[Posted by Ted H]
NaNoWriMo 2022 was a crash n burn. How about an update on a more successful attempt from years passed?
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[Little Ghost - The Next Night]
Back at the underground shelter, there were a couple faces that weren't there last night already mingling with Mike, Jamal and Bill. They barely reacted to the arrivals as they were engrossed in their own activities. Kristina found it nice and uncomfortable at the same time. Just a day ago she was the wide-eyed newcomer that everyone wanted to help break in, now she seemed to be just another regular.
Mike was arguing about song lyrics with a skinny girl on a black and white striped hoodie that had sleeves that ran long to conceal her hands. He was back on top of the bunk like last night while the girl stood below him. She talked in a controlled, non-interested way to contrast Mike’s slowly escalating demeaner which at times even had him flail his arms around as he talked. The girl would crack the occasional smile and even said things intentionally wrong just to bring about the exaggerated reactions from Mike. Kristina couldn't help but laugh at how despite being around so long, Mike was forever locked into the psyche and oblivious mindset of an immature teenager.
Showing posts with label Little Ghost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Ghost. Show all posts
December 11, 2022
April 25, 2021
Little Ghost - Mall Watching
[Posted by Ted H]
New day job brings crazy hours. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
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[Little Ghost - Mall Watching]
They never found the right guy, and Starbucks was slow that morning, so they ended up at the mall sooner than they thought and watched the old people doing their laps before the stores opened. They sat on one of the benches by an exit where the elderly shuffled their way passed. There they remained, at times talking about random things of no consequence, other times remaining silent, and other times going into elaborate anecdotes from their lives whenever someone walked by that reminded them of something interesting.
Sometimes someone would wander by to sit on their bench, and they’d oblige even if the person wouldn’t be affected by them remaining. They’d make a game out of having a one-sided conversation with the people sitting on their bench until they finally left for one reason or another. They stayed until the sun set and darkness reigned outside once more, finally leaving when the mall stores began to close up and there were no more mall goers to watch and comment on. Kristina found the whole day cathartic. She had a chance to decompress her mind from everything that had transpired onto her in the last 24 hours.
As they walked through the Saturday night streets, and the late-night college student crowd as they bar hopped, Kristina let Ricky lead her in the direction she felt the fallout shelter was. “Were you scared?” she asked when they finally got away from the crowds. Ricky was in the middle of some thought when he looked to Kristina and apologized for not hearing her.
“When you died. Were you scared?” she asked again “I was terrified as it happened.”
“I was lucky,” Ricky said “I was high as hell so I didn’t realize I was dead. At first, I thought I was having an out of body experience. I mean don’t get me wrong, I was freaking out after the fact, but I guess I was lucky that I wasn’t aware of my death until it had already happened. How are you feeling now that you’ve had a day as one of us?”
Kristina paused a moment. “There’s no getting used to this, is there?
“Yeah,” Ricky said with a smile “What we are, it ain’t natural. That's what someone told me when I was in your shoes.”
They never found the right guy, and Starbucks was slow that morning, so they ended up at the mall sooner than they thought and watched the old people doing their laps before the stores opened. They sat on one of the benches by an exit where the elderly shuffled their way passed. There they remained, at times talking about random things of no consequence, other times remaining silent, and other times going into elaborate anecdotes from their lives whenever someone walked by that reminded them of something interesting.
Sometimes someone would wander by to sit on their bench, and they’d oblige even if the person wouldn’t be affected by them remaining. They’d make a game out of having a one-sided conversation with the people sitting on their bench until they finally left for one reason or another. They stayed until the sun set and darkness reigned outside once more, finally leaving when the mall stores began to close up and there were no more mall goers to watch and comment on. Kristina found the whole day cathartic. She had a chance to decompress her mind from everything that had transpired onto her in the last 24 hours.
As they walked through the Saturday night streets, and the late-night college student crowd as they bar hopped, Kristina let Ricky lead her in the direction she felt the fallout shelter was. “Were you scared?” she asked when they finally got away from the crowds. Ricky was in the middle of some thought when he looked to Kristina and apologized for not hearing her.
“When you died. Were you scared?” she asked again “I was terrified as it happened.”
“I was lucky,” Ricky said “I was high as hell so I didn’t realize I was dead. At first, I thought I was having an out of body experience. I mean don’t get me wrong, I was freaking out after the fact, but I guess I was lucky that I wasn’t aware of my death until it had already happened. How are you feeling now that you’ve had a day as one of us?”
Kristina paused a moment. “There’s no getting used to this, is there?
“Yeah,” Ricky said with a smile “What we are, it ain’t natural. That's what someone told me when I was in your shoes.”
March 14, 2021
Little Ghost - We're All Bad Guys
[Posted by Ted H]
My little side project has become as obsessive as it's name suggests. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my first obsession...
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[Little Ghost - We're All Bad Guys]
“Oh, well, I was just curious,” Kristina said, not looking to verify that there was indeed someone that stupid that they’d reject going to Heaven. Her plan now was so stop talking and avoid attention, perhaps get Jamal and Mike to start arguing again, anything if it meant avoiding scrutiny. Her hopes were short lived, however.
“So,” Cheryl said as she clasped her hands together and rested her face against them “What was it that clinched your fate?”
“Hmm?” Kristina hummed, unsure what the question was.
“Your unspeakable sin,” Cheryl elaborated “Your irredeemable crime. What action did you do that was so heinous that it merited instant rejection from the pearly gates?”
“Oh, well...” Kristina trailed off. If she could sweat, she figured it would be pouring down in buckets right now. She wondered how effective she could play dumb to these people, or if it were easier to lie outright. What could she think of on the spot?
“What makes you think I’ve done anything wrong in life?” she blurted out “I’m innocent, I swear,” she forced a smile for effect, getting a laugh from Sammy, but not satisfying Cheryl. The woman shrugged one shoulder and kept her eyes on Kristina. Did she know? Was Kristina making it too obvious? Was the joke a bad idea and now they’ll see right through her?
