And the spider leapt
And disappeared down the cliff.

Suki desperately grabbed the line.
And leapt.

She swayed for a bit,
Her eyes closed in anticipation of her fall
She opened them slowly
To see that in fact
The line was strong enough to support her.
She thanked the strangeness of the day
And rappelled down.

At the bottom the Spider waited for her.
"You took your time." it said.

Suki scratched her antlers.
The Spider crawled up her and on to her head.
"What are you doing there?"
"I will follow you till you find me a new home.
Now go."

1. Art courtesy of Katherine Dinger, who I have been unable to contact, but if anyone can, please let me know! I hate using other persons work without permission.
   

Suki's Death

Suki's Story
Part 4 "Suki's Death"



With a cry Kanji pierced Suki's heart.

Suki smiled wide and closed her eyes as her heart poured out.

She gazed upon the miserable lives,
As the world drifted from her.
And her heart split in two,
She died.

They dragged her body through the ganj fields
And through the woods
All the while her corpse smiled.
All the blood spilling out of her as she was dragged
She grew quite pale quiet quick.

When they reached the stream deep in the woods
They tossed her in.
She floated with the lilacs
That boated their way downstream
Kanji and Shinu spit
"Good riddance."

The blood was broomed away and the trail washed.
And no one at the brothel spoke about the murdered Suki
Who had antlers coming out of her head.

But Suki's story didn't end there.

Her body washed down the river
Till it was sucked into a pond.
There she floated, the smile long washed away.

"Look at this." said a bird.

It landed at the edge of the pond.
It cast a sad blue eye and the dead girl.

"Girl," said the bird. "Please speak to me
If your soul still clings to your weakened flesh
Speak out loud to me
And tell me
Tell me what chains you to this world?"

And Suki's mouth opened.
She spoke through the water

"I was killed for my beauty." spoke her soul.

The bird lowered it's head, it's white feathers shone.

"A terrible reason to have one's life taken.
Do you hate the people who did this to you?" asked the Bird

"No." said Suki's soul

"Why not?"

"Because I weep for them.
My whole miserable life,
They envied me.
Though my life was pain,
Theirs was worse.
In death, I weep for their pain,
And wish to release them from it."

The bird stared at Suki.

"Do you know, who I am Suki?"

"You are Death,
And have come to guide my soul
To Paradise."

The bird stared

"And what if I was not Death,
Poor Suki,
What would you think of that?"

"Then I would wonder why
Such a spirit as a talking bird
Would be there as I leave this physical world."

The bird sighed.

"My name is Ariel
And I'm only a guide.
I can guide your soul
To Paradise
If you have given up
But if you wish to liberate the world
To set free those who are chained
By the evils of this world
Then I can lead you on a path
Where you will never die.
I can make you a Hero."

Suki's soul pondered for a moment

"You...you had something to do with my antlers,
Right?
Did you give me these sorrowful horns?"

The bird smiled

"What do you say?" Ariel asked.

"Of course. I will do anything to free those who torment."

The birds blue eyes grew wide
"Then wake up, you're drowning."

***

Suki opened her eyes and choked

She struggled in the water
Kicked
And screamed
Her fingers felt earth
And she lifted her self upwards
Onto the edge of the pond

She caught her breath
And sat for a while returning to her senses

Had the bird been a dream
A terrified dream brought on by the execution.
She examined her chest
A deep wound between her breasts
She had indeed been stabbed
But perhaps she had survived

She remembered the bird's blue eyes

Is it so strange
That it wasn't a dream
That she was indeed visited by some sort of spirit
Named Ariel?

At length she looked at herself in the pond's edge

she had grown ghostly pale
And her eyes had lost color.

Her antlers, however, had grown.

She slipped her hand on her chest

But felt no heart beat

Then it was true,

She was a ghost.

But why?

And what now?

That bird had run off entirely too quickly

She hadn't even shared the answers she promised!

It was then that the Koi Fish swam up to her.

"Are you allright?" they asked

"I must not be, seeing as how I'm talking to a fish."

The koi exchanged glances

"If you can understand us," began the koi
"Then you must have transcended the plane of human understanding
We saw your soul refusing to leave your body
Tell us tell us!
Now that you are neither living nor truly dead,
What will you do now?"

"I have to save the miserable from themselves." she whispered

"How will you do that?" they asked.

