Friday Flash - Thump

This will be the last Friday Flash I'll be posting to this site. Any future posts about writing will now appear at http://betweentheclicks.podbean.com Some of the facts in the story are true and the pictures included are taken from my work place.

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Thump

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Thump, Thump, Thump… The dull sound of a heavy metal weight as it banged against steal to drive it into the earth reverberated out through the neighbourhood. That was the sound he woke to everyday for the past month. Alex gave the alarm clock a side long glance and confirmed his fear, right on time, 7am every morning. He buried his face in the spare pillow and screamed “FUCK!”

Alex rolled out of bed with a scowl on his face there was no getting the day off to a good start anymore. He threw back the curtain and looked down at the heavy machines behind his house. The men wandered around in their neon vest and hard hats without a care in the world. There was no sense of rush, no apparent desire to be finished anytime soon.

His home had gradually gotten messier over the course of the last month. The bedroom was littered with piles of clothes scattered on the floor. What he needed for work was folded on top of a pile he grabbed it and left the bedroom. His steps fell into rhythm with the impacts from outside.

Before he turned into the kitchen he heard a crash and the follow up sound of pieces as they scattered across the tiled floor. He stopped in the doorway and looked in. The floor was covered in tiny fragments of his favorite coffee mug. Another impact and all the dishware in the cupboard bounced a millimeter into the air and landed a little bit closer to the edge. Alex slammed the cupboard shut with a groan.

He couldn’t be bothered clear up the broken mug he just wanted it all to stop. A minute or so later he was dressed and out of the apartment. Outside was the worst there was nothing to dampen the sound and it just echoed through the apartment block canyons.

In the gas station at the end of the block he poured his coffee into a paper cup and walked up to the counter. He set the cup down on the counter and stared at the cigarettes racks. His mind wrestled with decision for long seconds. A man behind him called out irritable “Hurry up already.” Even the clerk tapped his foot as he waited.

“4 months down the fucking tubes, Players regular and matches.” He shoved a fist full of money towards the clerk, snatched the merchandise up and stormed out of the store.

Outside he tore into the pack and looked out on the construction. A wall section, 5 feet wide and 30 feet long, was slowly pounded into the ground. The whole wall stretched out into the horizon, along side of the train tracks. Each steel section insert to a different depths. According to the papers it was meant to dampen sound from the new transit corridor. Alex pulled out a smoke lit it, inhaled, and then coughed like a first time smoker.

The whole situation would have been much easier to handle if his office hadn’t been only a block past the tracks. It was a slow painful walk as he watched each impact drive the sections another couple of inches deeper. At the office the day only got worse when each impact caused his monitor to dance across the CPU like dishes in the cupboard. Smoking was the only thing that had gotten easier.

By the end of the day things had changed. Its pitch was very different and there was a bit of an echo now. He’d never heard it like this at all. By the fence that he could see what was going on he was right at the fence. A new attachment was hooked to the crane and it pulled upward to lift the sections up and out of the ground. “What the fuck?” he said aloud as he stared at the sight in disbelieve.

A nearby construction worker must have heard and answered “Pretty screwed up huh? Apparently the surveyor missed the mark and we’ve been driven this thing four feet off the mark. We’ve gotta start all over. It will be all over the news tonight.”

Alex dropped to his knees and cried. The only thing that kept the man alive was the chain link fence and the fact that he hurried back to work before Alex had gotten back up. He stood up and jumped on to the next bus that went by. Thirty minutes later he had silence for the first time in weeks.


The library offered bliss until everyone was kicked out and the doors locked. Half an hour later he was at the bus stop again. An unlit cigarette hung from between his lips as he looked out the empty construction site. By morning it would be packed with people and the source of all the world’s evils. He knew the thought was true and didn’t know what to do about it. His fingers dragged the match across the black strip and it sparked to life. He lit it and stared at the match until he had to drop it or burn his fingers.

He dashed across the street and slipped in-between the gates. The crane towered twenty feet ahead of him. He jumped up on to the trend and pulled open the door of the cab. Inside was a mess of levers and buttons. Alex slide into the seat and scanned the controls only some of them still had labels. He jammed forward on stick and watched as the boom arm swung forward. Then he pushed the same stick to the right and hit a button labeled release.

The tool on the end swung like a pendulum towards the site office. On queue it released and flew through the walls and destroyed it completely. The night sky was lit up by a pillar of flame that rocketed into the sky from the tanks on the far side of the shack. Inside Alex smiled with glee and lit another smoke.

