Sunday October 29th, 2017

The exercise:

Write about something that is: locked away.

3 comments:

Greg said...

@Marc: well, I carefully applied heat to the laptop screen to be able to read the invisible writing you put on the page -- it wasn't lemon juice this time, was it? Interesting colours.... I think most people would say no, but if you're determined to I don't see how they could stop you. You are going to need about 200 cubic metres of cheese though.

Locked away
I never trained as a forensic examiner, I never sat an exam for it either. I just happened across a body with identification at a time when I was travelling between towns and a new identity seemed like a good idea. I'm pretty certain bears had been at the body not long after I left it, and -- truth be told -- I think I'd probably lose any bones that came in from that area with bear marks on them. Careless of me I know, but people are fragile, fallible things, and am I not a person?

The email-client pinged happily and I checked it reflexively. I didn't even put my cup of Earl Grey down, I just grabbed the mouse with my off-hand and clicked on the bold text at the top of the list. The email opened up obediently, and a glance at the footer told me that Lieutenant David was still having trouble with his smart-phone: embedded in the email was a video file; when I played it it turned out to be sound only, and he seemed to think he'd called me and I wasn't saying anything. Out of the swearing and cursing I got an address. Kevin was in the office's toilet so I yelled through the door that he wasn't to go anywhere until I got back, as unlikely as that seemed given he'd been in there all morning, and drove over to Fairmount Lane.

Lieutenant David swore and cursed some more until I showed him his email on my phone and then the cursing got nastier but quieter and was directed at his phone. I went inside a single-storey house that was dark and musty: the curtains were all drawn, there was dust on the shelves and radiators and the floorboards creaked dryly. A uniformed officer was stood by a door.
"They're locked in," he said. He looked like he'd not had any sleep. "We got a call last night, not long before midnight, said they were going to kill themselves. We came over straight away, but they'd locked the door from the inside and there were... noises."
"What kind of noises?" I wasn't really interested, I was already looking at the lock. It was large, and there was a big gap under the door; this looked pretty trivial and I was feeling disappointed. The kid talked while I found a sheet of paper to shove under the door and used a pen to push the key out of the lock onto the paper.
"I thought that only worked in the movies?" said the kid, breaking off.
"Not everything you see is magic," I said. "Just think, you could have saved someone's life last night."
That was harsh of me, but it was also true and he needed to see that. I opened the door, flicked the light switch and inhaled sharply. The kid threw up.
"I've got a lot more heads than bodies," I said as conversationally as I could manage. "I think we're going to need some more plastic bags."

morganna said...

Shut up in the tower
Ever alone, ever doubtful
Cannot remember running free
Unmissed orphan
Rapunzel fears dying without knowing love yet
Ever hopeful.

Marc said...

Greg - I think you're getting two prompts out of each day's post at this point. The one I provide and the one you create by making up stuff about what I've supposedly secretly been up to. I like it :)

This is intriguing, dark with a good touch of grit to it there at the end. And why do I feel like the prompt also applies to Kevin? :D

Morganna - another fine acrostic, and you've managed to weave a lot of emotions through these six lines. I like and appreciate that you've ended on a hopeful note :)