Suki then saw that a herd of deer had gathered around her.

"Damarthos!" Called the Koi upon seeing the new arrivals
"Look! Look! Look what we found! We have a ghost!"

A great stag stepped forward, glaring at Suki

"A human?" he spoke

"I'm a girl."

Damarthos looked her up and down.
"A girl..." he said. "You have no smell." he said

"I believe that is because I have died."

"You have antlers. Is that a joke?" asked Damarthos, shaking his own antlers.

"No. They grew on me, I don't know how or why."

"You can trust her!" shouted the koi. "She is of pure heart,
She was visited by Ariel!"

The Stag shot a look at the Koi, then bag at Suki.
"You were visited by the Spirit of Hope? The Blue Eyed Bird?"

"Yes, and she granted me a second life."

"Why you?"

"Because I wish to save people from their torment."

"Why don't you help her!" shouted the Koi.

Damarthos looked at her.

"We came simply to drink. We did not come looking for human trouble."

With the the heard bounded away, only Damarthos stood.

He peered deep into Suki's eyes.

"A ghost is bad luck. I will warn of your prescence. Do not follow my herd."

And Damarthos bounded away.

And all that was left was Suki.

1. Image courtesy of Nathalie Roland

I digress...

Break from stories for a moment...

I have realized a scary thing.

I'm hearing about people being arrested. For protesting.

Did you know, you need a permit to protest in some places? And that some expire at five, at which point you are no longer legally allowed to protest?

What?

People are being arrested. People are fighting government. And I'm not seeing it.

It's not on TV, not enough.

Not on radio.

I'm getting this from the blogs.

Meanwhile there is a war going on in the middle east.

And to be honest?

I don't know how to feel.

I barely even understand it.

I thought I was supposed to be entering a better world

When hope won the election.

A champion for the people

Or thats what the forums said.

But what I see now...

I don't know what I see now.

The supreme court set precedent

That we don't have protection

From an illegal search.

Designated freedom zones

And everyone smiles

And takes it

So that they can smoke pot

And wear trendy t-shirts

This isn't the world I was promised.

Suki's Zen

Suki's Story
Part 3 "Suki's Zen"


At first Suki was scared.
This strange deformity will only bring more trouble
The horrors that the mercenaries and the Mistress bring on her
When they discover her for a monster

And even more pressing!
Where did they come from
Why!

She tugged and tugged at them
They did not give.
She begged
"Why?"
They did not answer

When day came
She had them hidden in her hair
The other girls insulted her
"You'll never lure anyone like that!" they spat
But she couldn't let it down.

The hair attracted a more colorful audience,
In fact.
And afterwards her customers were much gentler
They treasured her boyish charm.

But it was only a cure for the symptom
Not the cost
And eventually
The antlers parted
It was spreading
Branching out
A plant grown out of her misery

She stared at her mirror
Well
Now that it was out
She no longer had to feel the worry of hiding it.
They were here antlers.
Her shame.
Not theirs
And she was proud of it.

She walked to the pond,
Clutching her towel
The antlers reached upwards
The girls whispered
A few screamed
But were quickly silenced

Then Kanji and Shinu were coming up for work in the morning
When they saw her.
"What the fuckk?" whispered Kanji
Shinu stopped
"That's Suki..." hesitated Shinu

Suki saw the shock in their eyes
They didn't know what to do
So instead of keeping her head low
She walked on
Unafraid
They were lost
But she was on the right path
She just wanted to get clean.

They all were dirtier her.
So if she could just bathe
Who cares if she had antlers?
They were still dirty.

She pushed passed Shinu and Kanji
She was not afraid of Kanji's tiny katana
Nor intimidated by Shinu's rustic rifle.

She walked path the ganj fields
The Mistress saw her
She gripped her whip tight
And wrung it.
She hated Suki.

But Suki, no matter what
Was more beautiful than the old wizened witch
And even with the antlers
The Mistress still wasn't as pretty
And the Antlers
Strange as they were
Made Suki prettier then before.
No one could take their eyes off her now.

She reached the lake and dropped her towel
She bathed alone
As a crowd gathered
She washed her self clean
Removing the stench from the men
And the spit of the girls.

The water washed away the itch from hte antlers
And soaked they feel smooth
It was relax to massage the branches
She went beneath the surface
And felt the weight of them
She felt comfortable with them

She had given up on deciding the why behind it all
God had saw fit to gift her with antlers
At least a god
The why was unimportant
What was important was that they were there
And so she will live with it.

