The Vanished

As I look back on the past ten or so years I think of what my life would be like and where I would be if it weren't for you. A stranger, just a voice in the dark, who I can honestly say saved my life. The good times, the bad times, and the in between. You entered my life when I was at a tipping point. Blew in like a sudden breeze, and vanished without a word or a trace. Fae like, you were my guardian angel through an online messenger. I look back to all the times we had and I feel like I am missing a part of myself because you are no longer here. Even if we didn't talk for quite some time I always knew you were there to talk if I needed to. But now you are gone, and I have nothing. No guardian angel, no feeling of a best friend even though we had never met. You had disappeared quite a few times, but you always came back. Now you have vanished and I may never hear from you again. I can't put into words how much this fact saddens me. If you are out there, this is for you Pegz.(Too exhausted to actually start with it tonight but I will soon.) P.S. I miss you...

Broken Thoughts

Not really much of anything coherent enough to even call a short story. Just some attempts at trying to piece something together out of the vortex of insanity that is my mind. Started having problems with each of these three attempts and with each problem came the next piece. I couldn't keep my thoughts aligned long enough to even partially complete any of these so I figured I'd post them to see what anyone thought. Here they are.

This is Memories.

Memory. Gift, curse or both? I never have been able to decide which. Memory, so akin to a double-edged sword. Never knowing whether a memory will aid or hinder. Such powerful emotions locked away deep inside a mind that can be brought rushing back with just a thought. Such vivid feelings, so much so that a simple thought, a simple memory can bring you to your knees. Begging whatever higher being you may believe in to make it all go away, to make it all end, to just make it better. So much pain, so much hurt, eternally stored. A memory, can never disappear, it simply fades away into forgotten spaces. Oh how I wish I could just wipe it away, erase these memories, but I can not. Memory fades, always to come back. From my mind through my hands and onto this paper this is my story. These are my regrets. Jumbled and out of sync, nonetheless these are my memories.

Years ago I had a crappy job. Not even out of high school yet I was flipping burgers at the local fast food joint. Don’t get me wrong when I say crappy job I mean it. It had its moments though. Four years saw a lot of people come and go. Four store managers and I don’t know how many assistant managers. Numerous coworkers in and out like the patrons of a Seven-Eleven. But now I’m getting off topic, back to the point. I met a lot of people. Only a handful of the many that came and went were interesting enough for me to make more than basic conversation. This is the story of one of those individuals.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Went the bell signifying the end of the school day. I gathered my stuff and walked to work.

This is the beginning of a group of miscellaneous tales.

Hello. Who am I? Well I will tell you that if only you would care to listen. My name is Arianna. I consider myself normal but others would consider me a bit of a loon. The term “nutter” has been tossed about freely and I am furious. I am NOT crazy. Oh all right, I may be a wee bit odd, but I am not a “nutter”. Well I don’t really know where to begin with how this all started but I will try. It all began in my dreams. It all began when I fell in love with a creation of magic. Fine. A golem if you insist.

Terror filled me as I plunged into the dark forest at the foot of Mount Luverian. Torches and pitchforks at my back I had no choice but to enter the Forbidden Forest. Not a situation I had foreseen myself getting into but the villagers are simple and easily frightened by the unknown. Fear is a powerful motivator. Enough to make them chase a defenseless woman into such an evil place as the Forbidden Forest. Well not defenseless. Did I forget to mention that I am in fact a wizard? These peasants think I practice dark arts and that I am in league with “The Dark One”. I do possess the knowledge of magical arts, but I do not partake of “dark” arts. Alas, the peasants being simple folk, believe that I am evil.

I stumbled into a clearing the light of many torches right at my back. Oh no! They’ve caught up with me.

Finally this is the only one that I am fond of at the moment and it is called Out of the Dark.

Down. Down. Down. Falling endlessly. Awareness floods back to me, as my mind kicks into overdrive. Where am I? What is happening? How did I get here? These are the things that I ask myself. What sort of Hell is this?

