New Post!

I came up with this today at work:

When I was first born they called me Alpha, the beginning, the first. I was a miracle. The knowledge bestowed upon them from their God. Now they call me Omega, the end. Almost three thousand years have passed since my birth, the initial research on me I thought buried, destroyed by my own hands. I thought I had eliminated all knowledge of myself.

In progress…continued

Careful to stay far enough under the water those above could not look down and see me I was fascinated by the strength of my eyesight. Despite the little sunlight that was filtering through to the depth in which I now swam I could see the rocky edges of the pool and the bubbles that formed where the water fell from above. Everything was a strange shade of blue, somewhat eerie, yet also comforting.

The further down I swam the cooler the water began to feel. The pool was a lot deeper that it looked. The bottom of the pool was flat rock, slightly slimy. There was no sign of life at this depth, and I began to crave the sunlight. I swam towards the cliff edge where the waterfall ended and started towards the surface. My experiment had been a success. Although I was beginning to miss the sunlight, I had not yet craved oxygen.

As I swam towards the surface I noticed something in the cliff face behind where the waterfall fell. It was an opening. My curiosity peaked, and I could not resist a look inside, if indeed there was anything inside. The cave was filled with water, but was sloping upwards, which led me to believe I would surface at some point. My instinct was correct, and I surfaced in a small pool, maybe 2 metres in diameter. The cavern was larger than I had expected, and I climbed out of the pool onto cool smooth rocks. It was obvious that sunlight had never touched this place, and the cool air chilled my skin, despite my resistance. The most unnatural thing about the cavern did not come to my attention immediately. It was the fact that I could still see. Absolute darkness should be unnerving, and I should definitely not be able to see. Yet there was something that lit the cavern that I could not comprehend.

The cool air was starting to bother me, and so I decided that I should head back to the surface and put my clothes back on. There were a couple other things I wanted to try before heading back to the campsite. Diving back into the pool I swam back down the cave before surfacing underneath the waterfall. Keeping an ear out for voices above I heard nothing, and assumed my fellow campers had started their hike back.

Pulling myself from the water I picked up my clothes and climbed up the tree to the top of the cliff to double check and make sure there was no one left. Confirming the silence with the sight of an empty river bank I ran along the edge of the river as fast as I could for about a kilometre and back in an attempt to dry myself. Once back at the top of the waterfall I figured I was dry enough and put my clothes back on.

In progress

Today I may have spent some time writing instead of doing some work. But I had flashes of inspiration, and it’s sort of a dream I had this morning.

—

I ran along the edge of the river testing my speed, trying to push my limits.  There was a reason I had declined the opportunity to go hiking with the other campers, and that was I wanted to test my abilities. They had left several hours ago, and yet in my short sprint I had probably covered an equal amount of distance.  I came to a sudden halt as I reached a small clearing where the river became a small pool at the base of a waterfall.

Large trees stood at the base of the cliff on either side of the waterfall, the branches too far apart for an average climber to tackle. With ease I jumped to the first branch, easily 3 metres from the ground. I landed with perfect balance, the thought of falling not even entering my mind. Within moments I was standing at the top of the cliff overlooking the forest and valley below.

My sensitive ears picked up the sound of voices and footsteps coming from further up the river. I recognised them as the voices of my fellow campers. They had spent the last 3 hours hiking to the very spot in which I now stood. They had, of course, had to go the long way, as it would have been impossible for them to climb the side of the cliff as I had.

It was tempting to stay where I stood and show off that I had made it effortlessly to where they had toiled to be. But I thought better of it, they would ask questions that I was forbidden to answer honestly. With my speed I needed little run up to jump the fast flowing river to the other side, hoping the hiking group would not cross or look too closely. I hid behind a few bushes which had grown along the banks.

Even from the other side of the river, and over the fast flowing water I could still clearly hear the conversation of the group. I focused on my three closest friends: Rebecca, Scott and Simone.

“I’m surprised Alissa didn’t come hiking with us,” I heard Rebecca say.

“She’s been a bit different lately. More reserved,” Scott, responded.

“I suppose she was never much a fan of the outdoors, but normally she would come just to hang out with us.”

