The Day the Earth Moaned(series)
So over this weekend, you may have noticed I have been putting out a handful of short stories. I would forever love all of you if you went and read them. Not often do I write such lengthy pieces, but I feel very strongly about this story arch I’m creating. So if you have the time you should check them out!
The Day the Earth Moaned(Part l)
Stairwell Encounter(Part ll)
The Dream(Part lll)
Dawn(Part lV)
Fast Forward(Part V)
7 years(Part Vl)
(via trebemot)
7 years
A lot can change in 7 years. Countries can fall, revolutions can rise, technology advances. People change… I know I have. It’s been almost 7 years to the day since the sound was heard across the city. Most people have forgotten about it, whether because they wanted to or needed to, is up for debate. I haven’t tho. As much as I would like to. It hard to forget something that makes a lasting physical and psychological impact on you. No matter how drastic or slight. Everyone said I was changed after that day. They where right. Everything I felt or did or created was so much more, intense, I guess would be the proper word choice. My traits that stood just slightly above others like my writing skill or intelligence, got jacked up to near upper echelon levels. Physical attributes grew much quicker as well, or more they responded to exercise and stimuli much faster and with greater adaption. My emotions grew very intense as well. When I got angry, I got punch a hole in the nearest object furious. When I got sad or disappointed, it was like I was stricken with clinical depression. The word “unstable” was used a lot to describe in the months following that day. I manage to get everything under control for the most part after a couple months, to the relief of my friends and family. My explanation was I was just having a rough patch in my life. They just said there condolences and left it at that. I was thankful for that at least. I still have an outburst from time to time.
Now most of these changes were easy to dismiss, cover up, whatever. They’re where a two that weren’t however. They both appeared one night when I was at a black light party at a friends frat house. I had just stepped onto the dance floor.
“Dude, you arms are sick looking! What you do?”
I paused, dumbfounded. I didn’t do anything. I looked down at my arms to what the fuss was about. All over my arms, top of the hand all the way up to my shoulders, were markings. They looked like a cross between those shitty tribal tattoos you see many a doucher having and computer circuit diagrams. I looked back up and made a comment about glow in the dark invisible marker. The guy was drunk enough to believe it. I left the party shorty after that, too weirded out to talk, let alone dance. That same night I was staring at my arms, trying to figure out what the fuck happened to them. I had a lamp on and the window open. A cool breeze was wafting in from outside, bring the scent of rain on it. I breathed deep and try to relax. The lamp flickers dark. Power must of gone out. I look up expecting the room to be darkness. It wasn’t. I could still see perfectly fine. I looked around the room, everything was washed in a greenish glow, just like night vision images. So in a handful of hours, I had discovered I glowed in the dark and can see in the dark. Cool I guess.
The rest of college went on uneventfully enough. I avoided black light parties for the most part, and I was saving on energy because of never needed light when it got dark. I graduate with a degree in engineering and went on to work in the industry right away. Got a job working as a process engineer at some plant. Climbed the rankings fairly quickly and paid off my student debt in 3 years. After getting out from the shadow of my debt I felt free enough to move around jobs. The next 3 years where spent trying out things. Engineer, research, writer, journalist, even a stint as a personal trainer. Still have my certification. I got a little bit of everything published, articles, reports, poems and prose. A couple short stories too. I invested in some aspiring companies, and those paid dividends luckily.
Tonight, on the eve of that day 7 years ago, I was lounging on my couch, browsing the news channel on my tablet. Tablets had evolved to be pretty much hand size pieces of glass, their processing power better than most laptops in my college days and were really just damn useful now. Typical bullshit going on. Wars, corrupt government, super viruses, crazy people getting all the attention. I grunt in disgust and start searching up anything worthy to write about. I had settle into a position as a freelance writer and report. I dabbled in a little bit of everything. It kept me interested and money was a non issue. I didn’t live in luxury, but I did live more comfortably than a lot of my friends. I glance at the time on my tablet. The seconds were adding up quickly to 12:01. At 12:01, a familiar dread filled me. At 12:02 the power went out. At 12:03 I heard that damn sound for the second time in my life.