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed,” Ricky assured her “We’re all bad guys here!”
March 7, 2021
Little Ghost - Orientation
[Posted by Ted H]
Situations at my day job have kinda taken center stage, but I'll still try to churn out some updates here...I've got some backlog remaining for LG before I have to worry about writing new stuff, though I'd love to sit down one of these nights and power out something...
Help might be on the way in the near future though...stand by...
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[Little Ghost - Orientation]“Kristina!” Clifford called from the back. The other ghosts occupied themselves in their conversation while Kristina approached Bill and Clifford. “Don’t freak out,” Clifford said “We’re all safe here.” Kristina nodded slowly, not sure what was happening. “This is Bill,” Clifford continued “He’s a Reaper.”
“In a room full of ghosts? Are you sure?” Kristina said.
“Yeah,” Bill said “Not all Reapers are the same. I’m a regular kind. The scary kind the others are talking about are known as Hunter Reapers, or Predator Reapers. It depends on where you are. Some regions have their own variation for the title.”
“I don’t understand. What’s the difference?”
“You’ll know a Hunter when you see one. Trust me.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“We figured,” Clifford said “It’s time we give you a proper orientation.”
“Well, I got my new name figured out, apparently. Is that part of my orientation?”
“Meh, I guess,” Clifford said “But let’s start simple. You are a ghost, officially known as a runaway.”
“Oh God, there’s classifications of ghosts too?”
“Sure. Three types. Temps, Waiting and Runaways,” Clifford explained “Temps are ghosts just long enough to find out they're dead. Then a Reaper will send them off to their final reward.”
“Like a ray of light in the sky taking you to Heaven?” Kristina asked, a sickening sense of dread surrounding her.
“Yeah,” Bill said “Not all Reapers are the same. I’m a regular kind. The scary kind the others are talking about are known as Hunter Reapers, or Predator Reapers. It depends on where you are. Some regions have their own variation for the title.”
“I don’t understand. What’s the difference?”
“You’ll know a Hunter when you see one. Trust me.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“We figured,” Clifford said “It’s time we give you a proper orientation.”
“Well, I got my new name figured out, apparently. Is that part of my orientation?”
“Meh, I guess,” Clifford said “But let’s start simple. You are a ghost, officially known as a runaway.”
“Oh God, there’s classifications of ghosts too?”
“Sure. Three types. Temps, Waiting and Runaways,” Clifford explained “Temps are ghosts just long enough to find out they're dead. Then a Reaper will send them off to their final reward.”
“Like a ray of light in the sky taking you to Heaven?” Kristina asked, a sickening sense of dread surrounding her.
February 14, 2021
Little Ghost - Kristina Car Crash
[Posted by Ted H]
Either I neglected it for the last few years, or I did it and forgot all about it, but last week I make sure to get the "Pure Human" collection post set up and added it to the header with the other complete works.
Also, this makes 4 updates in 2021, already halfway to what I was able to accomplish all of last year. Seems that my new years resolution is working out...
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[Little Ghost - Kristina Car Crash]
They entered the back yard of a one-story ranch house. It was a small yard with a garden in the corner and a blacktop half court with a basketball hoop on the far side. The trio stopped short of the court. “Just so you know, there’s a stairway of sorts here,” Clifford said “Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean you won’t drop down when you reach it.”
Kristina gave a small laugh. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said “I’m aware of a whole bunch of rules that I can’t understand!” Clifford pondered what she just said, then gave up after a few seconds and shook his head. “Let’s have mister expert over here go first,” he said as he referenced a smiling Sammy. “Sure,” Sammy said as he stepped forward “We wouldn’t want anyone to fall and break their leg.”
“That was the first time, and you lied to me where the drop was,” Clifford chided.
“It’s still freakin hilarious when a ghost cries out ‘Oh God I’ll break my leg!’ as he flails his arms in the air!” Sammy said with a laugh.
“So, what staircase?” Kristina finally asked.
“Just watch, honey,” Sammy said as he walked a few feet onto the court, then began descending into the pavement as if he were traversing stairs. “Right this way,” Clifford said as he followed. Kristina stuck close as Clifford disappeared into the basketball court. She lightly put her foot where both men began to drop and found her foot went right through like the court was merely an illusion. She crept her way down until only her head remained above ground.
They entered the back yard of a one-story ranch house. It was a small yard with a garden in the corner and a blacktop half court with a basketball hoop on the far side. The trio stopped short of the court. “Just so you know, there’s a stairway of sorts here,” Clifford said “Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean you won’t drop down when you reach it.”
Kristina gave a small laugh. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said “I’m aware of a whole bunch of rules that I can’t understand!” Clifford pondered what she just said, then gave up after a few seconds and shook his head. “Let’s have mister expert over here go first,” he said as he referenced a smiling Sammy. “Sure,” Sammy said as he stepped forward “We wouldn’t want anyone to fall and break their leg.”
“That was the first time, and you lied to me where the drop was,” Clifford chided.
“It’s still freakin hilarious when a ghost cries out ‘Oh God I’ll break my leg!’ as he flails his arms in the air!” Sammy said with a laugh.
“So, what staircase?” Kristina finally asked.
“Just watch, honey,” Sammy said as he walked a few feet onto the court, then began descending into the pavement as if he were traversing stairs. “Right this way,” Clifford said as he followed. Kristina stuck close as Clifford disappeared into the basketball court. She lightly put her foot where both men began to drop and found her foot went right through like the court was merely an illusion. She crept her way down until only her head remained above ground.
January 31, 2021
Little Ghost - Others
[Posted by Ted H]
Yeah, 2021 is just more of the same from 2020.
Same year, new, even worse flavor.
Same year, new, even worse flavor.