Bits and pieces run through my mind, brief sequences of life. Who’s life? Mine? I do not know, words come back to me. Hold your breath. Count to ten. Then start again. Start again. I open my lungs wide and breathe deeply until my lungs feel as if they might burst. Pain. It hurts. One. Two. Three. My vision goes black. Four. Five. Six. I start to panic because I am no longer aware of my body. Seven. Eight. Nine. My mind starts to fade. Everything I am, everything I was, everything I will be, thoughts all jumbled and nonsensical. Ten…

Out of the dark, into the light. My eyes open, bewildered at what I see. White room, so bright, light everywhere. Monsters all around me. So weak. Can’t defend myself. The monsters are making noises to each other. But wait not all of the monsters are the same, two of them are different. Only two don’t have blue skin. Where am I? Who are these monsters? What are they doing to me? One of the monsters with blue skin grabs something. The light gleans off of its surface as the monster wields it towards me. A quick noise, like nothing I have ever experienced before. Then one of the blue skinned monsters wraps me in something that feels soft and nice against my skin. They take me and I feel warm liquid cascading down my skin as they start to rub me with the soft nice thing.

The monsters wrap me in another soft nice thing and take me back to the different monsters and hand me to one of them. She is lying in something, it looks like it is made out of the soft nice thing I am wrapped in. The monster they hand me to looks down at me and smiles. Who is this? Why is she smiling at me? This monster looks beautiful. The other monster that doesn’t have blue skin walks over and lays his hand on the monster holding me and smiles as well. Who is this other monster? Both of the monsters look happy to see me. Why do I feel like I belong? Why do I feel safe? The beautiful monster is talking to the other monster. “Carrick. Let’s call him Carrick.”

The colors are magnificent!

IT'S A RAINBOW UNICORN EXPLOSION, MAN

What? Those are my thoughts. That's the point of this blog, I think. To express my thoughts. And share bits of my stories, since I love to write, and most of them come to me in a similar fashion. Explosions of color, sound and ideas that translate not very well at all into properly black and white font upon a page. Deal with it. First up, the first part of a story I wrote last night, it's not much, only the first page or so, but there's more to come. I think. Maybe.

I present: Faceless!

Faceless

“Shit.” He spat, flinging himself over the edge of the third story balcony. Landing on the run, Kevin shot off across the pavement at unbelievable speed. His gray duster coat flying behind him like a banner, he shot down the darkened street, taking corners on a single foot, a lengthy stream of curses passing his lips as he gained even more speed.

Coming up to the plate glass window of a clothing store, he thought for the briefest of moments before launching himself forwards, head down and shoulders hunched, crashing through the window at breakneck speed. Rolling himself into a smooth somersault, he absorbs the shock almost instantly, his gray half boots under him once more as he continues to run, out the fire exit and through the alley, leaving the blare of alarm bells behind him. His speed rivaling that of any cyclist, he continues his mad dash, blocks blurring from one to the next, the blood in his ears and the pounding of his boots the only sounds in the silence of deep night.

Ahead he sees the target, a seemingly inconspicuous little house, one of many in the suburb, the changes in architecture almost unnoticeable – but not to him. He doesn't miss anything, even the smallest detail. Coming to an abrupt stop, he paused to reflect on what brought him to this point. That girl. Those men. How had he ended up in this situation? He'd only done what was right, hadn't he? Good people did good things, he figured. So why had it turned out this way, his hand forced and his temper stretched beyond the point of forgiveness. They would pay, now. He was sorry, in some part of his mind, he thought. He'd never meant for it to come to this, for the dice to fall as they had. But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and he didn't think himself capable of walking away now. Not anymore.

Three days earlier...

Kevin Kovare wasn't really all that special. Well, at least, that's what most people thought. And he liked it that way. An imposing man at six foot three, weighing in at an easy two hundred and eighty pounds, he could have easily played football if he were a dumber person. But he wasn't. He was built like a linebacker, with the mind of a genius and the soul of a poet. An odd combination at best, it left him at odds with himself and society, so he just ignored them and they left him alone – the jocks couldn't convince him to play ball, the nerds were too afraid to ask him to play chess and the bleeding hearts didn't dare cross paths with someone who could break them in half with a casual glare. So when he met Matty, it threw him for a loop. A slip of a girl, no more than five feet tall, at best ninety pounds soaking wet, she was almost the exact opposite of the girls he usually even noticed, much less wanted to be around.

“Hey.” She chimed as he walked down the street, a beaten up book in one hand, his attention on it's faded pages.