On The Edge, Through The Void.: Undertow
“Twice as clear as heaven, twice as loud as reason…”
She kisses me, and the world goes black. Her mouth is a tear in the fabric of time and space. Reality collapsing into itself, plummeting down into the bottomless vortex of infinite nothing.
Our tongues slither against eachother, like two…
Brutally beautiful. Love it! Thank you!
Fast Forward
Nothing happened that day. Or the next. Sure the, it was all over the news. Mysterious noises heard across city. People were interviewed. Theories were made. Aliens, the government, foreigners, terrorists! No body had any fucking clue. I watched the news, I read the articles, I lurked on the online communities that talked and speculated about the event. I wasn’t interested in what people thought it was, or even if anyone else had encounters with anything unusual. I was searching, filtering through all the pointless bullshit, looking anyone who had a dream like me. But I found no one. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If anyone had a dream like I did, they weren’t sharing. Not that I was sharing either. So I wasn’t surprised, but I didn’t stop me from looking.
I told a handful of my close friends about that day, but never mentioned the dream. But that dream, no, nightmare, changed me. The day after my friend even commented, saying I looked different somehow. She couldn’t put her finger on how, but I was. Everyone else I ran into after that morning at some point said the same thing. At first I didn’t know what they was talking about. I felt the same besides being incredibly uneasy and disturbed by the nightmare. But as timed progressed, days turned in months, and months into years, I could tell something was off about me. It was nothing major but it compounded over the years. Surprisingly, the changes were not all bad, a double edge sword if you will. My life would remain uneventful until 7 years later…
The Day the Earth Moaned(series)
So over this weekend, you may have noticed I have been putting out a handful of short stories. I would forever love all of you if you went and read them. Not often do I write such lengthy pieces, but I feel very strongly about this story arch I’m creating. So if you have the time you should check them out!
The Day the Earth Moaned(Part l)
Stairwell Encounter(Part ll)
The Dream(Part lll)
Dawn(Part lV)
Fast Forward(Part V)
7 years(Part Vl)Oh and I plan on writing more soonish
(via trebemot)
The Day the Earth Moaned(series)
So over this weekend, you may have noticed I have been putting out a handful of short stories. I would forever love all of you if you went and read them. Not often do I write such lengthy pieces, but I feel very strongly about this story arch I’m creating. So if you have the time you should check them out!
The Day the Earth Moaned(Part l)
Stairwell Encounter(Part ll)
The Dream(Part lll)
Dawn(Part lV)Oh and I plan on writing more soonish.(EDIT: TONIGHT!)
The Day the Earth Moaned(series)
So over this weekend, you may have noticed I have been putting out a handful of short stories. I would forever love all of you if you went and read them. Not often do I write such lengthy pieces, but I feel very strongly about this story arch I’m creating. So if you have the time you should check them out!
The Day the Earth Moaned(Part l)
Stairwell Encounter(Part ll)
The Dream(Part lll)
Dawn(Part lV)
Oh and I plan on writing more soonish.
Dawn
I wake up. I look at my surroundings. I’m in my friends apartment. The sun is creeping over the horizon. I look down at my hands, at me. I am whole, physically at least. Skin, muscle, tendons, organs, all seem to be in place. My psych is strained and I am in a cold sweat. I’m fatigued and out of breath. My friend is still curled up, sleeping quietly, peacefully. I rise, shaking, and go to the windows and watch the sun begin its ascent. I dare not go back to sleep.
The Dream
There I was, standing in the middle of a vast dried out lake bed. I looked in every direction, nothing but red haze out in every direction. I can feel the ground under my bare feet. I look down, and not only am I barefoot, but stripped naked. I feel extremely vulnerable. I look back up, and there floating several arm lengths away is a sphere. It looked like it was about 10 feet wide and tall, hovering just inches above the cracked lake surface. It was hard to say how big it was, because every time I looked at it, my perception started to warp. Tunnel vision almost. I couldn’t look at it for very long. Its surface was unstable, almost like molten lead, but, not quite. I kept sneaking glances at it, but I couldn’t look away for long. In this vast emptiness, it was just it and I. And it felt like “it” was looking at me.