Flash Fiction Fridays - UPDATE

I found something out this morning while talking with a friend about a new up coming television show. Apparently the show Sanctuary has as a reoccuring character with the name Clara Griffin. She is the granddaughter of Nigel Griffin who I gather is the Invisible Man. Clara the children in B is for Blank has evolved the power as wel. accept in her case she can make things invisible by touch.

Flash Fiction Fridays

In honour of the subject of the story there is a bit of a trick to reading it. If you not
sure what to do I've left instructions at the bottom. Enjoy the story
and feedback and comments are always welcome.

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B is for Blank

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It arrived just as I hit send on my column for the Phoenix Republic. The address wasn’t familiar, other than that it belonged to a free service that anyone could sign up for. It was the first line of the e-mail that grabbed my attention 'I have to set the record straight...' clicking it open I scanned the contents. Someone calling himself Mr. Griffin wanted to meet and wanted me to tell his story, apparently his real story. I would have ignored it if I had anything else planned but the evening was clear and the place he wanted to meet was just around the corner.

At the restaurant I looked around for anyone sitting by themselves waiting. “Do you have a reservation for a Mr. Griffin?”

“Yes, I’ll show you to your table.” She led me to an empty booth at the back with a heavy curtain for privacy. “Anything to drink?”

“Coffee, thanks.” I set my mini-recorder on the table as I sat down. The waitress was back before I’d even consider if I’d been had.

She disappeared behind the curtain leaving the carafe on the table. “Thank you for coming,” a voice from the opposite side of the booth said but there was no one there “I wasn’t sure if you would come. I’m Hawley Griffin, although you likely know me better by that nickname Wells hung on me The Invisible Man. I never even met him you know. All of those lies he wrote about me where based on stories of man who was prejudice.” As he finished his introduction the coffee carafe rocked then floated into the air as he poured us both a cup.

I stared blankly trying not to show my disbelief as I watched cooling ripples form on the coffee from nothingness. “That story was fiction^”

“Yes and no, some of the events where real others made up by him and Kemp, that’s what I want to set straight.”

“Alright,” I said having no idea what I was getting myself into. I pressed the record button “It’s October 2nd 2010 and I’m sitting at a table with the Invisible Man or as he would rather be known Hawley Griffin.”

“H.G. Wells got the opening right; I was a scientist working to bend light rendering something invisible. Filled with the foolishness of youth I tested it on myself, ruining my life. Afterwards I was understandably angry and confused. I did some things I regret when I look back on them. Certainly I wasn’t trying to kill anyone I just wanted help.” There was a deep sadness in his voice as he talked about these events.

“Where did the story come from than?”

“It was Doctor Kemp he was jealous and wanted to claim my formula has his own. So he discredited me through Wells. Later he raised a mob against me in Burdock. I barely escaped catching the next ship to London and hid naked below decks for the journey” He gulped down his coffee and I could see it going down his throat before fading from view. It was enough to make me want to throw-up but I calmed that reflex.

“What happened in London?”

“I tried to get on with my life but it was impossible without cash, which I couldn’t get legally. So I turned to petty crime which in a cash society was easy. A streetwalker offered me assistance believing I was the Holy Ghost and gave herself whole to me. Through her I rented a small loft where she kept house and was the breadwinner when I wasn’t on my sick bed.”

“Was your sickness related to the serum?”

“Partially, London is a retched climate for a man who spends most of his time running through the streets naked.”

“Is that how you ended up in Phoenix?”

“When I was healthy enough I worked on a cure until my vision failed me completely. It had been gradually going since I injected the serum. So no cure, no sight, and nothing holding us to England we moved to better a better climate. America was a lot to get used to, but being a dad even more so. There isn’t a lot to do on an ocean liner as a blind and invisible man so Martha and I kept busy in the cabin.”

So how do you spend your days now?”

“I spend a lot of time with my grandkids and family, they have grown up with my condition and don’t think it is anything special. I also spend a lot time on the internet it is a wonderful thing for a man in my state. You can reinvent yourself as anyone I have a wonderful online relationship with a blind woman in Toledo. I’ve gotten myself a decent job that I do across the internet. I’m having my first taste of a normal life in 100 years.”

Seconds later the curtain opened slightly but no one came in “Are you still here?” I asked tentatively.

“Yes, I am.”