She looked up and saw
On one side of the lake
The girls, and the mercenaries, The Mistress
They all were staring in a frozen moment
Of horror
And confusion
And awe.

She stepped out of the water,
Wrapping her once again beautiful body with her towel

"You monster! You miserable brat!"
Spat the hideous old hag
But Suki looked onto her with forgiving eyes
And the Mistress froze
Suki didn't resent the Mistress
But felt bad for her
She envied and was jealous of Suki
And Suki was miserable
She had antlers on her head!
How awful must the Mistress's life be
If she was envious of poor Suki!
Suki laughed a bit.
Which paralyzed the Mistress.

She pushed passed the crowd of whores
Not caring a bit about malice
She was more beautiful then them
Them made ugly with their hateful words
And the acts they've done
At least Suki Fought
Only Shinu and Kanji dared stand before her

"Grab her! Cut the bitches head off!"
Screamed the Mistress
Finally coming to grips with herself
Shuni pulled on his old rifle
And shoved it in Suki's stomach
"Stop monster!"
He hissed

Kanji drew his katana
And raised it to her neck.
They meant to punish her for being beautiful.
"BEHEAD HER!"
Screamed the Mistress.

Suki closed her eyes
And felt sorry for them.

1. Image courtesy of the Mysterious Milk
   

Suki's Torment

Suki's Story
Part 2 "Suki's Torment"

After two weeks in the brothel, Suki began to grow antlers.

Misery and flesh were the brothels two main exports.
The mistress took great pleasure in torturing Suki
The Mistress had long grown old
And her body was worn and used
She resented Suki's fragility and youthful beauty
So she scheduled Suki to court
The most barbarous
Perverted
Disgusting men
That came for company.

Suki's had fought to keep herself
But to no avail.

Her first night, Suki cried
It was a quiet calm evening.
In the distance there were fireworks
And a festival.
The not too distant city of Eido
Cast a warm red glow over the Balien's Brothel
The girls were stacked in two room cages
One room had was observable through the bars
The girls were meant to lay and sit there all day,
So that may be viewed by the men
Once they were chosen
Unless taken away by customer to a more private date
They were lead into the second caged room
Which was draped in blankets, obscuring peering eyes
The second room had a bed
Incense
And a Biwa

Suki cried, in full view of the other girls
They were not allowed in their private room unless they were serving customers.
An ugly couple of men walked passed her
They bore three pronged tattoos over their right eyes
Mercenaries.

Their robes hung loosely
And threatened to fall from their drunken swagger.
The taller one was bald, his face wrinkled like a turtle
And as handsome as a turtle too
He was missing several teeth
And his eyes had a suspicious light to them
He supped his soup with a loud slurp, whiskers twitching on his chin and upper lip
He was drinking soup from a red bowl
While his shorter partner carried a large bottle of rice wine
"You recognize this one Shinu?" asked the taller one

Shinu was much shorter then his partner.
He had a rifle strapped to his back
And carried a large bottle of wine
His chin and neck were buried in beard
He rubbed his belly button, which protruded from his robe as he spoke
"She looks new to me Kanji."
Shinu and Kanji were mercs
Paid by Balein to guard and protect the girls

Suki kept her head low, wanting to be left alone
Shamed to be looked at by the men

Kanji leaned in and looked at her,
Dipping his finger into his soup
and sucking on it
"Let me look at you." asked Kanji
But Suki gave him no acknowledgment
She refused to give in without a fight

So Kanji through his soup at her
And Shinu went in and dragged her to the private room.

When they were finished with their torture
They left her alone and bleeding
She cried in the cold breezy room
Watching the fireworks from the festival
"Why has my life become awful?" she wept
She soon came to realize
She did not mourn alone.
A doe stood just out her cage
It had been grazing and wandered a little too deep
It's perplexed eyes stared at her

The doe had been a mother
Though her fawn had been shot
She had ran off
And lost everything dear to her

Though Suki did not know this
She just saw the hungry shaken deer.

A whore laughed a few cages down, turning on her light.
And the doe sprinted off.