Paranoia and unease started to weigh across my shoulders. I felt like I had to confront this thing, this sphere, whatever it might exactly be. Manning up, I turned and faced it. My peripheral vision started to grow hazy as soon as I did. Staring at the sphere for more than a few seconds I took note of its outer appearance. It looked like molten lead, but something was off. There were ripples and shimmers, but it looked like it was less dense, less solid, less real than it should be. I guess in dreams nothing really needs to make sense but it still disturbed me. The longer I gazed into the constantly shifting surface, the worse the tunnel vision got, the larger the sphere seem to grow. Not only did the size seem to grow, but, it’s presence grew. It felt like it was even larger than it looked. I felt like an ant next to the empire state building, its mass becoming almost incomprehensible to me. And then that sound. That damn sound. Roared through the dreamscape.
It brought me to my knees and tears to my eyes. My hands clapped around my ears, but to no avail The sounded ripped through me, reduced me nothing. It seemed to last an eternity. Then just as soon as I thought It would never end. It did. I bend over and empty the contents of my stomach, whatever they might have been. Wiping my mouth, I rise to one knee slowly, then stand fully erect. I stare back at the sphere. It looks exactly as It did before the sound blared. Wait. No. It didn’t. Something had change. I couldn’t tell what. It looked the same, but it didn’t feel the same. Instead of just giving off the presence of being supper massive, it gave off a aura of…something. I couldn’t quite tell. But I didn’t like it.
Just as I came to the conclusion that this dream was a nightmare, I felt a sensation. A tingling that raced across my bare skin. It grew more intense, and as it’s intensity grew I noticed I was feeling something else. I was growing ever lighter. I grew so light I started to rise off the ground. I rose until my center of mass was aligned with the center of the sphere. The tingling had grown into prickling, and was turning into pinpricks. I was scared. I knew this was all in my head, or at least that’s what I thought what I hoped. But that didn’t matter now. This was my reality for the moment. I closed my eyes wishing to wake up. The pinpricks were turning into knives, stabbing every square inch of my body. The moment I cried out in agony, the sound blared again, drowning out my screams.
I continued to scream until my vocal cords grew harsh and bloody. I only knew I was screaming because I could feel them strain, trying in vain to be heard over the damn siren. I felt like I was on fire, in absolute agony. I open my eyes for the briefest moment. I wish I hadn’t. I look at my hands, and to my horror, the skin on my finger is slowly being torn away, bit by bit. It started at my fingertips, and is creeping up my arms. Scrap by scrap, more and more muscle and flesh is being revealed, red and raw. Arteries and veins become visible, put on a sick and twisted display to the sphere. I have almost no skin left on my arms or legs, and my torso is up next. I wan’t to close my eyes, I want it to end, for me to wake up, or for me to die. It won’t. As the last bits of skin are torn from my body, my muscles soon start to unravel in a similar fashion. I can feel every fiber being ripped from the bone. If there was a Hell, it could not be worse than this. First my skin, then muscles, nerves, organs blood vessels. My bones began turning into dust. I don’t know how I was still present to witness any of this, and how I wish I wasn’t. As the very last part of my physical manifestation disappeared into nothing, I had revelation of what the sphere was giving off. I knew what it was. It was evil.