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She ran and ran and ran, not tiring one bit and too scared to stop. Charles would be on her if she stopped even for a second, or at least that was her belief as she ran. Without a sound, someone ran past her. Kristina sounded a desperate wail as she halted and was about to change directions when it registered in her mind that it was someone else and not Charles. A second figure, also not Charles went by after that and Kristina watched as they sprinted away until the second figure looked back and saw her standing, then called for his companion to stop.
Both males jogged back to Kristina while their eyes darted around. “Can they see me?” Kristina said to herself. “Why’d you stop?” the first man said. “Ummm...” Kristina tried to answer before the second man broke in “I don’t see anything. I told you it was probably a false alarm.”
“I wasn’t taking no chances,” the first man snapped back, then looked to Kristina “You gave us a scare, lady,” he said as he cracked a relieved smile.
“You can...” Kristina found herself at a loss for words “You can see me?” she finally asked.
“Sure as shit,” the man responded as he looked to his companion.
“We obviously see you,” the second added “We saw you running first, remember?”
“I ain’t ever see her before. You think she’s new?”
“Oh yeah, definitely new.”
January 17, 2021
Little Ghost - Charles
[Posted by Ted H]
Today is January 17, 2021....Or December 48, 2020? Based on how the world still is, I don't think we're out of the woods yet...
Today is January 17, 2021....Or December 48, 2020? Based on how the world still is, I don't think we're out of the woods yet...
...Also check out my new side project, MLB Showdown Obsession, if an obscure and defunct trading card game interests you...
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[Little Ghost - Charles]
It took longer than she thought it would, and more than once she got caught up wandering into the maternity ward looking at babies, but Kristina eventually found her way to the ICU where she hoped Ryan was. She came across various people in conditions ranging from near death to recovering from surgery. Many different people, but no 20-year-old males from a car crash. Just to be sure, she doubled back to every room on the floor, but no luck. Eventually she gave up when she realized she was entering her third lap through the same rooms.
The room she was in belonged to an elderly woman hooked up to oxygen. Her breathing was labored but her sleep was sound. Kristina approached her bedside slowly, not wanting to disturb her before she realized she wouldn’t be able to anyway. She watched the old woman sleep, heartbroken at this lonely woman alone and slowly dying, but then jealous.
This woman had her life. She lived. She married. She had children. She had grandchildren. When the next day comes, that family will likely be here by her side again. Then back again the next day. And every day. Every day until the end. She’ll die surrounded by loved ones. People who care. She won’t die in an ambulance. She won’t die with a stranger fruitlessly trying to save her. She won’t die young with an entire life stolen away from her.
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[Little Ghost - Charles]
It took longer than she thought it would, and more than once she got caught up wandering into the maternity ward looking at babies, but Kristina eventually found her way to the ICU where she hoped Ryan was. She came across various people in conditions ranging from near death to recovering from surgery. Many different people, but no 20-year-old males from a car crash. Just to be sure, she doubled back to every room on the floor, but no luck. Eventually she gave up when she realized she was entering her third lap through the same rooms.
The room she was in belonged to an elderly woman hooked up to oxygen. Her breathing was labored but her sleep was sound. Kristina approached her bedside slowly, not wanting to disturb her before she realized she wouldn’t be able to anyway. She watched the old woman sleep, heartbroken at this lonely woman alone and slowly dying, but then jealous.
This woman had her life. She lived. She married. She had children. She had grandchildren. When the next day comes, that family will likely be here by her side again. Then back again the next day. And every day. Every day until the end. She’ll die surrounded by loved ones. People who care. She won’t die in an ambulance. She won’t die with a stranger fruitlessly trying to save her. She won’t die young with an entire life stolen away from her.
December 6, 2020
Little Ghost - Automatic Doors
[Posted by Ted H]
Fission Mailed on NaNoWriMo word count. Not surprising, but the whole point of this year was to get back in the saddle and fire up a new project. I'm gonna see how much mileage I can get out of LG while still finding time to continue my 3rd Blake novel.
And I'm starting a new side blog that has nothing to do with writing...Advertising on the side (or wherever here there's room) coming soon.
Also a friend of mine is trying to start an epic of his own. Should I give him space here to get the writing out into the world? YOU BET YOUR ASS I WILL!
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[Little Ghost - Automatic Doors]
“That’s not me!” Kristina bellowed as she collapsed to the ground, grabbing both arms and sobbing to herself, but no tears flowed. “Kristina,” the man tried to address her, but she wasn’t having any of it. “That’s not me!” she repeated “Look at her! That can’t be me!” She wasn’t sure she could muster any other words from her mouth. She wanted to say something else to make her case, but the same three words came to mind every time. “That’s not me!” she reiterated.
The man put his hands up and backed to the wall away from both Kristina and her body. “Whenever you’re ready to get over your shock and move this conversation along,” he said as he folded his arms and leaned back. Kristina stayed where she was on the ground, eyes frozen open and unable to look away from the body. She hoped it would wake up, silently begged for it to get up.
Time passed. Hours, maybe days. Perhaps weeks. Time no longer had meaning for Kristina. All she could do was look to her own body-no! Not her own body. That imposter was not her. She wanted this fake to wake up so she could demand to know why she did her face up to look so similar. She wasn’t going anywhere until she got answers. And if that man was waiting for her to cooperate with whatever game he was playing, then Kristina was going to make sure he would wait every second possible.
The door swung open and a young man in scrubs shuffled in with a stack of folders in one hand and a coffee in the other. He was browsing a paper on top of the folders in his hand until he noticed the body on the table and tilted his head at it. He hastily looked around the room, seeing neither Kristina nor the man, and stuffed his folder stack under his coffee arm and used his free hand to replace the sheet over the corpse’s face. He then placed the folders on the nearby desk and headed back out the door, taking a quick moment before he left to look around the room one more time with an uncomfortable look on his face.
“He couldn’t see me either,” Kristina remarked.
“Can’t be surprising to yet at this point,” the man responded.
“He didn’t see you either,” Kristina said, finally looking at something that wasn’t her own body or someone interacting with it.