He stopped, glancing at her, unsure if she were the one who'd spoken. “Yeah, you.” She grinned, showing a row of perfectly white teeth and a mouth full of braces. “You and I need a chat.”

“A chat?” He repeated, looking her up and down. In an oversized hoodie and a pair of faded jeans two sizes two big, she looked like she were drowning in clothing stolen from an older brother. Her shoulder length hair was tied into two small pigtails and dyed a bright pink. Not exactly the sort of person he usually dealt with.

“Yeah, with words and phrases and even some grammar.” She responded, laughter in her tone. “I've got a secret to tell you.”

“Do I know you?” He asked.

“No. But I know you, Kevin. You can call me Matty, if you'd like. It's not my name, but it'll do. Let's go, it'll rain soon.” She smiled again, walking away. After a few steps, she turned to see if he was following. Seeing him standing still with a baffled expression on his face, she began to laugh. “If you're worried, you can always beat me up and leave.”

Catching himself before he agreed with her, he shrugged and fell in step beside her. They walked for a while before coming to a snack cart. He bought a muffin and two sodas, handing one to the girl and tearing the muffin in half to share. She accepted with another smile, and they sat on the curb in silence while they ate. He found himself studying the girl, noting her button nose and bright green eyes. Or were they more blue than green? He couldn't quite tell, since she was facing away. As they finished eating, she sipped at her soda before clearing her throat.

“So, you're gonna save the world.” She remarked, casually.

“Huh?” He said, the very soul of eloquence.

“There's a long story about stars and planets and blood and propriety, but it's a bore, and I don't feel like telling you. So, short version, you're gonna save the world and I'm gonna tell you how.” She said in the same offhand manner.

“Can you start with the basics? Like who the hell you are?” He asked, his tone annoyed. “I'm all for pulling a leg here and there, but I have better things to do at the moment.”

“I'm nobody, really. Just like you. Nothing special, good at some things, bad at others. And the whole 'who'm I and why'm I here' thing is kinda boring anyway. Wanna skip to the cool stuff?” She grinned up at him, her bright blue eyes dancing merrily.

“Cool stuff?” He returned, the annoyance still evident in his voice.

“Yep!” She enthused, reaching up and removing a clip from her hair. Instantly, the small girl was gone, replaced by an average looking man, unshaven with long brown hair kept in a pony tail and dark brown eyes that danced with amusement. The baggy clothing she had worn before fit him much better, and his smile was just as mischievous as hers had been. “The cool stuff.” The man repeated, his voice low and even.

Kevin stared at the man, his body screaming at him to back away, to hit the stranger in his perfect little teeth and get as far away as he could, as fast as he could. His mind however, fought these instincts, his curiosity more powerful than his fear. He tried to form some words, to ask what had just happened, to give voice to the frenzied storm of thoughts in his head, but his mouth moved soundlessly as the man began to laugh. Instantly, his anger steadied the whirlwind inside his mind and he barked out. “The fuck, man?”

He laughed a moment longer, ignoring the look of confused anger on Kevin's face as he brought his emotions under control. “I told you, I'm nobody. I wasn't being figurative, I was being literal. I'm what you could call.. faceless. Think master of disguise, only better. My entire cellular structure is different than it was before, not a single thing in common with the girl you met a few minutes ago. If I wanted, my speech patterns would change, a new accent, dialect.. my entire vocabulary might be different, if I needed it to be. I can be anyone, within reason. A nifty trick, we think.”

“We?” Kevin asked, his mind working furiously to find a logical answer to the questions in his head.

“We. The faceless.” The man's mouth moved, but it wasn't just his voice he heard. It wasn't any one voice. There was Matty, the small girl. He heard the low even voice of the man. An old woman's voice. The deep tones of an African male. The clipped tones of an Asian man. The high, piping voice of a young boy. There were too many to distinguish, ten, maybe more. All different, all unique, and all coming from the lips of the plain looking man before him. “Anyone, everyone. No one. Any time.” The voices said.

“Cut that out.” Kevin said, his voice cross. “Answer my questions without the games.” He surprised even himself with his boldness, a cold fist of logical thought and curiosity stamping over his instincts of flight. What was going on here, and what did it have to do with him?

So ends part one of 'Faceless' and this first blog post. Woo.