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IF

Frantic. FRANTIC. I’m swiming. I’m diving. No. I’m falling! Faster, faster… I’m falling up. Or? Am I flying down? Down… Down where? Down to the sky!

Trees and patios. Birds. Birds? Clouds! I’m falling to the immense depths that is the sky!

Faster. Faster! I’m gaining speed! What is this? How is this even possible? It can’t be. It’s not! I’m swimming. I’m swimming in the absolute cyan. In the vast stillness of the airborne entities that gloat and defile the smallness of man.

I’m free falling up.
I’m dropping like a solid piece of nothingness through the haughty substance of all that is.

Look up! What? Look up! I need to look up! Where am I falling from?

The picturesque depiction of the countryside. I’m falling from earth to the heights of the immeasurable! Naked, dressed in the skin that humanises the race.

Free falling to the vast stillness of the sky.

Blink! What? Pinch yourself! This is what the impossible is. Blink! Blink to make it go away!
 Shutting my eyes. Firm. Firm! Shut the eyes till they get tears. Force them shut and you will wake up in your bed. Yes. Bed. I’m asleep. I know I’m asleep.
Open your eyes now to the warmth of your bedroom. Spock will need his milk. Cute puppy.

Air! The stillness of the restless, ever moving air! Clouds… What the? Hawk! Hawk! Shooting its beak towards my beating heart! Beating? Alive… WAIT! NO!!!

Where am I? What? More blue. Deep dark blue! Sky? Hawk?

I’m still. Not falling anymore. Still but moving. Carried. Oars on my sides. A man. Cowboy hat. Unshaved. Anxious. A pile of something covered under white cloth between us.
Rowing. Faster… As fast as he can. Or… As fast as the flying bullets will make him to.
Bullets? Gun shots! We’re being chased! Where am I? Where are we? Who is the guy? Who are those guys? Where am I? Where the fuck am I?

– WHERE THE FUCK AM I???
Looks at me. The cowboy hat, boatman is looking at me. Behind a cloud of smoke. These fuckers will kill you. Still rowing…
– Pacific.

Calm. How can he be calm? Why is he calm? What… Pacif..? WHAT? What happened to the sky? Where’s the hawk?
The hawk killed me. This is a prelude to heavens. Or hell. I’m dead.

– I’m dead.
Calm. Still rowing… Rowing fast. Anxious. Calm. What’s wrong with you man?
 – Not yet, you’re not.
Bullets. Gun shots. Bomb shell! WHAT? Explosion on my side! Wave. Rocks the boat like a toy. It is a toy! Gunship on our trail. GUNSHIP? Gunshots! More explosions!
What do they want? What do they want with us? Why are they shooting at us? Why the fuck is there a gunship shooting at us?

– GUNSHIP!
Still rowing. Rowing and leading a pack of gunships. Rowing faster than them all. Faster than the bullets. Rowing in the calm deep blue that is the sky.
Sky?
Pacific.
The blue of the pacific.

Did I fall from the sky after I fell in the sky? Fell from the sky to this boat. The hawk killed me.
Water! Wet feet. Water. The boat’s been shot. Punctured. Water. Soaking my boots. Boots? Dressed. Skin? Clothes. Dressed. Water! Tidal wave! More explosions.

– Why are the shooting at us?
– Me.
– What?
– Shooting at me!
– WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY SHOOTING AT YOU?
Calm. How can he be calm?
– The trophy. It’s all because of this trophy.

Trophy. What? Trophy. What the f… The pile under the white cloth! Pick it up. PICK IT UP!
A trophy! A mysterious galvanised trophy with jewels of all prices. Indian?

– It’s the Horn of the Atrides.

Horn? It’s a horn. Where did the jewels go? It’s a horn! A piece of bone. Who is Atrides?
A fin. FIN! SHARK! Two, three, a whole armada of fins! Holy mother of God! Circled by ominous fins. Hungry sharks. Sharp teeth. Rows of teeth. Jaws on the attack!

I’m so thirsty. I’m boiling! Sweat is streaming down my spine. Why am I running? Where am I? The boat? The water… Oh God I need water. Sand! Sand is burning my feet! Where am I?
The never ending fields of sand! The sun is burning in the sky. Running! Racing bare feet in the desert. What? A sea of yellowishly red and reddishly yellow sand, under the burning freak that is the sun.

Whistle. Something whistled past my ear! There! Again! What is that? Turn around. Sure? Yes. Turn around! TURN AROUND!

– Don’t turn around! Just keep on running! KEEP ON RUNNING!

Who was that? The cowboy! The boatman! He’s running. Running on my side. What are we running from? Whistle! What the… Whistle! Arrow. An arrow flies past me. Shit! Spear! A spear stabs the sand before me! Evade, evade!

– Don’t run in a straight line! You have a death wish or something???

EVADE! Arrows! Finally, some shadow! Bless the lord for the clouds… I couldn’t bear the burning sand! The joy of coolness. A breezy happiness under the cool shadow of the clouds.

– SPLIT YOU STUPID…

A shower of arrows! Falling like a curtain all around me! The sun reappears! How? How many arrows? Up! Look up!

A rolling flying carpet of murderous wooden arrows with pointy metallic ends! A rain of thousands of arrows all wanting my blood! RUN!!!

It’s so chilling here. So dark and dump. So watery. Moisture from the bowels of the planet. There’s a dancing flame in front of me. Flame? Fire! Not fire…

Erupting magma! What? That’s impossible! In the heart of the Scandinavian volcano!

Mountaineering down the chaotic depths of hell! Quick! Faster! I need to return the Horn of the Atrides! Faster! Before the volcano…

Where was the horn in the first place? Why am I here? Where is the cowboy boatman? Shining! A bleak light from the other side of the lava! Dive. What? I have to dive. Dive where? In! In? Dive and swim to the shining!

Let go. Suicide. Let go! Suicide. I’m gonna die here. I’m gonna die in the black and red sea of the Vesuvius.

Scandinavia.

Nero.

Rome.

Scandinavia.

Let go…

I’m falling!

Light!

Falling faster!

Light! Two punctures in the fabric of the cosmos! Light! Light! ALIEN LIGHT!

A husky sound! A crush! An alien scream! The light tears the world asunder! Light everywhere. Molesting all that is! Eating away on its very essence.

The alien scream. A dozed sigh. An alien mutter.

Not alien. God. The voice of God!

The fabric of the matter is burnt away. Cosmos in despair! The wrath of God!

Holy f! A gigantic monstrous dog! Peeping through the two holes that are eating away my world!

A grunt. The voice of God!

– Hey Spock! How’re you today boy?

  2011  /  Short Shories  /  Last Updated February 10, 2014 by Phlegyas  / 

2 Comments

  1. Dawn Kirby says:

    OMG! I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it! The story is so fast paced, so urgent, so complex I couldn’t wait to get to the end. Nice ending, BTW. Awesome read! I hope you’ll write more in future…enjoy your Friday!

    • Phlegyas says:

      I can’t believe I hadn’t replied to this earlier. I’m so sorry. Thank you so much for the comment Dawn. Much appreciated. Glad you liked it.
      I do hope I will write again some day. Best of luck with the publication of your book. Thank you again for stopping by.

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