Stairwell Encounter
I took off at a steady, concerned clip. Bounding up steps, and jogging across the bridge that crossed the old road that is being converted into a light rail line. No one was out, but I suppose that was due to the rain. The sound plays again. It feels like the frequency is increasing. My phone keeps buzzing, but I won’t bother to look at til I’m at my friends. The rain is soaking through my clothes. It’s getting to my skin, hell even to my bones. I splash through puddles. I sense of unease seems to fall from the sky with the rain. I reach the apartment complex. I come up to the door and give it a yank. The door opens. Powers out. Got to take the stairs. Up 6 flights. Awesome. Open up the door. Stairwell is pitch black. Powers out. More awesome. My rational self preserving side is screaming at me to walk away. I sigh and start bounding up the stairs. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end. I feel like I’m not alone.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor. Slowing down to catch my breath, I continue up the stairs. I think I hear something. Steps that aren’t mine. I stop. They stop. I take one step. They, it, whatever, takes a step. I reach into my pocket and snag my phone, hoping to illuminate whatever might be with me in this stairwell. I pull it out and spin around holding it up high, shining it as far as I can. A rustle of something bounding down the stairwell. The heavy thud of something big landing on the concrete floor. Then nothing. I sprint up the rest of the steps to the top floor and slam the door behind me. Catching my breath and trying(in vain) to collect my self I jog over my friends door and start pounding.
“Hey, Hey! Open up! It’s me! Open up for fucks sake!”
Heavy scraping, like furniture being moved, and the door unlocked. My friend was there, looking like a frighten kitten, small and weak and terrified. She looks at me for a second making sure it really is me. It clicks and she cries out in relief, we embrace for the shortest of moments. For the briefest time, I feel relief. Then the moment in the stairwell surges up and I mention that we need to get inside. Now. She agrees. We rush inside, and rearrange the furniture to block the door. I ask where everyone else is. She says they are all went home this weekend. I say they sure picked the right weekend to do that. She manages a weak, but genuine laugh. I ask about events since the first time the sound played. She relayed how she heard the sound, heard noise on the roof. Pounding from the elevator shafts and stair wells. How she moved furniture to cover up the windows and doors as well as she could. I told her of my stint in the stairwell. We both grow quiet.
I look at my phone, over 15 new messages. I flip through them to make sure everyone is doing all right. Seems like everyone has had it a bit easier time than my friend. I just realized how soaked I was. I asked if I could borrow a towel and throw some clothes in her dryer. She reminds me the powers out.
“Fuck”
I ask if its all right if a strip some, she said that it was fine. Going down to just my jeans, I draped my clothes out to try and dry them out. I ask if she has any candles, because it would be getting dark very, very soon. And that idea of being in the dark scares me shitless. The sound blares again. We both shiver in fear. She says yeah, but she has no idea how long they will last. We will have to ration them I remark. Just light one. We sit around the the candle, in silence. Wait. Silence. I look at my phone. 7:40. The sky is growing even darker as the sun begins it’s descent. I can’t tell if it’s still raining anymore. 8:33. The sound has stopped it seams. I feel slightly less uneasy. But not much. I look over to my friend, she has fallen asleep, curled next to the candle. I slide over to the wall and lean my back against it. I watch the wick burn slowly. I don’t remember when I fell asleep. But I do remember the dreams.
The Day the Earth Moaned
It was the weekend before finals and there I was sitting in my room, not studying. Not doing anything really. Just kind of staring at my laptop screen, listening to the rain outside. It wasn’t as dark out like the last couple times it rain. The sky was a solid shade of gray, and the rain was consistent. The occasional rumble of thunder would roll on through the landscape. My coffee filter had broke while making my daily mug, and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day. Nothing would get done today. It was about 3:46 pm when I heard it first.
I heard this sound, this metallic moaning almost. It sounded like a ship hull being scrapped up against another hull. I lasted for a couple seconds. I paused my music and cocked my head, straining to hear it again. After a couple seconds of silence, it repeated. It lasted longer this time. It was one of the most unsettling sounds I have ever heard. You know how in video games how the music changes when something bad is gonna happen? That’s what this whole situation felt like. This sound filled me with this unwanted sense of dread. I reached for my phone to send out a mass text, when the power went out.