“Well, I can be unseen when I want to be. Makes my job easier.”
A new worry flooded Kristina’s mind. “What are you?” she finally asked.
“Oh, you’re finally curious about me as opposed to yourself?” the man said with a hint of sarcasm. He walked over to her in what appeared to be a rehearsed introduction. “I am a Reaper,” he said and was about to add more to that, but Kristina wasn’t interested. She was already bolting back out the door, much to the surprise of the man who obviously wasn’t prepared for that as his protest of “Oh, c’mon!” followed her as she ran.
She could barely wrap her mind around the concept that she might, MIGHT be dead, but the idea that the man was a reaper was something she was not ready to test. She sprinted through the door, this time thinking nothing about how she could phase right through it, and down the hall and back for the elevators. She wasn’t sure if the elevator was on her floor, and her attempt to hit the call button resulted in her finger phasing right through the wall, so instead she headed for the stairwell.
Phasing through another door and she headed up, the only direction available. Her breathing was frantic, made worse by the notion that she probably didn’t even need to breathe, plus the fact that this was the most she’s ever run in a long time and not only was she not winded in the slightest, but there wasn’t a bead of sweat from the effort. She used to sweat just watching other people run, and the fact that she now had unlimited stamina at the cost of her life was yet another nagging contributor to her current full-blown freak out.
She was running too much to stop and read the signs for the exit, not that her mind was in any condition to try that, not with a reaper running around looking for her. After getting more than a little lost and running in circles at times on what she was sure was the ground floor, a realization hit her. She didn’t have to play by the rules of a physical world. She picked a direction and started walking right through the walls until, sure enough, she walked right out and into the main lobby.
Judging by the darkness outside the glass doors, it was still night out, and the lobby was quiet save for the receptionist at the desk playing around with her cell phone. Kristina walked right up to the desk and got right in the woman’s face. Not a hint of notice until she suddenly looked up from the phone and her eyes darted around the lobby. Kristina was taken aback but pleasantly surprised. “Can you see me? At all?” she asked, but the woman said nothing as she quizzically looked around before shrugging and returning to her phone.
Kristina sighed then resumed her escape by walking for the door. The automatic sensor triggered and the doors slid open, letting in the warm summer breeze. The receptionist glanced up briefly but otherwise didn’t react. Kristina stepped back and let the doors slide shut. The sensor noticed her, and the first actual interaction with the world around her excited her more than it should, and definitely calmed her frazzled mind a little. Then an idea popped into mind.
She stepped forward again and triggered the doors. The receptionist again looked up, this time with a bit of concern in her eyes. A sly smile crept across Kristina’s face as she stepped back and let the doors start to slide close again before jumping forward again and making the doors fly back open. The receptionist dropped her phone and bolted up in her seat. “Hello?” she meekly asked.
As entertaining as this was becoming, Kristina had to refocus on her escape. With the doors still open, she dashed out into the world, vowing never to step foot in another hospital ever again. Relief swept through her when she instantly recognized where she was. The name of the hospital eluded her, but the building itself was something she had driven passed countless times. She had her bearings, and was now confident she could get home.
“Took a minute, eh?” an all too familiar voice sounded from the shadows “That’s ok, took me a while to navigate that maze my first time too.”
“No!” Kristina shouted as she spun around, looking wildly for where the man was.
“Calm down!” the man said with his hands raised as he approached from where he had ducked by the entrance “Listen, I’m not the bad scary Reaper like you know from your culture.”
“Oh, so you’re the cheery fun-loving kind I’ve never heard of before,” Kristina responded sarcastically while keeping her distance.
“Look, let’s just...Start over, ok? Hi, Kristina, my name’s Bob.”
“Bob...” Kristina responded while remaining skeptical and distance.
“Yes,” Bob responded “You died, unfortunately, and I’m very sorry. And now you’re running around as a spirit. It’s my job to help you move on beyond this plane of existence.
“What do you mean?”
“No, it’s good news. There are two options, and they don’t send me for people going to Hell.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Well, if you were slated for Hell, there’d be no need to explain things to you. You’d already be on your way down.”
The logic seemed sound to Kristina, but it didn’t comfort her. Bob confirming her death, however needless in light of all previous evidence, was the straw that broke the camel's back for her. She aimlessly walked towards the curb and took a seat and placed her head in her hands. Bob stood silently behind her while she collected her thoughts.
“I don’t wanna die,” she said in such a whisper she wondered if Bob even heard her.
“I don’t make those calls,” Bob responded.
“Whose call is it?” Kristina demanded.
“Yours,” Bob said after a moment “Free will. Humans decide their own fate. When that fate leads to ones demise, us Reapers are called in to collect the soul and usher it to its ultimate fate.”
“You knew I was going to die?”
“I got the notification after you were already dying.”
“Who notifies you?”
“Now we’re talking about things beyond your understanding, even if you weren’t reeling from tonight’s events.”
Kristina sighed, wanting to cry but no tears fell. “Can I just go back into my body?” she whined “I’ll go back in there and we can skip this whole reaping thing!”
“Doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid,” Bob explained “But you’re in the bargaining phase, so I won’t hold it against you.”
“This isn’t a joke!” Kristina yelled. Bob stayed silent at that. Kristina buried her face in her hands again and a sad wail escaped her throat.
“This is a lot, I understand,” Bob said as he walked out in front “But the good news is, you won’t care in another minute.” He then looked to the sky and nodded. A ray of light descended to the ground from the overcast sky and Kristina stood up in awe of it. “It’s cliché, I know,” Bob said “But we surveyed the idea and most people find comfort in it.”
“Heaven?” Kristina asked.
“Yup,” Bob said with a nod “The big guy likes to call up the important souls himself, but it’s up to the little guys like me to assist the rest upstairs.”
“So, you’re an angel,” Kristina reasoned.
“Eh...” Bob shrugged “Reapers are a form of angel, maybe, but not really.”