Beside the booth a young man appeared out of nowhere fading slowly into view and fully clothed. “Sorry Grandpa, mom’s calling and wants to know where I am we’ve gotta go. She’ll be pissed if she finds out I helped you with this. You know she doesn’t want it to go public.”

“Too right Justin I’m so sorry.” He sighed “I so wish I could appear and disappear like they do, youth always taking what we give them and pushing it one better. Trevor I’m going to have to cut this short, perhaps you would be willing to join me for dinner another night. I’d be happy to fill in the details we glanced.”

I just stared at the boy in disbelieve it took a moment to realize I was being spoken to again. “Certainly, I’ll e-mail you?” the boy had disappeared again and I was all alone I think.

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If you haven't figured out how to read the story try highlighting

Flash Fiction Fridays

Welcome to the first in a new series of Flash Fiction Friday posts. I hope you all enjoy them and I look forward to any feedback. Be sure click on one of the Carpe Arcanum Links at the top of either sidebar. Comments are always welcome there too.

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A is for Archon

I am an overseer, a punisher and a protector or at least I was. In the early days I was part the team that did the whole thing in the place you all call Egypt. Ahhh those where the good old days back when men feared the boss and the boss gave them a reason too. Of course that was back before the new hands off attitude took hold around here. Don’t get me wrong here I’m not being critical of his decisions, how could I by his very nature he has to be right. I mean come on he’s God but that doesn’t mean that a lot of us our uneasy about this whole new change of attitude in the management.

Just the other night the guys got together for a BBQ and a night of poker. It was me, War and Death of the Horsemen, Noah and someone had let it slip to an Angel as well. I think it was Death that fat bastard who told the Angel but of course he denies it. In truth he denies a lot of things that are true mostly because he can I guess. At our level we are allowed a little more leeway with our actions and the Commandments. It was a profitable night for all of us, Angels can’t lie for shit. We had the guy cleaned out by about halfway through the night once his pockets where empty he thanks us for letting him play and then called it a night. The door had barely closed when Noah started.

“They have everything way too easy down there these days and there is no respect for a greater power. Everything in the mind comes down to science. Even the few who do believe have the message so garbled that it barely even resembles His word any more,” he paused and looked up as he referred to God. “What would happen if he told someone he needed to build a boat, he’d end up with a plane or something equally useless I’d bet.”

I could tell Noah was getting angry and this conversation wasn’t really going in a direction any of us liked. “Look Noah we all know what you went through back then. Heck I was flying around making sure that no one was missed. But it’s his call everyone at the table is his to command. If he needs us again he’ll tell us.” I watched as Death reached across the table and dragged the bowl of chips closer to him before stuffing a handful into his mouth and washing them down with dregs of his beer. A roll of flab hung down and swayed as he moved his arm. As I watched I tried hard not to think about my own expanding waistline which had grown considerably over the past thousand years. “He just might not need us any more, I guess. Or maybe he’s holding us in reserve for the end of days? And quit hogging the chips Death.’ I pushed out for the table and headed for the cooler to grab another beer.

“Of course he needs us look at War he must be over worked beyond believe.”

War gave his closely shaved head a shake “Not at all, I haven’t done anything down there since the middle ages. They’re doing it all by themselves.”

“There it is again being more independent not need Gods divine guidance.” Noah jumped right in taking War’s response as proof of his own opinion.

“I’m not sure the fact they can kill each without our help is proof of their dismissal of His will.” I handed the last of the beers to the table.

Death held his hand up in front of the beer “No thanks, I’ve gotta get going the wife made plans for later tonight.”

“How is Famine doing anyways?” I put his beer down in front of me for later.

“Still kinda skinny I guess but that’s how she’s always been,” Death collected his chips and cashed out for the chip box. He paused at the door and looked back to the table “You know who is still busy from the old days don’t you? Conquest and maybe if we hadn’t replaced him with Pestilence we all might still be busy.” With that said he walked out the door.

Everyone around the table was left staring at the door as it swung shut while nodding their heads. I was considering the possibilities and what might have been when Noah broke the silence. “What about this whole 2012 thing I’ve heard those old Mayan’s talking about, you think you guys will be involved in that?”

“That’s not his thing. From what I’ve heard He and some other higher powers more local to the area are still in negotiations about it. But if its end of the world time again I’m sure we’ll get some part in it. I just hate the idea that we might get outsourced to someone else.”

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Be sure to come back next friday for B is for Blank