“I dunno. I think something’s up. But she insists she fine,” Simone stated.

If only they knew.

“I just can’t believe how she convinced Mr George to let her stay behind, I wish I had been there to see that! He was all about compulsory participation and the great outdoors and fresh air,” Scott commented.

That had been my first real attempt at mind control. I couldn’t participate in group activities in my present state. I would show no sign of weakness or tiredness when all those around me were fatigued. I had not yet learned the ability of self control when it came to speed and strength. After all, this was all very new to me. It had been successful, and not witnessed by anyone while I was actually controlling his mind. When he said I could stay behind in front of witnesses it was just a gentle reminder I had placed in his mind. He appeared to be a little spaced out, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

“I know! If I thought we could get out of this I would have!” Simone objected. Of our circle of friends, she was the least active. We both encouraged each other in our laziness.

I was becoming bored of sitting still and decided that it was time to continue testing my new abilities. From behind the cover of the bushes I snuck to the tree that grew on the other side of the waterfall and climbed down. Before stepping into the clearing I looked back up at the hikers above, annoyed to notice a few standing at the edge looking down at the pool. I edged along the side of the cliff, hoping no one would look directly down. My next test was how long I could stay under water.

Shedding my outer clothing, I eased myself into the water I look a breath and dunked my head. Despite the fact the water in which I was now immersed was likely close to freezing it felt strangely warm. Opening my eyes I saw clearly the bubbles from where the water fell from overhead. Sinking lower into the water I moved away from the cover of the waterfall and into the pool. I couldn’t tell how long I had been under the water but it would have been over a minute and my lungs were not crying out for oxygen.

Metaphor

I wrote this one a while ago, but since I hadn’t posted anything for a bit I thought it would be good to share.

—

I sat across the table from the Monster and when he talked to me tiny black bug-like things would come from his mouth and attack me, burying themselves deep in my skin. They crawled through my body, intent on finding my heart. I could feel them as they began to bite at my heart, causing my eyes to fill with tears.

But the Monster only laughed at my weakness and sent another string of black bugs at me, causing more pain.

My mum gave me a sad look as she watched the Monster attack her child. But she could do nothing to protect me. If she tried to intervene she too would be attacked by the tiny black bugs.

As the insects ate away at my heart the pain worsened, and the tears that filled my eyes leaked out and rolled down my cheeks.

“That’s enough!” said my older brother Alex. He was fifteen, nearly twice my age; I was eight.

The Monster stood up and sent a string of bugs at Alex before hitting him across the face.

I cried even harder and the Monster attacked me more. The pain inside of me was becoming unbearable, and my tears were flowing freely.

Alex took my hand and led me out of the kitchen, away from the Monster.

“Wha’ d’you think you’re doin’ boy!” bellowed the Monster. “You won’ las’ long ou’ there!”

The Monster’s words were slurred but they no longer sent armies of bugs at us, but Alex still led me away from the house.

He took me outside and held my hand as he led me along the footpath to Mrs Walnet’s house, a few down from ours.

Now away from the Monster the bugs stopped their biting and my tears were wiped away by my brother’s hand.

Knocking on Mrs Walnet’s door, Alex spoke comforting words in my ear, and the pain in my heart was eased.

When Mrs Walnet answered the door and saw us standing there she invited us in. She took us into her kitchen and made us a mug of Milo each, talking to Alex about the Monster’s attack.

As I sipped at my Milo I felt the bugs being killed and washed away along with the pain that they had brought me.

Mrs Walnet and Alex told me that I would never have to worry about the Monster again, and that I was safe with her as she helped me into bed. I could tell she was telling the truth as she tucked me in and kissed me goodnight, something that my own mother was too afraid of doing because of the Monster.

But I would never have to face the Monster, or feel the pain of the tiny black bugs ever again.

As Alex and Mrs Walnet went back out into the kitchen Alex was still afraid for his brother’s well being. He knew his brother thought of their father as a monster, and his hurtful words as tiny black bugs that attacked his heart. Hopefully he would never have to see his brother in so much pain again, that was why he had taken his brother away that night.

The insects were gone, but the bite marks on his brother’s heart would be there forever.