“Have you been to Heaven?”
“No, but it’s my retirement package when my time as Reaper comes to an end.”
“How does that work?”
“Hey, don’t worry about me. Go on, get out of here,”
“Oh, sorry,” Kristina said, turning back to regard the ray of light. It was a stark contrast to the night around it, and it gave off a welcoming energy that convinced Kristina that Bob wasn't lying about where it led.
“Kinda cancels out the traumatic car accident, eh?” Bob said as Kristina stepped towards the ground where the light covered. Kristina chuckled as she recalled the car accident for the last time in her mind. Before she took another step, something sprung to mind and she stopped and looked back to Bob. “What about Ryan?” she asked.
“Who?” Bob asked.
“Ryan. He was in the car with me. Shouldn’t he be a ghost running around too?”
“Well, if he died, yeah.”
“He’s not dead?”
“Probably not, but who cares?”
“That’s not fucking fair!”
Bob was taken aback by her tone. Confused, he shook his head and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” he reiterated.
“He was driving,” Kristina said as she stormed back to Bob and glared up at him. “He got us into that accident. HE was the one drinking. HE is the one who got me killed!”
“It doesn’t matter!” Bob argued back.
Kristina looked back towards the hospital. She knew somewhere inside was Ryan, assuming he was brought in the same as her. Bob was saying something, but she wasn’t hearing him. She took off back for the hospital. “What are you doing?” Bob yelled “Just step into the light!” Kristina stole a look behind her and saw Bob looking up to the sky as the light faded and everything fell back into darkness. She ran towards the automatic doors as they opened, the receptionist jumping in her chair, and back into the hospital.
Fission Mailed on NaNoWriMo word count. Not surprising, but the whole point of this year was to get back in the saddle and fire up a new project. I'm gonna see how much mileage I can get out of LG while still finding time to continue my 3rd Blake novel.
And I'm starting a new side blog that has nothing to do with writing...Advertising on the side (or wherever here there's room) coming soon.
Also a friend of mine is trying to start an epic of his own. Should I give him space here to get the writing out into the world? YOU BET YOUR ASS I WILL!
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[Little Ghost - Automatic Doors]
“That’s not me!” Kristina bellowed as she collapsed to the ground, grabbing both arms and sobbing to herself, but no tears flowed. “Kristina,” the man tried to address her, but she wasn’t having any of it. “That’s not me!” she repeated “Look at her! That can’t be me!” She wasn’t sure she could muster any other words from her mouth. She wanted to say something else to make her case, but the same three words came to mind every time. “That’s not me!” she reiterated.
The man put his hands up and backed to the wall away from both Kristina and her body. “Whenever you’re ready to get over your shock and move this conversation along,” he said as he folded his arms and leaned back. Kristina stayed where she was on the ground, eyes frozen open and unable to look away from the body. She hoped it would wake up, silently begged for it to get up.
Time passed. Hours, maybe days. Perhaps weeks. Time no longer had meaning for Kristina. All she could do was look to her own body-no! Not her own body. That imposter was not her. She wanted this fake to wake up so she could demand to know why she did her face up to look so similar. She wasn’t going anywhere until she got answers. And if that man was waiting for her to cooperate with whatever game he was playing, then Kristina was going to make sure he would wait every second possible.
The door swung open and a young man in scrubs shuffled in with a stack of folders in one hand and a coffee in the other. He was browsing a paper on top of the folders in his hand until he noticed the body on the table and tilted his head at it. He hastily looked around the room, seeing neither Kristina nor the man, and stuffed his folder stack under his coffee arm and used his free hand to replace the sheet over the corpse’s face. He then placed the folders on the nearby desk and headed back out the door, taking a quick moment before he left to look around the room one more time with an uncomfortable look on his face.
“He couldn’t see me either,” Kristina remarked.
“Can’t be surprising to yet at this point,” the man responded.
“He didn’t see you either,” Kristina said, finally looking at something that wasn’t her own body or someone interacting with it.
“Well, I can be unseen when I want to be. Makes my job easier.”
A new worry flooded Kristina’s mind. “What are you?” she finally asked.
“Oh, you’re finally curious about me as opposed to yourself?” the man said with a hint of sarcasm. He walked over to her in what appeared to be a rehearsed introduction. “I am a Reaper,” he said and was about to add more to that, but Kristina wasn’t interested. She was already bolting back out the door, much to the surprise of the man who obviously wasn’t prepared for that as his protest of “Oh, c’mon!” followed her as she ran.
She could barely wrap her mind around the concept that she might, MIGHT be dead, but the idea that the man was a reaper was something she was not ready to test. She sprinted through the door, this time thinking nothing about how she could phase right through it, and down the hall and back for the elevators. She wasn’t sure if the elevator was on her floor, and her attempt to hit the call button resulted in her finger phasing right through the wall, so instead she headed for the stairwell.
Phasing through another door and she headed up, the only direction available. Her breathing was frantic, made worse by the notion that she probably didn’t even need to breathe, plus the fact that this was the most she’s ever run in a long time and not only was she not winded in the slightest, but there wasn’t a bead of sweat from the effort. She used to sweat just watching other people run, and the fact that she now had unlimited stamina at the cost of her life was yet another nagging contributor to her current full-blown freak out.
She was running too much to stop and read the signs for the exit, not that her mind was in any condition to try that, not with a reaper running around looking for her. After getting more than a little lost and running in circles at times on what she was sure was the ground floor, a realization hit her. She didn’t have to play by the rules of a physical world. She picked a direction and started walking right through the walls until, sure enough, she walked right out and into the main lobby.
Judging by the darkness outside the glass doors, it was still night out, and the lobby was quiet save for the receptionist at the desk playing around with her cell phone. Kristina walked right up to the desk and got right in the woman’s face. Not a hint of notice until she suddenly looked up from the phone and her eyes darted around the lobby. Kristina was taken aback but pleasantly surprised. “Can you see me? At all?” she asked, but the woman said nothing as she quizzically looked around before shrugging and returning to her phone.