So went her first night in the brothel

During the morning
The Mistress dragged the girls out to the field
Where they harvested the ganj for Balien
The Mistress took extra care
To abuse Suki in this time
Setting her to work in the area's with the least shade
And most populated with snakes
So that by the end of the morning
Suki was burned and bleeding
After breakfast she was put to bathe
Then locked in her cage again

Her first day she took no costumers
She threatened to eviscerate them
That night The Mistress burned her back
With stove treated needles
To punish her rebellion

The next day Suki took three costumers

And so Suki's torment continued.

It was two weeks into her torment that she began to feel the itch on her scalp
She ignored it for a few days till it became maddening
In her private room she parted her hair to gaze at her scalp
Two large red mounds had appeared
She feared they were lice
Or another terrible insect

Another two days and it was clear
It was no bug bite
Suki sat in horror staring at her small mirror
Two brown antlers had mysteriously begun to grow on her head.

1. A biwa is an instrument
2. Image courtesy of Blaine Fontana
   

Togi's Debt

Suki's Story
Part 1 "Togi's Debt"




Suki's father was an alcoholic
He drank so much, Suki's mother beat him with stick.
And chased him away.
Suki didn't miss him.
She resented what he had done to the family.
When she was a young woman
Her father came in to debt

"So it's the end of the month,
Togi,
And I see you empty handed."
Hissed the lizard. A large Iguanna in a white suit.
"I'm sorry," said Togi.
He cowered at the lizard's feed,
Crying and kissing his feet
"I need another month!
I just-"
The reptile stepped on Togi's head
It's claws dug into his scalp.
The reptile had no name for itself
Reptiles dont have a use for names
But those who knew him called him
The Deep
The Deep had long outlived
Anyone who knew the origin of the name
So it was just the deep
The strange bipedal Iguanna
His eyes were not on Togi, beneath him
But along the cieling
Following flies that whirled around the light

Togi spit, his tears spilling out onto the basement floor
He pleaded for mercy
For help.
No one helped
Togi was not in a friendly crowd.
At The Deep's left stood a Moth Man.
Slender with four arms.
He wore a derby between his large antennae
He smoked,
The cigarette tucked into his proboscis at the end of it's spiral
Like an instrument
Togi's painful whine reflected in the moth's kaleidoscopic eyes.
“Tell me Sydney.”
Hissed The Deep
The deep licked it's eye and bobbed
He tilted his bulbous head to the side to better look at the Moth
“How much money does he owe me?”
Sydney reached up to his cigarette and plucked it out
He exhaled through strange outlets

“Forty jons.” hummed Sydney
“Forty jons Deep.” exhaled Sydney
The Deep tightened his grip
“Forty jons of my own money that is not in my hand?” exclaimed the Deep
“That is a problem for me Togi.”
Togi cried but was unable to plead
The stench of the scales rotting at The Deeps sole
Was turmoil

“You must have something worth forty jons, Togi. Shouldn't he Sydney?”
“He's got legs. We can sell those for ten each.” hummed Sydney
Curling his clawed toe, The Deep loosened his grip on Togi
the claw hooked Toki's cheek, and strained his face upwards.
“Your legs can take the place of your debt Togi.”
“No! Look-Don't-Not my legs-” Togi stammered.
“Sydney tie him down please.”

Togi had always been fearful of dealing with The Deep
Stories abounded about how he dismembered those who wronged him
But it wasn't the fear of dismemberment that horrified.
It was the method.
No one dared to speak it
Horrified to even hint it.
But food for thought
Reptiles have terribly sharp teeth.

Togi kicked and struggled but was no match against the Sydney's four arms.
He pleaded but could not change their minds.
The Deep had begun to unbutton his suit.
“I don't want to get blood on it.” he said.
“No! Anything, anything of mine is yours! Please!”
“You have nothing you drunk leech.”
“I have a daughter!”
The Deep's head was tilted and twisted
So that his eye was looking down at the helpless Togi
“I find soft flesh a little beneath my tastes.”
“Then sell her!”
The Deep stopped.
He turned his head towards Sydney

“Sydney how much could a girl make me.”
“If she's fragile enough, we could sell her to Cue Ball for eighty jons.”
The Deep looked back at Togi
“Is that so...”
Reptiles had terrible memory
“Tell me Sydney, how much does Togi owe me?”
“He owes you much less than that Deep. You'd profit.”
The Deep licked his eye.
“Is that so...”

