Isn't the before when you used to write to the prompts as well? ;-)
The before Collins pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket. It was a mid-range phone, a palm-sized black slab of glass and metal that he mostly used for calling his grandmother on holidays. The police-force preferred radios still for communication and he worked with most of his friends. It wasn’t as though there were a lot of people he even needed to stay in touch with. Still, he felt a momentary twinge of worry as he slipped the phone into the case of the Device. “We need to get someone to call it, probably,” he said. “Where’s Adams?” The Inspectral didn’t even look round as he asked the question, and Collins wondered if he’d been expecting her desertion. “Hmm. I can’t say I know much about mobile phones, but there’s definitely been a change in the behaviour of thi—” “—rats can’t trigger a warding, you muppet. Someone has to have been down there!” Tony sounded angry and the voices were clear enough that the two men must be already at the outer doors. “Anyway, we’ve got bats, not rats.” The Inspectral’s hand passed through the phone as he tried to pick it up, and then he looked at Collins. “Your bracelet – let’s hope it’s got some effect still. Get over to the wall by the doors.” Collins feet seemed to start moving of their own accord, and the Inspectral was so close to him that he could feel the warmer air of the room moving past them as they moved. He blinked, wondering if this is what it felt like to walk in the shadow of Death. He stopped at the wall, and to his utter astonishment the Inspectral stopped a fraction of a second too late, and his hand passed through Collins’s arm. “Sorry,” said the Inspectral. “When they come in get through the doors and turn round. I want them to think we’ve arrived after them.” “Did we ever figure out where the bats keep coming from?” William sounded calm. “All the Devices ended up with them, didn’t they?” “Who cares? Let’s get this done before that bloody Inspectral turns out and our picnic becomes a shit-show.” The doors thumped open and Wiliam and Tony walked in, straight past Collins and the Inspectral, who immediately faded through the wall. Collins, praying that his bracelet was still working, slid sideways and caught the door as it was closing, slipping through. He let a breath out, startled to realise that he’d been holding it, and then a cold thought flashed through his mind: the bracelet hid him from ghosts, not mortals. “They’re ghosts?” He kept enough presence of mind to whisper. “No,” said the Inspectral. “But I thought you’d stay calmer if you thought they couldn’t see you.” “Get the Decrepifier hooked back up,” said William. “I want this over and done with. Let’s make this place Radiant and then we can get on with bringing the Light and banishing the darkness.” “You ever wish things were like they were before?” Tony knelt down behind the Device, and his voice became slightly muffled. “Before the Radiance? Hell no. The before was… it was a dark time, Tony. When you’ve seen the Light you realise that there’s no going back, only forward. Fiat Lux, Tony.” “You’re under arrest,” said the Inspectral, stepping literally through the doors.
2 comments:
Isn't the before when you used to write to the prompts as well? ;-)
The before
Collins pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket. It was a mid-range phone, a palm-sized black slab of glass and metal that he mostly used for calling his grandmother on holidays. The police-force preferred radios still for communication and he worked with most of his friends. It wasn’t as though there were a lot of people he even needed to stay in touch with. Still, he felt a momentary twinge of worry as he slipped the phone into the case of the Device.
“We need to get someone to call it, probably,” he said.
“Where’s Adams?” The Inspectral didn’t even look round as he asked the question, and Collins wondered if he’d been expecting her desertion. “Hmm. I can’t say I know much about mobile phones, but there’s definitely been a change in the behaviour of thi—”
“—rats can’t trigger a warding, you muppet. Someone has to have been down there!” Tony sounded angry and the voices were clear enough that the two men must be already at the outer doors. “Anyway, we’ve got bats, not rats.”
The Inspectral’s hand passed through the phone as he tried to pick it up, and then he looked at Collins. “Your bracelet – let’s hope it’s got some effect still. Get over to the wall by the doors.”
Collins feet seemed to start moving of their own accord, and the Inspectral was so close to him that he could feel the warmer air of the room moving past them as they moved. He blinked, wondering if this is what it felt like to walk in the shadow of Death. He stopped at the wall, and to his utter astonishment the Inspectral stopped a fraction of a second too late, and his hand passed through Collins’s arm.
“Sorry,” said the Inspectral. “When they come in get through the doors and turn round. I want them to think we’ve arrived after them.”
“Did we ever figure out where the bats keep coming from?” William sounded calm. “All the Devices ended up with them, didn’t they?”
“Who cares? Let’s get this done before that bloody Inspectral turns out and our picnic becomes a shit-show.” The doors thumped open and Wiliam and Tony walked in, straight past Collins and the Inspectral, who immediately faded through the wall. Collins, praying that his bracelet was still working, slid sideways and caught the door as it was closing, slipping through. He let a breath out, startled to realise that he’d been holding it, and then a cold thought flashed through his mind: the bracelet hid him from ghosts, not mortals.
“They’re ghosts?” He kept enough presence of mind to whisper.
“No,” said the Inspectral. “But I thought you’d stay calmer if you thought they couldn’t see you.”
“Get the Decrepifier hooked back up,” said William. “I want this over and done with. Let’s make this place Radiant and then we can get on with bringing the Light and banishing the darkness.”
“You ever wish things were like they were before?” Tony knelt down behind the Device, and his voice became slightly muffled.
“Before the Radiance? Hell no. The before was… it was a dark time, Tony. When you’ve seen the Light you realise that there’s no going back, only forward. Fiat Lux, Tony.”
“You’re under arrest,” said the Inspectral, stepping literally through the doors.
Greg - haaaah... yeah.
Woo, now we're getting places! Loved everything about this, but particularly the Inspectral tricking Collins into thinking they couldn't see him.
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