Ah, so though your walls are limitless you have no ceiling, and so the morning radiance of the sun is waking you up too early? ;-) How was your first day back at work?
Radiance “The head – this skull – was separated recently,” said the PFE. “Within a few weeks. It’s hard to be more certain unless I take the skull out of the box and look at it separately from its container.” She paused, waiting for a response. Slightly to Collins’s surprise the Inspectral looked over at Adams and waited for her to speak. “No,” she said at last. “The poltergeists were only reported recently, so two or three weeks is a good enough time-frame for us to work with. We don’t know what’s gone on with that box, we don’t have any ideas – yet – about why this was done; let’s keep it all together for now and come back to it when we know what we’re looking at.” She turned her body slightly, looking at the Inspectral and she was smiling now. “Poltergeist activity typically starts two to three days after desecration, right? So we can probably limit ourselves to the last week to begin with.” “I was never a poltergeist,” said the Inspectral, and with his flat delivery it was hard to tell if there was a hint of humour in there. He did smile though. “And, in theory, if you upset the departed badly enough you can get a poltergeist in a few hours, but… frankly I’ve never heard of anyone managing to do that.” “How would you do that?” Everyone but the PFE looked at Collins as though they’d forgotten he was there. “Sit down, lad,” said the Inspectral. “And think before you ask your question,” said Adams. “It’s an ok question, but you should be able to work out for yourself why you won’t get an answer.” She looked back at the Inspectral. “The report was of more than one poltergeist,” she said. “I think we’ll find more skulls,” said the Inspectral. “People are predictable, thankfully for us. But we’re going to need to know where they came from to do anything about this.” The PFE set the box down on her workbench. It occurred to Collins that she still hadn’t turned round so he looked at the windows trying to catch a glimpse of her reflection. Even though he squinted, he couldn’t make anything out. “If there are more boxes like this,” she said, “we could open one with minimal risk. That would make it much easier. But…,” she sighed a little, “I’m not getting any sense of distance or of motion, so I would say this was carried by hand, probably walked or maybe… maybe a bicycle?” “Makes sense,” said Adams. “Cars are expensive to run.” “A local cemetery,” said the Inspectral. “There are three. If there’s nothing there then… then we may have to get your search team for the sea tunnels.” Adams smiled broadly, then quickly reasserted a solemn look of professionalism on her face. “Let’s start with Towerhome, it’s not the closest to the beach but it’s probably the least well maintained.” “Towerhome?” Collins got another look from Adams, but the Inspectral remained composed, as though expecting the follow-up. “Isn’t that where the Radiance started?” “Locally yes,” said the Inspectral. “Nationally no. But it’s all gone now. You won’t even need your shiny new bracelet.”
With every drop of blood I felt leaking from my belly, the world got a little bit darker, a little bit colder. The only warmth sprang from my life pooling around me. There was white-hot fire in my insides. My vision swam before me, everything crumpling away. I felt the cool ground beneath my knees before I even realized my legs gave way. All I could think of was the pain. The world became a black vignette. I saw the fighting before me slow, life becoming a painting before my eyes. My warriors were slaughtering and being slaughtered. The clearing was stained black and crimson, everything looking slick and cold. Still, the fire raged inside me. But then there was the sun. A ring of the brightest gold shined in front of me. I was drawn to it. It commanded me to. The blinding light pulled me from the brink of blackness. The halo, the sun, filled the rest of my lifeless body with warmth. “Val?” The sun had a voice and it sounded familiar. “Val!” There was a face within the golden halo. Two beautiful sage eyes widened and shimmering behind tears. A small nose with a rounded tip. Small, rose bud lips parted ever so. My Silvia. She had returned to me.
Greg - the morning was rough, but I got into a bit of a rhythm after lunch and the rest of the day went better. Managed not to forget any passwords and mostly remembered how to do things. So... good?
The Radiance, huh? Another intriguing development. You're good at those :P
And I am beginning to feel for Collins and his newness. On the job learning is the worst.
Ivy - powerful descriptions in this one, I really enjoyed your opening. Could really feel the scene through your narrator's point of view.