Kristina sighed then resumed her escape by walking for the door. The automatic sensor triggered and the doors slid open, letting in the warm summer breeze. The receptionist glanced up briefly but otherwise didn’t react. Kristina stepped back and let the doors slide shut. The sensor noticed her, and the first actual interaction with the world around her excited her more than it should, and definitely calmed her frazzled mind a little. Then an idea popped into mind.
She stepped forward again and triggered the doors. The receptionist again looked up, this time with a bit of concern in her eyes. A sly smile crept across Kristina’s face as she stepped back and let the doors start to slide close again before jumping forward again and making the doors fly back open. The receptionist dropped her phone and bolted up in her seat. “Hello?” she meekly asked.
As entertaining as this was becoming, Kristina had to refocus on her escape. With the doors still open, she dashed out into the world, vowing never to step foot in another hospital ever again. Relief swept through her when she instantly recognized where she was. The name of the hospital eluded her, but the building itself was something she had driven passed countless times. She had her bearings, and was now confident she could get home.
“Took a minute, eh?” an all too familiar voice sounded from the shadows “That’s ok, took me a while to navigate that maze my first time too.”
“No!” Kristina shouted as she spun around, looking wildly for where the man was.
“Calm down!” the man said with his hands raised as he approached from where he had ducked by the entrance “Listen, I’m not the bad scary Reaper like you know from your culture.”
“Oh, so you’re the cheery fun-loving kind I’ve never heard of before,” Kristina responded sarcastically while keeping her distance.
“Look, let’s just...Start over, ok? Hi, Kristina, my name’s Bob.”
“Bob...” Kristina responded while remaining skeptical and distance.
“Yes,” Bob responded “You died, unfortunately, and I’m very sorry. And now you’re running around as a spirit. It’s my job to help you move on beyond this plane of existence.
“What do you mean?”
“No, it’s good news. There are two options, and they don’t send me for people going to Hell.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Well, if you were slated for Hell, there’d be no need to explain things to you. You’d already be on your way down.”
The logic seemed sound to Kristina, but it didn’t comfort her. Bob confirming her death, however needless in light of all previous evidence, was the straw that broke the camel's back for her. She aimlessly walked towards the curb and took a seat and placed her head in her hands. Bob stood silently behind her while she collected her thoughts.
“I don’t wanna die,” she said in such a whisper she wondered if Bob even heard her.
“I don’t make those calls,” Bob responded.
“Whose call is it?” Kristina demanded.
“Yours,” Bob said after a moment “Free will. Humans decide their own fate. When that fate leads to ones demise, us Reapers are called in to collect the soul and usher it to its ultimate fate.”
“You knew I was going to die?”
“I got the notification after you were already dying.”
“Who notifies you?”
“Now we’re talking about things beyond your understanding, even if you weren’t reeling from tonight’s events.”
Kristina sighed, wanting to cry but no tears fell. “Can I just go back into my body?” she whined “I’ll go back in there and we can skip this whole reaping thing!”
“Doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid,” Bob explained “But you’re in the bargaining phase, so I won’t hold it against you.”
“This isn’t a joke!” Kristina yelled. Bob stayed silent at that. Kristina buried her face in her hands again and a sad wail escaped her throat.
“This is a lot, I understand,” Bob said as he walked out in front “But the good news is, you won’t care in another minute.” He then looked to the sky and nodded. A ray of light descended to the ground from the overcast sky and Kristina stood up in awe of it. “It’s cliché, I know,” Bob said “But we surveyed the idea and most people find comfort in it.”
“Heaven?” Kristina asked.
“Yup,” Bob said with a nod “The big guy likes to call up the important souls himself, but it’s up to the little guys like me to assist the rest upstairs.”
“So, you’re an angel,” Kristina reasoned.
“Eh...” Bob shrugged “Reapers are a form of angel, maybe, but not really.”
“Have you been to Heaven?”
“No, but it’s my retirement package when my time as Reaper comes to an end.”
“How does that work?”
“Hey, don’t worry about me. Go on, get out of here,”
“Oh, sorry,” Kristina said, turning back to regard the ray of light. It was a stark contrast to the night around it, and it gave off a welcoming energy that convinced Kristina that Bob wasn't lying about where it led.
“Kinda cancels out the traumatic car accident, eh?” Bob said as Kristina stepped towards the ground where the light covered. Kristina chuckled as she recalled the car accident for the last time in her mind. Before she took another step, something sprung to mind and she stopped and looked back to Bob. “What about Ryan?” she asked.
“Who?” Bob asked.
“Ryan. He was in the car with me. Shouldn’t he be a ghost running around too?”
“Well, if he died, yeah.”
“He’s not dead?”
“Probably not, but who cares?”
“That’s not fucking fair!”
Bob was taken aback by her tone. Confused, he shook his head and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” he reiterated.
“He was driving,” Kristina said as she stormed back to Bob and glared up at him. “He got us into that accident. HE was the one drinking. HE is the one who got me killed!”
“It doesn’t matter!” Bob argued back.
Kristina looked back towards the hospital. She knew somewhere inside was Ryan, assuming he was brought in the same as her. Bob was saying something, but she wasn’t hearing him. She took off back for the hospital. “What are you doing?” Bob yelled “Just step into the light!” Kristina stole a look behind her and saw Bob looking up to the sky as the light faded and everything fell back into darkness. She ran towards the automatic doors as they opened, the receptionist jumping in her chair, and back into the hospital.
November 22, 2020
Little Ghost - That's Not Me (NaNoWriMo Update #2)
[Posted by Ted H]
Well, family time happened for a week and I fell off a cliff in terms of progress, but I haven't given up. I'll still push through and pound out as many words as I can until December, even if this is another wasted year, I'll make it a productive one...
Current status of my 2020 NaNoWriMo: 10,836 / 50,000 (39,164 words to go!)