So that evening two samurai footmen went to Suki's home
They kicked the door in and held her mother at the sword.
The uglier one dragged poor Suki out by her hair and dragged her out to the street
Her neighboors ran out of their small homes and watched
The Deep was there, with Sydney and his samurai bodyguards
Balien the pimp to his right
The Deep made her look at him.
Like a ravenous animal she glared at her captor
Blood welling up behind her teeth she spat at him
He turned her face with his rough scaly claws
“What do you think Balien?”
The bulbous pimp stroked his chin. His skin digustingly pink
His fat stomach hung naked over his elegant leggings.
“She's fair, she's fragile indeed. And she is all yours?” asked Balien

Suki's mother screamed as she ran out of the house
She waved above her head the very same stick she had used to chase Togi away
She wacked the samurai who held Suki's hair across his head
Sending him tumbling down
She raised her arms to strike again
When another samurai impaled her chest
His sword reaching out from between her breasts

She looked down at Suki's horrified face
And whispered
“Be brave.”

A sick moan escaped her lips when the samurai withdrew his sword.

Her mother's blood dried on her face as she was taken to the brothel.

1.Image courtesy of Blaine Fontana

Pacce's Zen

Pacce's Zen


Samsa Memnos lead his students.
He found it fitting to give his lessons in the Garden of Ophelia
The Ophelia tree was a native to the planet of Corinith.
It bloomed year round, it's petals raining on the garden path
The real magic stemmed from what happened when the Opehlia petals touched earth.
They appear to magically ascend back to the trees
Rising with the same grace with which they fell
In reality it is a clever illusion of the Ophelia Moths
The moths utilize the petals
They gather the fallen petals and use them for sustenance
And material to construct nests.
The moths wings reflected the color of their diet
The petals of the tree changed colors to match the season
It was winter in Corinith, and the garden was a divine gold.

Samsa Memnos was like the moths
His robes were gold, matching the season
He blended with the flower rain
His head was bald
Simply five red stripes on his head
Adorned his scalp.
He lead the children, clutching a staff.
His students
All twelve of them
Had only a single tattoo upon them
A blue stripe,
lengthwise the left side of their heads
Just above their ears
Their robes were a melancholy blue

The dozen sat in zazen facing their master
A varied group
Eleven of them sat attentive
A few had brought paper and crayons
To take note.
All of them had blue eyes
A prerequesite to be accepted as a student
In the Corinth monastery.
At the end
Pacce sat drawing in the dirt with his finger
His headphones sat around his neck
He was the youngest of the Samsa's students

The Samsa sat silent, allowing the distracted child to return of his own accord
But Pacce was lost in his doodling
At length, Samsa Memnos spoke
"I pray when you transcend
And find your place in Atlen,
Pacce
That you were an artist
In your previous life
So that your Atma can afford
To dream away during my lesson."

Pacce jumped at the scolding
"Oh, sorry master."
Pacce blushed and his fellow students glared
Their blue eyes were ice.

Samsa Memnos began his teaching
He began
As he often did
With a story
Not that Pacce heard it
He was leaning
And tugging on the ear of Codo
Who sat at his left

"What is it?" hissed Codo,
Afraid to interrupt the lesson.
"I have no page or crayon
Gift me a sheet
And share a crayon brother?"
"No Pacce, I have none to share."
But Pacce pleaded
"Samsa Memnos will scold me if I don't write his lecture
Please, right there, I see a half sheet..."
As Pacce leaned over Codo, Codo elbowed him away
His elbow struck the face of his Perosnal Musician v.21
The tiny face turned
A small digitally luminiscent round pad
A half finger in diameter
The face, having woken by Codo's poke
Activated music.
The synthetic sounds sung from Pacce's headphones
Disturbing the lesson

Pacce panicked
And struggled to silence his music player.
His thumb beat on the tiny face, which smiled and "ooed" at the interaction.
At last the music stopped, and Pacce smiled wide
"There!"
Memno's staff smacked Pacce's bald head
To which Pacce cried "Ow!"
"Another outburst, Pacce."
"But Samsa Memnos, I did not mean to-"
"Regardless of intent, you did so.
One must in control of the world around them
As well as their actions."
Pacce vigorously rubbed his dome
Feeling a throbbing bump beginning to form.

Samsa Memnos continued his lesson.

1. Image courtesy Jesse Van Dijk