3 comments:
Ah, so though your walls are limitless you have no ceiling, and so the morning radiance of the sun is waking you up too early? ;-) How was your first day back at work?
Radiance
“The head – this skull – was separated recently,” said the PFE. “Within a few weeks. It’s hard to be more certain unless I take the skull out of the box and look at it separately from its container.” She paused, waiting for a response.
Slightly to Collins’s surprise the Inspectral looked over at Adams and waited for her to speak.
“No,” she said at last. “The poltergeists were only reported recently, so two or three weeks is a good enough time-frame for us to work with. We don’t know what’s gone on with that box, we don’t have any ideas – yet – about why this was done; let’s keep it all together for now and come back to it when we know what we’re looking at.” She turned her body slightly, looking at the Inspectral and she was smiling now. “Poltergeist activity typically starts two to three days after desecration, right? So we can probably limit ourselves to the last week to begin with.”
“I was never a poltergeist,” said the Inspectral, and with his flat delivery it was hard to tell if there was a hint of humour in there. He did smile though. “And, in theory, if you upset the departed badly enough you can get a poltergeist in a few hours, but… frankly I’ve never heard of anyone managing to do that.”
“How would you do that?” Everyone but the PFE looked at Collins as though they’d forgotten he was there.
“Sit down, lad,” said the Inspectral.
“And think before you ask your question,” said Adams. “It’s an ok question, but you should be able to work out for yourself why you won’t get an answer.” She looked back at the Inspectral. “The report was of more than one poltergeist,” she said.
“I think we’ll find more skulls,” said the Inspectral. “People are predictable, thankfully for us. But we’re going to need to know where they came from to do anything about this.”
The PFE set the box down on her workbench. It occurred to Collins that she still hadn’t turned round so he looked at the windows trying to catch a glimpse of her reflection. Even though he squinted, he couldn’t make anything out. “If there are more boxes like this,” she said, “we could open one with minimal risk. That would make it much easier. But…,” she sighed a little, “I’m not getting any sense of distance or of motion, so I would say this was carried by hand, probably walked or maybe… maybe a bicycle?”
“Makes sense,” said Adams. “Cars are expensive to run.”
“A local cemetery,” said the Inspectral. “There are three. If there’s nothing there then… then we may have to get your search team for the sea tunnels.” Adams smiled broadly, then quickly reasserted a solemn look of professionalism on her face. “Let’s start with Towerhome, it’s not the closest to the beach but it’s probably the least well maintained.”
“Towerhome?” Collins got another look from Adams, but the Inspectral remained composed, as though expecting the follow-up. “Isn’t that where the Radiance started?”
“Locally yes,” said the Inspectral. “Nationally no. But it’s all gone now. You won’t even need your shiny new bracelet.”
With every drop of blood I felt leaking from my belly, the world got a little bit darker, a little bit colder. The only warmth sprang from my life pooling around me. There was white-hot fire in my insides. My vision swam before me, everything crumpling away. I felt the cool ground beneath my knees before I even realized my legs gave way. All I could think of was the pain.
The world became a black vignette. I saw the fighting before me slow, life becoming a painting before my eyes. My warriors were slaughtering and being slaughtered. The clearing was stained black and crimson, everything looking slick and cold. Still, the fire raged inside me.
But then there was the sun.
A ring of the brightest gold shined in front of me. I was drawn to it. It commanded me to. The blinding light pulled me from the brink of blackness. The halo, the sun, filled the rest of my lifeless body with warmth.
“Val?” The sun had a voice and it sounded familiar. “Val!”
There was a face within the golden halo. Two beautiful sage eyes widened and shimmering behind tears. A small nose with a rounded tip. Small, rose bud lips parted ever so.
My Silvia. She had returned to me.
Greg - the morning was rough, but I got into a bit of a rhythm after lunch and the rest of the day went better. Managed not to forget any passwords and mostly remembered how to do things. So... good?
The Radiance, huh? Another intriguing development. You're good at those :P
And I am beginning to feel for Collins and his newness. On the job learning is the worst.
Ivy - powerful descriptions in this one, I really enjoyed your opening. Could really feel the scene through your narrator's point of view.
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