Two minutes...go!

[deer of the dawn]

"FASTER" thundered Michael. She wasn't sure if that was the prickle of sweat at the back of her neck or the poke of the sword. She didn't dare turn her head away from the monitor. Her fingers flew obediently over the keys at speeds that would make Mavis Beacon jealous.

The cat in her lap grew nervous and jumped down.

Suddenly her fingers stopped.

She sat, frozen, not even knowing what was on the screen; it was a blur.

"WELL DONE" boomed the angelic voice. "AWW, NICE KITTY." She heard the purring over the faint whirr of the hard disk.

[Sorus]

"Thelyn Sanford." Informal. I take that as a cue.

"Come in." The door shuts behind us.

"What should I call you?" There are dark circles under her eyes, but her gaze is intense.

I can't very well use my real name, and it occurs to me that she may have known my assumed namesake. What I took for fatigue could well be grief. Is this personal?

"I'm minded to call you Cassandra."

The symbology isn't lost on me.

Cards on the table. "You know I am from the future."

"No." One syllable, like a door closing. I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

That sharp look again. "I believe you are from a future. We'd all best hope it's not the future."

Relief.

"It's not."

"Are you certain of that?"

Not as certain as I was 30 seconds ago.

[Linna Heartbooger]

[Morning]

There, the front gate. Enemy made at last form shape substance and location.

I lost you countless times before I learned how to count then Ego, always the dreamer, willed me out of the mess before it could drown me. I heard London pass away in harmonic pandemonia that only a classical archetype might weave.

Every tense borne out of this worlds-realm juxtaposition slammed home with the hollow point Dad always knew would come seeking its due for letting him pass through the colonial clusterfuck lattice.

Now the rebounds, the far ends of the spectrum, and Aeneas on a suburban rampage would all have their superbowl moment.

Make or break?

It's aught but the last ten pounds for the tenth attempt.

Ain't gonna be this 4AM chill to crack my animal, cavernous, ignorance-ridden move.

The padlock slides open.

[aliantha]

Whoo hoo! New blood! Nice job, sir!

[Sorus]

A bit surreal. I like that.

[Morning]

Whoo hoo! New blood! Nice job, sir!

This was really two minutes. Got more stashed away somewhere, but I can't say I did those in under two. Will be back. Hike. And thanks

[Morning]

A bit surreal. I like that.

Metaphorically speaking? Thanks

[aliantha]

Happy Halloween!
***
Garish orange light blinds me. I gasp and raise my head from the grass; then, with an effort, I rise to my hands and knees. My head spins; I drop it toward the earth, which only makes my vertigo worse.

Groaning, I glance to one side. That's when I notice the smell -- sickly sweet and acidic, all at once. The aroma makes my stomach churn.

I have to get up! If only to get away from the stench of my own puke. Nearly biting through my lower lip, I haul myself to my feet.

Someone chortles -- a madman's laugh. I squint, looking for the source. And there it is: an animatronic Headless Horseman. In one hand, he holds the jack o' lantern emitting that unholy light; in the other, he clutches an enormous bowl, only partly filled with candy. Empty candy wrappers litter the grass.

I groan and retch again. Why, oh why, did we buy the enormous bags of treats from Costco?

[Sorus]

This is a stream of consciousness from a few nights ago, written during a late-night neighborhood riot after the local sports team won...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's midnight in the ruins and they're dancing past curfew, dancing like they're trying to stamp out a fire, dancing like they're trying to hold back the dawn.

It's another sacrifice day, another day of bloodied altars and murmured prayers.

They'll litter the passing with petals and curses, in the heat and the crush of the mob. And it's been so long the hate feels just like adulation; it's been too long to tell the truth from the lies.

Tempest down the road of flames; she's wired for fire, she's loaded for bear. Tempest up the streams of fate; she takes the path of most resistance, she takes the paths that no one dares.

Why go borrowing trouble when there's so much to be had for free?

It's midnight in the ruins, and I am sundered - not in any one clean stroke, but in fits and starts, in hesitation marks, in the entropy and erosion of the everyday.

It's midnight in the ruins, and I am running Northbound with the night; I am searching for a place called home.

[aliantha]

That's awesome, Sorus.

[deer of the dawn]

Great stuff here!!! Loving it!

[michaelm]

I meant for this to take 2 minutes, but it turned into about 5 minutes...

**********

The pain was excrutiating, but she did not want to say anything. The pressure of the fallen concrete on her legs was nothing compared to this, but she was too embarrassed to say anything.

Firefighters milled around her with hydraulic jacks while the fire chief screamed instructions into his radio while keeping an eye on the precariously balanced remains of the walls and ceiling. Sweat and grime streaked all of her faces, and she dreaded the thought of even looking in a mirror right now.

As the carefully placed jacks were slowly put in place, she was relieved to feel the pressure of the heavy concrete slab lifted from her legs. She knew that there was no real damage to her legs as most of the weight of the slab had been prevented from crushing her by the large pieces of masonry that had fallen before it, and supported it above her.