---------------------------------------------------------------
[Little Ghost - That's Not Me]
Kristina bolted upright immediately after, screaming. She swung her legs over the table and jumped down, thankful her legs worked, and started sprinting. She told herself what kind of horrible dream she must’ve just had. It felt so real though, like she legitimately died. Her thoughts scrambled like crazy as she ran to a two-way push door so fast, she didn’t even register if it moved or not as she was into a strange white hallway, which completely stole her attention.
There were white fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, but the whole scene seemed darker and hazier than it should have been. “Where even am I?” she asked aloud, taken slightly aback at how distant her voice seemed in her head. She tried to take in her surroundings, worried that her dream may not have been a dream after all. There was a gurney pushed to the side of the hall and a sign on the wall that had arrows pointed in both directions to various places like “ER” and “OR” with color coded labels that matched lines that were also lining the floor.
“Hospital...” she said slowly, gazing down at her hands and checking her body. Something was off. She knew she must’ve been in an ambulance, but she couldn’t place why she felt no pain when she distinctly remembered feeling differently before. She wasn’t the least bit sore, nor could she feel anything. She pinched her cheek, half checking for pain, half checking to see if she were still dreaming. Nothing. She raised an arm and started scratching at it with her nails, a nervous habit she could never kick, but now a useful test since it would always start to hurt if she scratched too long. Still nothing.
“They must’ve given me the good stuff. Capital M morphine!” she reasoned. It didn’t seem right, since she should be doped to hell, but it explained why her senses seemed dull and hazy and why her entire body was numb. The whole situation was beginning to get overwhelming and Kristina was pleased to see a nurse round the corner ahead and walk down a different hall.
“Excuse me!” Kristina called, but the nurse paid her no attention. “Hey, wait!” she yelled and took off after her. She wasn’t sure how smart it was to run on numb, morphine legs, but she felt a breakdown creeping up on her and needed some reassurance on where she was and what the hell happened to her. The nurse made her way to an elevator and hit the call button.
“Please, miss! Hold on!” Kristina cried as she sped up. The elevator doors opened and the nurse casually stepped aboard. “Wait!” Kristina screamed as she caught up and faced the nurse, who looked right through her. “Helllllo!” Kristina said obnoxiously “A little help here?” The nurse didn’t even react as the elevator door began to slide shut. “Are you fucking serious?” she screamed as she stuck out her arm to stop the elevator door and keep the nurse where she was.
The door didn’t heed her either as it pushed right through Kristina’s arm and into place, allowing the elevator on the other side to start its journey. Kristina gasped and instinctively pulled her arm back and out of the door. She was speechless as she stared at her hand, slowly backing away from the elevator. Did that really just happen? No. Of course not. The elevator door was going to stop, but Kristina was so doped up on the morphine that her brain imagined the door closing. A simple lag of her brain.
“But why didn’t that bitch answer me?” she asked aloud, questioning her own logic. That breakdown she felt creeping up was starting to crack through, and Kristina just wanted to roll into a ball and cry. She knew she couldn’t do that. She needed to figure out what was going on. She needed to get answers, then call mom, then she could have her breakdown.
“I need to go back to bed,” she reasoned. Perhaps the doctors and nurses didn’t think she’d wake from her morphine nap so easily. Maybe they were planning to come back and wake her, then explain everything. She began to wander back the way she came, absent mindedly scratching her arm, so sure that things would make sense but worried that what she’d been seeing wasn’t quite fitting into place. “It must be the drugs,” she tried reminding herself.
“Hi there!” a voice called out behind her “You look a little lost.” Kristina spun around, overcome with relief. She saw an older man in a white coat. A doctor! “Lost doesn’t even begin to describe it!” she said with a huge grin. Finally, some answers, or at least some direction. “Well, I can imagine after what you’ve been through, Kristina.”
“Are you my doctor?” she asked.
“Uh,” the man began, then shook his head “No. Definitely not.”
“Then, how do you know me?”.
“It’s,” the man hesitated again as he dug his hands into his coat pockets “It’s a little complicated. Tell me, what do you remember?”
The man began walking and motioned Kristina to follow. “Um,” she began “I remember some kind of accident. Then I was lying in what I hope was an ambulance. And then I woke up in this place.”
The man nodded. “That’s a pretty accurate summary,” he said while cocking his head to the side. “Car accident,” he said “They had to pull you out. Wasn’t easy.” Kristina shuddered, remembering what little she could. “And now you’re walking around no problem?” the man added.
Kristina wanted to say something quickly to that, but stopped and chose her words carefully. “Well, yes?” she said “I know you have me on some pretty strong pain killers, so I assume I’ll be in a world of hurt once they wear off...” The man raised both his eyebrows to that. “Well, what’s your fucking theory then?” she snapped, becoming both scared and annoyed at this man. “Are you even a doctor?” she demanded. He was wearing the white coat, but there were no scrubs or clean attire underneath. He was wearing wrinkly stained dress shirt and an off-color pair of slacks.
“I’m not exactly a doctor, but trust me Kristina, I’m here for you.”
Kristina slowly back away from him. “You didn’t imagine that elevator door,” he said “And that nurse didn’t notice you because she couldn’t see you.”
“Stop it,” Kristina said, trying to muster some backbone, but instead feeling that breakdown creeping back up again. The man smirked as he removed his white doctors coat and casually tossed it at her. She put up her hands to block the coat, then cried out as it easily passed through her hands, arms and torso as it fell undisturbed to the ground. The man chuckled at her response.
Kristina opened her mouth to scream, but only a tiny whimper escaped. She grasped her torso, where the coat so easily breached through, and felt to make sure she was still a solid object. That man was talking, but Kristina wasn’t hearing him, sick in her own mind what felt like beyond an invasion of privacy. He had put that coat right through her. Right fucking through her! “Magic trick!” her mind flashed in desperation “He’s playing a trick. That has to be it!”