“Shit”
Grabbing my phone, I selected as many people as I could and sent them all the same message; “Did you hear that? Did your power go out?” I held my breath waiting for my phone to send the texts. In my mind I was thinking if the power was out everywhere, then the cell towers giving me my signal might be down too. I was really hoping the engineers of those towers built in redundant power supplies. Thankfully the phone sent, and I waited in the dark for responses.
“Fuck this”
Grabbing my essentials, I walked out into the hall way of the resident hall where I lived. Thinking I would go and see what everyone else thought was going on. The sound came back. It sounded, different. Closer? Bigger? Neither of these made sense. I definitely felt it in my chest though. Like the bass at concerts, you felt it as much as you heard it. Locking my door behind me I walk down the hall way. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting to find. I didn’t run into anyone to ask, and I wasn’t friends with anyone on my floor, so I didn’t go knocking. I headed up the lobby to see if anyone was there. I got my first couple response, all along the same lines. Everyone seemed to hear it too, and their power was out as well. I didn’t like the sound of things(no pun intended).
I responded to everyone with the obligatory “are you okay?” The questioned seemed forced, because I knew I wasn’t okay. I was at least thankful that I could talk to my friends. I talked to the girl at the information desk. She said she heard it too, and asked what I thought it was.
“I…I don’t know.”
The sky outside was growing darker, and rain had picked up. I was contemplating getting my umbrella and going outside. My phone began vibrating continually, meaning I was getting a call. It was one my friends, I answered it but I could barely make out what she was saying. Her voiced was hushed, and the signal was shit. She went on about someone, no, something on the roof(she lived on the top floor of a apartment complex next to campus). She sounded terrified, she pleaded for me to come. I tried to respond, but that damn sound blared again. She scream in sync with it and then the signal immediately dropped. I tried calling her back. She picked up thankfully. She was still quiet, but sounded less frantic. She said whatever was there is gone. She thinks. I say I’ll be over as soon as I can. She says thank you, I say anytime.
Drop into Hell (l)
They say the smaller the ship, the worse the drop…
Zoe despised that saying.
Tracing the scars and ink that lined her body was the only way she could keep her sanity and breakfast. Plummeting way too fast, way too far, in a shit show planet jumper. Every scratch and scrape has a story with it, every line, shape, shade speaks to her as she runs her fingers over her fore arms. Her skin the medium for a tale filled with hardship and pain, struggles and successes. There weren’t a lot of reminders for that last one. The ship rattle and the pilot bellowed something about passing through another layer of Mortuus’s atmosphere. Zoe didn’t pay much heed to him. He was a large man, dark skin and shaved head. Respectful enough, as least as far Zoe’s usual company go. More rattling. Leaning her head back and closing her eyes, Zoe tried to recall what she has heard Mortuu’s, the biggest and baddest of the Three Brothers. It was a hot miserable hole for the most part. The major cities were all right, as long as you stayed off the ground and kept your nose clean. Home to the largest mining and manufacturing operations in the system. All that mining has lead to innumerable archaeological finds, which then are dug up, knocked down and generally ruined much to the dismay of the collegiates on Viridis. The locals weren’t too thrilled about it either. This led to obvious conflict of interests. Also led to a lot of job opportunities for people like Zoe.
“Were going to hit some turbulence!”
“Turbulence? What the hell have we been falling through?” Zoe yelled over the ruckus of the ship.
As soon as the words left Zoe’s lips, the ship shook, uncontrollably and spastically. Items that weren’t tied or bolted down went flying in all directions. Zoe was tossed against her harnessed. Something hard and metallic crashed in her temple, causing Zoe to gasp out in pain. She was woozy for a moment, but it passed just as the shaking concluded. The ship settled into a smooth decent.
“Smoothed saying from here! Touchdown in 5!” The pilot called back a little joyously for Zoe’s taste.