She had been walking rapidly away from her desk when the earthquake had struck, and had been unable to reach her destination before the violent shaking of the old building had brought down most of its west wall and parts of the ceiling of the floors above her. She could now see straight out of the building to the cars parked outside, mostly dented and damaged by the wall of her building as it fell.

Nothing changed in her legs as the slab was lifted, but she clenched her whole body tight as the burly firefighter pulled under her arms to drag her out. She immediately said "My legs are OK! You don't need to lift me!", but insistent hands hoisted her onto the nearby guerney.

Bracing herself for what the impact would do to the other pain, she rolled straight off the other side, and the paramedics were unable to stop her as they were in the process of bending to lift the stretcher.

Unable to walk properly, she moved as quickly as she could, but was unable to outrun the paramedics who quickly followed. "Leave me alone, this is an emergency!"

Both paused in their stride, unsure how to take this comment, but they then once again went in pursuit of the woman, easily able to catch up with her very short strides.

They shadowed her as she moved out into the street and headed to the fast food restaurant across the street. She could hear their concerned questions, and more than once pulled her arm away when one or the other took hold of it. Focused on her destination, she heard none of the words.

Barging past a police officer who was coming out of the restaurant with a bloodied, but mobile person she entered and made a beeline straight for the far right corner.

The pain was getting worse, and she didn't know how much longer she could take it. Sweat now poured off her forehead and she could feel it dripping on her arms as she took hold of the handle of the door she had aimed for and pushed it open. Only a few more seconds now and the pain would be over.

When the paramedics followed her through the door she screamed "Leave me the hell alone!" over her shoulder.

Shoulder charging open the next door, she turned and slammed it shut in the face of the paramedics. Just moments to go now and it would all be over.

Scant seconds later the pain was over. She was finally at peace with the world, and in a better place.

The paramedics walked away in silence. There was nothing to be said, and they had other earthquake victims they had to attend to. One checked on his radio to get directions to the next person in need of aid. Once they were headed in the direction given to them over the radio they finally spoke to each other.

"I hate it when you get one like that."

"Yeah, I really thought that the concrete had got her, but seems like no damage to her legs."

"You'd think she would have told us."

"Some people just don't like to talk about things like that - even in a situation like that they feel embarrassed to talk about it."

"What do you think caused it?"

"Don't know. Too much Mexican food I guess..."

[aliantha]

I'd have thought the building falling would have freaked her out enough to have taken care of that little problem for her. But everybody's different, I guess.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Thought I'd try something semi-stream-of-consciousness.
Probably took about 5 minutes in the actual writing.
Here it is:

Don't you know? I'm planning to break your fortress down.
Today? Maybe not today... but soon, I hope.
Actually I don't know if I'll break it down. And I'm not supposed to speak in arrogance.
You've been building it and building it over the years, but I want to take it apart... like someone hacking a computer system.
No; I don't really know if I can.
But I'm motivated.
I would say it's from love, but everyone says that, don't they? "For your own good," and all that.
No, really - you don't understand.
God gave me a key: There's a piece of you inside my mind.
I know you so well, because... I'm your daughter.

[aliantha]

Cool!

Here's mine from Friday, which I forgot to post then. I forgot to set the timer.

***
Family celebrations never turn out the way you think they will. Oh, the turkey might be as perfectly browned as Martha Stewart's, and the side dishes might be just like Grandma used to make (or didn't make, depending on Grandma's culinary skills).

But Martha doesn't have your family. The complainers, the whiners, the ones who throw hissy fits. The family members who invite themselves four days before the holiday, ask to bring a guest three days before, and disinvite themselves the next day over some insult (imagined or otherwise). And then there are the guests who won't eat gluten, and the ones who won't eat meat, and the pets who annoy you for alllll the turkey.

And then there's the unattractive aftermath: the leftovers that need to be dealt with, the turkey carcass that needs to be picked clean, the mounds of dishes that need to be washed and put away.

Norman Rockwell never said it would be like this.

[Sorus]

Nice work. I've been slacking lately. Will contribute soon.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Thanks!

I was lying down, thinking, and this next one came to me nearly all at once.
It was pure fun and, I think, catharsis.
____________

The white-haired woman sat in the sunlight, calmly snipping rose stems.
"People say you have to do what's best for you," she said, measuring her words.
Scraaaaape. She stripped off the thorns from one stem, then another.
"I know, you always have to do what's best for you, and what I want--" I started up again.
She smoothly cut in, "But often what they mean by that is mostly false."

[aliantha]

It's great, Linna.

[michaelm]

"Hey, I didn't know you rode this train - do you do it every day?"

"Yep."

"I haven't seen you since...when was it?"

"Probably the office party."

"Why don't you ever come down to our floor?"

"I don't ever really have any reason to leave my office unless I'm leaving the building."

"Do you go out for lunch every day?"

"Not every day."

"But some days I guess?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you usually this talkative?"

"Nope."

"Ha ha, that's funny - are you always joking like that?"

"No"

"You're not saying much. What are you thinking?"

"Nothing, just letting my mind drift."

"Hard day at the office?"

"Not really, just tired in general. Need a vacation."

"Anywhere in mind?"

"Somewhere that I don't get constantly bombarded with stupid questions would be nice."