“Kristina!” the man shouted, snapping back her attention to her “Listen to me very carefully. You were right about an accident, and the ambulance trip...”
“And?” she squeaked out, dreading what she felt was the answer.
“You didn’t make it,” he said in the most matter of fact tone Kristina ever heard.
“Nooooooo,” Kristina said as her voice dropped and held that O sound. Gesturing about herself, showing how she was very much alive, she re-found her voice and protested “I’m not dead! Here I am. Do I look dead to you?”
“You’re a ghost,” the man said as he shrugged and walked over to retrieve his coat and put it back on. “I’m not a ghost!” Kristina screamed without thinking. The man simply laughed and motioned for her to follow him down the hall.
Kristina didn’t want to follow. She didn’t want to be anywhere near this man. She wanted to run. Get home any way she could and crawl into bed and weep until this whole ordeal was repressed and she can move on in life. But instead, she followed, because she had no idea where to run anyway.
She was led back the way she had come when she tried to chase down the nurse. Back to the swinging door she thought she had opened as she ran earlier, but now she wasn’t so sure. This time she wasn’t sprinting and was able to notice the sign over the door. The sign sank her very soul into the ground as she started to shake. The man pushed the door open and held it open for her. The door had a high-pitched squeak to it that Kristina did not remember hearing before. She stopped short and the man gestured with his head for her to get moving. Kristina closed her eyes and itched her arm as she took the final few steps into the morgue.
Laying on the table Kristina woke up on was a body under a sheet. It was her size. The same short frame with a belly too large and breasts too small for her liking that she judged in front of a mirror every morning. All the rationalizing in her mind up until now suddenly had no explanations for what she was looking at. “That’s not me,” she whispered in pure denial.
The man sighed and walked to the body, putting his hand on the top of the sheet. “No,” Kristina said “I don’t wanna-” The man didn’t listen as he pulled the sheet off the face to reveal Kristina’s own face.
It looked exactly like Kristina, but it wasn’t her. Her face was different than this imposter’s. Her face wasn’t bloodied. Her eye wasn’t swollen shut. The side of her face wasn’t purple. Her face wasn’t cut up. Her hair wasn’t matted down with blood. That wasn’t her face. That face was dead. The person on the table was dead. That person on the table was supposed to be her. That wasn’t her face. That wasn’t her blood. That wasn’t her swollen eye. Those weren’t her cuts. That wasn’t her bloodied hair. That wasn’t her face. That wasn’t her corpse. That wasn’t her face. That wasn’t her face. That wasn’t her fucking face. That wasn’t her FUCKING FACE! THAT WASN’T HER FUCKING FACE!
November 8, 2020
Little Ghost - Death (NaNoWriMo Update #1)
[Posted by Ted H]
Back in action! I can't remember I made a serious attempt at NaNoWriMo, but here we are. My chances of winning this year are about as good as Joe Biden's chances of not sniffing children like a creep (slim to none), but we can still enjoy the ride.
The first part I'm sharing isn't much, but it works better self contained for now. Sue me. More to come.
Current status of my 2020 NaNoWriMo: 5,002 / 50,000 (44,998 words to go!)
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[Little Ghost - Death]
Kristina's eyes were shut tight, but she knew what was happening. The shattering glass, the crushing metal, the screeching rubber, all jumbled into a chorus behind her own dire screams. Her vision was black behind her own eyelids, but she felt everything slow down. There was suddenly time. Time to recount, but no time to be coherent. In her rushing thoughts she wept how she was only 19. She was supposed to have a future. She was supposed to make a difference. It wasn’t fair for tomorrow to be taken away.
She wasn’t ready.
“I don’t wanna go!” she shouted, either out loud or in her own mind. She wasn’t sure. Before she could tell, a darkness enveloped her as everything around her compressed. She tried to scream and open her eyes, but it was too late.
A spark. A jagged flash pierced her eyes from darkness and she struggled to see. She felt drowsy. Not drunk, but not sober. There were muffled voices. They couldn’t be understood, but Kristina inferred a frantic panic. Was it for her or themselves? She couldn’t recall where she was, or why parts of her were in agony while the rest could not be felt. There was fear in her soul as the flashing grew brighter and metal in front of her face was being torn away like it was plastic. The high pitch squeal it made as it was rending away overwhelmed her senses and she knew nothing more.
*BEEP*
A rhythm in her ears that she could barely hear over the ringing in her own head.
*BEEP*
She tried to breathe in. It was a wet, slow and strained effort. There was something secured over her mouth and nose to help her.
*BEEP*
Her vision was of cold steel above her. She felt the presence of someone beside her, more muffled voices, but she could not turn to see. She was held in place, and even trying to move was agony.
*BEEP*
She gasped for more breath, through the pain of trying, but felt there wasn’t enough air getting in.
*BEEP*
They rhythmic beeping was joined by lower toned alerts.
*BEEP*
The parts of her body she could feel were fewer than last time, and in sharper pain.
*BEEP*
Where was she?
*BEEP*
She was moving, but the room was still.
*BEEP*
The muffled voice close to her was talking quicker.
*BEEP*
The sound of a siren from far away registered in her mind.
*BEEP*
The pain in her body was fading, but so was her vision.
*BEEP*
A sharp sense of fear flooded her mind, tears welled in her swollen eyes.
*BEEP*
She didn’t want this.
*BEEP*
She didn’t want to be here.
*BEEP*
She-
*BEEP*
-wanted-
*BEEP*
-to-
*BEEP*
-go-
*BEEP*
-home.
The beeping had stopped its rhythm and settled into one long unending note. It matched the ringing in Kristina’s mind and both sounds were fading into white noise. Her vision was fading away; the cold steel she looked upon was now becoming a white void. The fear in her heart replaced by a cold numb sensation that enveloped her being.
“I want to go home,” a last coherent thought she tried to choke out, as she felt a single tear escape her eye and roll down the side of her face. And she knew no more.
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