Reaching up to the fresh cut on her forehead, winces as she pulls away, her fingers dabbled in blood. “Great”
Bits and Pieces: Welcome to the Maw
I spied the masses exit from umbilical cords tethered to iron gargantuans, the looks on their faces telling the new from the regulars or locals. I remember my first time coming to the Maw, or as the politically correct term would be, Parvula Prime Spaceport. I was 5, mom and dad thought a change…
Welcome to the Maw
I spied the masses exit from umbilical cords tethered to iron gargantuans, the looks on their faces telling the new from the regulars or locals. I remember my first time coming to the Maw, or as the politically correct term would be, Parvula Prime Spaceport. I was 5, mom and dad thought a change of scenery would be good for the family after dad lost his job. My dad was an engineer, or that’s what my mother told me whenever I asked. I never did find out what he actually did. Anyways, when they announced over the intercom that we were entering Parvula Prime Spaceport airspace, the ring of monitors that relayed images from the outside into the seating area flickered to life. I will never forget the images. Giant metallic leviathans floating gracefully against the dark starscape. Among them smaller ships darted in between the massive hulls. Jagged structures jutted out from the sides of the giant crater that the spaceport was built into. Teeth of some terrible monster they looked like through my young eyes. I looked down and saw at the bottom of the crater the pool of molten rock and metal, glowing feverishly red. It terrified me, and I cried out and clutched my mother. She smelled like vanilla. The smell still soothes me to this day. She hushed me and said to be brave. And sniffled and sneaked a look back outside. We were slowing down, preparing to be mounted by and extended tentacle that reached from the glistening white teeth of the Maw. Everything gets a little blurry after that, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep, still clutching my mother, her scent driving me to slumber.
Crashing back from my recollection, I lift my cigarette back to my mouth and take one more final drag before throwing to the ground and stomping it out. As I walk away I hear the sound of maintenance bots scuttling out to clean up my still smoldering butt. I take a turn and head down a maintenance shaft. When you have been living on your own for the better part of 20 years, you learn the fastest, least traveled routes quickly. They’re winding and narrow, but great when you need to get some where in hurry, and don’t want to deal with the crowds. They are also great for ambushes.
Three men where waiting for me as I took another right. I stopped, and heard the sound of another drop behind me, fucking magnetic climbing gear for ya. That’s what I get for being lax today.
“What do you clowns want?”
The biggest of the three, replied in gravely voice, “You owe King money, were here to get it for him”
“You aren’t the usually fucks he sends to do his dirty work, you must be new. How long have you been in the Maw?”
“None of your fucking business. Money. Now. Or else.” Heavy emphasis on the or else.
“If you’re going to try and beat me with and inch of my life, you could at least answer my question.”
“Less than 24 hours, Now you have three seconds to cough up the…”
Cutting him off, “I don’t have the money, so you’re just going to have to try to beat me”
All roaring, the trio rushed me. I could hear the sounds of the fourths boots clacking on the floor as he charged as well. Implants kicked in, flooding system with adrenaline and other stimulants. Cybernetics increased my rate of perception, so the 3 attackers I could see slowed down to half their speed. The largest one was also the fastest apparently, because he reached my first. One sidestep, one fist to the lower rib cage, three broken ribs, one punctured lung, flies about three feet into the wall, and he crumples. He won’t be getting back up. The one to big guys right wasn’t nearly as luck as he got a blow right to the face. Probably a completely shattered jaw, maybe even some shards of bone in his brain if he’s really unlucky. The next one, foot to the knee, knee to the head, falls to the ground, most likely dead. I feel metal strike my back. I guess I was to slow disposing of the first three. If I wasn’t more metal than man, it might have done something. But that hasn’t been the case in years. I spin around and face my attacker. I can see his mouth beginning to form the word no, but I drive my skull into his before he can get to the “O”. He falls limp to the ground.
Everything begins to return to normal as the stimulants wear off and cybernetics disengage. Reaching into one of my pockets, I pull out a lighter and cigarette, relics in this day and age. Lighting up I take a long pull, and spit on the bodies littering the space around me.
“Welcome to the Maw. Hope you enjoy your stay.”
What little parts of my soul and sanity that is left might be found among these words and images.
